The Fun of Collecting

Have you ever wondered about why some people love to collect things? There are a lot of things in Neopia to collect. I think there are nearly 45.000 items out there. Leaving aside items that can only be purchased at the NC Mall (just because not everyone is lucky enough to have access to the NC Mall) still results in more than 39.000 Neopoint (NP) items that have ever been released. Quite a number, don't you think so?!

The easiest approach to "collecting" of course would be:

1. simply collect everything that you can get

However, this might not be the best idea as there are several drawbacks of this proceeding. First of all it will most likely cost more NP than there are around in Neopia. Why? Well, some of the items are retired – that is, they are no longer attainable. You can easily identify these items as they have a rarity of 180. The good news is that "being a retired item" is not necessarily identical with "being a very expensive item". However there is a good chance that it might be. The above mentioned 39.000 items also include (rare) plot prizes, items that have been available at Smuggler's cove for a limited period of time and so on... So you see there are many many items out there that will be retired or otherwise really rare and hard to get by. But this is not yet the worst part. The worst part (at least for me) would be to keep track of the items you already own and the ones you are still looking for. Of course you could simply toss everything into your Safety Deposit Box and use the counter there to keep track of the number of items you already own – but honestly – where is the fun of collecting when there is no one able to admire your awesome collection? In order to avoid that you could put everything into your Gallery so everyone is able to see you treasures. But here we run into yet another problem. On the one hand you have to pay in order to enlarge your Gallery (which means even more NP are needed). Even worse is the problem of ordering. How long might it take to bring 39.000 items into an order you like? Right – forever! So simply collecting everything that you can get is obviously not the best choice. The opposing method would be:

2. collect as much as you can of one specific item

This might sound boring in the beginning but there is a certain charm in having 5.000 single grey flowers (for example). You can put a little nice counter on you lookup telling every visiting Neopian that you are a dedicated collector of one specific item. Another good thing is that - as long as you mass-collect something rather cheap - there is a good chance that random people will send you more of this particular item once they realize you collect it. A really nice way to get to know to new people and maybe you will even find new friends. You could also toss all of them into your Gallery which is very expensive and also rather boring. Where is the fun in having 5.000 single grey flowers (for example) in your Gallery? Nobody will notice if you add one or two.

Anyway this is certainly an option for "collecting" that you should consider. But of course there are other ways of collecting. A very common and popular one is:

3. have a themed collection

Having a themed collection is real fun and very easy to start with. Simply choose something you really like and try to collect every single item that fits into this category. Very common classes are for example: Plushies, Petpets, Paint Brushes, items that belong to a particular group of items (for example snowglobes, bobbleheads, ....), items that can only be bought at a special shop, items that belong to a certain land in Neopia and so on - the only limit is your imagination. Once you have selected a certain category you can go ahead and start to buy/restock/trade for every single item that fits into the description. Of course you should put all of them in your Gallery so your fellow Neopians can have a good luck at your treasures. It also helps you to keep track of the items you already have. Once your Gallery is close to completion you could also try and enter it into the "Gallery Spotlight" which will give even more Neopians the chance to admire your beautiful collection. A nice little side effect would be the shiny new trophy that you could earn yourself for your lookup.

You might have a second thoughts about the cost of having a perfect Gallery but rest assured - having a themed Gallery is not necessarily very expensive. Just take a look at previous winning Galleries – some of them are rather small but nevertheless complete. Others might be large but all of the items are rather cheap. You just have to come up with something unique. However you might still be unsure about putting your collection into a Gallery at all. In this case you should maybe start a

4. collection of stamps and neodeck cards

There are already two places in your lookup where you can keep track of your stamps/neodeck cards respectively. You can put any of them directly into your neodeck or into your stamp album - without any additional cost! And once you have a nearly complete collection you can earn yourself another shiny trophy for your lookup. However there are also some drawbacks. First of all it will be a very expensive journey if you want to collect every single stamp/neodeck card that is released up to now. Another disadvantage is that you can remove a neodeck card from your neodeck any time you like but every stamp that you put into your stamp album will stay there forever. These are not removable. So think twice about starting such a collection because once you started you will not be able to stop. As I am an inspired stamp collector I now what I am talking about.

Another good thing about collecting stamps in particular is that you can earn yourself various avatars once you finish certain sections of your stamp album. And this is in close connection to the last mode of collecting I want to introduce to you:

5. non-item related collections

Up to now we only talked about item-related collection but I will not conceal that there are also not-item related things available for collecting. This includes for example avatars and trophies for your lookup. Some avatars and trophies are really easy to get, whereas other may require a lot of work and dedication from you. But honestly – what is better than the feeling you get when you achieve something that you always thought to be impossible? Never forget – you can do whatever you want if you try hard enough!