16 Ways Neopets Helps You Master "Real-World" Skills

(Wait, what? There’s life outside of Neopets?)

This list is meant to appeal to Neopians young and old, newbies and veterans. Newbies, you can get your feet wet and learn some helpful tips, and you, veterans, can reminisce about that time you accidentally donated that item meant for the SDB or posted something on the Neoboards that included an unfortunate typo that landed you in hot water. (Yikes, can you believe you actually did that? Awkward.)

Read on and see if your favorite aspect of Neopia made the list!

1. Banking

Might as well start with the obvious, eh? It’s pretty likely every user has set up an account at the Neopian National Bank, and why wouldn’t you? It provides a safe place to keep your Neopoints, and you can even earn interest. The more Neopoints you have in the bank, the more interest you can collect. And, since you can only withdraw a certain number of times per day, you might have learned to plan ahead.

2. Stock market

Ah, the stock market. Not for the faint of heart, and not for making fast money! This little site feature taught us the patience needed for investing. Neopians learn about buying low and selling high, and some unfortunate Neopians learned the hard way the true riskiness of stocks because, over the years, there have been a few sad instances where some companies went bust and those poor Neopians lost their investments. Tragic!

3. Buying and selling

Whether you sell your daily items in your shop, snipe other users’ items and resell for more, or are a master restocker, there’s always a thing or two to learn about buying and selling. Most Neopians can probably remember some really exciting purchase, whether it was scoring a good deal on something you wanted or finding something cheap and reselling it for great profit. On the flip side, most Neopians probably can also recall a really poor purchase; accidentally overpaying for something or buying something by mistake. Just remember, no matter the experience, you probably learned a valuable lesson!

4. Saving

Most Neopians have goals, and those goals probably require currency. Whether you’re trying to save 1000 NP or 1,000,000,000 NP, you’ve had to practice the art of saving. But hey, it’s totally worth it! Remember that time you reached your goal and bought that amazing item you’d been saving months for? That’s delayed gratification, folks, and it’s the best feeling. Or maybe, once you saved for so long, you realized that item wasn’t what you wanted to spend your hard-earned Neopoints on after all, and that’s great too! While saving you have lots of time to evaluate whether this big item is really what you want so it helps minimize that dreaded buyer’s remorse that a person can sometimes experience.

5. Supply and demand

If you participated in the recent Charity Corner event, you likely got a taste of how supply and demand works in the "real world." As demand increases, supply typically decreases as the item is harder to find, and this causes prices to rise. In instances like these the rich often get richer and the poor get poorer as the rich buy up tons of items, because they can afford to, and resell them for outrageous prices. One interesting observation about this phenomenon, though, is that the economy somehow regulates itself as users stop purchasing items that are too overpriced. While a really frustrating thing to experience, it’s pretty interesting to watch, and you can learn some great real-life lessons without risking your hard-earned real-life cash.

6. Negotiation

Knowing how to negotiate is a skill that comes in handy nearly anywhere. Neopians negotiate in a variety of ways for a variety of things, and it’s not just limited to currency. Neopians trade items for items and items for Neopoints, of course, but they also trade art, 'pets and more! Learning how to make a deal with another user so you are both happy isn’t something everyone is good at, but Neopets provides a relatively safe environment for you to hone that craft.

7. Practicing communication skills

There are lots of stories out there about how Neopians who aren’t native English-speakers have had the opportunity to practice their English skills in a casual social environment. How cool is that? Even proficient speakers of English can benefit by practicing how to communicate clearly and effectively in writing and by mastering those pesky things known as spelling and grammar. Believe me, if you aren’t clear enough, or if you post something riddled with typos, someone will likely point it out for you!

8. Making friends

As in the “real world,” there’s a wide variety of people and personalities to be found on Neopets. You have the chance to make friends with a huge range of people from a wide variety of backgrounds. How exciting! However, you aren’t going to like everyone, and not everyone is going to like you. But that’s okay! This provides you with a great opportunity to learn to get along with people you don’t necessarily like, and, if you simply can’t get along you might learn when to disengage and walk away before things get messy.

9. Following rules

Whether we like it or not, sometimes we just have to follow the rules, or pay the consequences if we don’t. I’m sure we’ve all gotten caught breaking a “real world” rule or two, and we likely remember the consequences. Neopets is no different! There are some clearly defined rules here on Neopets, and there are some rules that may leave a morally gray area, and it’s up to you to make the right choices.

10. Teamwork

You might think I’m crazy with this one, but hear me out. People are working together for common goals here all the time! There are lots of Neoboards created for the sole purpose of helping everyone out, whether it’s feeding times at the kadoatery, or a quest help board, or a board where people come together to try and solve how to get a new avatar. It’s so amazing to see people helping others they may not even know, and it’s a fantastic life lesson.

11. Visual arts

Whether you’re a novice or a professional, Neopets provides users with a great environment for artists. Users can practice skills ranging from the basics of a paint program to the finer points on how to use a tablet. most users are encouraging and provide great feedback and support for their fellow artists., and you can learn to take constructive criticism, which is a great skill to have!

12. Writing

We touched on writing a bit earlier, but this focuses on creative writing. If you want to participate in any writing aspects of Neopets, whether it’s the Neopian Times or the Poetry Contest, Storytelling of the Caption Contest, you simply have to work those creative-writing muscles. This is an amazing opportunity for the already-talented folks to fine-tune their skills, and for the beginners to find their voices as writers.

13. Customisation

Maybe you want to be creative but the thought of producing something totally original is way too overwhelming for you. Customising your Neopet lets you explore the idea of creatively dressing your ‘pet by combining a variety of premade items. It’s a great way for you to get those creative juices flowing. In addition, finding the perfect customization will require combining many of the previously mentioned skills such as trading, negotiation, and buying and selling.

14. Typing

Maybe it’s not your traditional computer skills coursework, but practice makes perfect, right? Perhaps you were once notorious for hunting and pecking your way through simple sentences, but now you can type whole paragraphs without looking. Or maybe you’re an experienced typist who enjoys practicing typing unusual Neopian words. No matter your proficiency, Neopians spend lots of time practicing typing skills.

15. Coding

Coding is really useful these days, whether within Neopets or out there in the “real world.” Neopets provides some basic HTML tips within the site that are great for beginners. There are also some Neopets-approved fan sites that provide more in-depth tutorials, and there are even some pet pages where you can find some pointers.

16. Time management

Okay, okay, don’t laugh! Perhaps you’ve been known to accidentally spend the entire day playing a game for an avatar or trying to restock some good items. And that’s totally fine. But think about those times where you only have a few minutes to hop online. If you don’t even have time to get all your dailies done you’re going to have to prioritize. That’s time management, folks! You get those important things done first, and then, if you have time, you get to those less-pressing-but-still-important Neo-tasks.

And there you have it! If anyone tries to give you a hard time about spending too much time on Neopets, just tell them about all the handy life skills you’re brushing up on while having fun at the same time. Happy 16th Birthday, Neopets, and here’s to 16 more!