How Do YOU Feel About Crying Neopets?

By now, nearly everyone on Neopets has noticed the brand new expressions on their Neopets’ faces. Some are wincing, some are frowning, and some are growling. Others are sad, weeping, and pleading. The individual expression on each Neopet is unique depending on its species. The Malevolent Sentient Plushie Poogle, for instance, wears a snarling and aggravated expression on its face when it gets sick or hungry, as opposed to the Baby Ruki, who simply gets teary-eyed.

Amazingly, Neopets with sad and angry expressions on their faces are garnering quite a fanbase of their own. Some people will purposefully leave their pets hungry and ill to get the adorable limpid-eyed expressions on their Neopets’ faces. Other people think their pets look better angry or upset. It helps them to role-play on the Neoboards and it just suits their personalities better. There’s a whole new group of Neopians with suffering and neglected pets who just like them better that way!

So how do YOU feel about crying Neopets? Do they make you cry yourself? Do you get angry or upset whenever you see them in a foul mood, growling back at you? Or do you feel noncommittal, since they’re only made of pixels? If you spot someone else’s unhappy Neopet, do you Neomail the owner and rant about what he or she is doing to the poor thing?

Some people appreciate the new expressions on Neopets not because they’re cute in and of themselves, but because they’re testament to the true colors of their owners. For many people, a Neopet’s emotion is an indication of the kindness or meanness of the owner.

What do I mean by kindness? For example, someone will keep his or her Neopet’s emotion at “delighted!” just for the sake of having a supremely happy Neopet. They will also keep their Neopet’s hunger level at “bloated” just for the sake of being a responsible owner. Personally, I keep my pets bloated at the Neolodge and keep all of their moods “delighted!” on all of my accounts. So I guess I’d fit into this category of Neopet owners.

And what do I mean by meanness? For example, someone with a crying and very rare Draik might be seen as someone out for the glory of owning a rare Neopet species, not someone who loves their Neopets with effusive and undying love. Such Neopians might also be seen as people who don’t really care about their accounts, since they have neglected their Neopets so badly.

There are new categories of people other than “kind” and “mean,” however. Some people love the sad expressions on their Neopets’ faces and will leave them this way. Many emo fans have begun to do this instead of painting their Neopets gray, because they like the look of actual tears and sulking. I have to admit, I saw a sad Baby Chomby for the first time a few days ago and it made my heart melt. It was quite literally the cutest Neopet I’ve ever seen in all my months on this website, and I started to wish I had a cuddly Baby Chomby of my own to care for.

Other people, instead of being “kind” or “mean,” don’t really care about the physical needs of their Neopets, and don’t care whether they are crying or not. According to these people, Neopets are only made up of pixels, not flesh and blood, so it doesn’t really matter whether they are joyful, happy, sad, or miserable. These people mainly come onto the website to rack up Neopoints and achieve high scores on games. They may have Neopets, but they’re mainly an afterthought, and so their Neopets get ignored, overlooked, and disregarded.

So which category of people do you feel most comfortable with? Which group of people has interests and concerns that are most akin to your own? There are literally thousands of people out there who feel the same way about their Neopets that you do about yours, no matter what your beliefs about pet care and feeding are.

It’s important to note that Neopets can turn red or blue if they are angry or sad for an extended period of time. This occurrence is a very rare Random Event that can strike at any moment, so for those of you who love the look of sad, non-gray pets, it’s best to preserve your Neopet’s looks by making another Neopet your active Neopet. The Neopets Team has also stated in a previous editorial that they were looking into making non-active Neopets show up underneath our usernames on the Neoboards, instead of our active Neopets. This would make it easier for those of you who want to display your sad Neopets on the Neoboards without worrying about Boochi (the Baby Bruce who can zap your Neopet into a Baby) or the Random Event that turns your Neopet invisible.

One other important thing that I’ve noticed is that the older Neopians on this website, who have been around for years and years, tend to think badly of very young newbie accounts that feature sick and dying Neopets. They get irritated to no end when they see someone who is two weeks old post on the Neoboards and display their sick and crying active Neopet for all of Neopia to see. Feeding and playing with your Neopet is not hard -- in fact, I was doing both the very first day I logged into the website. And I continue to do so today, eight months later. So for those of you who aren’t part of the “crying Neopet” fanbase, please do take care of your Neopets!

This ends my article about crying Neopets, and the difference in feeling amongst different segments of Neopia. I got most of my demographics from chatting on the Neoboards every day, and I’d like to thank all those wonderful people who gave me their opinions on the subject and helped me to write this article. Good luck with everything you try to accomplish on this website, my dear Neopians, and remember to take care of your Neopets!