Unconverted Currency

From personal experience, as I am a long time player - I had the option to keep my grey Peophin unconverted. She was beautiful, and looked so much better than the newly drawn customisable Peophins that were now available. But I found that my attachment to her became of rarity value rather than sentimental value. As in, it was “cool” to have an unconverted pet. Eventually when I realised that I wasn’t emotionally attached to my pet, I decided to put her up for trade (UFT) and see if I could have a pet that I truly wanted to look after and keep in my little NeoFamily. The volume of responses I received on that pound board was astounding. I was offered every pet under the sun and eventually settled for a Darigan Draik. I felt that people were throwing their precious long term pets at me just so they could have an unconverted. What makes them so valuable, so sought after? Is it just because they are rare? Or is it because they genuinely look better?

After conducting some research, I came across a petpage suggested by a fellow Neopian that outlines the “lost but not forgotten” automatic conversions of some royal pets. It seems in this instance, some species were automatically changed to the new art without asking for the owners' permission. This petpage appears to go in to detail about how complex and interesting the royal unconverted look was rather than a value attribute. The Neopian talks about how they looked unique with clothes made of the finest silks and completely different to the average bare yellow pet. “left behind in the dust, swept and taken of their rare unconverted forms and stuck them back with the common species pose, with just added clothing.” So it seems that in this instance it was not about monetary or rarity value but a love for the old pose. But of course this is only for one type of pet and one opinion of one Neopian stacked against another 186,613,004 other opinions.

So after this I decided to ask the opinions of some other Neopians - and the best place to go? The Help chat! A place where people have too many opinions, mayhaps? I posted a topic entitled “If there was an option to Unconvert your pets, would you do it?” I got a lot of immediate responses, most of which seemed to brush on the opinion that they would only be interested in unconverting one type or a couple of types of specific species - not as a general “I want an Unconverted no matter what the species”. It would seem that most people on the HC were interested in one particular pet that they liked the look of, rather than wanting it because it’s rare - which really refreshed me as I wondered if all Neopians were Neopoints mad? However, there was one opinion that never even crossed my mind - people love customising their pets. As someone who doesn’t actively customise (you can find all my pets floating in a white box), I didn’t realise that there were a lot of users that would blanketly refuse to Unconvert their pets because then they couldn’t dress them and put sparkles all around them and make them look unique. As one fellow player said: “Personally, I definitely wouldn't do it. Never being able to dress Maddie in some of his old lab clothes again? Not being able to have Laurrie wear her coat for the winter? Losing Shari's school uniform, Nelly's mechanical wings, Becky Star's cuddly plushie? I can't see any reason why I'd give up my pets' individuality just for a bit of nostalgia -- especially since the older art for several of them looked pretty amateur anyway, as I'm reminded whenever Shari takes damage in the Lost Tomb.” Although UC pets had some individuality within their unique poses, I guess it’s incomparable to the vast amount of ways you could customise your pets with backgrounds and hats and magic wands.

The original opinion I had with unconverted pets was that they are used too much as currency rather than stable loving family pets; these pets seem to be moved from family to family, trade to trade like property. As one Neopian commented on my HC board: “I think everyone wants an UC pet because they are rare. If they weren’t as rare, no one would want them.” Moreover, people who claim to desperately want UC pets argue that the only reason that they want one was for the art, but as one comical Neopian commented, if that was so, “They should just print out a picture of one and frame it; it’s much easier than trading for one.”

In regards to answering my board, if TNT were to create a magic lab zap or a potion that could revert art back to the old days, it was a mixed bag. There was no prominent answer; it seems to vary amongst owners in preference and taste. Some people don’t like the art and some people do. Some people love customising and (in my case) some people don’t. Some Neopians would pay the price a hundred times over to get it and some people wouldn’t even think about it just because of the potential price of such a potion. But - the real question in all of this seems to be, why didn’t TNT just convert every pet? “I really don’t understand why we have (UC pets) in the first place. TNT shouldn’t have been so afraid of just converting them all, and we wouldn’t be in this situation. It would just be a distant memory of the past, like ‘remember the old art? Instead of a constant battle over which is better.” That’s what it really gets down to - which one IS better?! The answer - neither. Some might disagree with me - but then again some will agree, which basically confirms my argument. Some people really do want them for their value and some want them for their looks, while (in the most part) people prefer customising their pets more than the old art.

It all boils down to money. It doesn’t matter where you go in Neopia; everything is about status, avatars, Battledome stats and Neopoints. Is it really so important to have a hundred times the amount of a kilogram of asparagus these days? Or is it OK to just play Kass Basher and live on 3,000 a day knowing that you love your pets and knowing that they will love you back no matter what they look like?