Getting Bored? Six Fun Things To Try

1. Guilds

I see so many players these days saying that they are stuck on what to do after the majority of their friends have left the site. It’s true, many people have quit lately, and you may find yourself without the circle of friends who once kept you logging in every day. But there are still plenty of people here, and what else can you do except make new friends! Guilds are always a great way to go about this. If you’re not a part of a guild, or even if you are part of one that’s become inactive or boring, perhaps it’s time for a change! Head over to the guild boards to see what kind of guilds and people are out there! Or, if you have a specific interest in one area of the site, such as avatars or the Battledome, try those boards for a guild full of people with similar interests! My favourite kind of guilds are those that focus on ‘account improvement’, as they are full of people from all different areas of the site, who can help you branch into areas you haven’t yet!

If you really want to throw yourself into a big project, perhaps you could try applying for a council position or even starting your own guild!

2. Customization

Since the customization was introduced, a quite a few long-term players decided they weren’t big fans of the site overhaul and vowed to never participate in customization (some people just don’t like change!) However, if you are one of these people, I urge you to at least give it a try! Customization is a whole lot of fun and I often find myself spending hours playing around with different wearables, trying to find the perfect combination for my pet! Some people choose to find the most perfect customization possible for their pet, others choose to let their pet wear a variety of outfits, depending on its mood. A good customization can not only show off your pet’s unique personality, but can also give a plain old basic or cheaply painted pet some pizzazz! Wearables start as cheap as 1 NP so the most basic of customizations will not break the bank. If you want to move into more expensive and complicated customizations, set yourself saving goals to achieve the items you need! I also feel that Neopoint & Neocash customizing are two completely different actives. If you’ve only ever used flashy Neocash items to customize, I would suggest setting yourself an NP-only budget to give yourself a customization challenge! Conversely, if you’ve only ever customized with NP, Neocash wearables have a much larger variety and amount of possibilities! Which leads me to my next category…

3. NC Trading

Trading Neocash items may sound like a very expensive exercise. If you’ve never tried Neocash trading, right now would be the perfect time to start. You’ll need gift boxes to trade and with the new Trudy’s Surprise daily, every day you have a chance of winning some for free! The NC Mall has also been giving out free items lately, some of which become quite sought after, especially those that increase the stats of your Neopet. If you can get all this for free then you can break into NC trading without spending a dime! You can begin to build a tradelist and wishlist and trade for items you may need for your customizations. NC trading in itself is quite a fun exercise – I really do enjoy trawling through people’s trade lists to see what kind of pretty items they have on offer! There is also nothing more satisfying than being able to tick off wishlist items and give them to your pet to wear! Be warned, though – if you become addicted to NC trading, the temptation to spend your hard earned dollars on Neocash is REAL, even if you began just trading your free NC items. This is exactly what happened to me! If you do choose to buy NC, set yourself a budget so you don’t lose yourself in it! Unless of course you’re rich, and in that case go for your life, and buy me some too!

4. Spotlights

Everyone loves a little healthy competition! Neopets has spotlights for everyone, no matter what you’re interested in. If you can draw, there’s the beauty contest and art gallery. If you like to write, you can try the Neopian Times, storytelling and poetry competitions. If you’re good with HTML, the user lookup & site spotlights are for you. If you want to develop your pet's characters and stories, or just want a place to show them off, the pet & petpet spotlights are perfect! If you’re not the creative type, but more of a money maker, you can try to reach the top of the leaderboard in books or gourmet foods for your pet. And of course, the customization spotlight is there to show off your new customization talents!

Now chances are, if you’ve been around the site long enough to find yourself a little bored, you’ve tried a few of these spotlights before. Perhaps you’ve entered them to death! In this case, I highly recommend trying out a spotlight you’ve never entered before! I myself am definitely more of the writing type, and have always favoured the more creative competitions. But recently I decided to go for a Booktastic trophy, something I wouldn’t have dreamed of having a shot at before – and I am now so proud to see my pet displaying his little badge!

5. Adopt a new pet

Let’s not forget the reason we all probably joined the site in the first place – the pets. I’ve always found the most exciting times of my Neo-life revolved around me adopting a new Neopet – whether it was a dream pet I worked tirelessly for or just an impulse adoption I fell in love with at first sight! A new pet brings so many possibilities – you can work on its paint job, customization, petpet & petpetpet, personality, pet lookup and pet page! You can also enter it as fresh meat into some of the contests you may have entered to death with your other pets!

Obtaining your ‘dream pet’ may seem impossible, but setting yourself goals to achieve them can be quite fun. If you’re interested in a higher end pet like a UC, trading or writing an application to adopt are your best options – both of which may end up taking forever, but once you have set a goal, do not give up! Imagine the satisfaction when you do finally get that pet! Alternatively you can find a nice pet in less demand that is in need of a good home, and take them in – I always find it rewarding to take in a badly-named pet no one else really wants around, and give them a fresh paint job and customization!

6. Neohomes

I think Neohomes are, for many players, an area of the site which gets overlooked. If you run out of things to do, why not build and decorate a Neohome? The new style homes are a lot of fun as you can see your pets inside, and feel like you are really interacting with them. The classic style Neohomes are good because they allow you a lot more space – meaning that you could give every one of your pets its own room, if you wanted! If you’ve only ever tried creating one kind of Neohome, I would suggest trying your hand at the other for something different!

I could go on, of course – this site is SO jam-packed with activities its ridiculous! I could never write about them all! Once you’ve had a go at everything I’ve suggested, get out there and try to find another area of the site you’re yet to explore! You may find yourself with significantly heavier pockets, or even a shiny trophy because of it!