Why Did You Downsize? - Part 2

A popular article of mine was called "Why Did You Downsize?," and it received a lot of fan mail. The idea of downsizing struck a chord with many of my fellow players, and they admitted that after reading my article, they were inspired to downsize their own accounts. One person admitted that, now that he's given away 12 pets and now has just 2, he finds more delight in playing on the site. His remaining pets, a battle pet and an unconverted Faerie Aisha, now have his total devotion, and I'm glad I made his Neopets experience more special!

That said, I thought I would write another article all about more ways in which we downsize our accounts! What are the ways in which we reduce our accounts and, paradoxically, enjoy the site more? To get some answers, I wandered over to the Neoboards to ask my fellow players. I got many interesting replies!

One player admitted that he used to customize his 4 pets elaborately with a wild mishmash of NP and NC items. There was no rhyme or reason to the customizations…he simply took wearables that looked quirky and unique, and placed them on his pets. Recently, he gave away all of his NC wearables and sold off his NP wearables, and now has 4 matching Backgrounds on his 4 Darigan pets. Gone now are the trinkets, foregrounds, shoes, necklaces, and other wearables that used to adorn his pets. Now he has a sleek quartet of Darigan pets whose matching Backgrounds make them look like a cohesive family, as well as a Darigan lookup and Darigan gallery. What a terrific way to downsize AND improve an account!

Some people admitted that they gave away many of their pets because they wanted empty slots on their accounts, in case a great new painted pet is released. I look forward to new pets too! I'm keeping one slot open on my main account because I want a Polka Dot Cybunny someday. I'm also looking forward to owning a Robot Vandagyre, which I'll stash on a side account. It was interesting that I wasn't the only player looking forward to new pet and color combinations!

One player said that she once took a yearlong hiatus from Neopets, then came back and realized she didn't have any need for her 25 million NP in the bank. She bought a lot of expensive items and then distributed them to her favorite players on the Help Neoboard. She's quite happy with her Blue Kacheek and pretty User Lookup, and that's all she's satisfied with! I'm glad that her epiphany ended up making so many other people happy!

One player realized that his gallery, full of gifts from Neofriends, was worth a fortune, and decided to sell all of the items contained therein. He ended up selling everything for around 2 million NP, and used the money to paint his Draik into Darigan. Now he's determined to use his gallery for the Gallery Spotlight, and though he wouldn't tell me the theme of his future gallery (in case I'd have sticky fingers, haha), he hopes that he'll earn a trophy. I wished him much luck with the contest! He has around 800k in the bank now, which is more than enough to create an interesting and provocative gallery!

My previous article noted that there were a lot of generous people who wanted to give away their NC items, but couldn't because they needed Gift Boxes. Well, recently, TNT solved this problem with Trudy's Surprise! People are now up to their ears in extra Gift Boxes, and so am I. I'm glad that people are now able to downsize their NC collections, keeping only those items that they treasure and admire!

Many people admitted that they upgraded their accounts by downsizing another aspect of their accounts. For instance, they spent a fortune on stamps (over 100 million, in most cases) in order to get a stamp avatar. So now they have a few more avatars, and a lot less money. I had to compliment them, since I'm an avatar collector myself, and I hope that someday, I'll have some stamp avatars to flaunt as well!

Some people downsized their Safety Deposit Boxes in order to be more organized. So now, all of their NP items go into their shops, and all of their NC items go in their SDBs. People who used to cram random items into their SDBs admitted that selling off their NP items was the best thing they ever did in 5 years, because they earned so much NP from selling them. Selling off unwanted items seems to be the most popular way to downsize our accounts, and I love to price my shop every Friday evening as well!

And finally, I thought I'd mention the ways in which we WANT to downsize, but sometimes can't! One person pointed out that, although she would love to give away the Paint Brush clothes from her numerous Secret Laboratory Ray zaps, she already has the maximum of 4 pets on her account and can't use her pet transfers to give away the clothes. And another person said that she hoped TNT will create a Paint Brush Clothing Trading Post where we could simply offer a complete set of clothes for another complete set of clothes. Hopefully TNT will someday figure out a safe and secure way to do these activities!

I think Neopets is a truly unique site, one where the act of downsizing is actually rewarding! With other game sites, you hoard as many weapons, spell books and money as you possibly can. On Neopets, on the other hand, altruism is a really popular pastime! Giving away unwanted pets and items is a really common and gratifying experience on this site, and it's not even necessary to fight bad guys and hoard wealth in order to enjoy Neopets. My favorite player is actually a person who gave away her pets, deleted her old accounts, and started fresh with a Yellow Gnorbu and a cool User Lookup. Even though she doesn't do dailies or fight in the Battledome, she loves to lurk the Help Neoboard and chat with her fellow players. I love her because she's always witty, enthusiastic and fun to talk to. What an awesome and magical way to enjoy the site, free of competition and greed!

So these were the myriad and wonderful ways in which downsizing is actually a fun activity on Neopets! I'd like to thank all of the players I chatted with on the Neoboards, whose quirks and idiosyncrasies always inspire me to write these articles. It's always interesting to pick your brains, and I hope to keep canvassing you for your opinions for future articles!

Thanks for reading this article, dear readers! Stay tuned for more articles from yours truly, and have an amazing week!