Petpet Customisation - Is it Possible?

     And yet, prior to the release of customisation and the NC Mall in Year 9, the only way to modify the appearance of your Pets was a Paint Brush. All pets of the same species and colour looked identical to one another for nearly nine years before anyone thought it was time to do something differently.

     All this got me thinking: would it be possible to add customisation options for Petpets? Or is this a change that Neopia needn’t pursue? Today, I’ll present to you some of the arguments in support of, and some of the arguments against this change.

     1. Better custom options for your pet

     We know people love designing customisation options for their pets, and many also like coordinating their pet’s Petpet to match. Currently, the only way to customise your Petpet is with a Petpet paint brush.

     Imagine, however, that you could dress your Petpet up too? Is your pet an outer space custom? Here, have a space helmet for your Petpet. Does your pet have slumber party vibes? Try a cosy onesie for your pet’s smaller friend.

     The options are near limitless and would undoubtedly be highly popular with those among us who enjoy customising our pets.

     2. Showing appreciation for Petpets

     I’ve written in these pages before that Petpets often get the short straw in several different activities all over Neopia. They can be zapped into dust, eaten by a whole host of creatures, or forced to fight in the Petpet arena. They are pushed to take unpleasant journeys, going deep into the Symol Hole, or venturing into Grave Danger, all for the sake of possibly returning with a prize for us.

     Customisation might be a good opportunity for us to say we’re sorry, or at least to make Petpets feel like we do appreciate them. Who hasn’t been made to feel that little bit better when wearing an outfit that just works? Our Petpets deserve the self-esteem boost that this change would bring, especially after everything we put them through on a literal daily basis.

     3. Good for the site

     We all want Neopets to succeed and to be a popular games site. When Nostalgic Pet Styles were released at the start of the year, we all noticed an uptick in interest in the game. People flocked to buy the styles then, and people are still really engaged with this change, trading tokens on the Neoboards and awaiting the latest pet colours. This significant change to how customisation worked generated a lot of interest, and probably a good amount of commerce for the site too.

     Petpet customisation would be a similarly significant change to how customisation works, and therefore could potentially trigger a similar uptick in interest.

     1. Implementation is complex

     Despite the above arguments, it is undeniable that this would not be an easy change to bring about.

     Firstly, a customisation platform with a separate closet would need to be built to customise Petpets, or the current platform would need to be amended to display Petpets alongside your pets. Neither of these options are straightforward, and both would take a lot of time to build.

     Petpets also have incredibly varied body shapes and poses. One might wonder whether this change might necessitate the conversion of Petpets, to have a relatively consistent customisable shape, just as the conversion of pets required back in Year 9. Could we see UC Petpets becoming a thing that people value and collect? Will we need Nostalgic Petpet styles down the road because of this change?

     At the time of customisation being introduced, there were 54 species of pet to design each new wearable item for. With just under 500 species of Petpet, it would be an absolute mammoth task to release a single wearable, which would mean a significant amount of time spent on each. Given there are currently zero Petpet wearables, and each would take a long time to make, it might be a very long time before anyone has the chance to create a custom they’re happy with.

     2. Not a priority

     While this change would be fun, there are a lot of other changes that would be more fun, and that people have been calling on for longer. TNT has been doing a good job in the last few years at fixing old features, but there remains a lot of work to do. This is hardly the place to be creating a comprehensive list, but I think most would agree features like the Battledome and some older games (Bilge Dice, anyone?) need repairing first. Adding a new feature like Petpet customisation might be nice, but when it comes down to it, there are more important things for TNT to be doing.

     3. Petpet inflation

     The most sought after Petpets are already in short supply, and therefore incredibly expensive. Can you imagine how much worse the situation would become if we were to add this feature, which would make certain Petpets even more desirable? Want a Xampher or a Moltenore? Good luck getting one if they ever become customisable.

     While it would certainly be an interesting move, it’s clear that the time isn’t quite right for this change. The implementation barriers are too insurmountable, and the community isn’t really calling for it, at least at this point in history.

     As something of a compromise, Petpets have started to appear more and more frequently as customisation options themselves, such as the Sitting Snowbunny Friend, the Restless Dragoyle or the Service Doglefox and Kadoatie. TNT has indicated this is something the team would like to keep doing, so hopefully this provides a method for us to show our appreciation for Petpets without needing to overhaul important features of the site.