Back in the early 2000's, "pet sites" were all the rage. You could adopt, play with, and care for an animal while also interacting with other players around the world.
Most of these sites were meant for kids. Places like Webkinz lacked much in the way of lore, but offered fun things to do such as owning a home and giving your pet a job.
Then, there was Neopets.
Created by two college students in late 1999, the site was original designed for other bored college students who couldn't have pets in their dorms. The pets ranged from your standard wolf-like and bird-like monsters, to big fat dragons, floating eyeball monsters, and even some based on real life celebrities. Of course, things changed eventually; those eyeball monsters transformed into the slightly-less-creepy bug-like Buzzes, and the real-life people were turned into pets like Bruce and Kau. While these old designs can still be found in archives and wikis, the designs most people are familiar with stuck for years, especially as the site began to get more and more popular.
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| The creepiness is even more apparent when it's laughing at your misery. |
Neopets had a lot of things these old sites lacked. It had Plots, and it had lore... Surprisingly intricate lore, might I add. As a kid, someone who joined the site too late to contribute to the earliest plots and left to soon to contribute to the newest ones, the older ARG-esque plots had always both fascinated and haunted me. If there was any doubt about the site actually being for adults once upon a time, looking up old plots such as "Ski Lodge Murder Mystery" and "Neopets V2" will give you a good idea of what shockingly dark stories the original Neopets Team (or TNT) used to create. For reference, "Ski Lodge" involved members of the staff being murdered off in gruesome ways (personally, I was always freaked out the most by the staff member who'd gotten their head stuck in a swimming pool drainage station) while players had to ask questions and try and discover which of them was the killer, and "V2" was about for children being stuck in an elevator in space with a psychotic, child-like AI that forced them to play games all day, while players solved puzzles all around the site and raced to save them. I've always had a fascination for deep, complicated Alternate Reality Games, and I think it was born when I was a kid reading about these stories and feeling bummed that I couldn't contribute to them.
Of course, modern Neopets still had it's fair share of plots. From the still-playable but headache-inducing Altador plotline, to the pretty recent Wraith and Obelisk stories, the site still manages to create interesting storylines. However, they have definitely become less and less dark ever since the website became more about children than college students. Remnants of the more-adult past are still found on the site through certain links, games, and map areas, but things increasingly became less and less risky, prioritizing things such as easy-to-follow comics, Battledome events, and a lack of intricate puzzles (again, with the exception of the seriously confusing Altador plot). Similarly, the yearly Altador Cup attracted site-wide attention and a boost every summer when fans came back to support their favorite teams (for the record, I'm Team Maraqua all the way), interact with fellow teammates, and compete for the cup. Charity Corner gave people a reason to stock up on otherwise-worthless junk items all year for a chance to win fun prizes, and the December Advent Calendar offers cute animations and rare collectables, as well as a reason to chat with people on the forums about nitpicky things like continuity or animation quality.
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| One day, we'll win. One day. |
One question people still ask is... "Is Neopets still around"? After having abandoned it for a few years, I was shocked to discover that it was still up in 2020, with some of my old friends even still being on the website. While the magic that sparked in me as a kid was gone, and I couldn't indulge in the lore like I once tried to, I still had a lot of fun playing the games, doing dailies, and running an ever-changing theme shop. I made more Neopoints than I ever had when I was a kid, and now that I had my own money I was able to buy my own Neocash for exclusive items, purchase an ad-free subscription, and even go premium, which gave me fun special privileges such as a dailies bar and some rare random events.
And then... 2021 happened. Flash died, and Neopets had to switch over to the new redesign. Not only was the conversion not fully completed, which meant even the "playable" games were bugged and most of the website was still unchanged, but the parts that did change were too bright and colorful for the eyes. People complained about headaches. I had to wear my tinted bluelight glasses just to talk on the forums. Spotting bugs and ranting about the update became a popular pastime for a lot of people on the forums. Oh, and speaking of those people on the forums? All of us were adults who played the site as kids and stuck around mostly out of nostalgia. Despite the website being so child friendly you couldn't even share links to the official fansites, or use even the lightest of curse words, or be openly LGBT+ (a restriction that I've heard has thankfully been lifted since I stopped playing), the player base itself was generally all old enough to drink, and that's an underestimate. Attempts to take these criticisms to the TNT itself was impossible; the staff ignored any critical editorial submissions when making new "Neopian Times" editions (ruining a part of the paper that was always my favorite to read as a kid), meaning that all of us were just screaming into the void and at the choir.
I've heard that the website is now making NFT's, which is a frightening thought, and I'm becoming increasingly more glad my interest died out with the new update. Of course, a part of me will always miss the magic the website used to bring me.
The map, while not too intricate, has always been detailed and fun to explore. Clicking on hidden areas reveals secret locations you would've otherwise missed, often with an easter egg or even treasure to collect. The games were simple, but still fun to play, and I found myself constantly improving with each attempt. It was fun to make money, buy items, sell items, and get rich, just by being smart about how I used my Neopoints and what I chose to sell in my shop. I really liked making the pets themselves, trying to give them all unique personalities, and customizing their appearance with wearables. As a kid, I got really into forum roleplays, an as an adult that forum aspect still appealed to me going back. I even got really into doing my daily tasks, always hoping the wheel would land on that paintbrush icon or that I'd make King Skarl laugh with my random joke of the day.
Neopets is a website that had a lot of magic for a child like myself, who was at the perfect age to really start getting interested in both petsites and deep, dark, complicated lore. It may never return to the old glory days, but at least we can look back and smile fondly at our memories of fishing underwater, exploring the Haunted Woods, and painting our Neopet invisible.
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