It used to be hard to earn Neopoints, before plushies
By Aii
Hello, I am a player, both former and current, of Neopets. In light of certain events, mainly, Neopets releasing plushies left and right, I could not contain how utterly irritating this move was. I have tried to be understanding of Neo, but this, my friend, is where I draw the line in the sand, because it undermines the work of thousands of people. Once upon a time, playing Neopets games used to mean something.
It used to be hard to earn Neopoints.
It used to take me hours of staying in front of a screen playing games to earn them. Stupid ripoff games, I might add, simplified and modified but clearly taken from other sites. Yet despite not liking these games, I played them. Why? Simple. I was younger then. The stock market confused me, restocking required a sizable chunk of start up money, and I never could win those various contests. Like most players, my only income came straight from games and virtually nothing else at all. It used to take me months to save up NP for what I wanted.
I could ramble on about how this all played into my OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but that is a rant for another day. The point is, it used to mean something to be able to be able to, with no cheats or favoritism by staff, earn yourself a Cybunny or a Baby Paint Brush. It used to indicate some endurance and some patience. An owner could look at their pet and say, honestly, 'I got this because I did something'.
No longer will anyone be able to claim that, however. Ladies and gents, in a stunning display of corporate greed, Neopets now has plushies that come with special item codes. They are widely distributed through Wal-Mart, North America's number one grocery store. This gives hundreds of thousands, if not millions, access to the merchandise in questions. Now, it's no new thing for Neopets to support itself via plush toys. It's basically Neopets' schtick at this point. Why this release of plushies is significant is that a), the scale is larger than ever before, and b), the item codes. Allow me to point out why this is a very, very bad sign of things yet to come.
The items gotten with these item codes are expensive. 100k or upwards should be considered the standard price for most items retrieved from the codes. They went like lightning when I put them on the Trading Post. Within literally twenty five minutes, I had gained 300k. Instantly. I did not have to work for it, I didn't have to struggle through games or ignore through gritted teeth the other player's laughter in my direction for having no painted pets. The whole process of working towards a goal was thrown out the window instantly because my mother dropped 21.50 USD on plushies. The items on the codes that come with these plushies are like gold. Players want them so desperately that they will fork over hundreds of thousands of NP for them.
All that work you did, all those hours of striving towards a goal even as your arms cramped and your eyes watered? That joy, that pride that everyone feels when their goal is completed because of their sheer determination? GONE. The game is tilted, the board is skewed, and people know it. Even as the poorer players protest, the spoiled child portion of the Neopets populous has come into new power. Now kids with lots of money or easily won over parents are making, roughly, 100k or more for every seven real life dollars they spend. In an instant, those who worked their way to owning a certain pet or color of pet have been screwed over by the system. You may very well have spent over a hundred hours and a real life year getting a Krawk, but now some kid can have his parents buy him plushies and earn that in a month flat. Your work, your hours of giving Neopets traffic, and your efforts were all in vain and for not, and now there's nothing you can do about it.
The news only gets worse. Wal Mart is spreading plushies everywhere, to each state and parts of Canada. Kids gobble them up, not because they like the merchandise but because it will give them an edge in the game. I observed one child trading his lunch for an item code. Why? Not because, exclusively, of Neopets addiction, though that is a problem. The truth of it is that human beings, especially children, are lazy by nature. No one wants to work hard when an easier way is possible. If you have options between working an hour a day for 10k, or skipping lunch and getting 100k the second you get home, which do you think most people will choose? As these plushies become accessible for virtually every child in the country, kids everywhere will have been taught an important moral by Neopets:
The only people who work to get something they want are poor.
Therefore Neopets has just effectively taught a few hundred thousand kids that selling out is both easy and commonplace. As the user count continues to rise and the number of stores providing Neopets plushies shows no sign of falling, let us all pause a moment, close our eyes and pray. The future isn't looking too great right now as Neo works to acquire more partners to spread their toys farther in what is a brilliant, addictive corporate ploy that plays perfectly to child psychology. The rich kids, the bratty kids whose parents can't say no, those with lots of relatives who don't mind buying toys - these insufferably rude kids are about to be showered in easy NP for the rest of their lives.
And you thought Neopets players were immature BEFORE things were handed to them on a plate.
God help us when they realize the full use of their allowance.
Good luck, future players.
Sincerely,
Aii