Bye Bye Neopets, I Quit
By theseus51
I quit.
I quit for many, many reasons. I used to be as addicted as you, wasting hours a day on Neopets. No more. I have come to realize that this place is just a fantasy world created by the Neopets Corporation that serves no purpose at all. You can make friends here, but then again, you can make friends anywhere. Despite having some fun in Neopets, and making some good friends, I have decided to quit.
I have never seen a company treat its customers as badly as the Neopets Corporation treats its players. No answers to email inqueries, no justification for massive freezings of accounts. Nobody listens to customer suggestions, and no acknowledgement of problems like bugs or scammers. There are tons of glitches and "down" servers. Despite all this, there is just silence. I guess the Neopets Corporation hopes that if they don't acknowledge any of the problems, the problems will all "go away". I'll tell you what though, the players are the ones that are "going away".
Neopets is boring. I quit before, and came back because it was still fun. Now it's boring. You do the same thing over and over . . . whether it's games, or trades, or auctions, or shops or battle . . . same thing over and over . . . just with different items. BORING.
This game also causes stress. Come on, free time was meant for fun activities, not stressful ones. If you stress out over neopets, think about it while you are working or in school, that's terrible. I know because it happened to me, and I didn't like it.
Also, the items are pixels of color. Let me say that again. PIXELS OF COLOR. They are not real. Also, the neopoints you have are not real currency, it's just bits of data. They have no value, it is all just bits and bytes stored on computers at Neopets' Corporate Headquarters in Los Angeles, California. What is real though, is your valuable time that you spend getting these pixels of color and bits of data.
In addition, this site has also made me a more cynical person. I can't see a TV commercial without thinking "SCAM". I can't read a magazine ad without thinking "SCAM". I distrust people more, and think less of humanity as a whole because of Neopets. I don't want that for myself.
I have seen people post in chat that their girlfriend left them because they spent too much time on Neopets. Even after that, they couldn't decide if they were going to quit Neopets and get the girlfriend back, or keep playing Neopets. I have seen people post that their marriage was in trouble because they spent too much time on Neopets, and not enough time with their spouse or kids.
It is not the Neopets Corporation's fault. It's not their fault for making this site, and its not their fault for trying to make it fun. That's why the designers and programmers have their jobs, and get paid their salary. It's all in an effort to keep you hooked, and playing the game, and telling your friends to play, so you all can be happy in this fantasy land, and keep seeing the ads for Mcdonalds or Disney.
Then who's fault is it that you are addicted and keep playing? It is your fault. Nobody forces you to spend 4 hours a day here. Seriously, don't play if Neopets is affecting the amount of time you spend with family, or getting in the way of school or work (sadly, I've seen this happen far too often).
If your son or daughter spent as much time as you do playing Neopets, what would you tell them? Nice work? I really like the fact you spend all your free time here? You should keep on playing Neopets rather than talk to your friends from school? Yeah, I think playing Neopets is better than a real job? Or are you more likely to tell your son or daughter "I love you, but I think you need to stop playing Neopets since it's taking up too much of your time and getting in the way of your other activities".
I know what I would tell my son or daughter. . . . Anyway, take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself what you would tell your kids if they spent as much time playing as you do.
This is as much a warning, as a complaint about the freezing policies here. These are various reasons why innocent people were frozen in Neopets:
For those who are not quitting, I leave you with this, my open letter to Neopets:
Dear Neopets:
My name is David Ninomiya, and I have played Neopets for a few months. The reason so many people joined is because of good "word of mouth" where friends told friends to play. My cousin (stargurlee) told me to play, but she has since been frozen and quit. I have played for a few months, and saw how badly the Neopets Corporation treats its players. I saw the staff unfairly freeze dozens of my friends's accounts, and came to realize that pixels of color are not worth my time. So I'm quitting too.
In the beginning, I totally recommended this site because it was fun. Now, I WOULDN'T DARE tell my friends to join. I would work as hard as I could to keep them from joining. I'm sure many people feel the same way.
Since I know the Neopets Corporation is all about money, I truly hope that you will keep in mind what I said when you think about forcasting your long-term profits. Also, think about what you are going to tell Mcdonalds, General Mills, and Disney when the word "Neopets" is not associated with a fun kid's site anymore, but rather a terrible site with the reputation that the staff doesn't listen to player complaints, everyone is a scammer, half the player's accounts are frozen, and where thousands of people are quitting on a daily basis.
I just hope that some day it will be more profitable for you guys to care about your players, rather than to ignore them all. I hope that one day you make more money by taking player suggestions and only freezing scammers, rather than freezing EVERYONE, and hoping they will make up new accounts to inflate your membership numbers.
Unfortunately, I will not be around to see it. I quit.
Yours truly, David Ninomiya, aka theseus51, moderate "auctions sniper", and Trades Chat regular.