Don't waste your time with Neopets
By John "nnguyen11490" Nguyen
I recalled starting Neopets in early 2003; before they were commercialized. Before you read my story, I just wanted to point out that I did not quit due to being frozen or the staff.
Back then, addictively, I was playing for about 7+ hours a day over the summer and around 4 hours during the school year. Though it did not get into my grades (because me, being a smart kid and all), but it did affected my social life. Someone would ask me, "hey wanna come to my place and hang?", my usual reply will be "No! I need to restock on Neo!". Pathetic, I know.
Restocking then used to be really easy. Because there were no pictures that you have to clicked, and much less autobuyers. Earning in around 200K-1 mil in neopoints a day was pretty simple. But still that is not enough for me. I want to be making much, much more. I idolized the bigleaguers like v_team, garet_jaxx, featherally, hrobi, ect. Wanting to know how did they make so much and get to where they were. I kept making goals for myself day by day of how much points to reach; that is what kept me hooked.
Throughout my times, I only got frozen once, due to buying a fake Honey Potion as I recalled. Well, that problem got resolved quickly. I told Adam the situation and he unbanned me. And no, I never "sucked-up" to TNT at the time. Heck, I used to rant and complained about how slow the site is and why is it always going down. Ahh such good times.
v_team (stand for Viet-Team and the origional owner of Majal_Kita), was once a good friend of mine. The account actually was shared between a group of friends. I knew of one of them. Reading of some articles about the favortism of the TNT, really brings back memories of what v_team told me. He did mentioned that the TNT liked him before. Someone hacked him once and put Majal_Kita in the adoption center and he got it back within an hour or so. A similar thing happened to my robot Lupe but yet I never got it backed. Strange indeed... Anyhow, I still do not know the reason he was frozen later. Some say they thought he was cheating in some sort, others say the TNT suddenly hated him. Who knows? What I do know is that David, one of the person on v_team, never wanted Majal_Kita transferred, he wanted him to be frozen or erased. But now, somehow it belongs to featheralley. Hmmm...
Getting back to my main point... So why did I quit? Wasn't TNT's fault, but yet it was the reason why I am addicted that got me to quit. I joined for one sole reason: POPULARITY. I wanted to be known and remembered by everyone. When I realized that I will never become successful as some others, I gave up. Some addictive players need to realize that "YOU WILL NEVER BECOME THE BEST." Those guys you see with the super strong pets and tons of rare items have been here since the beginning. They have spend a good majority of their lifetime on the site.
What if one day, the staff decided to close the site and just make Neopets video games? Or a sudden server crash and erased some of your data? All of times you'd spend TCing, RSing or whatever have been a complete waste. Remember, the staff will care less about your one tiny account out of millions.
I returned to Neopets back in 2005 for about 2 weeks for a few reasons. One was to see how much things have changed and if anyone I know is still there. To my surprise, everyone on my friends list was frozen. The elites are still here (except for v_team and a few others), my precious duckies were downgraded, and annoying banners and ads everywhere. And the final reason is Neoquest 2 (that and the prequel was the only good thing that Neo ever provided). Being an RPG freak, I'd made a goal for myself to beat it on Insane and then quit the site once more. I came through and did so.
The point is; play, but be smart. Set short goals for yourself that you can accomplish and then quit. Not goals like making so-and-so NP or getting this item, because those are the ones that will cause you to stay.
Don't waste your time with Neopets. Play some video games. At least with those, you can win and become the best.
John "nnguyen11490" Nguyen. My account is still there for your all to glorify of how much time I wasted.