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Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet website that was launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on November 15, 1999.^[1] Two years after the web site was launched, the creators sold a majority share to a consortium of investors led by Doug Dohring. On June 20, 2005, Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. for US$160 million.^[2]

Visitors can create accounts, own virtual pets ("Neopets"), and buy them food, toys, clothes, and other accessories using in-game virtual currencies, which can be earned by playing games on the site or purchased with real-world money. Neopets also operates a pay-to-play version, Neopets Premium,^[3] and sells Neopets merchandise.

History[link]

Neopets was conceived in 1997 by Adam Powell^[4] and Donna Williams.^[4] Powell and Williams started creating the site in September 1999, with Powell responsible for the programming and the database and Williams the web design and art. They launched it on 15 November 1999 from offices in Portsmouth Road, Guildford, a location still commemorated on the site.^[1][5] The site grew by word of mouth and, by Christmas 1999, it was logging 600,000 page views daily and sought investors to cover the high cost of running the site.^[6] The same month, Doug Dohring was introduced to the creators of the site^[7] and, along with other investors, bought a majority share in January of the following year.^[6] Neopets, Inc. was created in February 2000 and began business the 28th of April. The website made money from the first paying customers using an advertising method trademarked as "immersive advertising",^[7] touted as "an evolutionary step forward in the traditional marketing practice of product placement" in television and film.^[8]

Media conglomerate Viacom purchased Neopets, Inc. on 20 June 2005 for $160 million^[2] and announced plans to focus more on the use of banner ads over the site's existing immersive advertising.^[9] On the first day of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Altador Cup started as an annual international online gaming event^[10] and had 10.4 million participants the first year.^[11] The entire Neopets site was redesigned on 27 April 2007.^[12] On 17 July 2007, a new section of the site, the NC Mall, was launched^[13] in a partnership with Korean gaming company Nexon Corporation.^[14] The next day, Viacom announced that by the end of 2008, Neopets, Inc would be renamed to NeoStudios, "which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online, while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones."^[15] On June 17, 2008, Viacom formed the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Virtual Worlds Group to "encompass all paid and subscription gaming initiatives across all relevant platforms", including Neopets.^[16]

Since August 2003, the site has been translated into ten other written languages: Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Dutch and French.^[17] However, Neopets announced on 1 January 2009 that the Italian, Japanese, and Korean areas of the site would no longer be updated.^[18]

In July 2009, the Neopets site was the target of an identity theft hacking scheme that attempted to trick users into clicking a link that would allow them to gain items or neopoints. Upon doing so, malware is installed on the user's computer. According to reports, the hack is aiming not at child player's Neopets accounts, but at using the malware to steal the financial data and identities of their parents. Viacom stated that it was investigating the issue, and that the hack was a version of social engineering rather than an "indictment of Neopets security practices".^[19] In an on-site newsletter for players, Neopets denied the report and claimed that the site's security measures prevented the posting of such links.^[20]

In June 2011, Neopets announced that the website had logged 1 trillion page views since its creation.^[21]

Gameplay[link]

Neopets is set in the fantasy lands of the virtual world of Neopia, which has its own calendar and timezone running concurrent with the real-world Pacific Time.^[22] It also has its own economy and stock market based on the Neopoint. Players earn Neopoints through various means including playing games and selling items. Once earned, they can be invested or used to buy various goods and services.^[23]

Upon visiting the site, visitors can create a free account. Users may create up to five accounts per email but the rules state that only one account may be used to earn Neopoints; that account is referred to as a "main" and the rest as "sides". A user then creates a Neopet out of the available 54 and chooses its unique name, its physical characteristics, and its personality^[24] and may own up to four per account (five if the user in question is subscribed to Premium Portal). When creating a Neopet, users may pick between three sets of randomly generated stats used for battling in the Battledome. Players are expected to feed and care for their Neopets when they grow hungry or ill, although they will not die if they are neglected.^[25] New users start out with a newbie pack consisting of various items that introduce basic features of the site, such as food for feeding a pet. More items can be bought from other users' or from non-player characters' shops.

Users can play Neopets in any way they choose by collecting items, battling other Neopets, doing quests, playing games and more. Users can interact with their Neopets by reading books to them, caring for them, and playing with them. They can train their Neopets to fight against another player's Neopets or against non-player characters in the Battledome. Wearable items, such as certain clothing, can be used to customise a Neopet. Players can build a customisable Neohome for their Neopets and furnish it with furniture, wallpaper, and flooring.

Users found breaking the rules set in the Terms and Conditions may be sent a warning or have their account suspended, silenced, or permanently deactivated. If the owner of a deactivated, or frozen, account finds the reason for deactivation invalid, they may contact the Neopets support team and possibly have their account reactivated.

Site content[link]

The content of the site is updated almost on a daily basis with the addition of new games, items, and weekly content.^[26] In addition to the site content updated by Neopets, players also contribute user-generated content to the site.^[27] Player contributions come in the form of prescreened submissions and readily editable content that is automatically filtered, such as the site's weekly electronic newspaper "The Neopian Times". There are different types of submissions that will be accepted.^[28]

Games[link]

There are many active games from which users can earn Neopoints and awards. Before November 22, 2006 the games were divided into three categories: Puzzle, Action, and Luck/Chance. After that date the Games Room was reconfigured and now games are divided into many more categories.^[29] Various games and activities include Flash and Shockwave games, PHP games, 3D Life Player games, contests and spotlights, and quests to retrieve items.

Neopoints can be earned from playing games, most of which have a set maximum of earnings or playtime. Players may also earn trophies for their trophy cabinet from games if they score high enough for the Hi-Score Tables, which are reset on the first day of each month. Challenges may be made against other players or random players in a "World Challenge" for a prize piece and Neopoints from the jackpot for certain Flash games. A monthly competition also exists for multiplayer PHP games with four week-long elimination rounds.

Neopets offers several different contests and spotlights, where winners are chosen by judges on the Neopets staff or voted on by members of the Neopets community. Contests include several formats, such as writing a story or drawing a picture of their Neopet. Spotlights showcase what users have done with customisable content. Winners also receive a trophy and a reward, which varies with the contest or spotlight.^[30]

In Australia, a cross-promotion with McDonald's led to a controversy with Neopets' luck/chance games in October 2004. A story on the Australian tabloid television show Today Tonight featured a nine-year-old boy who claimed the site requires one to gamble in order to earn enough Neopoints to feed one's Neopet or else it would be sent to the pound.^[31] While gambling is not required, nor are pets sent to the pound if they are not fed, the website has a number of games of chance that are based on real-life games such as blackjack and lottery scratchcards. After this incident, Neopets began prohibiting users under the age of 13 from playing most games that involve gambling.^[6]

Exclusive content[link]

Users may pay real money for some services, including Neopets Premium, which removes external ads and allows access to restricted areas of the site, and NeoCash, with which NC Mall items may be purchased to customise a user's Neopet or Neohome.

In February 2008, Neopets announced Key Quest, a feature that will engage users by having them buy Neopets merchandise at retail stores, using a virtual code to redeem tokens for their user accounts; people without merchandise can play as well.^[32]

Community[link]

Neopets has a community in which users can chat with and contact each other. Users may request other users to be "Neofriends" or block other users from contacting them. Players are represented by small icons known as avatars that are provided by the website, as players cannot upload their own. To comply with COPPA, players under 13 years of age cannot access any of the site's communication features without sending in parental consent.^[33] The main features include:

• NeoMail, a personal in-game communication system like regular email. Players can write messages to other players and restrict who can contact them through NeoMail.
• Neoboards, public discussion boards for on-topic discussions. Users can enter their own "neoHTML", a restricted form of BBCode, to customise their posts and signatures.
• Guilds, groups of users with similar interests and their own message board.

Discussions through these features are restricted and may not involve topics such as dating and romance or controversial topics like politics and religion. Continuous moderation is performed by paid Neopets staff members,^[33] and users can help moderate the site by reporting messages they believe are inappropriate or offensive.^[33] Messages are also automatically filtered to prevent users from posting messages with profanity or lewd content.^[33]

Personal pages[link]

Each user is given a customisable profile page, commonly known as a "userlookup" on the website. In addition, every Neopet has a profile or "pet lookup", which can be edited like the user's profile. Each Neopet also has a "petpage", which the user can edit with HTML and CSS.

Immersive advertising[link]

Immersive advertising is a trademarked term for the way Neopets displayed advertisements to generate profit after Doug Dohring bought the site.^[6] Instead of running pop-up and banner ads, immersive ads integrate advertisements into the site's content in interactive forms, including games and items. Players can earn Neopoints from them by doing things such as playing advergames and taking part in online marketing surveys.^[34] Prior to the arrival of the NC Mall, it contributed to 60% of the revenue from the site^[25] with paying Fortune 1000 companies including Disney, General Mills, and McDonald's.^[34]

It was a contentious issue with the site with regard to the ethics of marketing to children. Half a million of the 25 million users were under the age of eight in 2005 and children under eight have difficulty recognizing ads.^[6][34][35] It draws criticism from parents, psychologists, and consumer advocates who argue that children may not know that they are trying to be sold something, as it blurs the line between site content and advertisement. A psychology professor at Georgetown University stated, "It's self marketing, selling to kids that don't know they are seeing anything".^[35] Dohring responded to such criticism:

"Over 60 percent of our audience is 13 and over, so it is not like we are dealing with four- to six-year-olds that may not quite understand the difference between content and advertising. And of the 40 percent of our users who are 12 or under, the ages start at around seven or eight years old and go up from there. The preschoolers are not really our audience, because you have to be a pretty fluid reader to navigate the site."^[36]

Others criticised the functionality of the site. Susan Linn, another psychologist and author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood said, "The whole purpose of this site at this point is to keep kids in front of products".^[35] Kalle Lasn, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Adbusters magazine, said the site was "encouraging kids to spend hours in front of the screen and at the same time recruiting them into consumer culture", which was "the most ingenious mind-fuck ever".^[6] Neopets executives have stated in 2004 and 2006 that paid content comprised less than 1% of the site's total content.^[34][35] Children are not required to play or use sponsor games and items.^[6][37]

Consumer advocates also argue that immersive ads should be clearly labelled as advertisements. Dohring has said, "We're not trying to be subliminal or deceive the user. We label all the immersive ad campaigns as paid advertisements."^[34]

Reception[link]

Neopets has been described as an online cross of Pokémon and Tamagotchi^[7][37] and has been praised for having educational content, such as word games and an HTML guide.^[38] Its popularity spawned real-world merchandise in other markets as well.^[23][25][39]

A press release from Neopets in 2001 stated that Neopets.com led in site "stickiness" in May and June, with the average user spending 117 minutes a week.^[40] Neopets also led in the average number of hours spent per user per month in December 2003 with an average of 4 hours and 47 minutes.^[23] A 2004 article stated that Nielsen//NetRatings reported that people were spending around three hours a month on Neopets, more than any other site in its Nielsen category.^[41] By May 2005, a Neopets-affiliated video game producer cited about 35 million unique users, 11 million unique IP addresses per month, and 4 billion web page views per month. This producer also described 20% of the users as 18 or older, with the median of the remaining 80% at about 14.^[42] Neopets was consistently ranked among the top ten "stickiest" sites by both Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix in 2005 and 2006.^[43][44] According to Nielsen//NetRatings, in 2007, Neopets lost about 15% of its audience over the previous year.^[45] In February 2008, comScore ranked it as the stickiest kids entertainment site with the average user spending 2 hours and 45 minutes per month.^[46][47]

Most of the users are female, higher than in other massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) but equivalent to social-networking-driven communities.^[35][48][48] Lucy Bradshaw, a vice president of Electronic Arts, said, "Games that have a tendency to satisfy on more than one dimension have a tendency to have a broader appeal and attract girls".^[49]

Merchandise[link]

Viacom produces a range of merchandise, including stickers, books, cereals, Neocash cards, and video games, sold at mainstream outlets and online retailers. Each item has a code which can be redeemed at the site for an in-game reward. Neopets had planned to "bring the online and offline worlds together in ways that have never been done before".^[50] An investment banker at Allen & Company in New York said Neopets was the only online media he had seen "that might have the ability to capture market share in the offline world".^[25] Neopets signed a licensing deal with Viacom Consumer Products in 2001 to get the right developers and publishers for their offline content.^[51] A deal with Thinkway Toys produced the first merchandise brought to an international market.^[52] Offline products expanded in 2005 with film and video game deals.^[25] In February 2008, offline products were further expanded when it was announced that Jakks Pacific and Enterplay would produce a new line of merchandise, including new trading cards, to tie into Key Quest.^[32]

Wizards of the Coast released the Neopets Trading Card Game in September 2003 based on the online characters and setting. In 2004, the cards were promoted in three of General Mills "Big G" cereals^[53] and ten Simon Property Group malls.^[54] The TCG received two different nominations for "Toy of the Year" and two other recognitions.^[55]

Neopets: The Official Magazine was a bi-monthly magazine released in September 2003^[56] and sold by subscription and in stores. In 2008, it was replaced by the new magazine Beckett Plushie Pals, which would still include some Neopets news in addition to news related to other companies' products.

Neopets signed a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures in March 2005 to produce films. The first film was to be written by Rob Lieber and produced by Dylan Sellers and John A. Davis,^[57] but the project was shelved in early 2008.

In November 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. released Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, for the PlayStation 2. A second game, Neopets: Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing, was released March 14, 2006 for the PlayStation Portable.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikinews has related news: Neopets to become TV series

• Official Neopets Website
• Neopets Jr.