What’s Your Favorite Neopet?
Overall, your Neopet is an extension of who you are, and how well you can play the game; the concept is sponsored by Viacom, and has been in operation since 1999. The Worlds of Neopia are destinations to travel to and explore; everything from the weather, maps, and cultural attributes of each destination are provided. Visit Krawk Island, for instance, and play games of buried treasure, or surf the coast of this mystery island that is inhabited by pirates. Explore Faerieland to play games and puzzles in this enchanted castle, unlock secret passwords to the tower, and pit yourself against other Neopet champs in a variety of races. The Haunted Woods provide quests and stories to decipher, along with a ghostly and spooky Halloween theme. Other interesting territories include the Virtupets Space Station, Terror Mountain, The Lost Desert, and Tyrannia.
The attraction of online and virtual communities where players interact is a popular component of the web today. As we grow and evolve to more social and gaming networks, we’ll find increasing portals and sites that offer different levels of creativity, games, dimensions, and graphics/effects. The Neopet culture is another up-and-coming network with a fun and user-friendly online environment. It is geared toward a variety of age groups, and the graphics and characters are modern, engaging, and highly interactive. Each Neopet is classified by characterisitics of its natural tendencies; for example, the Bull will likely engage in many head-to-head battles, empowered with some distinct personality traits. The Rabbit, on the other hand, has a set of characteristics that involve high creativity and puzzle solving abilities. Of ocurse, these change and evolve as your pet becomes more proficient and skilled at the games played and worlds visited and conquered.
Neopets offer users their own e-mail account, a variety of colorful puzzles and games, and discussion forums. Heavy users of this site often log in at least once per day, and an increase in their gaming skills enables them to enjoy boosting their Neopet into higher levels and challenges. The pets themselves thrive on the owner’s visits to shops at
Neopia Central. Here, the Neopian Bazaar and Neopian Bazaar provide magical potions, cards, clothes, food, and toys for your pet. Each week, special events are posted in honor of various communities and pets; the Pet Spotlight offers a showcase of the most successful Neopets of the week, along with fan pictures and pages. Teams are formed easily, and allow users to play against each other in medium to large groups.
To continue the Neopet culture in the ‘real world,’ the company is launching a Neopet cereal named “Neopets Islandberry Crunch Cereal’ available in grocery stores. A Playstation version is also available, and trading cards and an official magazine provide comic and card collectors an extension of ht ebrand in a new way. Screensavers, backgrounds, downloads of computer desktop freebies, and a catalogue offering Neopet soft toys further create a demand to absorb all that the world of Neopia has to offer.
Clearly, the world of Neopia is becoming a prominent part of pop culture and ‘net culture across the globe. Since its inception in 1999, the site has drawn a variety of users and continues to increase its 70 million mark. AT this time, registration is free; however, Viacom does offer a non-advertisement paid subscription portal for those users who may have interest. Ads are a large revenue source for this site, but it provides a highly interactive, character-driven, and forum based portal for a great opportunity for social networking and gaming.
