Games - Neopets

	Games - Neopets

Neopets is an online virtual pet simulation game. The site was opened to the public November 15, 1999, by Adam Powell and Donna Williams, but the company was bought by Doug Dohring soon after being created. Currently it is owned by Viacom after a recent business transaction, valued at USD 160 million.

Although the company is based in the United States, its founders are British and the site retains British English spellings (though there are some exceptions). In addition to English, as of June 2005 the site is available translated (with varying degrees of completeness) into ten other languages: Dutch, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese-simplified, Chinese-traditional, Japanese and Korean. Neopets Inc. also operates an Asian branch, which is partially owned by Green Dot Capital, a subsidiary of the investment vehicle of the Government of Singapore, Temasek Holdings.

In May of 2004 Nielsen/Net Ratings reported that people were spending around three hours a month on Neopets, more than any other site in its Nielson category. 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 . More recently, in January 2006 Neopets reported over 115 million accounts, and over 169 million pets (each account can have a maximum of 4 pets and some users have several accounts). Updated statistics may be found on the Neopets "Pet Central" Page. However, there is some doubt over the veracity of these statistics (see "Controversy" below).

On June 20, 2005, Viacom stated that it had bought Neopets in a deal that has been valued at approximately $160 million . According to Viacom, Dohring, the current CEO of Neopets, along with other Neopets senior managers, will continue to hold their positions after the acquisition has been completed. This has caused concern among players that various aspects of the site would change. Common fears include the website becoming "Pay to Play" or that the fantasy feel the site currently possesses would lessen.

Basics

After creating an account, players can have up to four different pets per account. Multiple accounts (up to five, according to the rules) can be created in order to have more pets, but using these accounts to gain an unfair advantage is prohibited. The majority of users are aged 7-12 at about 60%, but teenagers (about 20%), and even some adults (about 20%) are known to be regular "Neopians," as well as a small few below the age of 7.

As of January 2006, there are 53 Neopet species currently available. There are 11 that are limited edition or restricted, meaning they are harder to obtain. The first Neopet species created is the Grarrl, and the newest species is the Gnorbu. Most species are fictionalized versions of real animals — for example, the Nimmo is a stylized frog, both the Zafara and the Blumaroo are kangaroo-like, the Kougra is tiger-like, a Mynci is monkey like, and the Pteri is a bird-like species. There are also Neopets versions of popular fantasy creatures, such as dragons (Draiks, Scorchios) and unicorns (Unis). When they first create their pets users can customize the pets by selecting their gender and colour. (There is an initial choice of red, blue, yellow, or green for most Neopets, with the exception of the Grundo, which can initially be purple, brown or white, too.) These colours can be changed later with expensive paint brushes, ranging from shadow and ghost to disco and white. The name and personality of pets can not be altered once they have been created.

Beginning stats for "battling" in an arena named the "Battledome" are chosen randomly, seemingly by the roll of a dice. The categories for stats include Strength, Agility, Defense, and Maximum HP (hit points). These stats can be increased by "training" at one of three training schools (mainly dependent on the pet's level), a blessing from a faerie after one of their quests, as a reward from certain games or by completing a secret laboratory map and using the earned Lab Ray.

Players must take care of and feed their pets (although Neopets will never die, or starve to death). Some ways to care for a pet include reading books to pets and letting the pets play with toys. Neglecting a Neopet will result in its unhappiness, which may have consequences such as the pet turning blue via random event if it's sad, or red if it's angry. Pets can battle each other in a Battledome in a style akin to popular role-playing games such as Pokémon. Users can also play over 200 games within the site to earn Neopoints (game currency) and can submit their score for each game up to three times a day. Other activities include talking on forums with other players, completing quests, entering contests, and shopping and restocking account shops.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Neopets ]

Games - Neopets

Basics

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