Neopets
Screenshot of the Neopets homepage as of 3 December 2007. Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
Developer(s)	Neopets, Inc. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video
Publisher(s)	Neopets Inc.; Viacom Inc
Designer(s)	Adam Powell
Platform(s)	Cross-platform
Release date	15 November 1999
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Digital pet
Mode(s)	Single-player with multiplayer interaction. Neopets Inc is the company that owns the popular online-based virtual pet game Neopets (under Viacom since 2005 Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows In computing cross-platform (also known as multi-platform) is a term used to refer to Computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) See also [[Game classification]] Video games are categorized into Genres based on their Gameplay interaction Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting A digital pet (also known as a virtual pet or artificial pet) is a type of Artificial human companion. In video gaming, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time
Media	Web browser
System requirements	Web browser with Adobe Flash Player plugin. Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text images videos music games and other information typically located on a A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text images videos music games and other information typically located on a Adobe Flash (previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash) is a set of Multimedia software created by Macromedia and currently Adobe Shockwave and 3D Life Player (both optional)
Input methods	Keyboard, mouse

Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet website launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on 15 November 1999. Adobe Shockwave (formerly Macromedia Shockwave) was Macromedia 's first and most successful multimedia player prior to the introduction of Macromedia Flash (now In Computing, a keyboard is an Input device partially modelled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys In Computing, a mouse (plural mice, mouse devices, or mouses) A digital pet (also known as a virtual pet or artificial pet) is a type of Artificial human companion. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) ^[1] Six months after the web site was launched, Adam Powell and Donna Williams successfully sold a majority share to a consortium of investors led by Doug Dohring. Doug Dohring is owner of the Dohring Company, a marketing research firm based in Glendale California. On 20 June 2005, Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests for $160 million (USD). The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been ^[2]

Neopets is based around the eponymous virtual pets that inhabit the virtual world of Neopia. A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars These avatars are usually depicted Visitors can create an account and take care of up to four virtual pets, buying them food, toys, clothes, and other accessories using a virtual currency called Neopoints. Neopoints can be earned through playing games, investing in the stock market, trading, winning contests and making your own shop. A stock market, or (equity market is a private or public market for the trading of company Stock and derivatives of company Users can explore the world of Neopia with their Neopets and interact with each other through the NeoBoards, NeoMail, and guilds.

In addition to the main site, Neopets also operates a pay-to-play version known as Neopets Premium, which offers additional features and benefits for a monthly fee of $7. Pay to Play can refer to several different concepts In politics See also Quid pro quo In politics pay to play refers to a system 99 (USD). The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Several issues with the site, such as immersive advertising and gambling-based games have garnered criticism.

History

See also: Neopets, Inc.

Neopets was first concieved from an idea Powell had while studying at Nottingham University in 1997. Neopets Inc is the company that owns the popular online-based virtual pet game Neopets (under Viacom since 2005 The University of Nottingham is a Public, Co-educational institution of Higher learning in the city of Nottingham, England. Adam Powell started UK-based advertising company Shout! Advertising in 1997, which grew to be the third largest click-through program on the Internet by 1999. He also co-founded Netmagic, an online banner advertising design and sales firm and Powlex Ltd. , a web site design firm. ^[3] Donna Williams was a marketing manager for Shout! Advertising from September 1997 to July 1999 responsible for internet advertising, sales and services, graphic and web design. ^[3] He and Williams started creating the site in September 1999 and launched the site two months later on 15 November 1999. Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) ^[1] Powell was responsible for the programming and database, and Williams the web design and art.

By Christmas, they were receiving 600,000 page views daily and decided to seek investment to cover the high cost of running the site. A page view (PV or page impression is a request to load a single page of an Internet site. ^[4] The same month, Doug Dohring was introduced to the creators of the site^[5] and, along with other investors, bought a majority share in January of the following year. Doug Dohring is owner of the Dohring Company, a marketing research firm based in Glendale California. ^[4] Neopets, Inc. was then created in February 2000 and began business in April. Neopets Inc is the company that owns the popular online-based virtual pet game Neopets (under Viacom since 2005 The website was later made profitable due to the first paying customers for an advertising method known as "immersive advertising",^[5] touted as "an evolutionary step forward in the traditional marketing practice of product placement" in television and film. Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a type of Advertising, in which promotional Advertisements placed by marketers using ^[6]

Media conglomerate Viacom later bought Neopets, Inc. on 20 June 2005 for $160 million. A media conglomerate describes companies that own large numbers of companies in various Mass media such as Television, Radio, Publishing, Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests Neopets Inc is the company that owns the popular online-based virtual pet game Neopets (under Viacom since 2005 Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[2] The entire Neopets site was revamped on 27 April 2007, referred to as Neopets 2. Events 1124 - David I becomes King of Scotland. 1296 - Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. 0 in the Neopets FAQ. ^[7] On 17 July 2007, the NC Mall was launched^[8] in a partnership with Korean gaming company Nexon Corporation. Events 180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Nexon Corporation (넥슨 is a Korean Gaming corporation and a developer of Online games and MMORPGs Its headquarters are located in Seoul, ^[9] The next day, Viacom announced on their website that by the end of 2008, Neopets would be changing to NeoStudios, "which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online, while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones. "^[10]

After the changes in ownership, the site still retained its British English spellings. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the ^[4] To date, 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. The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts Kanji, characters of Chinese origin, Hiragana Written Chinese comprises the written symbols used to represent Spoken Chinese and the rules about how they are arranged and punctuated The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people ^[11]

Gameplay

A room in a Neohome that can be customized

Users of the site are free to choose their own path in the world of Neopia, from collecting things to battling against other users. Visitors can create a free account. Users in a Computing context refers to one who uses a computer system After creating an account, a user creates a Neopet, choosing the name, gender, colour, species, stats,where the pet likes to live and personality of the Neopet^[12] and may own up to four Neopets per account. A newly created pet comes with randomly rolled stats, used for battling in the Battledome. A statistic (or stat) in Role-playing games is a piece of Data which represents a particular aspect of a Fictional character. Players need to feed and care for their Neopets, as Neopets can grow hungry and get sick, although they will not die if they are neglected. ^[13] New users start out with a newbie pack which includes various items. They can get more items for their Neopets by earning Neopoints, the site's currency, through various activities including playing games and selling items.

Users can interact with their Neopets by reading books to them, feeding them, grooming them and playing with them. Players can train their Neopets to be fighters in the Battledome, customize them or collect items for their own collections. The Battledome is where a player's Neopet can fight against another player's Neopet or non-player characters (NPCs). A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a character that is controlled by the Gamemaster in Role-playing games or one that is not Petpets also have a similar battle arena where only NPCs may be challenged. Players can choose to collect certain virtual items and display them in a gallery or album. In addition to items, players can also collect trophies, avatars, and site themes, although there is no function to display the latter two. An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games a two-dimensional Icon In computing a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details used to customize the Look and feel of (typically an

Players can also choose to build a Neohome for their Neopets. Neohomes can be built after a user buys a plot of land, which vary in price depending on the location. In Real estate, a lot is a tract or parcel of Land owned or meant to be owned by some Owner (s ^[4] Each room costs Neopoints to build, and furniture may be put in and arranged. Players may also build gardens and furnish them. Extensions such as lighting, flooring, wallpaper, and insurance can also be purchased. Players may try to win awards for their Neohomes or collections.

Users found breaking the rules set in the Terms and Conditions may have their account suspended or "frozen", a temporary or permanent block. On the Internet, a block is a technical measure intended to restrict access to information or resources

Site content

The site itself includes a navigation bar along the top of the page with links to various sections of the site. The navigation bar also includes an in-game clock set to Neopian Standard Time. When logged in, there are pet and Neofriend modules on the left side of the page, which display the current status of a player's active pet and which Neofriends are online, respectively. By default, the site theme is "Neopets Basic" and users may customize this with other default site themes or site themes they unlock as they explore the site.

The content of the site is updated frequently, almost on a daily basis, with the addition of new games and items, weekly content, and other things. ^[14] In addition to the site content updated by Neopets, players also add to the content of the site. ^[15] Player contributions come in the form of contests, spotlights, and editable content.

Environment

Neopets is set in the fictional persistent world of Neopia, which includes the planet Neopia and its surrounding space. A persistent world (PW is a Virtual world that continues to exist even after a user exits the world and that user-made changes to its state are to some extent permanent Neopia itself has several worlds, similar to continents, which have their own themes. Within each world, users will usually find unique shops, games, items, and activities based around that world's theme. Larger worlds may have several regions or levels. ^[16] Neopia has its own economy based on a currency called Neopoints. A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is ^[13]

Neopia uses its own Gregorian calendar, and its own time system called "Neopian Standard Time". The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used Calendar in the world today Neopian Standard Time, or NST, is a fictional timezone that runs concurrent with the real-world Pacific Time. The Pacific Time Zone observes Standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC-8) ^[17] Neopia has special days and events, some with equivalents to special events and holidays from the real world. ^[18] Special events that tie to the real world include April Fools' Day hoaxes and the month long Christmas Advent Calendar. This article is about the informal holiday For other uses see April Fool.

Neopets

The site takes its name from its core feature, Neopets, the cartoon-like inhabitants of the fictional world of Neopia. There are fifty-four different species of Neopets, some of which are limited edition or have special criteria for creation. ^[19] Users are allowed to have up to four Neopets per account. To obtain a new Neopet, users can either create a pet, allowing them to choose its name, gender, basic colour, species, and some personality options,^[12] or adopt another user's unwanted pet through a adoption or transfer in a system called "The Pound. " Once a user has a Neopet, they can use special items, such as paintbrushes, morphing potions, and a special area called the secret laboratory to change their pets colours and/or species. They can also customise their Neopet by purchasing wearable items for them, such as clothing and backgrounds. Users can feed their Neopet, play games with them, and use them to stage battles with another user's Neopet or a non-playable character in the Battledome. A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a character that is controlled by the Gamemaster in Role-playing games or one that is not

Neopets may own pets called Petpets. Like Neopets, Petpets have levels and can be painted a variety of colours using Petpet paintbrushes. Petpets can be found in petpet shops, in random events, and through combining items and other petpets at the Mystery Island Cooking pot. Petpets can be used to perform a few actions pets can not do, such as attempt to wake the giant petpet Turmaculus (at the risk of having one's petpet eaten) and jump into the Mysterious Symol Hole. Petpets also have a battling area called the "Petpet Battle Arena". Taking the concept of pets owning pets further, petpets can have their own pets called petpetpets.

Economy

The Neopian economy is a mixed economy with the Neopoint as its smallest denomination, but it is mostly a capitalist economy on the player's side with capital gains, as players try to earn Neopoints to buy things. A mixed economy is an Economic system that incorporates aspects of more than one economic system Denomination is a proper description of a Currency amount usually for Coins or Banknotes Denominations may also be used with other means of payment like Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where ^[20] There are various other forms of currency used in-game that can be sold for Neopoints. Players can earn Neopoints through playing games, selling items, and other transactions. ^[20][21] Once earned, they can be saved in the bank, used to buy items from other players or NPC shops, used to buy and sell stocks in the Neopian stock market called the Neodaq, or used to buy various other things. ^[21]

Players can buy items from shops found throughout the world of Neopia, which are run by non-player characters that allow haggling. A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a character that is controlled by the Gamemaster in Role-playing games or one that is not Haggling is politely arguing as told in some circles Optimally if it costs the retailer nothing to engage and allow haggling he can divine the buyer's willingness to spend In addition to the regular shops, players can open their own shops to sell items, sometimes after obtaining those items at a lower price from sources, such as other shops. One may also exchange items at the trading post or use the auction house. The worth of an item is not only based on its use value, but also its rarity. In Marx's critique of Political economy, any labor-product has a value and a use value, and if it is traded as a Commodity in markets it ^[20] Player-run shops have prices fixed by the seller and can only sell items up to 99,999 Neopoints; any items with a price over 99,999 Neopoints (items known as "unbuyables") must be traded using either the Trading Post or the Auction House. With the introduction of the NC Mall, players may also exchange real money for Neocash, used exclusively for the NC Mall; however, Neopoints cannot be exchanged for Neocash and vice versa. This policy was intended to keep Neopets fair. ^[22]

Games

There are over 250 active games on the website. ^[15] Before 22 November 2006 the games were divided into three categories: Puzzle, Action, and Luck/Chance. Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. After that date the Games Room was revamped and now games are divided into many more categories. ^[23] Various games and activities include Flash and Shockwave games, PHP games, 3D Life Player games, contests and spotlights, and quests to retrieve items. Adobe Flash (previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash) is a set of Multimedia software created by Macromedia and currently Adobe Shockwave (formerly Macromedia Shockwave) was Macromedia 's first and most successful multimedia player prior to the introduction of Macromedia Flash (now PHP is a computer Scripting language. Originally designed for producing Dynamic web pages it has evolved to include a Command line interface capability

Players can earn Neopoints from 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. The high score of a Video game, Arcade game, or Computer game is usually the highest logged point value In addition to this, players may also challenge another player or enter a "World Challenge", competing against random players for a prize piece, for certain Flash games. A monthly competition also exists for multiplayer PHP games with four week-long elimination rounds, but the winners are awarded trophies.

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. Contests include writing contests, such as those for poetry and storytelling, puzzle solving and game contests, art contests, short film contest, and a "Random Contest". Storytelling is the ancient art of conveying events in Words Images and Sounds often by Improvisation or embellishment In addition to contests, spotlights are where users can showcase their pets, petpets, Neohomes, galleries, and user-made levels for certain games. Winners also receive a trophy and a reward, which varies with the contest or spotlight.

A cross-promotion with McDonald's in October of 2004, with McDonald's promoting Neopets plushies in their Happy Meals and Neopets featuring McDonald's related content, led to a nationwide controversy in Australia regarding Neopets' luck/chance games. " Happy Meal " is a Meal specially tailored for Children sold at the fast-food chain McDonald's since June 1979 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. A story on the Australian tabloid television show Today Tonight featured a nine-year-old boy claiming that the site requires one to gamble in order to receive enough Neopoints to feed one's Neopet, or else it would be sent to a pound. Tabloid television is similar to Tabloid Newspapers Tabloid television newscasts usually incorporate flashy graphics Today Tonight is an Australian tabloid current affairs program produced by the Seven Network and shown weeknightly at 6 ^[24] While this is factually incorrect (gambling is not required, nor are pets ever sent to an orphanage if they are not fed), it is true that the website has a number of games of chance that are directly based on real-life games such as blackjack, poker, betting on race animals, and even lottery scratchcards. Blackjack (also known as Twenty-one, Vingt-et-un (French for Twenty-one or Pontoon) is the most widely played casino banking Poker is a type of Card game in which players bet on the value of the card combination (" hand " in their possession by placing a bet into A scratchcard (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchie, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win Neopets has prohibited users under the age of 13 from playing most games that involve gambling.

User-generated content

Users also contribute to the content of the site in forms such as the site's weekly electronic newspaper Neopian Times and their own user lookup. ^[25]

Several contests and spotlights allow users to submit their own works. The content of these submissions are prescreened for appropriateness before placed on the site. Such contests include creative writing, visual art, and short films. Spotlights also include user-generated content. User generated content ( UGC, often hyphenated also known as Consumer Generated Media ( CGM) or User created Content ( UCC) refers

In addition to prescreened content, players have several readily editable pages. Every user has a user lookup that they can edit with their own code. Descriptions for their Neopets are also editable and each pet has their own petpage, a homepage for the Neopet. Player-owned shops and galleries also allow customisation. As with other readily editable content viewable by other members of the Neopets community, such as NeoMail, these pages are filtered for inappropriate content.

Community

Neopets has a community in which users can chat with and contact each other by private "NeoMail" (on-site e-mail) or on public "NeoBoards", which are automatically filtered. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving Users may also 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. An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games a two-dimensional Icon

As with all Internet communities, there is risk in giving out personal information to strangers. To comply with COPPA, players under 13 years of age cannot access any of the site's communication features without parental consent. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 ( COPPA) is a United States federal law, located at ( ^[26]

Guilds

Users with similar interests can create or join a public or private guild, which usually revolve around a theme, such as battling in the Battledome, or non-Neopets themes such as those for the fans of real-world celebrities or animal-lovers. Some guilds are dedicated to certain causes or goals, such as helping poor Neopians and/or new players and role-playing. In roleplaying, participants adopt and act out the Role of characters, or parts that may have personalities motivations and backgrounds different from Players are only allowed to be a member of one guild. There are message boards inside the guilds, accessible only to their members. Some guilds are private, which makes the guild not show up in any guild searches, and a player would need an invitation from someone in the guild to join. Some guilds also have corresponding external websites (many times on petpages) to share information that usually includes their rules and other things about the guild.

Screenshot of NeoBoards homepage. Note that this screenshot was taken on 3 July, following the release of the new board layout.

NeoBoards

NeoBoards are public discussion boards. Discussions on these message boards must be Neopets-related and may not involve topics such as dating and romance, politics, and religion. 24/7 moderation is performed by paid Neopets staff members,^[26] and users can help moderate the site by reporting messages they believe are inappropriate or offensive. A forum moderator, often shortened to just mod, is a person granted special powers to enforce the rules of an Internet forum ( Message board) or Electronic ^[26] A filter also prevents users from posting messages with profanity or lewd content,^[26] though the filter cannot capture typographical errors intentionally placed by spammers and scammers, and some questionable posts still appear. Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, scam, scheme Premium users also have access to a private Premium NeoBoard.

On the NeoBoards, players can enter 'neoHTML' (Neopets HTML) in their Chat Preferences to use a font on the NeoBoards that is not the default font. This article is about font technology For information about the typographic appearance of individual font sets see Typefaces A computer font (or These fonts can become very elaborate; designs such as a piano keyboard and a Mootix (a Neopets Petpetpet) are shows of players' creativity. Players often use fonts to match their avatar. An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games a two-dimensional Icon

NeoMail

NeoMail is a personal in-game communication system, much like regular email. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving Players can write messages to other players or make "Neofriends", to whom they can send items from their inventory or make private auctions for. There is an option for users to only receive Neomails from their Neofriends. For many reasons, Neomail messages are monitored, and players cannot write to another player who is under the age of 13. However, if the person under 13 has parental permission to send Neomail, users are able to send them a Neomail. Users may also block people who they do not want to come in contact with.

Exclusive content

There are certain features on Neopets that require a user to pay some amount of real money, including the Neopets Premium, Neopets Mobile, and use of the NC Mall. Neopets Premium and Mobile both allow access to areas of the site otherwise restricted. Purchase of NeoCash allows use of the NC Mall to purchase items to customize a user's Neopet.

Neopets Premium is an extended version of the site, for which members pay for monthly or yearly subscriptions. With Premium membership, external ads are removed and certain benefits are added, like extra Neopoints and access to beta versions of games. A software release is the distribution whether public or private of an initial or new and upgraded version of a Computer software product Neopets Mobile is a simpler version of the site using a web-to-wireless application developed by In-Fusio. ^[27] Initially released to Cingular/AT&T, it allows access from a mobile phone where users get exclusive access to Lutari Island and other exclusive content. AT&T Mobility LLC (usually branded AT&T, and formerly named Cingular Wireless LLC) is the wholly owned wireless subsidiary of AT&T Inc ^[27]

The NC Mall allows players to buy items for customizing their Neopets using Neocash. Players much purchase Neocash with real money through PayPal. PayPal is an E-commerce business allowing payments and Money transfers to be made through the Internet. Customers in the United States can also buy Neocash cards at Target stores, the Target website, and at selected Wal-mart stores. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Target Corporation ( is an American Retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1902 Wal-Mart Stores Inc (or Walmart as written in its new logo is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large discount department stores ^[28] The Mall was created through a partnership with Nexon,^[9] which also handles the sale of the similar NX Cash used in the analogous "Cash Shop" of MapleStory. Nexon Corporation (넥슨 is a Korean Gaming corporation and a developer of Online games and MMORPGs Its headquarters are located in Seoul, Nexon Corporation (넥슨 is a Korean Gaming corporation and a developer of Online games and MMORPGs Its headquarters are located in Seoul, MapleStory (메이플스토리 is a free-of-charge, 2D, Side-scrolling Massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by It was initially released for beta on 28 June 2007 and then fully released to players on 17 July. Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ^[8] Most Neocash purchased items remain with the buyer permanently, but can not be transferred or sold to other players. A few items have expiration times, after which they disappear from the buyer's accounts.

In February 2008, Neopets announced that Key Quest, a new feature to be introduced in the spring, will engage users by having them buy Neopets merchandise at Target and using a virtual code to redeem tokens for their user accounts. ^[29]

Immersive advertising

Immersive advertising is a term trademarked by Neopets for the way Neopets ran advertisements after Doug Dohring bought the site. Doug Dohring is owner of the Dohring Company, a marketing research firm based in Glendale California. ^[4] Instead of running pop-up and banner ads, immersive advertising integrates advertisements into the site's content in interactive forms, including games and items. Pop-up ads or popups are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to attract Web traffic or capture email addresses A web banner or banner ad is a form of Advertising on the World Wide Web. Players can earn Neopoints from them by doing things such as playing advergames and taking part on online marketing surveys. Advergaming is the practice of using Video games to advertise a product organization or viewpoint ^[30] Prior to the arrival of the NC Mall, it contributed to 60% of the revenue from the site. ^[13] Companies that have bought into the concept include Disney, General Mills, and McDonald's. General Mills ( is a Fortune 500 Corporation, mainly concerned with Food products which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota ^[30]

With approximately 40% of its users under the age of 13, it is arguably the most contentious issue with the site with regard to the ethics of marketing to children. Fundamental issues in marketing ethics Frameworks of analysis for marketing ethics Possible frameworks Value -oriented framework analyzing ethical 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 that "[i]t's self marketing," as it is "selling to kids that don't know they are seeing anything". ^[31] 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". ^[31] Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine, described it as "the most insidious mind-fuck ever". Kalle Lasn (born 1942 Tallinn Estonia) is the founder of Adbusters magazine and author of the books Culture Jam and Design Anarchy Adbusters Media Foundation (called Adbusters or the Media Foundation is a Not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn ^[4] Neopets executives have stated in 2004 and 2006 that paid content comprised of less than 1% of the site's total content. ^[30][31] Children are not required to play or use sponsor games and items. ^[32][4] 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. "^[30]

Reception

Neopets has been compared to the antecedent virtual pet fad Tamagotchi and the Pokémon franchise. The is a handheld Digital pet created in 1996 by Aki Maita and sold by Bandai. If you came here to express your personal opinion about Pokémon please go somewhere else It has been described as an online cross of Pokémon and Tamagotchi. ^[5][32] The website maintains high "stickiness" rankings, which is a measure of the amount of time a user spends on the site. Its popularity spawned real world plushies, a magazine, book series,^[33] cereal, and merchandise in other media as well. Neopets Inc is the company that owns the popular online-based virtual pet game Neopets (under Viacom since 2005 ^[13][21][34]

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. Sticky content refers to content published on a Website, which has the purpose of getting a user to return to that particular website or hold their attention and get ^[35] 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. ^[21] 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. ^[36] 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. ^[37] Neopets remains to be consistently ranked among the top ten "stickiest" sites by both Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix. comScore is an internet Marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses ^[38][39]

Merchandise

Neopets produces a range of merchandise, including plushies, stickers, cereals, and video games. A stuffed animal is Toy Animal sewn from Cloth, A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The merchandise retails at many mainstream outlets such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Limited Too. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (or Walmart as written in its new logo is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large discount department stores Target Corporation ( is an American Retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1902 Tween Brands Inc, formerly known as Too Inc, operates two store concepts Limited Too and Justice. There are also exclusively online retailers involved, such as Zazzle. Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise (clothing posters etc or buy merchandise created by other users similar to CafePress

In September 2003, Wizards of the Coast released the Neopets Trading Card Game, a collectible card game, based on the online characters and setting. Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of Games primarily based on Fantasy and The Neopets Trading Card Game, also called ' Neopets TCG' is a Collectible card game and a spin-off of the popular Virtual pet website Collectible card games (CCGs also called trading card games (TCGs or customizable card games (CCGs are played using specially designed sets of cards It is distributed by card shops, as well as Wal-Mart and Target.

In November 2005 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. released Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, for the PlayStation 2. Neopets The Darkest Faerie, released on November 15, 2005 is a single-player PlayStation 2 action/adventure game based on the popular Neopets A second game, Neopets: Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing, was released March 14, 2006 for the PlayStation Portable. Neopets Petpet Adventures The Wand of Wishing, released on March 14, 2006, is a single-player PlayStation Portable action/adventure game Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a Handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment.

A very popular form of merchandise for Neopets was their set of toys in 2005 at McDonald's, which brought many people in to Neopets. A second release of Neopet toys occurred at McDonald's because of the success of the last promotion. ^[40] These toys have been released in countries such as Australia, USA, Singapore and the U.K.

Neopets: The Official Magazine

Neopets: The Official Magazine, published by Beckett Media, was released in 2004. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Singapore The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Beckett Media is a privately held subsidiary of Apprise Media The magazine was sold through a subscription service and in stores, with back issues available for order on the magazine web site. The magazine's features included Neopet games, stories, guides to the Flash games on the Neopets site, news on upcoming site events and merchandise, and drawings for readers. It also regularly offered games tied to the site that allowed the reader to receive a prize on the Neopets site. After 26 issues, Beckett sent a notice to subscribers announcing that the January 2008 issue would be the final issue of the magazine and that Beckett would replace the issues remaining in the subscription with their new magazine Beckett Plushie Pals, which would still include some Neopets news, but also news related to various other companies, including Ganz Webkinz, Disney's Club Penguin, TY Beanie Babies, and Kookeys. Kinds of Webkinz See also List of Webkinz stuffed animals There are many types of Webkinz Club Penguin is an Online game developed by New Horizon Interactive A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal made by Ty Inc Ty was founded by Ty Warner who promoted the line in specialty stores and gift shops

References

External links

• Official Neopets Website
  • Neopets Jr.
• Official Neopets Press Kit
• Beckett Official Neopets Magazine
• Neopets guide at StrategyWiki