Neopets

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Neopets
Screenshot of the Neopets homepage viewed with Internet Explorer
Developer(s)	Neopets
Publisher(s)	Neopets, Viacom Inc
Release date(s)	November 15, 1999
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Mode(s)	Single-player with multiplayer interaction.
Platform(s)	Cross-platform
System requirements	Web browser with Macromedia Shockwave Player plugin (optional)
Input	Keyboard, mouse

Neopets is an online virtual pet game. The site was opened to the public on November 15, 1999, by Adam Powell and Donna Williams, and a majority interest was bought by Doug Dohring soon after being created. It is currently owned by Viacom after a business transaction valued at $160 million.

The game allows users to create and take care of one to four of 55 species collectively called Neopets, caring for and feeding them virtual food in the worlds of Neopia, using Neopoints (NP), the currency of the game. Neopoints are earned through playing games or won through a diverse array of contests and activities on the site. In addition, there are discussion boards, plots, and various sets of items and other things to collect. Its style contains quirks like an abundance of popular culture references. Beyond the website, there is a variety of merchandise, such as two video games, Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, Neopets: Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing and a trading card game. The site has sparked many controversies such as those surrounding the existence of gambling-themed games, the extensive use of immersive advertising, and the Scientology beliefs of the CEO, Doug Dohring.

Contents 1 Company information 2 Games 2.1 Flash or Shockwave games 2.2 Sponsor Games 2.3 Other games 2.4 Trophy Reset 2.5 Daily Dare 2.6 Plots 2.7 Collections 2.8 Quests 2.9 Avatars 2.10 Sidebars 2.11 Writing and art contests 2.12 Shops 2.13 Paint brushes 3 Community 3.1 Guilds 3.2 NeoBoards 3.3 NeoMail 4 Merchandise 5 Controversy 6 Neopets Premium 7 Yearly events 7.1 April Fools 7.2 Advent Calendar 8 Petpets 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Company information

Neopets
Type	Website (Owned by Viacom)
Founded	November 15, 1999
Headquarters	Glendale, California, USA
Key people	Doug Dohring, Chairman & CEO Lee Borth, COO Adam Powell, Site Founder Donna Williams, Site Co-Founder Rik Kinney, Executive VP Stephanie Yost Cameron, General Counsel & Executive VP Tad Czyzewski, CFO Billy Shum, President Bill McCaffrey, CTO Jeff Snetiker, Senior VP Joshua A. O. Strathman
Industry	Internet
Revenue	$30 million USD+
Employees	150+
Website	www.neopets.com

In May 2000, Nielsen/Net Ratings reported that people were spending around three hours a month on Neopets, more than any other site in its Nielsen category.^[1] 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.^[2] More recently, in 1 August 2006 Neopets reported over 136 million accounts, and over 200 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.^[3] However, there is some doubt over the veracity of these statistics (see "Controversy" below).

Although the company is based in California, its founders are British and the site retains British English spellings (though there are some exceptions). In addition to English, as of July 2006 the site is available translated (with varying degrees of completenes) 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.^{[citation needed]}

On June 20, 2005, Viacom stated that it had bought Neopets in a deal that has been valued at aproximately $160 milion.^[4] 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.

[edit] Games

Until November 25, 2006, when the games room got a revamp, most of the games on the site were divided into three categories: Puzzle, Action, and Luck/Chance.

Puzzle games are those that require thought and often language or mathematical skills. For example, in "Spell-or-Starve", a player must spell as many words as possible in a limited time by clicking the letters on the screen. Action games are arcade-like games. In "Hannah and the Ice Caves", a player guides the characters Hannah and her sidekick Armin through increasingly difficult icy caves, while collecting treasure and avoiding snow beasts. The Luck/Chance category includes various slot machine games such as "Brucey B. Slots", and other gambling-themed games. Card games and a game based on hide-and-seek are also part of Luck/Chance.

[edit] Flash or Shockwave games

On November 23, it was announced in the News that a section of the site was going to be revamped. On November 24, it was revealed that the section to be revamped was the Games section. On November 25, the Games section's new avatar announced that he had a challenge on offer to all neopians, which involved playing a set list of Flash games (submitting a score of at least 50 for each one), finding hidden games to send scores in, sending challenge cards and, of course, the mystery challenges. Most of the games on the site are Flash or Shockwave games, which require the user to have certain software installed on the computer. Many are similar to older existing games—for example, "Meerca Chase 1 and 2" are very similar to Snake, while "Korbat's Lab" and "Frumball" are like Breakout and Arkanoid. Also, Flycatcher is based on the game Millipede.

A player may submit achieved game scores for each Flash game up to three times a day. The exception to this is during Neopets birthday week (15 November-22 November), when a player is allowed to submit up to five game scores a day. There is also a new game - Adver-Video - which requires the player to view a short advertisement, then spin a wheel for Neopoints up to 5 times a day. However, many users do not consider this to be a game. Up to a maximum of 1,000 Neopoints can be earned per each score sent, thus allowing users to score 3000 Neopoints if they are good and dedicated at it. Users may earn trophies if they score high, or message board avatars from a select variety of games. They can participate in World Challenges (hourly competitions for a select variety of games) for the chance to win neopoints and special world challenge map pieces. They can also issue public or private games challenges to other users, betting a certain amount of neopoints for the chance to win more.

There is a different game featured every day. When a player achieves a score with the Featured Game, the amount of Neopoints usually given for that score is doubled. The usual maximum winnings is also doubled, allowing players to win up to 2,000 Neopoints each time they play.^[5] A Lucky Space Faerie Charm, one of the rewards for referring people to Neopets Premium, can also randomly double a player's Neopoint winnings.

[edit] Sponsor Games

Neopets is sponsored by a number of organizations, businesses and companies, and therefore there are a number of sponsor games. Sponsor games come and go from the site, and are often wiped from the site completely long before actual Neopets games are. They have no high score tables, but are often easier than regular Neopets games.

[edit] Other games

There are also numerous PHP web-based games (which are more accessible to players with slower computers), such as "NeoQuest", "Plushie Tycoon", and card games like "Pyramids", "Scarab 21" and "Neopets Blackjack". NeoQuest and NeoQuest II (2) are classic role playing games in which users play a certain character and travel around a world, fighting monsters and performing quests. Plushie Tycoon is a business-running simulation, in which the player must manufacture and sell Neopets plushies. There is also a daily crossword ("Faerie Crossword"), a dice game ("Dice-a-roo", which is no longer playable by users under 13 years old to avoid any gambling accusations), and a Neopets version of Minesweeper ("Neggsweeper").

Any user may issue a "game challenge" to another user for a two-player game, such as "Kacheekers" or "Armada" or "Geos."

[edit] Trophy Reset

At around midnight Neopets Standard Time (GMT-8) on the first day of each month, many of the game leaderboards are wiped. This means that many users can earn trophies with relatively low scores, compared with the middle or end of the month. On reset night, trophies are usually awarded around 4 a.m.

[edit] Daily Dare

For the month of March 2007, every day a user can challenge "AAA" or "Abigail" at the featured game. If they beat the required score, they will receive a prize. Extra prizes will be rewarded at the end of the month.

If a user challenges Abigail (the challenger with the lower score) on a certain day, then they are ineligible to challenge AAA on that day, and vice versa.

The avatar has been released featuring AAA, this avatar is obtained by succesfully beating AAA and/or Abigail a total of 15 times.

[edit] Plots

Main article: Neopets plots

Major Neopets plots are usually presented in a comic book-styled form, and sometimes lead to a "war". Once the plot reaches a certain point, players may be given the option to choose a side to support. Those who choose to fight are given a series of opponents in the Battledome, and they may fight to gain points for their side. Players receive prizes for their participation at the end of every plot, however, they can take 6-8 months. Depending on how well they did, their prize can be common and cheap or rare and expensive. The Neopoints that come with selling prizes drive many players to complete the plots.

Many Neopian plots are used to release new worlds or features on the site.

[edit] Collections

Players can choose to collect certain items — often rare and expensive — and display them in a "gallery". They may also collect collectible cards, trading cards (not to be confused with the actual Neopets trading cards), stamps, coins, and sea shells, and display them in albums.

"Neohomes" can be built after a user buys a plot of land. Each room costs Neopoints to build, and furniture may be put in and arranged. Extensions such as lighting, flooring, and insurance can also be purchased. Players may try to win awards for their Neohomes or collections. The address of a neohome, once built, can only be changed after demolishing all rooms and/or gardens and selling the address back to the bank (neopoints spent on the rooms are not refunded).

[edit] Quests

There are many types of quests, in which the user must retrieve certain items for a non-playable character in exchange for a reward. Most Faerie Quests are given out through random events while browsing the site, while the user may volunteer for other quests.

Random Faerie Quests are given by one of many faeries: Fire, Light, Earth, Air, Dark, Water, the unique Faeries (Fountain and Space), and the Faerie Queen. While browsing the site, the user may encounter a faerie through a random event and be asked for an item associated with her (like clothes, trading cards, etc.). To make such quests more challenging, users cannot use the Shop Wizard to quickly search through user-owned shops while they are still on the quests. Users must find the items through auctions, the trading post, or ask others for help (e.g. on the Help NeoBoard). Most of the faeries will select one of the user's four pets randomly and raise one of its statistics. The Fire Faerie increases a pet's strength by two, the Light Faerie increases level by one, the Earth Faerie feeds and heals the pet, the Air Faerie raises speed by two, the Dark Faerie increases hit points by two, the Water Faerie increases defence by two, and the Space Faerie increases level by four. The powerful Faerie Queen provides a total of seven stats, raising level by one, hitpoints by three, and strength by three.

Receiving and completing a Fountain Faerie quest is usually very difficult. The quest is a very rare event, and the faerie usually asks for a highly expensive item. But, after the user completes her quest, the Fountain Faerie allows one of the pets to be painted to almost any colour (with the exception of Ice,^[6] MSP, Royal, Sponge and Robot).

Neopians can also go to Jhudora's Cloud or Illusen's Glade for quests with various prizes according to how many quests the user has previously completed. For these, the player is allowed to use the Shop Wizard, but must find the item within a time limit. The more quests the user completes, the better the rewards are, but the faeries also demand rarer and more expensive items. Failure to retrieve the item on time resets the quest and brings the player back to level one, with its cheaper prizes. After completing a quest for Jhudora or Illusen, users cannot do either of their quests for another 12 hours, and after 50 completed quests there are no more reward items.

The Esophagor, Edna the Witch, the Water Chef, the Brain Tree, and the Snow Faerie also give quests upon request. The Shop Wizard can be used to find items for these. Users often only do the quests when the required items are within a certain price range, to avoid spending more than their potential reward. ^[7]

[edit] Avatars

On Neopets, avatars are small icons used on Neopian message boards to represent a player. Unlike many forums, the players on Neopets cannot upload their own avatars and must use those provided by the website. In addition to the default avatars, there are currently 340 secret avatars that can be unlocked,^[8] usually by performing a task such as getting a high score at a game, visiting a particular page, happening upon some random event, owning a pet of a certain colour/species/age, or equipping their pets with a special weapon. Some avatars may require the completion of multiple tasks, while others (such as those earned for past plots) are retired and no longer attainable. Some are seasonal, only obtainable on certain days of the year, like April Fool's Day. In a few cases there are avatars which cannot be obtained if a collector has its "twin" or "sister" avatar.

New secret avatars are continually being made, usually one or two being released a month (in past years, a new avatar was created on average every two weeks). There is a high score list which ranks users according to the number of avatars they have collected, and help sites exist for collectors to keep track of avatars and tasks still needed. Additionally, there is an avatar only available to the administrators user account of the site, known as theneopetsteam, or TNT.

[edit] Sidebars

A sidebar is the navigational tool to the left and top sides of the screen that is used while browsing the Neopets website. The default sidebar is star-decorated and yellow, which is seen when a user creates a new account or when using the site not logged in. However, there are also secret sidebars to unlock and collect, similar to avatars. But unlike avatars, there are far fewer in comparison, although as of late, many more have been released. Some, like the sidebars for Valentine's Day and Halloween, are available to unlock on a particular day every year. Others, like the Altadorian Constellations sidebar, are available to anyone who completes the requirements. But some sidebars were plot related (Altador Cup, Shenkuu, Lost Desert) and are now unable to be unlocked.

[edit] Writing and art contests

Neopets also offers several different writing and art contests.

The Neopian Times is a weekly electronic newspaper that includes short stories, a question-and-answer editorial, comics (traditional and animated), story series, and articles. If a user's contribution is published, they receive a trophy, as well as special rewards for certain Neopian Times issues (such as milestone, Halloween, and Christmas issues).

There is a poetry contest that runs approximately twice a week, and a story-telling contest in which users write and submit the next part of a short story. A "Random Contest" requires a different task, chosen by Neopets staff, to be completed each contest, such as drawing, making up "Dr. Sloth's answering machine message", and creating recipes, and so on. The Caption Contest requires users try to write humorous captions for a picture. Players can submit drawings of their pets for the Beauty Contest (which is a popularity contest rather than an art contest: artists can submit their works to the Art Gallery), a picture and short story of their pets or petpets for the Spotlights, galleries of items, custom-built levels of certain games, or their Neopets-based web pages (theoretically for their pets) or petpages. When users win one of these contests, they usually receive a trophy a Neopoint reward and sometimes an avatar too.

[edit] Shops

In addition to the regular shops, players 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.) Shops run by non-player characters allow haggling. Buying items at the Neopian shops in order to resell them is called restocking (since it involves waiting until the shop restocks), and can be very profitable for a player with luck and a fast internet connection. However, player-run shops can only sell items up to 99,999 Neopoints; extremely expensive items, like paint brushes or potions must be traded using either the Trading Post or the Auction House.

[edit] Paint brushes

There are certain kinds of paint brushes that players can use to paint their Neopet. Many paint brushes are rare, such as a Baby Paint Brush or a Royal Paint Brush. These paint brushes will turn a pet into a Baby Neopet or Royal Neopet. To get a paint brush, players may buy one from another user; either from their shop, the Mystery Island Trading Post, or the Auctions. It is also possible to purchase a Baby or Royal Paintbrush from the Hidden Tower, as well. These paintbrushes can be very expensive, though; anywhere from 30,000 to 6,000,000 neopoints. However, lucky players can win one from Tombola, the Fruit Machine, or a random event. Players who get hold of a paint brush must go to the Rainbow Pool to paint their pet. Players can no longer use Glass or stone paintbrushes.

There are other colors which users can gain for their neopets, that do not involve paint brushes. One species, Chias, can gain various colors by eating certain types of magical chia pops. Some colors, such as robot, can only be gained by using a feature known as the secret lab ray.

[edit] 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 more like chat rooms than Internet forums.

As with all Internet communities, there is risk in giving out personal information to strangers. Players under 13 years of age who wish to access any of the site's communication features must fax or mail a document stating parental consent, with the parent's signature, to the Neopets headquarters, to comply with COPPA. The system is, however, easily evaded by entering a fake age.

[edit] Guilds

Users with similar interests can create or join certain guilds 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 poorer Neopians and/or new players, adopting the abandoned Neopets in the pound, collecting avatars, role-playing, and so on. There are message boards inside the guilds, accessible only to their members. Guilds may also offer certain benefits to members, such as guild shops, "newbie packs" (usually containing inexpensive items as welcome presents to members, which could be classified as a form of scamming by Neopets rules), activities, and tips. Battledome guilds (especially lupe packs) often have "wars" with one another. Members battle members of the other guild and a score is kept. 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. Different guilds have different requirements for advancing in rank within the guild, sometimes with a corresponding increase in benefits and power. The leader of the guild can choose 4 members in their guild to be part of a "Council", and give them administrative powers such as the ability to change the layout of the guild, create a poll, or delete messages on the message boards (although regular members can also be given administrative powers). These council positions are often sought after by ambitious guild members. Many large guilds also have a sub-council, which is usually like the council in a way except sub-council members usually have less administrative powers and duties than the regular council. Guild messages are logged to prevent any suspicious activity. Some guilds also have corresponding external websites or petpages to share information.

[edit] NeoBoards

Various smaller communities of players develop on the NeoBoards. Some boards are more popular than others. 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. Users can help moderate the site by reporting messages they believe are inappropriate or offensive. A filter also prevents users from posting messages with profanity or lewd content, though the filter cannot capture typographical errors intentionally placed by spammers and scammers, and some questionable posts still appear. There is private premium NeoBoard which only premium users have access to. Users who register as being under 13 years old are not allowed to access NeoBoards unless they have submitted parental permission.

Periodically, new boards will appear and disappear as new plots are developed. Once that plot is complete, the board is taken away, usually after a couple of weeks to prevent spamming on the board.

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. These fonts can become very elaborate; designs such as a piano keyboard and a Mootix (a Neopets petpetpet) are shows of players' creativity.

[edit] NeoMail

NeoMail is a personal in-game communication system, much like regular email. 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 play on the site, users are able to send them a neomail. Users may also block people who they do not want to come in contact with.

Neopets "censors" neomails, and disallows foul and/or inappropriate language. If users include inappropriate language in neomail, it will not go through to the intended receiver, rather redirecting them to a page which explains why the nature of their neomail is unacceptable, and giving the option of going back to the neomail and fixing it.

Neopets also has a "limit" on the number of neomails that can be sent in a day, or more so, in a certain span of time. This is to prevent the server from slowing down and spamming. Users can save up to 100 neomails in their inboxes. Users may also save neomails for up to ninety days in a save folder. This is to make sure the database can handle the amount of users and mail.

[edit] Merchandise

Neopets now produces a range of merchandise, including plushies, stickers, cereals, and hand-held video games. The merchandise retails at many mainstream outlets such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Limited Too. There are also exclusively online retailers involved, such as 99dogs.com, which was the first outlet for Neopets merchandise.

In September 2003, Wizards of the Coast released the Neopets Trading Card Game, a collectible card game, based on the online characters and setting. It is distributed by card shops, as well as Wal-Mart and Target. To date, there have been six individual "sets" of cards (a base set and five expansions) released, with the sixth set recently released. Most of the card releases are associated with "plots," or stories, on the site. This is another controversial marketing move, which has simultaneously managed to endear and estrange players from the site.

In March 2005 it was confirmed that the Neopets team had also begun work on a Neopets film (which the creators of the site had kept secret from their own staff until it was confirmed). When informing the users of this, they also implied that there may be more than one Neopets film in the future (although, of course, this will depend entirely on the success of their first film). On the description of the Jelly World game "Jelly Blobs of Doom", a movie is to be released Winter 2008 ^[9], although it previously said other years, including 2006.^{[citation needed]}

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.

A very popular form of merchandise for Neopets was their set of toys at McDonald's, which brought many people in to Neopets. There is soon to be another release of Neopet toys at McDonald's because of the success of the last promotion.^{[citation needed]} These toys have been released in countries such as Australia, USA, Singapore and the U.K.

[edit] Controversy

Main article: Neopets controversy

Neopets has been involved in many controversies. Off the website, issues have been raised about the site's immersive advertising methods, gambling-based games, and its connection to Scientology. Users have also complained about various security holes/glitches and problems with user interaction with The Neopets Team. One of the largest complaints comes from thousands who have allegedly had their accounts frozen (banned) for little or no reason. Despite the mentality of those who believe users must have done something wrong in order to be frozen, more continue to come forward, bringing up the suspicion that an automated "freezing" system is implemented. Some groups of people have even formed anti-Neopets websites expressing their views, and even reporting Neopets for what they believe to be potential copyright violations.^[10]

Sometimes glitches within the site have caused the user to lose a large amount of NeoPoints or rare items. These users have complained that the items or NeoPoints were not returned.

There have also been complaints that cookie grabbers are being placed in the site, causing accounts to be hacked while just visiting other users' lookups or shops.

[edit] Neopets Premium

Neopets Premium is an extended version of the site, for which members pay $7.99 (US) a month, or $69.95 (US) a year. Different packages may be purchased which include Premium, such as dial-up internet service. With Premium membership, external ads are removed and certain benefits are added, like extra Neopoints (2,500 NP for signing up and 1,000 NP for each additional month), a neomail.com e-mail address, a customizable portal, more random events, a special message board avatar that is more difficult for non-premium members to receive, premium-only boards, a weekly "Space Faerie" scratch card, and access to beta versions of games. Also, Premium users have access to a Super Shop Wizard that searches the entire site for the cheapest items in user-run shops instead of only a portion of the site, though they can only use it a certain number of times per hour. Premium users can also use 'price-only' searches, which show the average of the top ten items available, provided there are more than three on the shop wizard. Because of previous abuse from some users, 'price-only' searches are no longer unlimited. ^[11]

To begin Premium service, a player must first be referred by another Premium user, find a rare Premium Service Ad while browsing the site, or sign up when new testers are being accepted.

Items that are exclusive to Neopets Premuim include the Space Faerie Avatar, Weekly Scratch Card, Super Shop Wiz, Space Faerie Charm, Premium Sidebar, Item packages, Sub account(s)

Some items are revoked when a user stops the premium sevice. These incentives make it easy for a player who seeks Premium to receive an invitation. ^[11]

[edit] Yearly events

[edit] April Fools

Neopets is well-known for its April Fool's Day pranks among its users. Some of its jokes include:

• 2001: "Neopet Makeovers" gave Neopets new names and different looks.^[12]
• 2002: Some users' Safety Deposit Boxes were emptied, since the Pant Devil stole them. ^[13]
• 2003: Neopets becomes "Neopetz", a "cooler" website. The visual layout of the site changed and Neopoints were eliminated, making everything free, including the extremely expensive items found in the Hidden Tower. ^[14]
• 2004: A "Quiguki" expansion set was to be released based on an imaginary new world called "Quigara".
• 2005: Fifty new pets were drawn, and the Neopets staff claimed they were releasing all of them. Also, they claimed from there on, players could own 10 neopets. After the joke, many people liked some of the Neopets, and called for a voting to take place. The Lamameeah won the vote and was released as the Gnorbu, with some slight changes. ^[15]
• 2006: "NeoCharge" (pictured) was a Neopoint tax that players had to pay NP depending on which and how many pages were visited to keep people from refreshing too much. When players actually tried to pay the charge, they would be taken to a page that said it might take up to 24 hours to process.^[16]

[edit] Advent Calendar

The Advent Calendar is only active during the Month of Celebrating (December). On each day of the month a user can visit the Advent Calendar in Happy Valley and watch a colourful animation and collect a prize, which is usually an item, neopoints and/or an avatar. Users are only supposed to receive this prize once, and users who create multiple accounts to receive multiple prizes have their account frozen.

[edit] Petpets

Petpets are Neopets' pets. They are small and are found in shops all over Neopia. Some variations include Slorg, Feepit, Babaa, and the Meepit (which is commonly joked as hiding evil intention). Petpets are capable of doing some actions their Neopet owner cannot, such as waking up the Turmaculus (a giant Petpet which will sometimes eat a user's Petpet), and jump in the "Mysterious Symol Hole," randomly bringing back items. Petpets used to assist users in Battledome fights, but this option has been retired. However, Petpets now have their own battle arena, called the "Petpet Battle Arena".

A Neopet can also talk to their Petpet by typing in what they wish to say. The Petpet then responds with one of a number of pre-programmed text actions. The actions vary with the type of Petpet, although if any profanity is used all of the petpet's lines will read: "Oi! Don't swear! This site is family-friendly".

Like Neopets, Petpets have levels, which can be raised either by visiting the Turmaculus or fighting in the Petpet Battle Arena. Also, like Neopets, petpets can also be painted a variety of colours, albeit with their own petpet paintbrushes. Even though they're slightly cheaper than Neopet paint brushes, Petpet paintbrushes are still expensive to purchase or trade.

Petpets can be mixed in the Cooking Pot with other Petpets or items to create a new species of Petpet as well, such as the Wuzzer (Buzzer and a Dwarf Tree) and Zamillion (Zoomik and a Gallion). Older petpets which have been replaced by newer petpets will turn into those newer petpets if they are unattached from their Neopet. Petpets are also featured in various games, like Extreme Herder and Hasee Bounce.

Petpets can also have their own pet, called Petpetpets, bug-like creatures which live on the Petpet. They are found through rare random events, and can be sold for neopoints or attached to the main Neopets Petpet. To attach a Petpetpet to a Petpet a user must leave it in their inventory until it attaches itself to the Petpet of the active Neopet. Petpetpets cannot be removed from a petpet, but will disappear if the Petpet is removed from the Neopet. Petpetpets serve very little purpose other than to have fun, but some like the Mootix or Moach can give a user an Avatar.

[edit] See also

• List of Neopets
• List of Neopian worlds
• Neopets Faeries
• Neopets plots
• Neopian Times

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Official

• Official Neopets Website
• Official Neopets Press Kit
• Beckett Official Neopets Magazine