They also have a "cash" shop of sorts but they aren't nearly as obtrusive or as game breaking as in Neopets. These sites are typically run better than the massive corporate site and have a more personal touch. Many sites have tried to bank on Neopets' success or just tried to use it as a template for success. People left, but every once and a while they feel like they need to go back to the old grind of harvesting Neopoints and pricing the items in their shops at a ridiculous amounts. Old fans found that without sticking their well-earned dollars in, they had a harder time having fun with their Shoyrus and Lupes. The site gained a Pay to Play win mentality with the introduction of Neocash. The site grew and like many ongoing franchises do, managed to alienate parts of its old fanbase. It had millions of members - kids and adults alike clambering for the latest pets, playing the flash games, and learning the entire world of Neopets.
![fun games like neopets fun games like neopets](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/77/5d/5f/775d5ff32520530d82aac86602a2fa6a--fun-games.jpg)
Nor, selfishly, do I want to see a resurgence in popularity for something that immediately transports me back to a time I’d rather forget.Way back in 1999, a site called Neopets was born and it was an absolute sensation. I don’t want want to see it modernised with in-app purchases and push notifications. But, for me, Neopets is inextricably linked to a period in my own life and in the history of the internet. Perhaps some of them have continued to care for their pets for the last two decades. Then I got older, and when I didn’t need it any more I let it go.Ī lot of millennial women with fond memories of Neopets are excited about this forthcoming mobile app that will let them visit Neopia on the go.
![fun games like neopets fun games like neopets](https://images.nintendolife.com/c1c1dff9d463c/neopets.large.jpg)
I buried myself in Neopets when I barely belonged anywhere else. I discovered aspects of internet culture that remain today: fan art, wikis, trolls. I worried the adults in my life by befriending people I met on the forums. Like the protagonist in Nina Freeman’s semi-autobiographical game Lost Memories Dot Net, I learned basic HTML so that I could customise my user page. I found purpose in earning Neopoints and collecting avatars. It appeared when I was changing schools, trying and failing to make friends, exploring interests that baffled the people around me. Neopets fitted perfectly into my young life. The familiar graphics tugged me straight back to my adolescence, which was incredibly uncomfortable because that was not a good time for me. In so many ways it looks exactly the same: the same banner with the same logo, the same pets with the same visual design, the same mini-games. But revisiting the website after so many years was a gut punch for me. In some ways it has moved with the times: there’s an active Reddit community and a fairly popular Twitter account. The original Neopets website still exists, and this 20-year-old online world is a strange relic. This month sees the release of a mobile puzzle game called Neopets Legends & Letters – but, later this year, it will release an app that promises to contain all of Neopia. In 2014, Viacom sold the site to edutainment company Knowledge Adventure, which is owned by Chinese publisher NetDragon.
#FUN GAMES LIKE NEOPETS SERIES#
Interestingly, as explained by YouTube series People Make Games, it was also once owned by Scientologists. In 2005, by which time I had stopped playing, Neopets was sold for $160m to Viacom, which changed the advertising and introduced Neocash, a new form of currency that can be bought only with real money. It fits with the idea of femininity as nurturing: a virtual world that allows you to care for cute pets, play games to earn a currency called Neopoints, shop for clothes for your pets, build and furnish houses, and chat on the forums. The Neopets website was launched in 1999, and I’m pretty sure I was introduced to it by my uncle, though it’s known for its popularity among girls.
#FUN GAMES LIKE NEOPETS PC#
I skipped the entire console generation that included the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox in favour of my bedroom PC and two worlds it allowed me to access: The Sims and Neopets. My varied video game diet narrowed dramatically. But when I reached adolescence, something (besides the obvious) changed. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family that owned every major game console.
![fun games like neopets fun games like neopets](https://www.justalternativeto.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Neopets.png)
A s a woman who talks about video games on television, radio and elsewhere for a living, I’m often asked how I got into games, and I reply – truthfully – that I have been playing them my whole life.