Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet website launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on November 15, 1999. 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. On 20 June 2005, Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. for $160 million (USD). Neopets consistently ranks as one of the top stickiest sites.
Neopets is based around the eponymous virtual pets that inhabit the virtual world of Neopia. 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. 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 $7.99 (USD). Several issues with the site, such as immersive advertising, gambling-based games, and hacks and glitches have garnered criticism.
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. Users are allowed to have up to four Neopets per account. To obtain a new Neopet, users normally can either create a pet, allowing them to choose its name, gender, basic colour, species, and some personality options, or adopt a pet that has been abandoned by another user from the Pound. However, as the Pound is down for maintenance, users are unable to adopt pets, though they can still abandon those they don't want anymore.[21]
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 to jump into the Mysterious Symol Hole for a random chance at items and an avatar. Similar to the Battledome, Petpets have a battling area called the "Petpet Battle Arena". If a user wants to change their pet's petpet, they can "stop playing with it" to detach it, and then attach a new petpet. Taking the concept of pets ownings pets further, petpets can have their own pets called petpetpets. Found through very rare random events, these bug-like creatures attached themselves to a petpet by refreshing the screen until it chooses to attach, then live on their petpet owners. They vanish if the user removes the petpet from its Neopet. Unlike Neopets, petpets and petpetpets can be sold by users for Neopoints or traded in the Trading Post for other items.
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