A Financial Experiment by sable_darkfaerie | |
Every Neopian wants to be rich. Whether for practical reasons like wanting
your pet to be fed and taken care of, to slightly selfish reasons like wanting
the biggest NeoHome or best gallery or those coveted position in the Gourmet
and Book Club, or even purely philanthropic reasons such as helping the poor
or rehabilitating unwanted pets, the urge is the same. We all want Neopoints.
Lots of Neopoints. And we want them now.
In every edition of The Neopian Times you can find at least one article about
how to maximise profits in games and shops or stocks. The message boards are
filled with people asking for handouts. There are innumerable guilds that promise
free items and Neopoints to anyone who joins. Some dishonest people even resort
to cheating. There are hundreds of get rich quick schemes out there, but the
question is, do any of them actually work?
Perhaps the real question should be, do we even need tricks and schemes and
so called fail-safe strategies to become wealthy? Whatever happened to good
old-fashioned hard work and perseverance? And here in Neopia the hard work part
isn't even necessary. Where else can you go to get paid for playing games? Sure,
there will always be the complete newbies who can't make it yet simply because
they don't know where things are or how they work, but once you get your bearings
the only things you need to begin amassing your fortune are basic motor skills
and a little common sense.
Call me crazy, but I've set out to prove it. As of the time I'm writing this,
9:00 PM, May 8th, 2002, I've freed myself from all material goods. No Neopoints
in the bank, shop till, stock market, or on hand, no items or even food in my
inventory, safety deposit box, or shop. ZuberiGoldenFeather, my Eyrie, has donated
all his Battledome items, and I've cleared out my NeoDeck, NeoHome and gardens.
The only financial advantage I have is the fact that I have a Size 3 shop already
paid for, so I'm unable to start *completely* from scratch, but I've gotten
as close as I can.
I don't consider myself to be an exceptional businesswoman or an expert at
any games. I have only a gold Cheat trophy and a bronze Pyramids trophy in my
cabinet, and I've never been on a high score table. My experiment will be to
find out how long it takes and how difficult it is for an average person to
go from zilch to 100,000 NP while not neglecting their pets. Mine have agreed
to temporarily lay off the expensive Faerieland food, but other than that they'll
be well taken care of, read to, and played with.
When I reach my goal I'll write a follow up article about how much time I
spent in Neopia, the games I played, the average amount of NP I made a day minus
expenses, and any other information I think could help a struggling Neopian
become successful. Until then, wish me luck! |