THE NEOPIAN POUND - I'm sure every Neopian has paid at least one visit to the
great Neopian Pound, where Neopets stay and go. The two general and "sunnier"
reasons for visiting is either to search for a new pet for an addition to your
family, or abandoning a pet that you no longer wish to take care of. The pound
can either be a great source for happiness for you and your new pet, or a terrible
experience of getting your account frozen or losing a great pet when it's abused.
If you go to the pound, you have the option of visiting the "Adopt Section"
with the happy Red Uni waiting to carry your adopted pet to your arms, or the
"Abandon Section" where the nasty Techo is waiting to snatch your pet and dump
them in a random spot in the crowded pound.
It can be wonderful to adopt a new pet for your family as you can save lots
of Neopoints as well. You might find a cute Faerie pet waiting for you to click
the "adopt" button. Imagine all those Neopoints you can save if you found a
Faerie pet in the pound that cost you only 80 Neopoints. 150,000 Neopoints for
a Faerie Paint Brush minus 80 Neopoints to adopt that pet... Whoa, you've just
saved 149,920 Neopoints from your bank account! So you bring your new Faerie
pet home and introduce her/him to your family. Or you may also be lucky enough
to find a strong battle bet with high stats - No need to buy items to train
them! Everyone in the family has a big smile in their face. Not to mention you've
just rescued a pet from being bullied by others in the pound! Of course, there
are other great pets smiling for your arrival and living in your home. There's
a great article on this by tdyans, "The
Right Way to Adopt".
You've just heard the sunny side of the Neopian pound where everybody goes
home happily. Unfortunately there are schemes behind this happy pound. I've
seen many messages on the chatboard saying, "Cybunny for Neopoints, Neomail
to haggle!" Let's say you saw that message and you're interested. A Blue Cybunny
Morphing Potion is what you were saving up for this whole two months, all for
a limited edition Cybunny. So you Neomailed that owner and you worked out a
deal for two Codestones. It may sound nice since two Codestones are way cheaper
than a Cybunny Morphing Potion... But there are three risks waiting for
you to take:
1. First of all, you don't know is that Cybunny owner being honest.
Will he keep his promise and give you the Cybunny right after he received your
Codestones, or will he block you from Neomailing him and sell your Codestones
for Neopoints? Keep in mind that this pet-buying deal is not like the Trading
Post where all trades are finalised fairly. Whether you'll receive what you
wanted is NOT guaranteed at all. Why will that owner cheat you? Simple - Because
he can.
2. The only way a pet can go from one account to another is through
the Neopian Pound. That Cybunny owner will have to Neomail you to arrange the
time to abandon his pet so you can adopt it. Neomails don't travel at a speedy
rate. By the time you were noticed to find his pet in the pound... A random
Neopian has probably already picked it up. That Cybunny owner did what he promised,
and that random Neopian was just rescuing a pet he assumed was abandoned. Who
is there for you to blame - Yourself.
3. Let's say you were very lucky to adopt that pet you wanted. But the
next day when you log onto Neopets, you found your account frozen. Remember
that this pet deal is against the terms and conditions. A Neopian might've reported
to abuse@neopets.com when he saw that Cybunny owner's post. When the Neopets
staff checked his inbox, they'll know that you were part of it too. Guess who's
account is going to be frozen? That original Cybunny owner and you.
You may be extremely fortunate if you met an honest Neopian for this deal,
adopted that pet before everybody else, and weren't reported. Though this result
is something you'll love, it's not something common, not at all.
Another reason for a pet to travel through accounts is when their owner is
transferring their pet from one account to another. Usually it's because the
owner is moving on to their new "main account" and cannot part with their Neopet.
What the owner usually does is abandoning that pet in the pound, then log in
to their other account to find that pet and adopt it.
Same with the previous situation, this one can be either ended with a happy
ending with you and your pet... Or a horrible one where you lose them. Each
page in Neopets.com contains many images, which takes up lots of your time loading
them. Your pet might be adopted by a random Neopian already, especially if your
Neopet is painted, has high stats, or is a rare specie. By the time you're at
your new account to adopt that pet, you'll see, "Terribly sorry, this pet already
has an owner and is very happy!" or "Oops! That pet is not in the pound!!" This
is not a good deal to lose your lovely Neopet. There is a way to avoid this
- use the Neopian Pound only for its purposes.
In summary, the Neopian Pound can be a place where everybody brings home a
cute pet and to leave pets that you cannot care for. You can save a lot of Neopoints
while having an awesome addition family member for a more cozy family. You can
also save a pet from your rotten care so it can find a better home. The wrong
way to use the pound is going against its purposes. There are risks such as
losing your pet you love so much when you're using the pound for a pet transfer.
You may also lose your account if you're using the pound for the pets as how
you use the Trading Post for items. As I've mentioned several times, they can
be avoided. Play by one rule - Use the Neopian Pound only for its purposes.
What's going to be your roll? A smart Neopian who does it the beneficial way,
or not-so-smart one that goes through scary risks to abuse the pound? |