Fame - Your Guide to Becoming a Famous Neopian

Now, famous Neopians like myself- oh, all right, famous Neopians, aren’t famous for nothing. Well, some of them might be, I suppose. But most did something, right? Right. You can’t get famous by doing nothing. Well, I suppose you could... You could be famous for being the most inactive user in all of Neopia. People would point you out on guided tours. “And that is yourusernamehere, the most inactive user in all Neopia. She/he hasn’t moved once since she/he set out to become the most inactive user in all Neopia.” But as that’s not a particularly flattering type of fame, we’ll make an effort, shall we?

But what do you want to be famous for? There are obviously many ways of getting people’s attention in Neopia, but which of them really stand out? Well, I have compiled a list of the different types of fame, how to achieve them, pros and cons, and how famous you can get. See? I do work, sometimes!

Notoriety

This isn’t exactly fame, but it will get you attention. Sometimes bad, sometimes good. The bad notoriety is being “oh that one n00b who still does chain letters” and that’s never fun to be. Well, sometimes it is. The good notoriety is the one that regulars on certain boards get. You know, they enter a board and suddenly everyone is flocking to them, yelling “HEY PERSON!” and then they start talking and completely forget about the original board maker’s premise. Rude? Pfft! Rudeness doesn’t matter when you have that kind of notoriety! Everyone will be so eager to be your friends (or publicly hate you) that they’ll stop at nothing to get your attention. This would be “popularity” in neoschool.

How to achieve: First, have a lot of friends. Yes, you’ll need to do this on your own; I can’t do EVERYTHING for you. Then, post on a board, after telling your friends on that board to immediately pay attention to you and no one else. If they do this for you, they’re good friends. If they don’t, they’re still sane. At any rate, it will attract people’s attention, and their desire to be one of the group will have them instantly clamoring to pay attention to you. See? Already you’re partway there!

What else you’ll need: A distinctive font. This is a must. So many people identify other people by their fonts, so it makes sense to have a font that people will remember. This is like a superhero’s catchphrase. Your name should be included in the font.

Also, you should be interesting. This is actually fairly easy. Simply be controversial. State the opposite of whatever the people on the board are collectively thinking and you’ll be attacked with attention in the form of hatred/amusement.

How famous will this get you?

Not very famous, actually. You’ll only be the most controversial person on your selected board for a little while before someone else comes ‘round. Also, the extent of your fame rarely goes past whichever board you choose to be famous on. But, it’s the type of fame that will get you the most friends/pseudofriends/enemies, and it’s pretty fun!

PROS:	CONS:
Easy enough.	Short-term fame only.
Comes quickly (ish).	Doesn't last long.
Requires little effort.	May get you hated.
And is actually rather fun.

Well, that’s one type of fame. On to the next.

Contest winner (Poetry, Caption, Storytelling, etc.)

These are the people who win all those terribly exciting contests! Poetry, Caption, Storytelling, Random, User Lookup, Gallery, Pirate Cave of the Week, Escape from Meridell, Art Gallery, Beauty Contest (gasp for air), Customisation spotlight, Faerie Caves, Petpet spotlight, Pet spotlight, Gourmet Club, Book Club, Neohomes spotlight, and Site spotlight! Whew, that’s a lot, isn’t it? So many that I can’t really tell you how to get them all, but most of them involve being good at writing/humor/art/HTML/or general cleverness. So, it requires a lot more effort than notoriety does, unfortunately.

How famous will this get you?

Once again, not very famous. I mean, who even looks at the username of the person who made their favorite pirate cave? I couldn’t tell you mine! Well, actually, I could, seeing as how you need to know it to be able to play it again... but that’s irrelevant. Well, I couldn’t tell you the name of my favorite Storytelling contest winner. In fact, some of the contests (Mystery Pic, Lenny Conundrum) don’t even post the names of the winners! Sheez, it’s like they think we’d rather have the joy of winning than fame. Crazy. At any rate, this’ll hardly get you famous. At all. But hey, I was obliged to include it.

PROS:	CONS:
Fame-relevant pros? Uhh... umm... Hard to do. I’ll get back to you on that.	Doesn’t really get you famous.
No, wait! You get a trophy!	Usually boring. Unless you like straining.
And you can get avatars. Yup.	Your brain.... Bleh.

Superior person (rich lender, etc.)

Oh goody, the superior personage! This person is awesome. I mean, really awesome. They’re the ones with all the trophies, the fancy pets, the complete stamp album, the old account, the fancy font, and the ridiculously large amount of avatars. They radiate cool like ice pets. Everyone adores them. Or hates them, but that’s just cause they’re jealous, so who cares for them? This fame is rather like notoriety, but more people are likely to love you instead of hate you.

How to achieve- Neopoints. Lots and lots of neopoints. But, if you’re going to have all those game trophies, you’re going to have to play games anyway! Also, you need to be able to save neopoints, which most people find intensely difficult. But, it’s not all terribly boring saving! You also have to spend. How else do they get completed stamp albums/galleries/fancy pets? However, you do have to save to a certain point. Just know when to spend! This section of the guide is getting boring, isn’t it? I thought so. That’s because Superior Person fame requires even more effort and patience than Contest Winner fame!

How famous will this get you?

Immensely famous, depending on what you do. If you just sit there with your fancy account and do nothing, not particularly. But if you lend avatar items and such for free, people will fall over themselves to adore you! Gee... being superior really appears to attract clumsy people, doesn’t it?

PROS:	CONS:
Really definitely gets you famousish.	Takes a LOT of effort. And time.
Being superior is always a pro!	Jealous people.
Once you’re rich, you can buy whatever you like!	You’re likely to get forgotten about.

n00b

Ahh, the n00b! Possibly the most irritating creature in all of Neopia, excepting the Bug Brothers. At any rate, n00bs are those irritating people who attempt to troll on boards and are generally idiots. Sometimes like younger siblings, except even worse. Why on neopia would anyone want to be a n00b? Fame. Lots of fame. Like notoriety, only negative. At any rate, people will know your name, won’t they? *DISCLAIMER: The author is not responsible for any flamings you may receive while following her advice. She also may not be held responsible for any surge in n00bish behavior that may occur after publication of this article.

How to achieve- This is fairly easy! Get a new account. Being n00bish is helped if you’re one week old or so. It must have a stupid username (like fattree), preferably with a lot of numbers. One or no pets is good. If you have a pet(s) they must have really bad names, also involving a lot of numbers. You will need to give up talking like a normal person. In this instance, chatspeak is key. Beg a lot, crash boards, and you’re set!

How famous will this get you?

Very famous. So many people will know you to hate and loathe that you’ll have trouble keeping up with all the hate mail! Sure, it won’t be good fame, but it still gives you a nice warm feeling inside to know that Neopians everywhere know your name.

PROS:	CONS:
Easy.	People will hate you.
Really easy.	You’ll probably get in trouble.
Did I mention it was easy?	I’ll probably get in trouble for pretending to advocate this in the first place.
It’ll definitely get you famous.
It’s fun to aggravate people.

NT Writer- (with variations- articles, comics, series, shorts)

I’ve saved the best for last! Neopian Times writers are probably the most well known Neopians of all time! Just about everyone reads the Neopian Times. I am willing to bet that you, dear reader, read the Neopian Times! Am I right? Hah, I knew it, I’m obviously a genius.

Back to the point, the Neopian Times writer is probably your best bet for fame, but there are different types of writers. Comic writers, series writers, short story writers, and article writers!

How to achieve- Well, to earn a spot among the NT writers, you must be good at drawing and/or writing. Drawing and writing is necessary for comics! However, in comics, all you really need is to be able to think up a good joke, and draw it out, although my friend claims it’s a lot more difficult than I make it seem. I wonder why. At any rate, you can also write articles, series, or short stories, and for those you need time, patience, creativity, a good, original idea, and writing skills. Yes, NT Writer is one of the types of fame that requires actual effort, but not as much as Superior Personage fame, so that’s what I’d try for!

How famous will this get you?

Generally more famous than anything else. I can name several NT writers off the top of my head, and most of them are terribly well known. But, with the variations in the styles of NT writing, some types will get you more famous than others.

Short Story Writer: This will get you fairly well known. Most people do read over the short stories list fairly regularly. I think only truly mad, raving, insane NT fans read every short story there is that week, so unless yours looks incredibly exciting, you won’t be that well known to the general public.

Series Writer: This is much harder than being a short story writer! You’ll be writing a lot more in a series. It requires more time and effort, and as I know more than a few people too lazy to read a full series, it won’t make you any more insanely famous than short story writing.

However, if you do a combination of both, and you do it a LOT, you could, in fact, become insanely famous. Just try not to drown in fan mail.

Article Writer: Probably won’t make you all that famous. Articles are read for the most part by the intellectuals, and written by people who think they’re funny but can’t draw comics. Or at least that’s merely my experience from the only regular article-writer I know (me).

Comic Writer: Comics are definitely most likely to get you famous. Most well-known NT stars drew comics at some point, and just about anyone who reads the Neopian Times reads all the comics, because it does not require an immensely long attention span. However, it requires either good art skills or a friend with them, so go read a book on cartooning while you wait to think up a good idea.

PROS:	CONS:
Makes you really famous.	Requires actual effort.
Gets you trophies!	And writing ability.
You can get avatars.	And usually a sense of humor.
And you can get rich, if you get published in special issues and get a good prize.	And sometimes drawing skills.
It has to be repeated: Fame.

Well, now you’ve learned how to be famous. I’ve given you several terribly exciting choices about what you want to be famous for. Also, when you’re famous, I expect you to tell everyone you know that I taught you everything you know. Except for people who went for the n00b category. Just forget that I even gave you the idea, mmkay?

*The author cannot be held liable for any surges in people attempting to become famous or n00bish behavior after publication of this article, nor is she responsible for any injuries, physical or mental, received as a result of acting on this article. She freely admits that her facts may be entirely wrong, and would be perfectly happy to receive questions, comments, or abuse.