How Did You Learn To Love Neopets?

Me in real life: black lipstick and ripped jeans. Who would look at me in real life and guess I had a virtual family of Ice and Faerie pets with pretty sparkle and pretty pink wings? No one, I'd imagine!

So I asked the Neoboard with the biggest variety of people, the Help Neoboard: What did you learn to love on Neopets that you didn't like before?

The first person to post admitted that she never wears dresses in real life except for Halloween and weddings, but when it comes to her pets, there's nothing she won't spare to dress them up in elaborate dresses and wigs. I thought that was interesting! It's a testament to our imaginations that our pets can dress so provocatively and exotically, while we ourselves adorn ourselves with casual jeans and T-shirts!

Another person posted that when she was a newbie, she would save every Neopoint. Now she has more fun spending all the Neopoints she's gathered up over the years. I feel the same way! I used to scrimp and save and restock like a madman, but I haven't restocked for the past three years and I don't mind the loss of income very much. I would rather just spend my spare time writing stories and articles for the Neopian Times, to be honest.

One user had several interesting things to say. She used to ignore customization, but now adores it. She never traded Neocash items before, but now she trades on the NC Mall Neoboard with a passion. And finally, she used to ignore the Battledome, but now that it gives out free Codestones, Dubloons and Bottled Faeries, she battles the opponents and sells her daily 15 prizes with glee!

As soon as she posted, numerous people piped up to agree! Nearly a dozen of us chatted with enjoyment about the extra income that selling the Codestones brings us, while others lauded TNT for helping them earn free Codestones that they could train their battle pets with. No one had anything bad to say about the new Battledome, except for some minor griping about lag. Way to go, TNT!

I have to admit, at first I wasn't the biggest fan of certain Neopet species. However, over the past few years, I've learned to love them all! Even the unpopular Quiggle has a fan in me. One of my favorite pets is the unconverted Plushie Quiggle -- it's a dream pet of mine!

One male user on my thread admitted that he never used to like Koi or "girly flowery pets," but now he not only accepts them, he loves them! He even has one "girly" pet. At the time of the writing of this article, it's Koi Day, and people are flocking to the Create-A-Pet page to create Kois. This user was seriously contemplating creating a Koi, which I have to admit is one of the girliest of the pets on this site!

This same user claimed, however, that he will never love wearable wings. Several of us laughed, and said, "Give it time, give it time." Most of us believe that he'll become a wings convert! Several of the NP and NC wings are spooky and tough and masculine instead of "girly," which is great if he wants to avoid the "girly" look.

My hypothesis when I started working on this article was just to prove that people can change, and that when they do, their lives become more enriched. What I ended up realizing, however, is that there isn't any aspect of the Neopets website that people hate! Some users are allergic to certain pet species, but that's about it. TNT is constantly working on different parts of the site to make them more fun and exciting, and everything is always moving towards progress and positivity!

No wonder everyone ends up moving towards happy acceptance of every part of the site! I think that the work TNT does to revamp this site is remarkable, and it keeps me coming back day after day!

The new Battledome, for instance, was the biggest topic of discussion on my thread. Everyone was super excited about the free Codestones, Dubloons and Bottled Faeries that fighting the opponents gives you, and it's already been months and months since the new Battledome rolled out! People are STILL praising the new Battledome with adoring thanks! As I said earlier, everything on this site is moving towards progress!

Some people have been on this site for so long, sometimes over a decade, that they can't remember anything they disliked in the past! All they could recall are the things they love about this site right now. That's pretty cool! This proves yet again that the Neopets site is always moving towards progress! We love you, TNT!

Inspiring, isn't it?

Right now I'm applying purple lipstick and getting ready for a friend's birthday party. I've got my black fingerless gloves on, and my black ripped jeans. But before I leave, what's the last thing I do? I put my beloved pets in the Neolodge! I cast an appreciative glance over their gorgeous pink wings, give them a mental hug, and thank my lucky stars that I have such a cute, adorable, dainty collection of pets! (These are all words I'd never be caught dead using in real life, by the way.) I may have been rock/goth at first... but with Faeries this adorable, wouldn't you change your mind too?

Thanks for reading this article, my fellow Neopians! I hope you love all the new changes to the site that TNT is probably brewing for the future, and that you learn to love everything you once ignored! Life's more fun that way!