Downsizing Dilemmas!

I personally was close to giving away my Plushie Kiko, but grew to love it so much that I couldn't bear to part with it, even though it was never a dream pet of mine, and even though I'd been planning to uptrade it towards an unconverted pet. Similarly, I had a very badly named Robot Kacheek that I wanted to put up for adoption, but I was abnormally attached to the cute little guy and eventually I decided to keep him, even though his name was atrocious and his coloring was not rare.

The players I spoke to on the Pound Neoboard admitted that they loved to make characters for their pets, and that's why they would love their basic Blue Kacheek more than a Pirate Draik. The Kacheek stirred their creative juices, while the Draik was harder to be inspired about. I was quite impressed by the players who loved writing stories about their Mutant JubJubs and Island Unis instead of their more expensive and rare pets, and I encouraged their literary skills!

That's why the players found it difficult to downsize. Should they give away their basic pets, the ones that they're inspired by? Or give away their Draiks and Krawks, the ones that are outrageously expensive but difficult to write stories about? Many people admitted that the pets with the weakest stories, or the weakest characters, were the ones they chose to give away.

Many players were like me, and abnormally attached to their badly named, unimpressive pets. One player openly declared that she loved her badly named Robot Jetsam the most, even though Robot pets are pretty common in Neopia.

There was an April Fool's prank that happened earlier this year where random "foster pets" were showing up on our accounts, courtesy of the tricksters at TNT headquarters. The Neopian Pound was closed to all visitors, leaving us to accumulate five, ten, even twenty foster pets on our accounts, and bewildering those of us who had forgotten about this silly holiday. The most startling phenomenon, however, is how warmly we welcomed our fosters! I saw players with four Draiks falling in love with their foster Green Ixi. I saw players falling in love with badly named Unis, and with hilariously named pets. What could explain this bizarre phenomenon?

My theory is that possession makes the heart grow fonder! Many players on my thread admitted that they were trying to uptrade their pets, just like me, but fell in love with them instead. I thought of my adorable, squishy Plushie Kiko and had to agree! I'm finding it impossible to downsize my pets, because I've learned to love them all!

The players who were ambivalent about giving away their pets admitted that they would let their pets rot on side accounts, sometimes for months at a time, in the hopes that maybe they'd lose their attachment to the pets. My Pirate Draik and Royalboy Krawk are on my side accounts too. I don't quite have the heart to give them away, since they represent years of uptrading, but at the same time, I can't seem to create stories for them. I guess I'm just waiting for inspiration to strike, and until then, my pets will "rot" on my side accounts. How sad!

And finally, some players were just too lazy to downsize! They didn't want to go through the process of asking for applications and reading hundreds of them, but at the same time, they didn't want to simply pound their pets for anyone to grab. Unable to make up their minds, these players chose to let their excess pets rot on side accounts. One player sighed and said she had nine pets to give away, but didn't have the energy to create a petpage of application rules. I have a similar mindset -- I also don't have the time to create a petpage of rules, or have the time to go through hundreds of applications. I simply post on the Pound Neoboard and give my extra pets (whose painted selves I achieve through the Laboratory Ray) away to the people who post the funniest joke!

One player, who I admired very much, said that he downsized from five accounts to just one main account, and gave away all of his pets except for one Transparent Hissi and one Mutant Lutari. The Lutari, he's holding onto, in the hopes that Lutaris will be transferable someday. I thought that was so sweet of him! It's kind of refreshing to see someone downsize their pets with nothing but generosity in his soul. I don't have the heart to downsize my accounts. I'd downsize my pets, sure, but not my accounts! I've got the Laboratory Ray on three of them, and I'd hate to lose them!

It was pretty gratifying to chat with the Pound Neoboard and find out that I'm not the only player who's having a heck of a time adopting out her pets! I'm so attached to my beauties that I can't bear the thought of giving them away. Though it would be refreshing to have only four pets, like a close Neofriend of mine, I love my sixteen pets with a passion that just won't quit. Yes, they're badly named, and yes, they may not be particularly expensive, but darn, they just inspire me so! I've written stories and poems for each of my pets, and I plan to keep on writing more!

Thanks for reading this article, my fellow players, and thank you for replying to my thread on the Pound Neoboard! Chatting with you all is the highlight of my time here on Neopets, and you never cease to entertain me and make me smile!

Stay tuned for more articles from yours truly, and have a terrific week!