Greetings!
Welcome, welcome, guest. If you've made it here, then I certainly hope that you don't mind opinions and efforts that may or may not be effortless, depending on your views. What am I speaking of, you ask? Well, quite simply, this page is the start of what I hope to be a project to show why I think members of Neopets should be allowed to unconvert their pets in some way or form.But wait, what's an unconverted pet?
Ah, funny you ask...
Unconverted pets are very special neopets. These pets were created in a time long before customization. Their art differs from the current pets because they are untouched, or rather, unconverted, meaning that they retain the artwork of old. You see, before neopets were able to be customized, all of the art was completely different and, in the eyes of some, including myself, superior.
Take, for example, the common green Kougra. Even this seemingly 'boring' pet had many different poses (these are only a few). Now, let us compare these poses to the converted variety...
Notice that, while the art of the Kougra itself didn't change much, the poses did. Rather than lifting a paw as if walking in its happy pose, roaring when angry, or curling up when sad, the current Kougra remains the same throughout each of its poses bar a slight change in facial expression. More importantly, the pose is stiff and generic.
With that in mind, let us move on to a painted pet. For this example, I will be using a personal favorite of mine: the Darigan Draik.
The Darigan Draik in its unconverted form is quite different from your average draik. For one, it is on all fours rather than standing upright. Secondly, it lacks the wings commonly seen on other draiks, and as a whole appears to be much more menacing. Surely the converted one would be at least decent looking, right?
...right?
...unfortunately, that is not the case. The 'converted' Darigan Draik lacks the unique design that the unconverted look has. In fact...
It barely even looks different from a simpler colored draik, such as the brown pictured above. Granted, it has a few alterations, but it's clearly a mere edit of the basic draik and no longer has any unique poses.
The Darigan Draik was not the only painted pet to suffer this change. Other darigans lost their fierce appearances and instead became slightly-edited versions of the basics, sometimes with tacked-on wings or fangs. Plushies no longer seemed floppy, grey pets no longer drooped in sadness, and faeries no longer had free-flying positions. Royals lost their anthromorphic touch, and even some maraquans and mutants lost their flair... and for what reason? The answer is simple: customization.
Indeed, in April of 2007, the site changed considerably. Pets could now wear clothing, something which had been demanded, but for a price... they all had to remain in the same pose, regardless of the color. The irony here is that some pets, such as babies and mutants, can't even wear clothes, yet they, too, changed.
So, where do unconverted pets come into play? Well, as I mentioned before, some pets were allowed to keep the old art. These pets had to have been created before the change, but if they were of a specific color, such as royal, darigan, or grey, they generally were given two options: convert in order to wear clothes, or remain unconverted and be unable to to be dressed. They also lost every pose but their 'default' image, which varied from happy pose, to circle pose, to even a mix of a few poses.
Some may have converted in order to use this new features, but many members chose to keep their pets as they were, sole reminders of how certain pets used to appear. This was, really, generous of TNT to do; they could have very well converted all pets and left it at that, but they understood that some of the changes were drastic. Unfortunately, they made it impossible to create any more unconverted pets, which, for many, may have ruined their chances of achieving their 'dream pets', since the newer versions of the more extravagant colors were no longer as interesting.
Granted, with the new transfer feature, pet trading was made a reality, but even then, unconverted pets are a severe minority, thus, logically, it would be impossible for every member to have the unconverted pet of their dreams. For this and many other reasons, I support the idea of a choice to somehow unconvert pets.
Didn't you read the Neopian Times?
Yes, yes, I know well about TNT's statement of how they do not want 'two looks' for each pet. However, there are just some things I've noticed on the site that sort of seem... odd, I guess.
Exhibit A: The petpage photo. Notice anything about this image? That's right, despite mutant techos being automatically converted, their petpage images still display their original artwork. This applies even to converted pets with an unconverted counterpart; all petpage photos display the original art for a pet, meaning that anyone can see it.
Exhibit B: The search. Now, this, too, is interesting. In spite of being an auto-converted pet, Spiker also displays his original art when searched for. This applies to any pet once again. The fact that my hissi is shown is proof that this screenshot is recent, and therefore, post-conversion.
Exhibit C: For this image, I recommend dragging it into your address bar to see the full image. This image shows that when you visit a world to view the pets of that specific world's color, it still displays the original art, even though the rainbow pool does not. Yet again, this proves that the 'two looks' issue is still very obvious.
Exhibit D: The beauty contest entry page. This contest happens to get many entrants, but what's strange is that this page also displays the original art, regardless of whether or not the pet has been converted. Again, to prove that this is recent, check the date on the image itself.
Exhibit E: The lab ray. Now, I forgot to take a screeny on the lab account I use today, so I don't have a picture yet, but I will add one tomorrow. Nonetheless, when a pet is zapped by the ray, it displays their old 'sad' image, including converted pets.
Looking at all this, I wouldn't say that TNT is making excuses; I still do see their point, but it does raise a good question-- with all the original art, is creating an option really too much to ask?
Images aside, there is another thing to keep in mind: TNT has changed their minds before. The orange spots on purple pets? Yeah, they had no plans to change that at first, but they did. Pet transfer? That, too, was something they had no intention to add, but they eventually did. The point is, if enough interest is expressed, there is at least some chance.
And as for the NC Mall... that argument isn't that great either, IMO. For one, Maraquan, mutant, baby pets as well as fruit chias cannot wear clothes, and in the case of babies, a random event can easily create them. Unconverted pets, too, are unable to wear clothing. Furthermore, the mall is only available for those in North America, which leaves the rest of the world without access. From this I would imagine that the real profits come from all the merchandise. Besides, trinkets and backgrounds can still be purchased, so they'd still be making some money from those who actually do shop there.
So, why DO you want an option?
There are plenty of reasons why I'd like this option to be available, and I'm willing to explain every last one.Fairness: Let's face it. Prior to the conversion, people could have very well been saving up for an amazing pet, as I had mentioned earlier on in this page. The problem is, even though they could still make the pet, it wouldn't look the same. Now, while trading does indeed exist, there are many problems. For one, trading for a pet just isn't the same as creating and painting your own. Secondly, people ask for so much a lot of the time. It's true that currently UC pets cannot be made, but not every unconverted pet deserves a well-named Krawk/Draik, not to mention that some of the nicer looking UCs require 20 million+ customs to obtain. Given the high demand, it's, to put it bluntly, ridiculous.
No matter what, no one will be able to have all of their UC dream pets unless an option is made because they're literally an 'endangered species'. And for you nay-sayers who complain that it won't be fair for the people who did pay that much for UCs? Think of it this way; it certainly didn't cost 20 million to create that UC Darigan Draik in the first place. I'm not trying to be rude, just logical here. :/
Demand and Supply: It's clear that people want unconverted pets. Many people on the pound boards often offer or require very high customs for them. Some people have even left because of the conversion, which further proves how adored they are. By giving members an option, not only would it please the masses, but it would make pet trading less chaotic.
Customization is Not For Everyone: The truth is, not everyone is interested in giving their pet a unique attire. Some would much rather have unique pets without clothes than generic pets with them. Personally, as someone who has been on Neopets on and off since late 2000, I just don't care for customizing. For those who like it, that's perfectly acceptable, but TNT really should compensate for those who would rather just have great looking pets of their own.
Calming the Storm: So long as no option exists, there will be people who are discontent. By offering some means of unconverting, perhaps the members would be able to accept the site in its current condition and be content with their chance to make their own dreams come true. I imagine that TNT does get a lot of complains/suggestions about this issue, so, by finally doing something about it, it would mean that they, too, would be able to continue to work on other aspects of the site.
How would this even work?
I've mentioned how I'd like an option to exist, but, thus far, I haven't gone into the actual details. Well, I think that here would be the best place to elaborate on these ideas. As a note, though, some of these ideas were suggested by others and I just happen to like them as well.Alternate Skin: Sidebars exist, so why not an alternate skin for the site? My basic idea here is that, rather than actually unconverting the pets per se, there could just be an alternate skin that uses only the original art for pets. This means that instead of having the flash images of pets, one could have all of the original poses including circle, happy, sad, battledome, etc. I imagine that this would actually be a much easier skin to code than the regular site because flash images take a lot longer to load than GIFs. Of course, there is the issue of pets that don't have art in the style of the old site, but perhaps for those they would simply display the GIF of their 'customized' self and all their expressions that can easily be seen on lookups and such.
Plot Prize: Someone on the neoboards suggested it, and I personally like the idea myself. By having a one-time use plot prize, similar to the robo zapper, members would have to work to get their UCs, and I imagine that it would be quite rewarding. And of course, this item would be non-tradeable like the robo zapper, too, or that would be nice, at least, since inflators would likely ask for a HUGE amount of NP.
One-time Option: Another one that I came up with. The idea here is that each account would have ONE opportunity to unconvert a pet, provided an unconverted version was available. They could do this at any time for free, but once they used it up, they wouldn't be able to unconvert on that account again. Since you can only have five accounts, that's... five UC pets per person, which isn't a bad deal, honestly. And, if TNT wanted to prevent abuse of this, they could always make the UC pets produced by this option revert to converted when traded/pounded, but I'd personally prefer that to not be the case.
Rare Lab Zap: Well, why not? It'd be a risk to take, but if unconverting were a rare lab ray option, then it would be hard to get, since the ray is random, but at least possible.
A Simple Button: Probably the most favorable of all-- a button underneath all pets with a UC form that allows a person to unconvert whenever they like. Better yet, if unconverting and converting were able to be done at whim, people could change their minds. So, say that they want to customize their pet, but then they grow tired of it and want the old look. Well, presto change-o, it can be done. It would also slow pet trading in a way, since people would be able to manually unconvert and vice-versa. 8D
NC Mall Item: Yes, TNT said that they don't want to make us pay for unconverting, and there are the aforementioned issues of countries, but this WOULD be profitable, especially if it were like the petpet lab in the sense that if the pet were traded/pounded, the'd lose their UCness, or if the item had to be renewed every year. And, to show that the pet wasn't a true UC, perhaps there could be an image of some sort to point that out. This was also suggested by someone on the boards.
Designated Day: Another one I really like. Perhaps if they have one day each year to unconvert pets freely then people could have a goal to work towards. If they want, say, a UC Grey Krawk, they can earn the Krawk ahead of time and unconvert on that special day. And, if someone converted the pet, they'd have to wait another year to change them back.
Hidden Tower Item: Or maybe a hidden tower item could be made priced at about a million or two million, so not to be too expensive. This would stop the item from inflating for sure AND thus make unconverting readily available. Just... it'd be a bit pricey.
Hidden Link: Lastly, I think one of the most interesting ideas would be to have a hidden link that isn't even hinted at in the news that could unconvert pets...people would just have to find it themselves. It could also be like a certain jelly-based world used to be where you couldn't link to it at all...it'd just be blocked by default.
So, what now? How do you plan on making this work?
Well, there's no guarantee that this will work, but I have an idea that's a bit different than other 'bring back UC' petpages. Namely, instead of just having a list of signatures, which could easily be faked, here is what I'd like if any of you would like to show support...Namely, I'd like you all to send me a neomail explaining why you would like there to be an option to unconvert pets. Please be specific. What I will do then is screencap the neomail and post a list of screncapped images here. See, by having actual neomail screenshots, it's just more specific proof that people really are interested in an unconvert option. Maybe then if TNT sees this, they'll reconsider. As I said before, they did change their minds about a few other things.
Another thing that I personally will do is enter this page into the petpage spotlight once it's got more content and some interest. For the time being, linking to this page would be severely appreciated.
Here are some buttons.
I'm currently in the process of recoding them, so I'll have the other banners hopefully within a few days.