sirhatter's school
Welcome to sirhatter's domain

FAQ VERSION 2.0

January 06

Obviously, you have come here to learn how to become stronger.

I am sirhatter, the nether-minded nimmo, and while my power is finite, my minions are many.

I think I am the strongest Halloween Nimmo in all of Neopia. Think your stronger? Make me a challenge.

Or perhaps you, too, want to become my minion?

If so, then step this way young one... Perhaps someday you can become stronger than me.

(ps: this is really long, but I seriously have been asked almost all of these questions more than once.)

Q: What got you so interested in Neopets?

A: I am a big fan of games in General. Unlike sporting events, which I also enjoy participating in and watching, for the most part, you have much more control over your results in an online game. For example. I enjoy basketball, it is maybe my 3rd favorite sport to play. While there are some things I can certainly influence, such as my workout, my diet, and my practice habits, a big part of my skill will ultimately come down to how well my 5'11 160 pound frame competes against other people. Given that I am ultimately of an average build, I really stand little or no chance to win against someone who is 6'4, 200 lbs, quicker than me, and has similar practice and conditioning habits. What I am really trying to say is, that it would be impossible for me to make it to the top of the food chain in basketball, or american football (or even football in europe as they call it). While this doesn't stop me from working out and playing and having a good time and trying to win, in reality I prefer my chances against other people coming in on the same footing as me.

Q: So why Neopets and not say.... chess or some game like that?

A: I would also enjoy games such as chess, but thanks to computers, we have games today that are so much more multi dimensional and require critical thinking skills on alot of different levels. But needless to say if I learned how to play tiddly winks, I may end up enjoying it if it was a form of competition.

Q: You must be really competitive then:

A: With myself I am. With friends I can be in a playful way. It's to me, really more about seeing if i maximized my abilities than winning or losing per se. Especially in a game such as this. Featheralley could go out on her front porch today, and scream at the top of her lungs that she owns the strongest pet in neopia, and people would either not care or look at her like she's crazy. Maybe both. So there isn't a ton of reason to really have massive rivalries with other people. This game also, for better or worse, allows people to play behind a relative mask of anonymity.

Q: For better or worse?

A: What I mean by that is, people that would never cheat their friends in a card game face to face, might and do cheat in online card games. Since you have a veil of anonymity to some degree, people think they can get away with more. The upside is, someone with a squeaky voice that might be 4'1, 50 lbs and 12 years old but really is a genius, will have the chance to show that genius, and have the chance to disguise the fact that they are 12, 5'1 and 50 lbs (all of which might be perceived in a face to face setting, since those things never have to be revealed. The online gaming atmosphere makes it much harder to stereotype against someone, at least until they decide to broadcast their attentions to the world.

Q: So you're saying youre 5'1 50 lbs and 12 years old?

A: No, I'm none of those. If anything, if people were to stereotype, I might be the stereotypical person who gets the lucky breaks and preferential treatment.

Q: What hobbies do you have?

A: Aside from my love of games, and my borderline OCD approach to figuring out games once I get into them, I am a big sports fan as probably already mentioned. I like to be outside alot when it's nice out, and not surprisingly you'll see me online more in the wintertime than the spring fall and summer combined. I hike and travel a decent bit when I get time off from work. Aside from that I consider myself to a degree a man of the world. I keep myself somewhere between well read and very well read (best book over the last two years that I've read by far is blink, and if you read this, you'll see alot of that book's influence in my faq and throughout my writings, though I was thinking alot along those lines before Malcolm Gladwell put it into much better words than I could). I am also something of a policy geek, but you're unlikely to find me discussing anything of the sort on any sites I might frequent. There are enough people who think they are smarter than everyone else already posting their opinion out in the world, and not too many people care as far as I can tell. Why add myself to the list? Lastly, I was born in Philadelphia and have spent most of my life in that Area. I definitely enjoy going out once in a while, and having fun in and around the city. Maybe a little too much fun as my friends may tell you.

Q: Did Anyone Ever Tell You Youre Really Cocky/Confident/Arrogant?

A: A few times in fact. ;)

Q: Why DO you have to figure out the games you play?

A: It's my personality, and it gives me enjoyment. Alot of people are the same way. What makes me unique among people who share that trait is usually people that think that way want to hoard that knowledge for themselves to give them a big in-game advantage. People that are quick to share opinions generally have either a moderate or poor knowledge at best of what they are talking about. Hopefully I've been able to prove that I am a little bit better than that. By figuring out the games, it also makes me a little sharper overall, and keeps me thinking. When I am forced to explain what I am thinking, like most people, I am forced to have still a greater level of comprehension. Knowing something is one thing. Putting in words how it works indicates a greater grasp of knowledge, and that is why I routinely force myself to explain my discoveries, since it will also push me higher, and hopefully those around me as well. Lastly, there are people who have and will continue to take my work farther. And of course, there are people who have discovered stuff before me, but either lacked the means to publicize it or chose not to for their personal gain. I hardly have a monopoly on the secrets of Neopia.

Q: Well if you're so smart, tell me what to buy and make me rich?

A: Come on, you cant be serious. Really, even if I did that, it could be construed as price fixing and get both of us frozen, which I would rather avoid.

Q: Where did you get your lookup from? It's (cool/terrible/mediocre) A: Piqucht17 (?)

Q: Could you be my neofriend? A: No.

Q: Why not?

A: Because Stone Cold Sirhatter said so! Errm, honestly I make a lousy friend, especially when I dont talk to any of my neofriends for months at a time in the summer.

Q: Do you use aim/msn/other chat program?

A: Not that I'd ever admit to. And yes, I've had multiple imposters claim to be me on both these programs and unfortunately now the neoboards. Really, I'm not as famous as I pretend to be! The best way to contact me with a legitimate question.

Q: Why haven't you posted an article on IDB in eons?

A: Oh but I have! The idb stopped posting articles on their main site, and only posted through the forums. Unfortunately, the forums sometimes lose the posts contained within. To top it off, sometimes I don't always save my work as well as I should. As a result, most of my more recent stuff is on the idb forums, but there's a pretty big gap of writing (10,000-12,000 words) that are simply lost. And to be honest, I don't have the inclination to try to duplicate it without a MAJOR reason. Sad but true. I do sometimes still write, and realize I need to finish more works anyway.

Q: Are you affiliated with IDB / I Want to be a Rater / Can you get me on staff

A: As of June 2005, after 4 largely productive and positive months, I stepped down from leadership in IDB. I had stepped into leadership knowing I didn't really want to be there long term, and realistically, it wouldn't be fair to whoever came after me if I still was hanging around in some sort of official role. As a result while I still will always have good memories of the IDB, I am just a rater emeritus (a fancy word for retired), and am just another neopian citizen. On that note, if you want to be a rater, train your pet up and be productive in the forums there. One of my last acts was to add 15 new raters to the mix. That seems like a lot until you realize we had 88 applicants! So for every person we did take on, 5 ended up not getting added for that round of applications.

Q: You're so rich, would you give me neopoints/items/weapons?

A: Unlike alot of people who get indignant at this question, I am much more amused than anything. If you really knew me, you'd know that I am always better at spending neopoints than making them! Therefore, I almost never have a bank balance to even consider bragging about. And unlike alot of people, I won't give you the line about "I worked hard for my stuff you should too!" Though, I think things you get yourself often have more value to you emotionally. I refuse to think that it was "hard work" that got me to where I was. I had fun making my neopoints. If I didn't have fun, do you think I would have been still here? That said, the answer is an unequivocal no ;P

Q: But my pet is sick and dying and I need help!

A: Ever watch Charlie Brown? Remember the teacher? Wah wah wah wah, wah wah, wah wah.

Q: You're so rich, would you lend me neopoints/items/weapons?

A: See previous answer, and also, lending/borrowing has gotten people in trouble in the past. I'd hate to see anyone I was friendly with in a situation like that.

Q: How did you make your neopoints then?

A: Restocking, long term investing, the stock market, jobs, and many of the so-called chance/luck games as well.

Q: Do you Have a Gallery?

A: Check my other account hucks4yuk. It should be there.

Q: Why doesn't it have a theme?

A: It does have a theme! The theme is: stuff that Dan thinks is cool. About half of the items there were gifts given to me by my uber-cool friends or prizes I won.

Q: Well why is your main shop so expensive?

A: No, that isn't a gallery, it's a shop. Its priced that way because my time is valuable, and I deal in alot of popular items. Therefore I deserve to be compensated for spending my time buying such cheap items for mass consumption. I as a result charge a premium for the convenience of knowing that my shop will be stocked, and for my time stocking it. Furthermore, there have been a lot of unfortunate security breaches in recent weeks. It is quite sad, but I now only shop in shops that I deal with frequently, and those shops charge premiums to me for dealing in bulk and being trustworthy. That gets passed on to the final consumer.

Q: Do you work for Neopets®?

A: No, they are far too smart to hire me.

Q: How did sirhatter get so strong?

A: I'm not as strong as I'd like, or as you think. My guess is my pet's statistics rank me somewhere between about 100 and 500 out of however many pets are out there. That said, the lab can be good in certain situations, though I avoid it for reasons too complicated to put here. I force myself to do several kitchen quests, averaging about 7 a day, with pretty liberal standards on what I'd spend. Remember that kitchen quests have about a 25% chance of giving you something useful in terms of stats such as hitpoints, strength or defense. Also remember that it unless you are very rich, it is much cheaper to train with only one pet, as those faerie quests will all hit the pet you're training hardest, as well as the kitchen quests. I also use the training school, but towards the end I only got to visit once a day, while often handing over much more than I made in a day.

Q: How many stats do you get a day?

A: It's hard right now. The red codestones are easy on no one. I have a real life job that often means I do not max out my kitchen quests, or get online at all some days. A good day I may gain 3 points, a poor day 0. Average it out and 1.5 points per day seems fair.

Q: You mentioned restocking...

A: I couldn't tell you where to restock these days. I fully support Adam's efforts to fight the cheating that has plagued the restock system from time to time. My computer was too slow to restock at any of the popular places over the past year as I mentioned. My biggest grabs were the first Dua ever restocked as far as I know, as well as a Cadro, and I coved a Smugglers Treasure Chest. I only got fair value for the last one. I also have the ignomy of missing FOUR Glowing Cauldrens. Ouch!

Q: Who are the top players today?

A: Overall? Well see a later question for a project I'm interested in. But from a purely biased perspective, I'd overwhelmingly have to vote for jess. Between her massive achievements in several phases of the game, her overall calm demeanor, and ability to handle pretty much everything thrown at her with a high degree of class, she gets my vote. There are a lot of great ones though for sure.

What makes a top player anyway?

For me, really the top criteria is ability to make neopoints, either past or present. Albert Einstien could play this game, but without neopoints, he'd be just another broke bum theorizing about neopian relativity. After that, integrity, and patience play a huge role. Anyone with a super-strong pet clearly knows how to make neopoints, but handling the massive amounts of neomails, being able to judge who is and who isn't trustworthy, figuring out what people want out of you, and in general handling the ups and downs at that level can either make you or break you. There have been alot of seemingly top players who just don't have the temperament to survive up top, and then erupt and do something stupid. On another note, these skills often conflict. Being patient is great, and all top players have a long term view, but sometimes there are opportunities that require the ability to put everything you worked for over several years at risk. One of my favorite examples of this is how the great geekersg once single-handedly changed the market on Jade Scorchstones. He bought every one possible in the trading post, and unilaterally upped the price by several million. He was within the rules of Neopets (which are very clear about what is and isn't price fixing). Needless to say causing such trauma in the economy, I think indirectly led to Neopets releasing the leaded elemental vial. But only a player of geekers caliber would have the savvy to risk nearly a hundred million of their own neopoints, knowing they could quickly make 20 mil more over 2-3 weeks.

Q: What are some things you'd like to see in the game?

A: The restocking system overhauled. I'd like to see it changed to an auction type system. Heck I'd like to see auctions changed too. If your bid is top, the person after you has to beat your bid by at least 5%, or the minimum increment. But to top it off, bring back the timer, but change the rules such that if you place a bid with under 10 minutes left in the auction, the clock resets to 10 minutes. This way new players would be more likely to get fair value for their item, and people would have to be more skillful with how much they bid on an item. The restock system from the main shops could be changed to something similar, except with maybe a 30 second clock, or even a blind auction format. Right now though there is WAY too much incentive to cheat, and that ultimately will foil even the best efforts to stop the riffraff and such. As for me, I never complain when I miss an item, since anyone on a computer faster than mine will beat me anyway! A world series of Neo-Poker would also be nice. 100,000 neopoint buy in, one day tournament. I'd definitely enter, and feel my chances are as good as anyone else's of winning. I realize that isn't a reality though. Beyond that, some tweaks to the battledome. Its high time Neopets retired a few items and made some tweaks to existing elements within the battledome system. Overall though neopets does a pretty good job with that.

Lastly, there has been talk of my 'hatterstats' around the idb forums. While I lack the energy to make this a reality, I'd love to see someone with more programming ability than I, or TNT themselves make and publicize these.

And naturally I'd like to see all of my weapons and big investments upgraded and retired ;)

Q: What do you like most about the game?

A: Without a doubt the people. It was, I feel, a very fair representation of the world at large. Where else could you interact with a successful lawyer, a bright student, a super slacker, or a crafty foreign player? You have people from all walks of life, all levels of most attributes you'd see. With such a large group of people, you naturally find people that you would make great friends with, and I have been very fortunate to do so. I've got friends who have amazingly successful accounts, and friends with spectacularly unsuccessful accounts, and everything in-between. Either way, it is a good group of people, all having a good time together.

Q: Have you ever been frozen?

A: Once. I discovered and then gave away the formula that neopets uses for determining how much it costs to adopt a pet from the pound on the neoboards. Naturally my big mouth got me in trouble. I had no idea that it was illegal to do that, but to the credit of staff, I was graciously unfrozen shortly thereafter.

Q: What's that formula?

A: You have got to be kidding me...

Q: Any last words of advice?

A: This game is meant to be fun. Make sure youre always having fun when playing, as its not worth getting frustrated over. You're doing this in your free time presumably, and you should ENJOY your free time. I've had great freinds, and found this to be a great diversion. I will be back someday, and wish everyone the best of luck. I have appreciated the support I've received, and have saved most of the complimentary neomails I've ever received. They really did mean alot to me. I hope I left this community a little bit better than how I found it, and when I return, I pledge to continue on that path. Enough of me babbling now, go out and have some fun!


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