Neopian Economic Slump: Not Good For Many, Not So Bad For A Lucky Few by lev_rolande |  |
Neopian economic slump not so bad for a lucky bunch? What does that mean?
Well, although it’s true that many Neopians do earn less due to it, a surprisingly
lucky bunch of others still seem to perform quite well, and the thing is there
are rising millionaires despite this dark financial period.
The financial condition of Neopia isn’t getting any much better, it seems.
As usual, this unfavorable situation is clearly reflected in the stock market,
a place that used to serve as the income generator for many of us Neopians.
The Neodaq index used to be around 1000 points in the past, but after the economic
slump it has never ascended to 900 points. And now, it has further plummeted
to below 800 points. Amidst this a few stocks has managed to do very well! AAVL
(Alien Aisha Vending Ltd.) and BOOM (BOOM! Boom boxes!), especially the latter.
Upon writing this, I realized just how lucky those investors of BOOM are.
While many fellow Neopians out there are thinking of ways to augment their
income since many “allegedly” profitable (which is true for some) games have
been removed, these fortunate beings are enjoying the increasing value of their
investments. I am referring to the very very lucky BOOM (or AAVL) investors
who managed to hold out as long as can be for their investment’s market value
to reach its present peak. That is, if they happened not to have invested in
the poorer stocks at the same time, but even if they did, they still earned
a lot in return from the good ones. Remember when you logged into your account
and got to your investment portfolio, discovering much to your shock and dismay
that an investment of 6,000 neopoints has deteriorated to a mere ZERO, and still
remaining so today? Even I lost 12,000 due to that. However, among the many
investors who lost their money due to the "devastating" conditions
of the stock market, those few extremely lucky BOOM investors have managed to
quite sail through the shocking period without significant trauma.
When the stock market went down, many of us earned less, thus we automatically
spent less. Then the prices of a good certain items in the Shop Wizard went
down (not that much, though). But we shall come to see one type of heterogeneous
item that has generated some good revenue to the other Neopians, of which some
of these people have gone quite disinterested in the stock market, or just simply
lost their faith in its "potential rebound." Among the very highly
priced items right now are no doubt the collectable cards. I have noticed that
the rising market value of many rare collectable cards has something to do with
the economic slump in Neopia. What used to be sold at 10k once is now priced
at an average of 85,000 neopoints in the Shop Wizard today, and the thing is
that people are STILL buying them! Besides, the images of these col-cards are
really not bad. Being quite an enthusiastic card collector, I’ve had my share
of perusing the collectable card shop in the past, and also browsing through
the Shop Wizard for good deals.
One day I happened to stumble upon someone’s shop. I looked at his user details
and discovered that this Neopian has an impressive array of rare collectable
cards in his Neodeck. One of the cards was "Gedda Happycheek." It’s
a really cute card and the last time I saw it, it was placed at a relatively
low price in the Shop Wizard (10,000 – 20,000) for a rare card. Then when I
checked the Shop Wizard a few days ago, I saw that it was no longer that cheap.
The price has gone to over 80,000 Neopoints!
"Scauderwelsch," which is also a rare gold-back card has risen in
price, being as cheap as 24,000 in the past to a present market value of around
70,000 Neopoints. The same goes for "Hubrid Nox," that I had bought
at a price of 10,000 neopoints not too long ago before the economic slump. Now
it’s priced at an average value of 80,000 neopoints. And again, these shop owners
are also among those who managed to become new millionaires amidst the unfavorable
financial conditions of Neopia.
In spite of the increasing market value of the above-mentioned cards and their
other "counterparts," not all gold-back or holographic-back cards
have risen in their value. It really depends. For some reason, either the demand
of these expensive cards or the resort of card owners to collectable cards as
an alternate income, might have spurred the prices into rising. When prices
are high, the psychology of "pricey things are cool" can emerge in
the average consumer, and I know that collectable cards especially DO possess
the quality to attract these people.
Do you still recall the game Treasure Hunt? At the end of a successful
hunt, we would be given a space map, and most of us would sell it at around
3,000 Neopoints, or we would just collect them to complete the treasure map.
Then, one day the main income source of a good number of us vanished. It had
been my main source of income, too! And, simultaneously, the condition of the
stock market went down. What’s this? Well! There were too many mini-millionaires
out there, and obviously this creates inflation. To curb this "problem,"
certain measures had to be taken. I think this is a good assumption.
What about those who used to frequent our shops, bought our space maps, added
them to their own stock of maps, and sold them at a slightly higher price, say
3,199 Neopoints? What’s the average price of space maps in the Shop Wizard now?
It’s around 6,000. Isn’t that almost twice the price at which they first bought
the maps from us? Here, they are clearly at an advantage. Secretly, I had somehow
wished that I had waited much longer before selling all my space maps. Once
again, those who used to sweep away our 3k space maps find themselves an alternate
lucrative income in the post financial-boom era of Neopia.
Last but not least are those who own recently retired items, for example the
stone paint brush. My sister happens to own one. I have checked the Shop Wizard
and found out the average price for one is around 11,000 Neopoints. I asked
my sister what used to be the price for this retired PB before it got to its
present retired stage, and she said, “It’s around 9,000.” Well, for now that's
an increase of 2,000 neopoints, but since it’s a retired item, is the market
value going to further increase? I really dare not say, but one thing I believe
I can say is... you never know what’s going to be of value in your safety deposit
box.
NeoPets.com! It’s about fun! It’s about caring for a virtual pet. But, it’s
also about chance. |
