So Neurotic, You're Willing To Lose Money!

I've written about Neopets neuroses in the past, but never about something as odd as losing money! My past articles were full of positivity and enthusiasm. I thought that this time, it would be interesting to write about neuroses that we have that are rather negative, yet we continue to harbor them. To do this, I canvassed the Neoboards and asked my fellow players, What are some of your weirdest neuroses, things that make you lose money, yet you can't stop doing them?

I got a lot of interesting replies! Apparently the concept of losing money to satisfy a neurosis is a universal thing on Neopets. I had no idea! Talking to my fellow Neopians was a reality check, and I had a lot of fun chatting with my favorite popular players. Turns out, they all have habits that cause them to lose NP, yet they simply refuse to change!

So here are the results of my survey! I hope you have fun reading it!

One person said that her personal neurosis is that she's a sucker for people with goals. For instance, if she has a rare stamp that she's trying to sell, and people are over-offering on the stamp by thousands of NP, she still sells the stamp to the person who says he/she will personally stick it in his/her Stamp Album, even if he/she under-offers. This seller always admits that it's thrilling to view that person's Stamp Album and see the brand new stamp show up. She said that she's lost millions of NP by now because of her neurotic need to help people with their goals, and I was really impressed by her generosity!

Another player said that he had a similar neurosis, that he's a sucker for people with goals. He loves to lend out rare items on the Avatar Neoboard, such as Faerie Queen Doll, Chokato (TCG), and the complete set of tan Codestones. He knows that it's possible for players to steal his items by asking for lends and then absconding with the items, but he figures that helping out 100+ people with their avatar goals is totally worth the risk. I thought this was an interesting neurosis!

Avatar collectors are the most neurotic players on the site, and I always think it's amusing that they don't bat an eyelash when it comes to shelling out lots of NP for their favorite avatars! For instance, the "HT Richest" avatar is gotten by purchasing the Grimoire of Affluence at the Hidden Tower and then reading the book to your pet. I've yet to see a single person complain about the exorbitant cost of 10 million NP! Everyone understands that it's an NP sink, and that only the most ardent of avatar collectors would buy the book. This is one instance where the players are so neurotic, they're willing to lose 10 million NP just for an avatar!

One player said that she neurotically sells prizes from plots and events right away, because she hates having them on her account. Rather than hoarding them and waiting for their worth to inflate over the course of months or even years, she gets rid of them as soon as she can, because she hates having anything on her account that isn't useful. I thought this was an interesting neurosis! I know plenty of people who keep their accounts "clean" in similar ways, and I told her that she wasn't alone. Several of my Neofriends are also ardent about selling off items that they don't have any use for, and they've also lost NP by selling the items right away, rather than hoarding them for years.

Another player was the total opposite -- she refuses to sell or give away any of her plot prizes! They represent hours and hours of diligent plot work, and she keeps them all in her Gallery for other people to view. Though she could surely sell them all for a tidy sum, she adamantly keeps them, as reminders of how hard she worked. She loses money that way, but she doesn't mind! Her prizes are priceless to her, and she'll never, ever sell them!

Many people, over a dozen in fact, said that their neurotic need to enter certain contests meant that they were always short of money. For instance, one player said that she spends millions of NP every month on her Neohome, trying to win the Neohome Spotlight. Another person said that she has spent millions to complete a Gallery that she hopes will win the Gallery Spotlight. Gourmet Food Club was a popular obsession, while another obsession was the Neopian Book Award. The players' neurotic need to compete in contests means that they bleed a ton of money every year, and yet, they don't mind!

One player said that her neurotic need to feed Kadoaties leads to her spending over a million NP every month. She's adamant on reaching 1000 trophies someday, and until then, she's willing to lose money by purchasing Kadoatie foods every day. I thought this was a popular neurosis, something so common that I just had to include it in this article!

Gambling is a cool and popular pastime on Neopets, and comes in the forms of Nerkmids, Lottery, Food Club, Neocola Machine, Scratchcard Kiosks, and Goodie Bags. (I'm sure there are more, but these are just the ones off the top of my head.) People enjoy the act of gambling so much that they don't even mind that they're losing 20k a day. This is one instance in which our neuroses lead us to lose money, yet we don't even mind! 20k isn't a lot to lose, and it's easily made up by spinning Trudy's Surprise every day. It's fun to gamble, even when you're obviously losing money over time, and all the people who posted gambling as their main neurosis made me grin.

One person said something so obvious that I smacked my head, feeling stupid that I hadn't come up with the idea myself. He said that people are neurotic about dressing up their pets, and are willing to spend millions of NP on a rare hat or necklace that they simply *must* have. Only on Neopets is someone willing to blow 8 months' worth of saving, just to get a single skirt or wig! Another person admitted that her Draik has been painted 6 times, just for the clothes. Her Draik is dressed in a mishmash of Royal, Desert, and other Paint Brush clothes, and represents millions and millions of NP spent on Brushes over the past few years. I had to commend her neurotic love for her Draik! I'm sure she isn't the only one who has neurotically painted her pet over and over again, regardless of the cost!

One player made me nod. He said he was annoyed by the way Petpetpets take forever to attach themselves to Petpets. He said he neurotically gave each one of his 4 Petpets a unique Petpetpet of their very own, but it took over a month for each Petpetpet to attach. He admitted that it was insane of him to have spent millions of NP on a Mootix, Draphly, Glyme, and Jiggybug, and then leave each one exposed in his inventory, hoping that each Petpetpet would latch onto his active pet's Petpet. There was every possibility that each Petpetpet would get blasted into sludge by a Random Event because they were so vulnerable, but he was willing to take that chance! He isn't the only one who loves Petpetpets, either. Every single person who's ever bought a Petpetpet has taken the same chance, and they are thousands and thousands strong!

And finally, a common neurosis that someone posted on my threads was that she is always trying to complete her Neofriends' dream pets! She already has her own 6 dream pets, and now finds more enjoyment in giving painted pets to her Neofriends. Her last giveaway was a Royalgirl Peophin that she created, painted, and gave away, and she has no intention of giving up this hobby! I have a similar neurosis -- I give away zapped pets on the Pound Neoboard -- and I gave her a virtual high-five and told her that I admired her very much!

In conclusion...

I think it's interesting that by harboring certain neuroses, neuroses that make us lose money, we get more enjoyment out of the site! Like my Neofriend who only spins Trudy's Surprise from the 1st to the 25th of every month, the prospect of losing money simply doesn't matter. She finds more comfort in the orderliness of her Trudy schedule than she would by spinning Trudy every single day. Even now, thinking about her makes me smile!

Thanks for reading this absolutely bizarre article, my fellow Neopians! It's definitely the weirdest article I've ever written, and I think it's intriguing that losing money isn't as important as maintaining certain neuroses! Talking to you on the Neoboards is always a really fun time, and I look forward to canvassing you all again for a future article!

Stay tuned for future articles from yours truly, and have an excellent week!