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Editorial


Hello, Editorial team. :) I am an avid Wishing Well wisher and not too uncommonly have my wishes granted. Recently I won an Orange Haunted Woods Wall Paint after wishing multiple times for that simply awesome foreground entitled Haunted Wood. I see several other Neopians have received the same wall paint, and I rather doubt that there has been a run on that particular colour, despite the approach of the Altador Cup. I think it would be a brave interior decorator to use that particular hue. :) So, I thought it most likely that many Neopians are actually wishing for the spectacular foreground. Please, could you rename the foreground so that the Wishing Well will recognise the wish, since the only way I am ever likely to get hold of one of those rare foregrounds is via the Wishing Well route? I have only seen one, which was being auctioned, and the price was exorbitant. Thank you and kind regards. ~star__searcher
Whoops! We changed the name of the Haunted Wood item to "Haunted Wood Foreground" so that the Wishing Well won't get quite so confused. Being a well, it really has no sense of value as it relates to popularity when it comes to such things.

Hi TNT, you guys are da bomb! I was wondering, however, why the prices of Neopoint customization items were so high, especially those of species-specific clothing items. Is the purpose for species-specific restocks being so rare specifically to keep the prices of NP customization items high, that way more people will be attracted to purchasing NC items? What is the main reason why it's so unfeasible to costume-ize my Neopets with such NP items? :( ~ayrielle
While we appreciate that you give us enough credit to hatch such a dastardly plan, the truth is that we make the species-specific clothing a higher rarity for gameplay reasons, none of which involve NC. If they're lower rarity, supply overruns demand (since there were only so many X species owners who specifically wanted Y clothing for their Neopet) and the secondary market price ends up lower than the retail price, which then makes them even more undesirable when restocking and they end up clogging the site shops. We also want a variety of rarities because if all the wearables cost 10 NP, nothing would be special and customisers wouldn't have any goals, which is part of the game. Of course, all this is our intention but Neopets has an open secondary market. Once these items pass into the hands of the player economy, it's the community that controls the prices.

Hey, TNT! I have a question about stolen art. Let's say you draw a super pretty picture of your Neopet and make it really unique. You give them markings and clothes and stuff that makes them completely stand out from other Neopets. Then, let's say that someone draws a picture of "their" Neopet with the EXACT SAME design. Wouldn't that be considered stealing? Some people would say that, since they drew the picture, it's not. Isn't it still stealing someone's work, though, the work that they put into the design? I searched through old Editorials and couldn't find any questions like this, which I think really should be clarified. Also, if this gets in, please leave my name out. :3 ~username removed
Things like this would likely be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. If you feel your artwork has been infringed upon, please report the player and provide all of the information needed to show the infringement (your own art, the suspected plagiariser's art, etc.). Our staff will then look into it and determine the appropriate course of action, if any.

I've been wondering: is there some form of hierarchy in The Neopets Team? Are there members of the staff that are other people's bosses, or do you guys just live in harmony with one another? ~toy_box
Yep, yep. Just like any other company, we have the nicely dressed important-looking people, team leads, peons, and everyone in between. We're sure that, if we attempted to map out the hierarchy, it'd likely resemble some of the tomb maps we all did during the Lost Desert plot. x_X


Does anyone else have a certain song caught in their head now?

Please put this issue to rest! I've seen several boards speculating what the Neopoint limit is. Some say it's limitless; some say that it's 2,147,483,647 because that's the limit for a site that uses 32-bit (which I believe Neopets uses). Please specify! ~jone_bob
Technically speaking, a limit does exist because of the database restrictions, but as far as we know no one account has ever reached it, or even come close. We can tell you that we used to have a hard-coded limit (40 million), and if you reached it all of your NP would disappear. Whoops.

Hey, TNT! So, in a previous Editorial, you said that Neopet marriages are not allowed because of the potential problems that would erupt from them. Are relationships such as brother / sister, mother / son, etc. allowed? Also, what if the actual marriages are between Neopets on your own account, so that no NeoDivorces or whatever could happen? Thanks, and please remove my username! ~username removed
Haha, it's not "NeoDivorces" that are the issue, it's the non-Neopets friendly roleplaying that results from it. ;) To answer your question, yes, non-romantic relationships are just fine. :) While you are better able to control romantic relationships between your own Neopets, we disallow it because it's easier for everyone to understand the rules when they apply to everyone. For example, it's the same reason why we don't let players over 18 post pictures of themselves, as it would make it unclear to our younger users if it's allowed or not.

Hi, TNT. =D I have recently started playing the game Neopets Puzzle Adventure, and I was wondering if the prize codes from that game are redeemable by more than one person. I have some siblings that I know would like the prizes / site theme as well, but we don't really want to buy more than one game, especially if you can create different characters on one disc. :P Thank you so much! ~101bratz10
We looked into this, and it seems that the way the game works is that you can't generate multiple sets of codes on one device. So, even if you had multiple copies of the game, it wouldn't work. However, if you have multiple devices (we're not sure what platform you're using), then you could get multiple codes using the same disc.

Dear TNT,
I don't know which Altador Cup team I would like to support, but does it have to be the same team as the location of your Neohome? Won't it be weird if, for example, you live on Terror Mountain but support Faerieland? Won't it be like you're not loyal to your team? I haven't built my Neohome yet, though; I just need to know whether, if I built one, would I automatically have to support the team from the land where it was built, or is it obvious? If this gets in please remove my username. ~username removed

No, your Neohome location has no relation to your Altador Cup team. The only thing you risk is getting dirty looks from your Haunted Woods neighbours when you plant a big Faerieland banner in your front yard. ;)

Hiya, TNT! Thanks for trying your best. *hands you a congratulatory cake* So, I have this question: say there's this really rude, immature person on a board. She / he is simply on the board to troll, and is causing people to leave the board. She / he starts a "fight" after several rude comments about the other users. She / he will not go away when asked or hinted at. What should I do? I thought about reporting her / him, but I didn't know if it would be counted as spam and my account frozen. :,( Please help! Thanks, TNT. You're awesome. ~) ~username removed
Mmm... cake. If someone is trolling a board or harassing players, by all means please report them! It also really helps us out if you provide us with a brief synopsis of the situation that will help us to identify the problem as quickly as possible. Also, unless you're spamming a ton of false reports or attempting to frame others, we wouldn't take action on an account for reporting, so please don't worry about that. :)

I got a lucky zap from the Lab Ray and my Neopet turned into a Lutari! However, I don't really like Lutaris that much. I know a lot of people do, though, and I found a nice person to adopt it, only to find that I can't give it to them. Why is that? I'm sure my Lutari would be much happier with them, so is there any way I could give it away? ~pokemonster_rancher
Lutaris absolutely hate to be abandoned, and will run away if you try to drop them off at the Pound. Thus, they cannot be given or traded away. If you're not a fan of Lutaris, we recommend continuing to zap your Neopet.


You don't want me? Fine! I'll just leave!

Hey TNT, I have a question about Neopet applications. A user is applying for a Neopet and makes an awesome application, stating that they would never trade the Neopet and it's their dream 'pet. The owner decides to give them their Neopet. A few days later, the old owner sees the new owner advertising their "dream 'pet" up for trade, having basically lied. Is this freezable / reportable? ~kangin
We've also heard from the other side of this; people finally receiving their dream Neopet, only to realise a few days later that maybe it just wasn't as awesome as they were expecting, but being nervous about trading it because of the former owner. Please remember that, when trading or adopting out a Neopet, you can make a request of another user on how you'd like the Neopet to be treated, but please remember that it is only a request, not a "rule." Once the Neopet is theirs (assuming it's a trade / adoption and not a lend) then they're the owner, and what they do with the Neopet is up to them.

Is it against the rules if someone copies your customisation? (The same colour, species, clothes, etc.) ~mandarinpeel
Only if they're doing it specifically and maliciously to harass or impersonate you. While we appreciate the desire to be unique and not wanting anyone to copy your creativity, there are only so many variations, and it's completely possible that they either share your same taste or were inspired by your customisation. Since it's our art being arranged in a certain way by you, rather than your own artwork, we feel it falls outside of the plagiarism zone unless it's a malicious act.

Hi TNT! I have a question about the new Altador Cup arrangement. Won't teams that are placed in brackets with teams that have traditionally not performed well have an unfair advantage, and vice versa for teams put up against traditionally strong teams? Why did you change it? It was fine before! Please remove my username. ~username removed
The new system was specifically designed to give historically lower-performing teams a chance to actually take the cup! There are four different rounds (with no eliminations), and teams are awarded points no matter what place they take in each round. This means that, if a team does poorly in one round, then they can start fresh the next and catch up in the standings.

As for why we changed it at all, there are a couple reasons! For starters, our events were getting too long. You may have noticed we also shortened Daily Dare. We felt that asking players to commit to a month and a half of daily participation was not only unfair, but burned people out, so we've decided to shorten things overall to pack more fun into a shorter period of time. (This is relative, of course! The new AC is still about a month long because it's a big event. Plots can still span a couple months, etc.) Secondly, AC has been the same structure for a LONG time. While we realise that some people really like AC as it is, we also don't want to give you the same content over and over and over again. That gets boring. We make it a point to sit down and re-evaluate recurring events every single year to make sure they're the best they can be. What was once a good idea can become really lame after a while. (For example, a tournament structure that promotes the same handful of teams winning every year probably wasn't a good idea.)

So! We wanted to shorten it and find some way to change it up, as well as find a way to give ALL teams a chance to take the cup. That resulted in this new structure. We've been talking about it for a while and we hope it works out and everyone enjoys it!

Hey, TNT. I'm horrible with HTML and even more horrible with finding someone willing to design a lookup for me. Is it against the rules to pay someone to code a custom lookup? ~username removed
Yes, you may not purchase art, coding, or other services with Neopoints, items, etc. There are plenty of sites that have premade lookups that you can use to help spruce up your own User Lookup, as well as many helpful sites showing you how to do it yourself. It's a great opportunity to learn something new. :)


*sings* The div tag's connected to the... p tag!
The p tag's connected to the... a tag!

Hi, TNT! *nicely passes over White Chocolate Korbats* My younger brother was using my computer to sign up but was frozen shortly after creating his account because he thought it would be funny to name his Neopet something inappropriate. Is my account in danger due to sharing the same IP address, or do I have nothing to worry about? Also, don't worry, I've already given my brother a lecture about his idiocy. ;) ~username removed
Hahaha... ahhh, the joy of siblings. Don't worry, usually stuff like bad Neopet names and the like will only have an impact on the account where the incident occurred.

Ever since Noda's fortune cookies appeared in the NC Mall, the Neoboards have been crying that it is unfair; that potential extra Neopet stats in the forms of extra lab zaps and faerie quests is a gameplay advantage, and they cite a former NT Editorial as saying that NC would never provide advantages. Players seem to be very upset about the cookies, and are saying that it's one step away from being able to buy avatars and Battledome weapons with NC, and so on. So, what is the official position on the fortune cookies? How is it different from "buying your way through the game"? Also, did Noda cause all this trouble on purpose, or is he just an unfortunate victim caught in the crossfire of controversy? ~elphieluvr
We don't consider the new fortune cookies to be an unfair advantage. While we do have to make money as a business, we think the best way to do that is by making our players happy. Despite what some may think, our main goal is to make free players happy, NC players happy, and Premium players happy, but none at the expense of the others! (You should see some of the ideas that have come up for things to sell. They would sell like hotcakes, but... *shudder*.) We know our NC players want something more than clothing, so we're trying to find different ways to make them happy that doesn't affect anyone else.

So, with that out of the way...

We consider the cookies to be time-savers. For the lab cookie, as an example, you have to have the map already; the cookie doesn't grant it. You've already put that gameplay effort in and you're already zapping using the map. The results of a zap are also completely random. So, the cookie simply lets you get results faster than if you were zapping without it. Rather than wait three days to see what you get in three zaps, you can do three today. This could result in stats in a week rather than two weeks, or it could result in your Neopet going back down to level 1 and turning into a mutant Tuskaninny today rather than tomorrow. The cookie guarantees you nothing but more zaps in less time.

We feel the same principle is true for the others. Each cookie decreases the time you have to wait to reach your goal, but you still have to play the game and put in the effort to reach it. (You need skill in Flash games to earn NP from them. You need to be able to find and purchase the items required for Faerie Quests, etc.) They don't simply hand out rewards without having to earn them first. Then they would be unfair, we think.

We also want to point out that we're logging the heck out of each cookie and monitoring everything. We know how many sell, how fast, what they result in, what individuals are earning, what the spread is, and so on. We do realise there are certain economic factors that come into play with some of these cookies, and if there's a negative impact overall then we'll definitely deal with it. We're not just tossing these out there and moving on!

Some people may still disagree with us, and that's okay. Let us know what you're thinking. We do read your feedback. As long as everyone is constructive (:P), we're always open to discussion.

(Also, for those wondering, it is entirely possible to have the cookie, the space faerie charm, the talisman, and the featured game stack to result in quite a bit of NP from one game play. This is EXTREMELY rare and has not happened yet. We did not prevent it from happening in the code because it is just so very rare, so we consider it like hitting a jackpot on a daily. If you get it, you're the luckiest Neopian ever.)

End this Editorial with a Darigan theme! ~speckled371
Dun da da dun da da dariiii!
dun da da dun da da gan!

Dun da da dun da da dariiii!
dun da da dun da da gan!

Oh. You, uh... probably meant visual, huh?


Oh, you're still here? Regret complaining about short Editorials yet?


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