|
Post by Killix on May 15, 2010 12:18:52 GMT -5
See, I never really imagined that it would die in that way. I always thought that it wouldn't be all of the users leaving... but that it would be the company who owns Neopets looking at next year's predictions, and--seeing a downward trend and analyzing their economic records--deciding to close down the site. But the question for me is how would it happen? Would we get any notice so we could save any info we need or contact any people last minute? Like those world-is-gonna-end-due-to-some-catastrophe-we-only-have-two-days-left movies? . Or would it be sudden, like it one day going poof? Maybe instead of closing it down they would sell to another company who would change it to make it more "popular"? Anyway, interesting to think about . That's how I thought it would be.. Viacom selling Neo to a different company. They did buy it for 160million, so I doubt they're gonna just close out something they bought so much for... But use decline, of course, definitely has a huge issue on it.. after all, if no one's playing there's no money =P They'd turn it into a pay-site long before they would even think of closing it, anyway. So we'd all see its demise coming. XD
|
|
|
Post by Huntress on May 15, 2010 19:13:36 GMT -5
There's also the age factor, which Neo is partially to blame when they started to make the site more kid oriented. People's interests change over time, so as they get older, they may not be interested in Neo anymore and go to another site. That factor itself is two-way, isn't it? Back when a lot of people joined when it was a fad, the site was more teen-oriented and less blatantly kiddy-kiddy. Now the people who originally joined are growing up while the site is gearing itself towards kids and thus moving away from the aging oldie user-base. Maybe that's why many oldies tend to get bitter when talking about the good old days: they feel like the site is telling them that they've outstayed their welcome. Personally, I'm not sure I'd join Neo now if I was to stumble across it on the internets. That whole "this is a kids' site!" subtext is a little too blatant. The old layout seemed to balance the line of looking interesting yet accessible a little better. Then again, that also means that there's a whole truckload of new features that the old days never saw. Back then you'd get one plot a year and a new game every couple months. Now you get the game challenges, AAA challenges, Tarla's tour, NC stuff, Keyquest, petpet park, the Negghunt, Altador Cup, etc etc etc. As a site, it looks pretty thriving. It's just changed a lot when compared to the past. (Yeah, as long as they keep the NT, I'm cool too xD)
|
|
|
Post by Breakingchains on May 16, 2010 16:03:04 GMT -5
If the site ever gets to the point where it's really about to tank, we should all pool our savings and buy it and be the new TNT :B
|
|
|
Post by Ian Wolf-Park on May 16, 2010 16:19:52 GMT -5
There's also the age factor, which Neo is partially to blame when they started to make the site more kid oriented. People's interests change over time, so as they get older, they may not be interested in Neo anymore and go to another site. That factor itself is two-way, isn't it? Back when a lot of people joined when it was a fad, the site was more teen-oriented and less blatantly kiddy-kiddy. Now the people who originally joined are growing up while the site is gearing itself towards kids and thus moving away from the aging oldie user-base. Maybe that's why many oldies tend to get bitter when talking about the good old days: they feel like the site is telling them that they've outstayed their welcome. Personally, I'm not sure I'd join Neo now if I was to stumble across it on the internets. That whole "this is a kids' site!" subtext is a little too blatant. The old layout seemed to balance the line of looking interesting yet accessible a little better. Then again, that also means that there's a whole truckload of new features that the old days never saw. Back then you'd get one plot a year and a new game every couple months. Now you get the game challenges, AAA challenges, Tarla's tour, NC stuff, Keyquest, petpet park, the Negghunt, Altador Cup, etc etc etc. As a site, it looks pretty thriving. It's just changed a lot when compared to the past. (Yeah, as long as they keep the NT, I'm cool too xD) Point taken, Huntress. The age factor is a double edged sword.
|
|
|
Post by Killix on May 16, 2010 16:20:44 GMT -5
If the site ever gets to the point where it's really about to tank, we should all pool our savings and buy it and be the new TNT :B We had better start saving now, then.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2010 17:33:50 GMT -5
Neopets has been dead to me for about 2-3 years now.
|
|
|
Post by Breakingchains on May 17, 2010 0:22:43 GMT -5
*rummages in pockets* Let's see, I have $1.98...
|
|
|
Post by Dream on May 17, 2010 13:07:23 GMT -5
If the site ever gets to the point where it's really about to tank, we should all pool our savings and buy it and be the new TNT :B I've had a contingency plan for a few months now in the back of my head, including how a backup forum would be organised and advertised while we got our hands on the servers, who I'd call in to do the tech work, where I'd find artists if TNT refused to help us, and what I'd do about the geographical situation. Yes, I think too much. Is this news?
|
|
|
Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on May 30, 2010 23:27:03 GMT -5
I think Neopets has definitely changed a lot since 1999, but it will likely stick around for a couple more years at least. Super Mario, for example, first appeared in an arcade game in 1981, more than twenty years ago, but still has a fan-base today. Sure, competing distractions emerge, the game itself changes, and players move on to other things, but as long as the company keeps innovating, the game will remain popular a long time yet. There's so much stuff still happening on Neopets, with the news updated every working day, new games and items released every couple of days, events like the Altador Cup going on, etc. It's probably not going to go down anytime soon.
|
|
|
Post by Killix on May 31, 2010 7:42:50 GMT -5
The difference between Super Mario and Neopets is that Super Mario is a series of games, not one big daily-changing user-interactive game.
If I miss the release of Super Mario Galaxy, I can still buy it and play it 3 years later and enjoy it.
Neopets, however... once they change or remove something, it's gone. If I want to participate in an old site event for example, I can't because it's over. If I want to adopt a Tatsu, I can't. If I want any past event trophy, I can't ever win one.
Super Mario can change in any way it wants and it still won't effect the quality or fun of the already existing games in the series. Even if I don't like a new Mario game, I can always play the old one. While Neopets... if they change the game in a way that you don't like, there's no alternative.
|
|
|
Post by be2aware on Jun 12, 2010 11:06:03 GMT -5
If the site ever gets to the point where it's really about to tank, we should all pool our savings and buy it and be the new TNT :B We had better start saving now, then. Or one of us needs to become a famous author and not forget about Neopets...that's a good possibility. ;D And you're right, Killix. The inability to go back does make the numbers go down. That's one of the reasons people who lose their account don't come back: they can't regain all those plot trophies and avatars, or even just their regular trophies. But that's where the benefits of staying with Neo come in. The longer you're a user, the more accredited your account becomes. No new users can get what you have. Maybe they hope that'll be incentive to stay on. Plus, that's just how the internet is in relation to a video game. They can't keep everything on the site, otherwise it'd get too bogged down.
|
|
|
Post by Cow-winkle on Jun 12, 2010 20:45:05 GMT -5
If the site ever gets to the point where it's really about to tank, we should all pool our savings and buy it and be the new TNT :B That sort of makes me wish Neopets was on the stock market, but I guess there's only Viacom Inc. (which is at 34.08 per share right now, if anyone's curious)
|
|