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Post by Twillie on Nov 19, 2021 20:43:36 GMT -5
In terms of what to do, honestly I think we can only keep on letting Jumpstart and NetDragon know how we feel about their investment in crypto projects. It's beyond frustrating reading that article and NetDragon's resorting to blatant lies, and I doubt that they or Jumpstart will ever come out and say "we were wrong, sorry." But I wouldn't say the protests did nothing, as it's attracted the attention of multiple news sites and influencers who have detailed just how disastrous the project really is. Reputation is one of the best places to hit a corporation, and these blows in particular aren't something that can be easily shaken. Whether they to eventually listen or the site goes down first, I think it's always worth protesting the damage a company does, and I'd rather things go down with a fight than not.
In light of NetDragon's plans for future potential crypto investments, it has me wondering how much trust the crypto community still has in them. I dunno how fast or far word spreads in those circles, but the fact that this was bad enough to anger even pro-NFTers makes me doubt they'll get many repeat customers at least. NetDragon can write as many articles as they want, but that doesn't make up for their severe incompetence when it comes to customer loyalty and building good consumer relations. Maybe potential future projects will target a completely different section of the crypto market, and they'll bank on the hope that those people will have never heard of NeoNFTs? I dunno, I'm not too familiar with how failed projects fare amongst crypto circles, but it's not like JS or ND know any more than me.
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Post by Holly on Nov 19, 2021 22:47:35 GMT -5
Personally I think I'm done with Neopets at this point. I'll still write my great collab piece because I committed to it, but unless something changes... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Post by Patjade on Nov 20, 2021 2:36:23 GMT -5
Personally I think I'm done with Neopets at this point. I'll still write my great collab piece because I committed to it, but unless something changes... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ No need to quit. Just keep doing those things you like to do, and ignore the rest.
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Post by doctortomoe on Nov 20, 2021 3:02:13 GMT -5
I feel like what I said earlier applies to that press release:
Like I said, even selling one they'd consider a success. Idiots giving them their money and they give nothing back. Money for nothing and clicks for free.
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Post by Fraze on Nov 21, 2021 11:39:37 GMT -5
I feel like what I said earlier applies to that press release: Like I said, even selling one they'd consider a success. Idiots giving them their money and they give nothing back. Money for nothing and clicks for free. That's the thing right there. That's why no amount of complaining by the longtime players will get much of anywhere. By JN's calculations, the NFTs that did sell amounted to about $1.8 million USD. Even discounting the ones possibly bought up by Solana's own bots (which were seemingly the cheapest ones for the most part), and discounting how much of a cut Solana takes for itself, that's still a LOT of money made off of this venture. And it cost them practically nothing other than brand integrity - which, let's be honest, isn't worth much these days with player activity as diminished as it is. Whatever losses they got from people canceling Premium and boycotting the NC mall will probably be recouped many times over. The only thing that could change the minds of JS/Netdragon at this point would be if their partners take all the money and bail on them. Other than that, they have no reason not to keep doing this. Ultimately though, like Patjade said, there comes a point where you have to detach your enjoyment of the site from *waves hands at thread* all of this. You can still restock, hunt for avatars, train/battle, write for the NT, build a gallery, or whatever else you like to do on Neopets, regardless of whatever hinky crypto BS the parent company's parent company is doing.
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Post by Carolyn on Nov 21, 2021 17:58:56 GMT -5
You ever miss the days of Viacom? Netdragon seems like the worst owners yet I never thought I'd miss Viacom, but here we are. If they could combine the good elements of NetDragon with the good elements of Viacom, we'd have a functional TNT ahaha...
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Post by Fraze on Nov 24, 2021 10:12:21 GMT -5
Last night I checked out Solanart, the site for reselling NeoNFTs (and presumably other Solana NFTs, but whatevs). It was... happening? Like, there were plenty of NFTs up for sale, but nobody is going to buy your sad basic color unclothed Quiggle for 100000 Solanabux.
More interesting was the tab tracking completed sales. There looked to be about two NFTs sold per hour. Most of them were in the 1-1.5 SOL range - which, as we remember, is less than what most people paid for them originally. A handful were selling in the 5-10 SOL range. Rather amusing was the one where someone bought a Kougra for 2 SOL, then turned around and sold it an hour later for 1.8 SOL.
Even more interesting was the Shoyru someone bought for 20 SOL. I hope it makes a great addition to their retirement fund.
I have no idea how this volume of trading compares to other NFTs, in terms of both price and number of trades. They helpfully claim that the total trading volume has been 1700 SOL, which considering Solana makes money off of every transaction is apparently a way for them to advertise about how successful their scam is.
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Post by Kat on Nov 29, 2021 7:19:16 GMT -5
I ended my premium subscription because of NFTs. It ends next month and while I am tempted to subscribe again for the single extra pet slot (ugh I will have to move one of my pets to a side where I don't have my NC items to dress them up with blegh) while TNT is working on the buyable NC Mall pet slots, I'm going to stand my ground.
Ugh, I'm gonna miss premium though. 'Twas fun while it lasted.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Nov 29, 2021 19:42:48 GMT -5
I ended my premium subscription because of NFTs. It ends next month and while I am tempted to subscribe again for the single extra pet slot (ugh I will have to move one of my pets to a side where I don't have my NC items to dress them up with blegh) while TNT is working on the buyable NC Mall pet slots, I'm going to stand my ground. Ugh, I'm gonna miss premium though. 'Twas fun while it lasted. Honestly, if you want Premium, just renew your subscription. Maybe had the NFT "failed" the mass cancellation of Premium subscriptions and refusal to buy NC would then be heard. But, according to the higher-ups of JS and NetDragon, to them the NFT was a success and netted them several million dollars. They don't care about the pennies they make off Premium or the NC Mall, if anything that's the ONLY money that the staff working on the site is going to see to use to improve the site. Cancelling Premium and not buying NC isn't going to persuade the higher-ups, they successfully made their ill-gotten goods which is only going to incentivize them to do more until it fails.
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Post by doctortomoe on Nov 30, 2021 5:09:29 GMT -5
Yeah, unfortunately, NFT's/crypto are the next dot com and housing bubbles/subprime morgages to burst, things that companies are buying up left and right and getting people who can't afford to part with their money to get into it, and it's going to keep going until it bursts and takes the entire world economy down with it before they go crying to their various governments to bail them out for their reckless activity and then doing the same thing again with the next get-rich-quick scheme.
Looking forward to the 3rd 'once-in-a-lifetime' financial disaster to hit within my lifetime, brought about by ugly thumbnails.
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Post by Herdy on Nov 30, 2021 8:15:44 GMT -5
Eh, while I don't judge anyone who wants to buy stuff, financial boycott of Neopets is now more than just sending a message to JS. The Netdragon statement stated money from Neopets would be going to Metaverse. If you're buying premium, NC, etc. then your money is, in part, going to be diverted towards developing Metaverse. Personally I am not okay with that.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Nov 30, 2021 18:35:55 GMT -5
Eh, while I don't judge anyone who wants to buy stuff, financial boycott of Neopets is now more than just sending a message to JS. The Netdragon statement stated money from Neopets would be going to Metaverse. If you're buying premium, NC, etc. then your money is, in part, going to be diverted towards developing Metaverse. Personally I am not okay with that. Oh, well, nevermind then about buying Neopet stuff and Premium. *facepalm & cries*
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Post by Twillie on Dec 30, 2021 15:46:36 GMT -5
There's a survey out right now asking Neopians their thoughts on the Metaverse project so far, as well as anything you want to see from it in the future. I went ahead and filled it out myself, making sure to be clear and honest on what I want to see (ie, for them to go away right now please).
If you're able, it could do some good to fill the survey out with any thoughts you have on the matter. And if you do, I've seen advice to avoid swear and insults while giving negative feedback in order for the survey to be seriously read. There's some multiple choice questions, but also a number of open ended questions where you can type what you want.
The survey closes on January 1st, so the deadline is coming up soon.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Dec 30, 2021 18:49:04 GMT -5
There's a survey out right now asking Neopians their thoughts on the Metaverse project so far, as well as anything you want to see from it in the future. I went ahead and filled it out myself, making sure to be clear and honest on what I want to see (ie, for them to go away right now please).
If you're able, it could do some good to fill the survey out with any thoughts you have on the matter. And if you do, I've seen advice to avoid swear and insults while giving negative feedback in order for the survey to be seriously read. There's some multiple choice questions, but also a number of open ended questions where you can type what you want. *Cracks knuckles* Let me post what I said: PAGE 1: Question 1: When did you first start playing Neopets Answer 1: More than 15 years ago
Q2: When was the last time you played Neopets? A2: Today!
Q3: In your own words, what is most appealing about your Neopets experience? Or, what aspects do you care about the most from the game? A3: Able to raise my Neopets, spending time with a caring community, and playing games & participating in plots & events.
PAGE 2: Q4: Are you currently owning any NFT (regardless of projects)? A4: No
Q5: How many Neopets Metaverse NFTs do you own? A5: I didn’t participate in the NFT sales, nor do I look to purchase one
Q6: If you participated in Neopets Metaverse NFT sales, in your own words, what went well and not so well? A6: With all do respect and honesty, nothing went well. The NFT community were rude and disrespectful to long time players, despite only selling half the NFTs (and rumor most were bought by bots) it was somehow still declared a success (meanwhile most veteran players did not participate), time and money that could have been put into the site have instead been used on this project and it has been announced will be used on future NFT projects that most of the Neopet players don't want (infact most likely couldn't even afford it), and just in general NFTs are horrible and harmful to the environment. I'll say this now and possibly later on if offered the chance: The Neopet players do not want NFTs nor this "metaverse" it comes with. Time, money, and resources should instead be focused on getting the site fully transitioned to HTML5, improving Premium & NC Mall services, and selling physical merchandise.
Q7: Have you played any NFT games? If so, what are they? A7: None. But from what I've seen, NFT games (both ones to earn NFT and ones made using NFT like metaverses) aren't that good (if they even materialize) and don't last long.
PAGE 3: Q8: What utilities do you want the NFTs to have in the future? This could be for the short-term and long-term. A8: None. I do not want Neopets participating in NFTs for the reasons I stated on the previous page.
Q9: We are super bold on bringing Neopets to the blockchain. If you are a die-hard Neopets fan, what elements of the existing game do you want to see in the Metaverse? A9: As previously stated, instead of this NFT metaverse no Neopet player wants, we want to see the time, money, and resourced be put into the main site, transitioning all of it into HTML5 and getting much of the games & site features working again (as well as adding more and expanding upon them). You have a perfectly good website that needs working on, nothing should be spent on a NFT metaverse that might not even happen nor that many players would play (as I also previously stated, many Neopet players couldn't even afford one NFT; and no, even if they were "cheaper", most players would not want them. I cannot see this NFT metaverse having that many players). And it's not "bold" to bring Neopets to the blockchain, it's quite the opposite.
Q10: Think outside the context of the existing Neopets game, what are your wildest hopes and dreams for the Neopets Metaverse? A10: The existing Neopets game offers players the opportunity to create a Neopet of their choosing (Species, Gender, & Colour; as well as ways to train their Neopets to compete in the Battledome, customize them in clothing, backgrounds, and other trinkets, and participating in competitions such as Beauty Contests), have a safe place they can hang out and chat with other players, and offer fun games, features, and opportunities to improve their account, Neopets, and even themselves. So far the NFT metaverse has shown disrespect to the veteran Neopet players and the NFTs are a randomly generated select number of Species, Colours, and unmatching clothing (not to mention half of them are in a permanently sad expression!) that nothing can be done with (you're supposed to be raising a Neopet, not have an non-interactable image which has some random "value" placed upon it). The Neopet players do not want this NFT metaverse.
Q11: What questions or words of wisdom do you have for the building team? We will keep them in mind. A11: If any Neopets Staff member have been placed on the building team, they should be moved back to focusing and working on the site. I have nothing else to say aside that as I do not wish for Neopets to participate in NFTs of their metaverses so do not want one to be constructed.
PAGE 4: Q12: Who should we partner with, and why? Please feel free to dump some links here for us to check. A12: I would like you to partner with companies and businesses that make physical merchandise. Maybe partnering with an game programming & server services to help bring back popular games like Key Quest & Habitarium. Also maybe work with game developers to make interesting games based on Neopet's large lore, whether on consoles or apps. If you insist on the NFT metaverse, at the very least please keep in mind that, even though it has an older demographic, Neopets is still a children site. When looking at partners ask yourself "would I expose my own kids to this?"; if the answer is "no" then you shouldn't be partners. The guidelines written for players to follow on the Neoboards would also be a good list of rules to use; if any of the partners are involved with something we can't chat about on the Neoboards than, once again, you shouldn't be partners.
Q13: What are some projects that we can learn from? The good, the bad, and the ugly. A13: I honestly wouldn't know, but the players who run the Neopet fansite Jellyneo would likely have some suggestions. As for NFT projects, as I said, from what I've seen of them most aren't good and end up going away (if they ever materialize in the first place); I do not feel its a good market to get into as the chance of success is very low (not to mention you need the playerbase to make it work and most Neopet players aren't participating with NFTs).
PAGE 5: Q14: How would you describe your profession or domain expertise? Q14: I do not see why this is important. All that should matter is that I'm a veteran Neopet player with plenty of Neopet experience.
Q15: How would you describe your familiarity with blockchain / NFT projects?
A15: Thanks to Jellyneo and other sources such as business analysts, while I may not participate in blockchain / NFTs I have been well informed about them to know they are bad news. They aren't something Neopets should be getting involved in. Please, no more Neopet NFTs and this metaverse.
There, all done, glad I spent the time to submit this measured response that'll no doubt be thrown in the trash after reading the questions on page 2.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Dec 30, 2021 22:01:46 GMT -5
Ooh, thanks for the heads up, Twillie. I wrote in my response (short and to the point), although I left the last page blank.
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