Way overdue brainstorm post!
I will try to sort the ideas into categories: ideas that are good for lore and stories and would need more of a connection to site features for the prank aspect, ideas more based on site features that would need more of a story angle, and ideas that I find well balanced as is.
Loresy Ideas
- Corporate Neopian Times
I wasn't sure where to sort this one, actually! I think it works mainly as a parody of the current state of the internet, extremely marketing-oriented. *sobs because we've come full circle back to the old ad-filled web but glossy now*
In comics and stories, characters could be swarmed with ads and with hashtag hustle culture. Articles could be like numbered lists on how to maximise your synergy productivity.
-Kiko Lake World Domination
Pros: this has been brewing for a while, with the Kiko Lake team random event fueling many gags already. The plainness of Kiko Lake as a land has also been a joke, and the dormant volcano is just begging to be awoken.
Cons: caution required, need to stay away from uncomfortable parallels with real world politics. This could also work as a more commercial takeover, or focusing on a Sloth-like uber Kiko villain.
Needs: just a bit more work on how this would manifest in-game. Things sponsored by Kiko Lake, ad breaks for Kiko Lake businesses? Important Neopian shops and features being moved to Kiko Lake?
- New Obelisk factions
Needs more work to figure out the factions, though I don't think anyone would use the exact same anyway.
This would take a bit of lore, because there needs to be some kind of plotty reason for more factions to pop up. Obelisk got a power-up? Oracle got eviller? What happened to the original factions?
For the prank aspect, more boons and rewards and avatars could be promised, and a new opportunity to get a trophy like in the first Obelisk War! And many were disappointed that the first plevent didn't have more of a story, so this could finally be the follow-up and development of the story!
Cons: there's only one page on the site to check, and depending on the skirmish schedule, it might be very underwhelming.
- Neopian Leader Swap
Pros: uses lots of characters that people are already familiar with and like to humiliate play with, affects most of Neopia, fun. The concept is simple, it could be just like Bring Your Kid to Work Day, except it's Rule Another Land for a Day. Maybe the people of Neopian lands were polled on which leader they would like to try out for a day. Maybe the leaders got together and all pulled papers out of a hat! (much likelier in my opinion)
We could try to pick which leaders get swapped to make this more homogeneous... but I doubt we'd reach an agreement early enough, and also chaos is fine for this issue.
Cons: focuses mainly on the ruling elite of Neopia >=o, characters who already get plenty of attention.
Needs: an idea of how things would go wrong in each Neopian land, something users might try to find on the site.
- Missing owners
Pros: cool narratives in the style of "children wake up in a world without adults" stories, comics with pets searching for their owners, who might be hiding in the most unlikely places and snickering, or pets just partying. Callbacks to Humangate with rumours of humans having been banned from Neopia in-world as well!
Cons: well, we know we're still around when we log into the site. It's the fictional characters of the pets that are getting pranked. I think this one would be focused exclusively on storytelling.
Pranksy Ideas
- New services
This sounds like the old Neoschool prank, but super expanded! It would need a bit more brainstorming to settle on what the services would be, and maybe they could be made to sound more like features people have been wanting for a while. No, scratch that - things people would never have wanted for the site.
For the story aspect, I think these services would need to be more of an inconvenience than an improvement, to keep it pranksy! So we need to figure out what kind of disaster they would lead to.
- Daily Dare of Games Master Challenge with old html games
Pros: generational gags about trying to initiate hip Neopets kiddos to ye olde games from back in our days?
Cons: only works for people who like to write about site games...
Balancedsy Ideas
- Holiday Medley
This can be happening in-world as a result of a) a calendar misprint and nobody wanting to correct it - b) timey wimey shenanigans! - c) Fyora Said So,
and it can also be happening on-site with all the site features connected to holidays. Cool beans!
The only con for me is that the holidays already happen on their own days so it might be a bit redundant, but if enough chaos is produced, that'll make up for it.
- Chia Flour explosion
Involuntary chaos, did Chias plot this? Did they not? Is it a plot by the Kikos? What if Chias are offended? How does everyone learn to live with/as Chias, and recognise their acquaintances again? Also, plot characters as Chias.
Prank aspect: Chia Flour is now popping up as a random event?!
- Bananas
I think this is a perfect idea. Good old randomness and absurdity. Non-sequitur jokes. Easy branding and imagery. Potential for perfectly chaotic stories.