Neopets jumps to 4.1M visits per month but is now unsurprisingly wracked with cheaters
’90s kids take a moment to revel in the nostalgia, then maybe check if your rare pets are still there.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Neopetswas once a blindingly popular, browser-based universe—filled with faeries, aliens and legendary, battle born puppers. Since its conception in the late ’90s, it’s seen millions of users pass through, playing games to earn Neopoints in order to feed, dress, and fight their Neopets, or otherwise adventure across the strange and eclectic world laid before them.
It was a dream to have such an expansive, free-to-play world at my fingertips as a tween, but there’s a darker side to this lovable pet-keeping palaver that I should’ve probably spotted way back then, and it’s only been getting more dodgy as the years pass.
Back in the early ’00s thetotal number of Neopets users peaked at around 25 millionand, while it can’t match that number today, it’s seen a good 4.1 million site visits just this month. A few years ago, it wasestimated to have around 100,000 active daily users. The pandemic-induced nostalgia trips many of us found ourselves in translated to a fairly noticeable spike, too. At least, that’s why I’ve found myself here again, back to relive my tween years, and reinvigorate my love for browser-based shenanigans.
The Neopets site was my first introduction to choose-your-own-adventures, collectables, interest rates… oh and gambling, come to think of it. At age 11, you’d find me there, learning the ins and outs of back alley poker, hashing out a round after round of roulette, or even trying my hand at auctioning. I think I even had a go at the Neopets stock market, but it turned out I wasn’t cut out for the high-roller lifestyle.
The play-to-earn games on the site were built withthe now-defunct Adobe Flash, but most have been saved from the fate that has befallen many other games of the era. They don’t even appear to have been updated since I was about 11 (I’ll be 30 next week), and by the looks of it you still seem to earn the same amount of Neopoints from them.
That is, as long as the now rather janky site doesn’t take your ultra-high score as suspect, and refuse to hand over your hard-earned points (I’m still very upset about this, if you can’t tell). It’s understandable though, what with the amount ofcheating that’s evident from recent press coverage.
Neopets hackers range from pet-pilfering black marketeers, to those who feel morally obliged to steal rare items from inactive players in order to keep the economy going.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Steam Deck review: Our verdict on Valve’s handheld PC.Steam Deck availability: How to get one.Steam Deck battery life: What’s the real battery life of the new device?How loud is the Steam Deck?And will it pass the Significant Other test?Steam Deck - The emulation dream machine: Using Valve’s handheld hardware as the ultimate emulator.
Neopets is coming out of anNFTphase, too, and when I think back it seems the play-to-earn nature of the site really lent itself to a crypto handshake. TheNeopets Metaverse NFT schemewas announced by the site’s CEO in September 2021,seemingly unbeknownst to the core team, and was swiftly protested into oblivion thanks to loyal fans of the site.
Today you can purchase a well-used Neopets account along with all its rare items for around $200–400, which is very much against the site’s terms of service.
Plenty of companies have jumped on the bandwagon for a collab since the recent influx of pandemic players, such asCakeworthy apparelwho make the most adorable Neopets themed clothing and accessories. And you can stillpurchase plushies from the store for $10.
So if you’re feeling nostalgic I encourage you to give the site another go, and while you’re at it, maybe double check your rare items haven’t been plundered in your absence.
Screw sports, Katie would rather watch Intel, AMD and Nvidia go at it. Having been obsessed with computers and graphics for three long decades, she took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni, and has been rambling about games, tech and science—rather sarcastically—for four years since. She can be found admiring technological advancements, scrambling for scintillating Raspberry Pi projects, preaching cybersecurity awareness, sighing over semiconductors, and gawping at the latest GPU upgrades. Right now she’s waiting patiently for her chance to upload her consciousness into the cloud.
Roblox is banning kids from unrated experiences and Social Hangout spaces in an effort to protect them from paedophiles
OpenAI has bought the URL of what used to be an adult video chat website for more than $15,500,000
Simulated CPU-building speedrun attempt ends with a functioning processor in a mere six hours
