New Editorial

[Dustin]

http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.pht ... &issue=299

Go read it if you haven't.
It has a lot of questions regarding the NC Mall, how Greedy Neopets is, and everything else people have been complaining about.
I have to say I feel for them a little now. I never actually realized how much it does cost to run a company the size of theirs. I'm glad to see that they finally came out and said something like this:

"While we would like to claim 100% your happiness, it isn't possible. We're sure everyone would love to see all the ads ripped down, no more paying for anything, and not even have sponsor games on the site. Unfortunately, though, Neopets would then go bankrupt and cease to exist, so we HAVE to care about money. We know money puts a lot of stress on relationships (both ours with you all, and those closer to you)."

I know Neopets isn't like it use to be, and it never will be. But I'm fine with it now I guess. Times change, and so does everything else.

[Matrinka]

I actually feel a bit badly for them as well. However, I think *a lot* of this could have been avoided had the TNT communicated with their "customers" before this point.

[afyapardess]

My thoughts exactly, Matrinka. They earn a LOT of slack from me for being honest, and I respect them the more for answering the angry questions posed to the editorial. Better late than never. Reading between the lines, it seems to me that there is a major split between upper management (Viacom, the business people) and employees (the artists, coders and writers who probably all play Neopets themselves).

And before it gets asked, no, we can't stop making new content (we have deadlines and goals to meet) and we can't just hire new people. (First of all, it costs more money, and secondly, we can't exactly hire a new programmer and say, "This is Neopets. This is how you make a Neopet. Now, recode the pound by Tuesday, please!") We seriously have not forgotten about all we need to get done... in fact, we have nightmares about it. We're working as fast as we can.

As a office monkey myself, I know how stressful it can be to have management looming over you shouting "GOAL! DEADLINE! TARGET!" - and trying to meet those targets means other things suffer besides your morale, like your customer service manner or the little things that really need to be done every day to keep things ticking over but which management (with their short-sighted attitude to profit) don't think are important. Looks like Viacom are pushing for constant new content (how many Candy foods does the economy need, anyway?) while the employees are powerless to spend their time in ways they know would actually improve the site.

Trouble is, to most players, "TNT" means everyone - management and employees alike - a faceless corporation with a single mind and motivation. When upper management make an unpopular decision, it's the low-paid customer service reps who have to deal with all the angry emails.

Seriously, no, we'd storm the meeting rooms with picket signs if the suggestion came up to charge real money for the Pound. You guys tend to forget we're on your side a great deal of the time.

They just let slip, right there, that in the meeting rooms there are two 'sides' - Viacom's and ours. They have meeting-room disputes about the running of Neopets.

The editorial answers have settled a lot of my fears about Neocash - in particular, the emphatic statement that they do NOT intend to unbalance the economy with things like NC weapons. I just wish they could have settled them BEFORE the changes hit.

Last edited by afyapardess on Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[huesland]

I used to run a company that hosted several large websites (20-30 million unique users per day) and the cost to operate just the datacenter (where all of the servers are stored) was almost $100,000 per day. That doesn't take into account developers, artists, Administrative staff (receptionist, accounting, HR, etc). I know that Neopets is probably doing it cheaper than that, but still I'd guess that it costs around 2-3 million dollars a month to run the company of their size, if not more. I'm glad they have done something to look out for their bottom line, since as they said:

Being a business, we can't just "break even" and call it a happy day. If Neopets doesn't turn a profit well, we'd disappear pretty quickly.

[Meer]

Well, I tried having a little bit of sympathy for them, I really did. But I just can't have that much.

I know they've got the big evil corporate overloads breathing down their necks, but really how long can it possibly take to fix the pound? It's such an important part of the site to be neglected for so long.

[metalmario]

I'm going to admit right now, when I heard about Neocash I didn't actually look into what it was before I got all huffy. Now that I've read that editorial (and actually clicked the mall link) I'd like to say sorry to any TNTers who still lurk here. The expiration thing is a great idea, and I'm happy that the items can't leave your account.

[shapu]

Here's how I look at Neopets:
It is a business
It needs a business model
They have selected click-though ads as a major funding avenue
They have told us it's ok to block click-through ads
They need other funding
They have decided on a ludicrous scheme to collect money from people who have it
They have made it impossible to buy the ability to play well
Those costumes look ridiculous anyway
I'm cool with it.

[benladesh]

Brainwash..Wow TNT are good. let me just post what I posted at IDB...Ill edit it a little to make it relevent here. please take the time to read my post and understand my point of view.


In the most recent editorial I read something that upset me to the greatest degree. It was mostly about the new neocash system. First off they go on about how they need money and they don't make enough which is a lie. They make more then enough. Ask anyone who takes accounting and classes on money in university levels. The lies they try to make people believe are disgusting. They are written in a way to make people "understand" and feel okay with it. It is manipulation, using people to get more money. I was OK with neocash. I didn't agree with it but the way they answered the questions fills me with utter disgust. They act as if they were friends when these responces makes children believe what isn't true. Children thing that TNT want whats good for them, that they are friends. Unfortunatly this is a lie, they just want whats in their pockets and their parents pockets. As I stated before, they do not need this money, thye are already multimillionares. As a kid I used to want to work for neopets. Now as I mature and have a better understanding i know that I could never work for people who manipulate, lie and use people like they do. It is not only wrong but can be hurtful to younger people.

What's more important? Our (Neopians') happiness and satisfaction or making real-life profit from Neopet users? ~cutie802
While we would like to claim 100% your happiness, it isn't possible. We're sure everyone would love to see all the ads ripped down, no more paying for anything, and not even have sponsor games on the site. Unfortunately, though, Neopets would then go bankrupt and cease to exist, so we HAVE to care about money. We know money puts a lot of stress on relationships (both ours with you all, and those closer to you). How often have you argued or overheard your parents argue about money? We're betting most likely at least once in your life. We don't necessarily like certain ads either, but we also need to accept the fact that without money and the company making a profit, Neopets can't exist. So we have to try and balance the two. If we only cared about money and not about our players, we could do a lot worse things than offer optional clothing for a few bucks. So please, before sticking your fingers out and calling us "greedy," think of what it takes to run a business of this magnitude, and understand we have to do what we can to create a balance between profit and player happiness.

This is an excellently formulated question. You can tell that the person who asked the question is a wellread indivdual who understands the difference between money and happiness. This is a person who knows that you can be happy without insane amounts of money unlike TNT.

The reference which TNT made (underlines and italics) is absolutly unnessesary and the most disgusting attempt to earn a childs trust. I did not believe what I read when I saw that. They are trying to make the child feel bad. By feeling bad the child will think "wow TNT understands me". It is a horrible method of manipulation. it is very unnessesary to make children thing of parents fighting over ANYTHING! A child goes onto neopets to escape the real life. To get away from problems and to find enjoyment. Now they go on neopets and they get reminded of what is happening.

TNT has crossed the line with this. Anyone can lookup their income and see that they make more then enough. I don't know how to react to this. This is the farthest I have ever seen TNT go to make people buy from them and to manipulate. All their answers in the editorial are attempts to gain trust. The one I posted above is stepping over the line. They have no business in anything to do with the users families. Many families face difficulties these days. Neopets and internet is a great way to relax, have fun and just escape.

[GIR]

Okay, all of you need to WAKE UP. They're talking as if they have stopped making profit, and that this NC Mall is necessary for the continuation of Neopets. It isn't. The number of pageviews per day continues to increase, and therefore the revenue from ads rises as well. They are giving a deceptive justification for their greed.

Also, since Nexon is behind the NC Mall, it WILL get worse. Those of you familiar with Nexon through MapleStory will know that the Cash Shop started out as completely extra, appearance-altering-only stuff. The items that could be obtained through their Cash Shop gradually grew to have increasing impacts on the game (sorry for the alliteration, it was unintentional X_x ). Now, there are Double EXP cards which let one gain levels at twice the speed of everyone else, and Double Drop cards that increase ones item and meso drops (mesos are the currency in MapleStory).

Last edited by GIR on Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Forte]

And before it gets asked, no, we can't stop making new content (we have deadlines and goals to meet) and we can't just hire new people. (First of all, it costs more money, and secondly, we can't exactly hire a new programmer and say, "This is Neopets. This is how you make a Neopet. Now, recode the pound by Tuesday, please!") We seriously have not forgotten about all we need to get done... in fact, we have nightmares about it. We're working as fast as we can.

How can you defend them after reading this? Ben has already made some good points, but this further angers me. They claim that they can't hire new coders because they don't have any money, have you even looked at their financial statements?! They make plenty of pure profit they could use to hire new staff to, oh say, fix the glitchy battledome or the closed pound. Yet they do not...they spit in our face and shove features down our throat that people are clearly against and ignore site staples. TNT makes me sick, and I can't believe any one can defend that editorial. It's corporate propaganda trying to brainwash the children of Neopia who will be their cash cow for years to come. They no longer need the older fanbase, and they're trying to run us off by eliminating wars and other things that require skill at the site.

Enjoy the new Neopia then, but I will fight against this as best I can, and I hope the Neopets community won't stand for this either.

[IcyBlue]

And where exactly are all of their "financial statements" located? Obviously, only people from IDB have seen these records, so perhaps you could enlighten us who don't visit the IDB? I'd like to see a side by side comparison between what they make, and what their total expenses are to keep the site running, because right now, I'm 100% on TNT's side.

[Forte]

http://www.hoovers.com/viacom/--ID__143 ... come.xhtml

Viacom, Neopets parent company, made a gross profit of $5,408,100,000 in 2006. Their net profit after taxes was $1,577,000,000, and they had a 13.9% profit rate. I think they could have spent a LITTLE of that 1.5 billion on Neopets to hire some new employees, don't you?

[GIR]

And where exactly are all of their "financial statements" located? Obviously, only people from IDB have seen these records, so perhaps you could enlighten us who don't visit the IDB? I'd like to see a side by side comparison between what they make, and what their total expenses are to keep the site running, because right now, I'm 100% on TNT's side.

Are you seriously falling for that garbage in the editorial? They make profit every single time a page is viewed. Then, on top of that, they get money from sponsors (items, games, freebies, etc). And after that, they still get more from the merchandise they sell.

[IcyBlue]

That's not what I meant. I want to see financial records for Neopets only. That Viacom one includes everything from MTV to Nickelodeon, so how do you not know that Neopets is turning a "massive profit"?

I also don't understand how they "make profit every single time a page is viewed". Are you paying Neopets a couple pennies for every page you load on their site? Are you clicking an ad everytime you load a page? Do you play a sponsor game for every page you view? I doubt it very much.

[GIR]

That's not what I meant. I want to see financial records for Neopets only. That Viacom one includes everything from MTV to Nickelodeon, so how do you not know that Neopets is turning a "massive profit"?

I also don't understand how they "make profit every single time a page is viewed". Are you paying Neopets a couple pennies for every page you load on their site? Are you clicking an ad everytime you load a page? Do you play a sponsor game for every page you view? I doubt it very much.

Ever notice those ads at the top and bottom of every page? Those are called "paid advertisements." With these "paid advertisements," a company pays Neopets to display them. Every time a page is viewed, the ads are displayed, and the company paying for the adspace gives Neopets a predetermined amount of money.