Yellow Bar beta test results/comments.

[SierraRaven]

Although it's been said that it's not up to the techmonkies to decide this, I'd like to put forward this idea. Maybe it was already thought of and rejected?

Alternate Advertisement Placement

Most Neopians play at least some flash games. There are already short animations on the load screens. Why not replace those with neo or sponsor advertisements instead of having this in your face flash advert? I certainly stare at my loading screen longer than any of the pages.

Quahog, what a marvelous idea! I, too, spend much more time staring into the screen when the game preloader is running, especially if a flash game is no longer in my cache and I have to d/l it again. If I was part of TNT, I would say, "Kudos", my friend, and give you a raise, lol!

[neopian_queen_liana]

I LOVE that last idea! I sit like a zombie staring at the opening sequences of the flash games as well. That would be an EXCELLENT place to put advertisements.

The problem being, I'm betting it's too late to stop the top banner at this point. So now we've just given them another idea of where they can advertise! LOL!

[xjox]

Although it's been said that it's not up to the techmonkies to decide this, I'd like to put forward this idea. Maybe it was already thought of and rejected?

Alternate Advertisement Placement

Most Neopians play at least some flash games. There are already short animations on the load screens. Why not replace those with neo or sponsor advertisements instead of having this in your face flash advert? I certainly stare at my loading screen longer than any of the pages.

It seems quite a few people don't like the top bar or the banner advertisement. I wouldn't mind seeing an advert for Sparkle Happy Fresh Deoderant while I'm waiting for Freaky Factory, or a screen after I sent my score that says Like this game? Why not play Teenage Popstar Rampage next?..

Just a thought...

That is the best idea Ive heard yet! That wouldnt bother me in the slightest to see an advert while waiting for a game to load. At least that way it wouldnt bother anyone who cant play flash games for medical reasons, and they would be able to play the rest of the site without problems......TNT you need to hire this gal!!:)

[The Yurble Janitor]

Here is a gif t for Adam and Snarkie:





2 coustomised events!

[gemini_freak]

i have only saw pictures, and read what people have said about this new bar. however i think we all deserve a little imput, yes?

i love the way the new bar looks, the part that goes out at the top is spiffy however, as some have said, the flashy ads for random neopet things is kinda annoying. someone said it could be used to list account information - active pet, username, np - that sort of thing. i like that idea

and i definitely would be VERY upset if i started to see non-neopets related ads appearing in that space, or anywhere on neopets for that matter. its bad enough that theres going to be a paid version of neopets.

[atomicblonde]

and i definitely would be VERY upset if i started to see non-neopets related ads appearing in that space, or anywhere on neopets for that matter. its bad enough that theres going to be a paid version of neopets.

There's not going to be a paid version of neopets. There's simply neopets premium which gets you an @neomail.com e-mail address and the portal, and the neopets ISP which is dial-up coupled with neopets premium. It's the exact same as "unpaid" neopets.

The flash ads for sponsors are inevitable (as Adam has said) if you want to avoid having a paid version of neopets.

[gemini_freak]

There's not going to be a paid version of neopets. There's simply neopets premium which gets you an @neomail.com e-mail address and the portal, and the neopets ISP which is dial-up coupled with neopets premium. It's the exact same as "unpaid" neopets.

o0o thats how the paid thing works? ah, good to know

and the few non-neopets related ads which you see around aren't really a big deal.. not to me anyways, its just when you start seeing them on every page, everywhere, all over the site. that is when i draw the line, and when most other people probably will too and quit neopets.

[xjox]

There's not going to be a paid version of neopets. There's simply neopets premium which gets you an @neomail.com e-mail address and the portal, and the neopets ISP which is dial-up coupled with neopets premium. It's the exact same as "unpaid" neopets.

o0o thats how the paid thing works? ah, good to know

and the few non-neopets related ads which you see around aren't really a big deal.. not to me anyways, its just when you start seeing them on every page, everywhere, all over the site. that is when i draw the line, and when most other people probably will too and quit neopets.

And if they ever start having pop ups..........grrrr I HATE pop ups!

[everconfused]

gemini, there will be sponsor ads in the large topbanner. Borovan did say that premium users won't see them, but that even may be subject to change.

Quahog! That is the grooviest idea yet! No topbanner messing up all the pages (and our lovely lookups), tomenting us with blinking, flashing, moving stuff as we navigate the site ... and just about everyone plays at least some games (even the people who say they NEVER play a game ... come on, they're great stress-busters!). So yes, putting the ads, especially sponsor ads on the preloader instead of sitting there staring mindlessly at clockwork grundos marching along ... well it would kinda be like commercials on TV! And now back to our regularly sheduled game

I will confess - I don't sit and watch many of the preloaders. Because I can't. They move too fast, like the tyrannian beating on the drum, Jhudiah (sp?) stirring her pot, and the (forgive me) one with the boat on the moving water? Whew, what those can do to me.

EDIT: Actually, thinking a minute - Pogo has something very similar to that -- a sponsor ad that may move a bit, but not much while a game is loading - also there's an "intermission" after x number of the same game for 30 seconds or so and another ad. And I don't mind those in the slightest.

Or put the darned thing along the bottom of the page or just have 2 shockwave boxes on the sidebar, one at the top (where it says Neopets) and one where it is now - same size, I think even that would be less obtrusive.

I'm going to hope (futile I know) that the whole flash topbanner is rethought and at least made html - the ad could/would change as you refreshed or went around the site, but it wouldn't be jumping up and down screaming Look At Me!!! Which makes me want to NOT look - and in many cases I CAN'T look.

PS - Meowith Thank you so much

[mercurius]

For all those complaining about the ads on the bar, I believe Mozilla has options to block ads. You have to click the option for it though.

[amarise]

Ive not had a problem with NQII in firefox, only with Internet explorer cos of the difference in the size of the tool bars. But, that seems like a great suggestion to me to get rid of the NQ Banner when you are playing the game would also help people on dial up I would think, 1 less pic to load! I dont like the idea of opening it up in a new window, cos then you would miss random events and also would miss neomails etc.

Speaking of Random Events has anyone had any with the new tool bar, if so can you post a screenie, would be interested to see how it looks........or if you just wanna send the baby paintbrush random event over to me, thats good too!!:P

I never get Random events. i've had ONE since getting the toolbar, and i've been doing some serious clicking!!!

neither do I! So my suggestion is to send random events to everyone with the new toolbar, purely for research purposes of course! After all we need to know how they are gonna look under the banner!!

I don't go on the neoboards much so I would like something to "collect" that I would use on a daily basis on Neopets.

I totally agree with that, I spend ages getting avatars that i will never use. I wouldnt mind spending ages (and probably np) getting something I will enjoy.

I've gotten a total of three RE's since getting the beta toolbar. They show up just like regular RE's, just a little lower on the page. There hasn't been any stretching, glitching, ect. And even the faerie quest RE looked fine. (Don't get too excited, it was an Earth Faerie quest. )

I think that having the four 'basic color' bars available to all, then giving the option to 'collect' special or seasonal bars would be fantasic. (And, did I mention my idea to get them through a 'treasure hunt' type game, so people can't give out links and items aren't inflated? )

[xjox]

Ive not had a problem with NQII in firefox, only with Internet explorer cos of the difference in the size of the tool bars. But, that seems like a great suggestion to me to get rid of the NQ Banner when you are playing the game would also help people on dial up I would think, 1 less pic to load! I dont like the idea of opening it up in a new window, cos then you would miss random events and also would miss neomails etc.

Speaking of Random Events has anyone had any with the new tool bar, if so can you post a screenie, would be interested to see how it looks........or if you just wanna send the baby paintbrush random event over to me, thats good too!!:P

I never get Random events. i've had ONE since getting the toolbar, and i've been doing some serious clicking!!!

neither do I! So my suggestion is to send random events to everyone with the new toolbar, purely for research purposes of course! After all we need to know how they are gonna look under the banner!!

I don't go on the neoboards much so I would like something to "collect" that I would use on a daily basis on Neopets.

I totally agree with that, I spend ages getting avatars that i will never use. I wouldnt mind spending ages (and probably np) getting something I will enjoy.

I've gotten a total of three RE's since getting the beta toolbar. They show up just like regular RE's, just a little lower on the page. There hasn't been any stretching, glitching, ect. And even the faerie quest RE looked fine. (Don't get too excited, it was an Earth Faerie quest. )

I think that having the four 'basic color' bars available to all, then giving the option to 'collect' special or seasonal bars would be fantasic. (And, did I mention my idea to get them through a 'treasure hunt' type game, so people can't give out links and items aren't inflated? )

Yeah i like that idea as it would be much more fun than just clicking a link someone posted on the neoboards. There could even be a contest to design special bars.....that could be fun!

[B55B55]

Although it's been said that it's not up to the techmonkies to decide this, I'd like to put forward this idea. Maybe it was already thought of and rejected?

Alternate Advertisement Placement

Most Neopians play at least some flash games. There are already short animations on the load screens. Why not replace those with neo or sponsor advertisements instead of having this in your face flash advert? I certainly stare at my loading screen longer than any of the pages.

It seems quite a few people don't like the top bar or the banner advertisement. I wouldn't mind seeing an advert for Sparkle Happy Fresh Deoderant while I'm waiting for Freaky Factory, or a screen after I sent my score that says Like this game? Why not play Teenage Popstar Rampage next?..

Just a thought...

That is the best idea Ive heard yet! That wouldnt bother me in the slightest to see an advert while waiting for a game to load. At least that way it wouldnt bother anyone who cant play flash games for medical reasons, and they would be able to play the rest of the site without problems......TNT you need to hire this gal!!:)

I agree that's a great idea -- watch a 10 second advertisement before you can play the game. It would bother me a heck of a lot less. I already play the sponsor games

[Cranberry]

This is partially related to the topic -- how much does the "premium" Neopets cost, and what happens if your account gets unfairly frozen after you've paid for the site? Do you actually get guaranteed service from a support team member? If so (and if ads are going to be blocked, as you're planning), it might be worth it to me.

As for the ads... I love the idea of replacing the game preloaders with ads instead of having a big flashy glaring banner ad on every page. It's probably too late to do that now, so PLEASE think about making the banner ads HTML only, or having them only show the full animation once, or something.

[AutumnElf]

I'm not trying to whine or anything but...

I didn't get the new yellow bar and I signed up for it!

Ok, well, yeah. Maybe I signed up too late or something?

Aaanyways, just looking at the screenies, I don't want to act like an annoying brat but...I HATE THE AD ON THE TOP! Ok, I know someone said we've got to have them since neopets would be a paying site, otherwise, but they're really annoying! I mean, we already have that little icon ad on the left bar that advertises that kind of stuff...

I like Amarise's idea for providing the basic colors and perhaps a treasure hunt thing with clues to different pages on the site (I believe there used to be a game like this that gave out map pieces - space map pieces, I think - a long time ago. Anyone remember?) and then if we get all the clues right, we win a special bar! (Although then, people could like give the answer to clues...