Neopets, Inc. Changes Management

[samniann]

it's like a april fools joke coming true
http://www.neopets.com/index_fake.phtml

[stampsyne]

ROFL

The whole "Nick Neopia" from that April fools has a whole new meaning.

[samniann]

so wrong so wrong

[zorg]

She looks like a robot. 80% Botox?

The question is not if she's a scientologist.

Its all about the botox XD She creeps me out though, the piccy Kym posted with his article on the front? "shudder"

Last edited by zorg on Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Runevalkyrie]

zorg- You should be aware getting into the Scientology background doesn't belong here. I suggest dropping that question quickly.

[psyco_chick32]

DOOM upon the heads of us all! Fire and brimestone and sulphurous death shall befall all! That is unless we assemble the town mob! Bring the pitchforks and torches!

I LOVE mobs!
Oh, oh, can I carry a torch? Fire is AWESOME!




Oh wait... was that not what we were getting into here?

Anyway, on the real meat of the subject, my main concern is that most of her efforts have been toward revamping sites primarily for children and their parents. Which, to say, isn't a bad thing, but I'm concerned about the effect it will have on wars and plots and such. Think about the LDP... that was a very involved plot. Will plots be made easier? Will wars be fewer and far between in efforts of promoting working together? Some may say I'm exaggerating, but it's a possibility if the site is marketed primarily toward children.
It seems to me that TNT has been moving in a negative direction for a while, making things as easy as possible for everybody (ranking for wars? leaving plots open forever?) and making things even easier for new users (starting them with petpets? paintbrushes? I still wonder if any of the cardboard pets will be awarded PPL status...) and continue to ignore the "oldbies". I'm all for releasing more paintrubshes and higher priced items into the economy and shaking things up a little bit... heck, I'd love a poogle, or the ability to train my pet without sacrificing all the hard work I've done to save up for my Hissi Transmog Potion... but I'm still worried that the oldbies are going to continue to sink into the background even more.

[Kess]

From animationmagazine.net's article:

Reporting to Steve Youngwood, exec VP of digital for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group, Reppen will oversee day-to-day operations, creative direction and business strategy for the Glendale, Calif.-based venture.

Interesting... so she will be in the office. According to the other article, her background is actually in law and business affairs, and she seems to be one of viacom's "a-team" players for their internet content. She went to Wellesley, which is a respected women's college in MA. I suspect she is extremely competant.

NeoPets Inc. was founded by Doug C. Dohring in 2000 and acquired by MTV Networks in June of 2005.

That doesn't seem correct...

Dohring will continue to be involved with the company as a consultant.

So he's not gone completely, just out of the captain's chair. Neither article says why they replaced him.

From Yahoo's article:

NeoPets gave Nickelodeon a head start in capturing what it means to be a successful digital brand today and Kyra will continue to build upon that success," Zarghami said. "NeoPets allowed us to capture the greatest share of kids and tweens on the Internet and is another creative laboratory for us to create great 360-degree content for our passionate and targeted audiences."

"Kyra's expertise, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit were key elements in building Nickjr.com into the number one site for parents of young children and in creating ParentsConnect," said Youngwood. "She will bring the same qualities and digital know-how to NeoPets."

To me that doesn't sound like they're going to turn neopets into Nick Jr. Why would they do that? They already have a site like that. Not only that, but NickJr has a TV channel and shows to promote. It doesn't have to make money. Their target audience probably shouldn't be surfing the internet alone anyway. On the other hand Neopets is a stand-alone product (at least until the movie comes out). It has to pay for itself somehow, be it product sponsors or paid accounts. It's a different beast and won't be grown the same way nickjr.com has been.

If they are after preteens and tweens, they're going to have to compete with myspace and sites like that. Maybe they will add blogging features or something. I wouldn't be surprised to see devlopment into areas like that that haven't existed at all on the site before. It wouldn't surprise me to seeneopets versions of myspace, livejournal, facebook or xanga.

As for nickjr.com, and nickelodeon in general, yeah it's kids programming but it's pretty hip stuff, it's not all crappy After-School Specials and Barny.

The site may change, but it has always been in a state of change. It has changed a LOT LESS in the last couple years than it did in the first couple years. Don't expect big radical changes right off the bat.

[WolfMaiden]

it's like a april fools joke coming true
http://www.neopets.com/index_fake.phtml

I am sooo glad thats not true. No more neopoints? And I recently made 600k again. lost 500k to getting my lab map, been working to get the points back.

But Nick Topia? Scott the Chia? Whats next...Larry the Lupe?

[shapu]

NeoPets Inc. was founded by Doug C. Dohring in 2000 and acquired by MTV Networks in June of 2005.

That doesn't seem correct...

But it is right. Adam and Donna were the founders of Neopets. Neopets was Incorporated as a business by Dohring.

[Mongrel]

Y'know, it really isn't the end of the world. Neopets can only do one of three things:
1. Get significantly better
If this happens, awesome!

2. Stay about the same
Eh, the same people will be dissatisfied, and the same people will be satisfied. We're no worse off.

3. Get significantly worse
If this happens, some people will get fed up and leave. It'll happen and that's the end of it. Neopets shouldn't be the focus of your life.

I'm not saying, if the third route is the way they go, that I won't be disappointed. But it is only a game, and we've been lucky to have it at all.

[Q]

I'm not going to waste my time worrying about nonexistant issues. Like Kess said, the site is always in a state of changing. And you know, if it changes so drastically that half their member base suddenly finds Urbaniacs more worth their time, they'll make more changes to try and bring people back.

Anyhow, a few years ago there was still some information about Neopets future plans available by googling. From the get go it appeared as though Dougie planned to sell the company within 5 years. Wow, it was sold to Viacom after...dun dun dun...5 years. People don't sell their company and then keep working for it, unless they have some vested interest or the company relies on their talents. The only thing I'm surprised at is that I don't see all the Dougie haters dancing in the street.

[fructy]

Change isn't always a bad thing. She seems like a very smart businesswoman, so maybe she'll change things for the better? It's too early to be all negavite about it.

What I would like to see is that neopets would listen more to the players. And that TNT finishes what they started (for exapmle the return of dr sloth plot, guild masters dinner).

I would also like them to reward the players that have been active for years. For expample, players could collect some sort of freebie when their account turns 1 year, 2 years, 3 years etc. The longer you've been playing, the better the freebies get. ^_^ That would be a cool idea.

On a side note, I don't think TNT has been going down hill. On the contrary, I think they've been doing great last year especially with all the plots (though I wish the Altador plot prizes would've been a tad better, the plot itself was very good). They've actually made quite some good changes too, for example made a gallery option, that when you search for something on the wiz it automaticly shows up at the top of the shop so you won't have to search etc.

[Pudding]

It seems like most people think that Neopets has been getting a lot better since Viacom purchased the company in June 2005. I honestly think that it's a result of Viacom's ownership; they've gotten very good at providing entertainment over the past few decades.

I don't think that the site will get massively easier or anything--they've gotten a huge chunk of the market share doing what they're doing--Ms. Reppen won't want to change things too much in that direction, for risk of losing what she's got. She's smart. Don't worry about it.

DOOM upon the heads of us all! Fire and brimestone and sulphurous death shall befall all! That is unless we assemble the town mob! Bring the pitchforks and torches!

Ah! There's the voice of reason!

*heads off to the barn for a pitchfork*

[aarickman]

fructy wrote:

I would also like them to reward the players that have been active for years. For expample, players could collect some sort of freebie when their account turns 1 year, 2 years, 3 years etc. The longer you've been playing, the better the freebies get. ^_^ That would be a cool idea.

I always thought that they should give you a birthday pack including some sweets a few cheap presents and then a paint brush(the paint brushes would get significantly rarer the older your account is) but I think it would be cool if they gave you a choice, kind of like how when you create a pet and you have to roll the stats, to see if you could possibly get even better ones. I think they should do this with the paint brush, give us a chance to get a better one or worse by giving us three rolls.

[Jenna!]

Hasn't though, Neopets already been bought by Viacom (Owner of NickJr. and such) and out of Doug's hands?