OK, lots to reply to. I'm going to do this in no particular order. First, self interest. Yes, I've been there and done that as far as Neopia is concerned. Not only are all four of my pets painted but they also have excellent stats. They have reached the point where I fear one of them will make level twenty and the cost of her training will double. They've read most of the commonly available books. I've built a Neohome and bought furniture for it. I enjoy role playing anyway and some of the games are fun. I don't lose out on all that much by not playing games except for enjoyment and by spending my time role playing and writing my Neoadventure. On the other hand, a good scheme is one that has a shot at being doable.
And one more thing, don't restock. I don't believe in making a profit off my fellow Neopians. Restocking is a euphemism. If you know me (check my user ID Roanna_np) you'll find that my store does not run at a profit and hasn't for most of the time I've been on Neopets. Spending down under 2,000NP means that I now have a pile of food that I'll either donate to my guild or potlatch through my store. I probably will from time to time raise the funds (I can do very well at some games and it's not that expensive) to potlatch.
Second, scruples. Since some of you would like to raise the moral bar for me, I'll let you know some of what I do in real life. I generally don't patronize McDonalds. Restaurant food, including fast food, is a treat not a staple. Mainly I prepare most of my own meals from scratch. I buy cage free eggs and own two "rescue cats" who would otherwise be out on the streets or dead. I'm a member of my local Democratic party committee. My politics are fairly far left of center. I contribute to
http://www.anti-war.com which is one of the best war news sites on the web.
Third, "it's only a game." The money invested by sponsors to advertise there is real. The players (over a million of them) are real. The time spent earning Neopoints is real. Does "it's only a game" mean you should leave your conscience at the door?
Fourth, we don't live in a pure capitalist society. Public schooling (K-12) is free. Income taxes are progressive. We have social security. We have truth in advertising laws too. Also the real world Lawrecne curve even in the United States is not nearly as bowed in as the one on Neopets.
A Lawrence curve measures distribution of wealth. I think everyone here on this board is on the top of the Neopian Lawrence Curve. We are the very small percentage with the very large percentage of total wealth. I'm still at the top of the Lawrence Curve since my wealth is invested in my pets and Neohome.
Actually none of us has the numbers on wealth on Neopets. How many Neopoints can the average ordinary Neopian (not us!) realistically make or save up? Remember just because you can do it, doesn't mean everybody can. We are all outliers and we lie well to the right part of the wealth distribution. For most Neopians (not us), making 100,000NP is a big stretch and may be impossible. The reason I know this is that there are not very many purple, brown, or golden pets or white grarrls, fire grarrls, or strawberry tuskaninnies. The brushes and potions needed for those colors and morphings come in at between 90,000NP and 110,000NP. They are also readily available. Clearly if there were more Neopians who could earn 90-110,000NP these items would go up in price or be very scarce. You would also see these items put to use. Also if the wealth distribution were more even (everyone could save up and buy X.) you would see a lot more furnished Neohomes instead of Neohomes with empty rooms.
As for the Horatio Alger story, I've read it before. Just as in the real world, there are genuine barriers to wealth on Neopets. Time is a major one. If you are a working adult, if you are a kid whose parents control your computer time, if you have other committments online or elsewhere, you are not going to have the time to sit around watching stores so you can restock or you are not going to have the time to play multiple games three times a day. Scruples are another factor. Remember, I won't restock. I'm not sure how many others share my scruples. Then we have opportunity cost. Quite simply if you do one thing, you pay by losing the opportunity to do another. To someone who is greedy for Neopoints, role playing has a high opportunity cost. To someone who adores role playing, playing a quiz game about a television station you don't care about that doesn't even show in your part of the world, has a high opportunity cost.
I don't think opportunity cost for playing games (I don't know enough about restocking to tell you) is constant. Playing the same games every day three times or playing the games that are "cash cows" instead of the ones that might be enjoyable, gets old. It stops being fun. The opportunity cost rises.
A third factor that may limit wealth is COPPA. Neopians who are under thirteen and do not have parental clearance to communicate can't get help from wealthy Neopians (in the form of information not begging though begging sometimes works.) or the support necessary to make it through the rising opportunity cost.
I also think a portion of the population on Neopets (and if that's not you, dont' worry. Of course it's not you!) is economically naive. Saving for weeks on end, window shopping, playing games like punching a clock are all learned skills.
As for what I'm doing being fun or not, so far it feels good. A lot of the activities on the list, the Neoadventure, role playing etc... are enjoyable. Back in real life, I have dried beans sitting in the soaker for tomorrow's soup. The vegetable tray at a function I went to this afternoon hardly got touched and I got what was left (about two pounds worth). Cooking like writing and role playing is fun and in the end more fun than playing the same games over and over again for the money. Yes, the opportunity cost was going up. In my case, though, it just went down.
One more thing: immersive advertising. I am not anti-advertising supported internet. I have no problems with the intrusive ad on this site. I have no problems with the header or footer ads on Neopets or the ads on most Invisionfree.com boards. Immerseive advertising on Neopets was another matter. It was asking me to view a message that I either knew was a lie or that I often disagreed with or could not understand and paid me Neopoints to do so.
I don't read Chinese so I have no idea what the ad on the MirindaStand was saying. The rice ball stand at the Japanese 7-11 site also seemed harmless. Pepsi seemed to be selling courage with its soda which I found odd. Beyond there, though the ads got to ideas I didn't endorse. The Limited Too pushed overpriced and (at least I thought) ugly clothes on middle schoolers. When I was in middle school, Sears had just introduced young junior sizes. This was a great innovation. We did not have high priced boutiques of kids clothes.
Then there was the Maybelline game. I enjoyed playing this one and it was a lot of fun for 900NP a day. The problem was I really didn't think that teenage Philippino (from what I could judge by the skin and hair color) girls should wear the same amount of make up as middle aged ladies or spend their time and their money worrying about makeup.
The McDonald's stand though was what finally pushed me over the line. McDonalds purveys hamburgers, fries, and other not so nutritious menu items. They may serve milk and juice (Oh I'm sure they do), but that is not their main product and yes, they have been implicated as a cause of obesity in general and childhood obesity in particular. For the person worried about my real world involvement, I do follow the news. The advertisement that fed my pets and the game promoting exercise were dirty stinking lies, part of a public relations campaign designed to manufacture my good feelings toward the fast food giant. Yes, I can say no to this ad and just keep playing Neopets. Yes, I can encourage others to say "no."
This space for rent.