Random Event

A Random Event is an unexpected occurrence while playing Neopets, similar to real life as a random happening that is different than normal routine.

Types

Random Events come in 4 different varieties. They are...

Something Has Happened!

The most common Random Events show a small graphic saying "Something Has Happened!" when they occur. These events can be positive (such as finding neopoints or an item), neutral (such as having a draik fly overhead on the way to Krawk Island or a passing Neopet saying something), or negative (ghosts stealing neopoints from you and putting them on the Money Tree). Unlocking an Avatar is a "Something Has Happened" event as well, sometimes occurring at random while playing Neopets or makin certain actions while playing.

Local Events

Local Events are a subset of "Something Has Happened", which only occur in a specific world. As of September 2006, They include "Winter Random Events" (Terror Mountain) and "Tyrannian Random Events" (Tyrannia). Like Random Events, they can be positive, negative, or neutral.

Battledome Challengers

One-player battledome challengers are unlocked randomly (although certain opponents can only be unlocked in specific ways).

Faerie Quests

While playing Neopets a user may confronted by a Faerie and be given a Faerie Quest. The user must purchase an item without the use of the Shop Wizard for a reward. The exact type of items as well as the rewards depend on the faerie.

Maximizing

Random events are mostly beneficial and sought after, with players always comparing the number and quality of their events with each other. Their very nature makes them impossible to control, but some theories have emerged on how to increase the frequency of events.

Neopet Care

It's believed keeping Neopets well fed (bloated, but not beyond that) and happy change the results of certain Random Events. This belief is held due to the fact The Neopets Team said Neopets that are sad and angry will be changed into different colours via Random Event, and having them happy will allow other events to happen as well.

Sidebars

Some special Neopets Sidebars (like the Birthday sidebar, obtained and usable only on a users and Neopets birthday) will increase the probability of receiving a random event. However, having a special sidebar does not guarantee a user will get more random events. It has been known for some people to get as many as 30 random events on their birthday while others only 5 or 6.

Generosity

By donating items to the Money Tree frequently or being generous in general to others, users could increase their chance to receive Random Events. Similar to Karma, this idea spread rapidly with the release of the Wishing Well, with users believing prize selection was given to users of greater Karma than others.

Digital Karma measured a users diservingness of bonuses in Neopets and AAA were the first few to add this as a feature although they both were very defensive about telling the users that this had happened. Generous users would get more "good" random events and although the exact formula is (of course) secret, it works similar to this:

• old: Number = Random_number(1 to 6); if Number = 6 do_random_event;
• new: Random_number(1 to 6) * Karma; if Number > 6 do_random_event;

It's doubtful the "NeoFormula" is quite as simple, but that is the principle. So the bigger a users secret Karma score is the better. However each test/random makes the Karma score smaller, and time progression causes the Karma to lower as well, making users have be more generous.

However, according to the Neopian Times issue 241 (mark four) editorial, donating money and items does not increase the likelihood of getting Random Events. Even so, many users still hold to the belief a form of Karma exists in Neopets.

Refresh

The more times a user refreshes a page (reloads the page in their internet browser), the more chances they have for a random event. Although a player can literally refresh the same page repeatedly, it is generally considered less boring to move about the site (preferably without using bookmarks, so more pages are viewed). Playing non-flash games such as Cliffhanger, Pyramids, and NeoQuest also increase the chances. However, sometimes TNT reduces the chances of random events on these pages.

The reason this works is that you get a shot at a random event for the "world" you are in each page request (load) and refresh is a new page request. The best bet in this department is to simply explore and interact and get lots of usage out of the site.

External Links

• Neopets TCG: Nothing Has Happened, Bag of Neopoints, Something Will Happen, Bag of Neopoints (2nd Print), Something Will Happen (2nd Print)
• Help File: I never get random events, what do I need to do?
• Editorial: 3, 40, 60, 72, 73, 74, 84, 85, 94, 116, 117, 127, 130, 131, 132, 134, 138, 139, 141, 150, 152, 157, 160, 164, 165, 166, 175, 184, 190, 193, 205, 209, 211, 212, 213, 219, 220, 221, 224, 228, 235, 241, 245, 249, 250, 252, 254, 255, 256, 258, 259, 261