April Fools' Day
Annually on the 1 April, Neopets takes part in April Fools' day, a traditional date to play practical jokes or hoaxes. In the UK where the site was founded, April Fools' pranks last only until midday, this has been the case on Neopets since the tradition was adopted in 2001.
Neopets Hoaxes
2001
In 2001, The Neopets Team announced all the then-available Neopets would be redesigned. The newly made-over Neopets would later be described as "repulsive new creations".
2002
The Neopets Team announced that the Pant Devil had stolen all the items in the inventory and safety deposit box of a "select few" users. In reality, this affected everyone for the duration of the prank. The items were returned at midday NST.
2003
The website's front page was rebranded "Neopetz", an "eXtreme" and "radical" redesign. It included announcing Neopoints would be abolished and all items would be free, and introduced Nick Neopia, a new guide to the Neopets world.
2004
A "Quiguki Armageddon" Trading Card Game expansion set was announced, to be set on a new world called "Quigara". The Quiguki's were Quiggle versions of Usukis. After midday, anyone visiting the New Features page received a Quiguki April Fools avatar - which has been made available after midday on every 1 April since.
The website was updated with previews of some of the cards, Quiguki-themed buddy icons, a how-to-draw page, and a Neopedia entry. However, unlike in other years, this content was removed when the prank was over.
2005
Fifty new pets were drawn, and the Neopets staff claimed they were releasing all of them.
http://www.neopets.com/possiblepets.phtml
Following the response in favour of several of the Neopet designs, some of them were introduced as Petpets (such as with the Soreen) and some as Neopets (such as the Lamameeah, which became the Gnorbu). It's possible that all of these pets will be released either as pets or petpets in some way, with the exeption of a human like pet known as the "Hughman".
2006
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Neopets implemented a system called "NeoCharge" on March 31, 2006 and took it down two days later. Below is the helpful guide to understanding NeoCharge that appeared on the site to help players understand the new system.
What is NeoCharge?
The NeoCharge system is basically a new way of addressing two important problems that have been impacting Neopets and its users.
Firstly, many of you may have noticed the influx of new users to Neopets. This is good! We're happy to have the opportunity to entertain so many people around the world! However, while we have over 200+ servers to handle this load, it seems that's just not enough for the millions of visitors we have every day, and we aren't able to upgrade fast enough to keep up! The NeoCharge system helps make sure that users only load the pages they need to, and don't constantly refresh over and over, using up valuable resources. This should make the site run more smoothly for everyone!
Secondly, with inflation climbing higher every day, we needed to find a way of stabilizing the economy. Before the NeoCharge system, Neopoints entered the Neopian economy at a rate that was approximately 400% greater than the rate at which they left the economy! Any economist will tell you that's not a very good thing. Not only does it greatly unbalance the economy, it causes mass inflation and severely rising prices (among other things). With the NeoCharge system, we can steadily remove Neopoints from the economy at a rate roughly equivalent to the rate of Neopoints entering. This means less inflation, lower prices, and a happier Neopets experience for everyone!
So there you have it - the two major reasons behind NeoCharge. And we're not done with it! We will constantly review the system to make sure it's doing its job. We don't want to take more Neopoints out of the economy than we have to, and we definitely don't want larger, more costly areas of the site to be restricted to only the wealthiest Neopians, so please bear with us while we adjust the numbers early on and into the future.
Thank you for reading, and as always, thank you, thank you, thank you for playing Neopets!
- The Neopets Team
How Does NeoCharge Work?
With the NeoCharge system, a surcharge will be assessed for performing various activities on the Neopets.com website. Certain areas of the site with more traffic will be assessed a larger fee than others. Your charges accumulate until you are ready to pay!
Once you decide you would like to pay, click the "Pay Now!" button in the window to the right. Your charges will be displayed and you can pay from there. Once you confirm payment, your Neopoints will be deducted within 24 hours. This gives you time to earn any Neopoints required to cover all charges.
You will need to pay within a week of your last payment, or before accumulating charges in the amount of 50,000 NP (whichever comes first). If you do not pay, or do not have enough Neopoints by the time payment is processed, your account will be flagged as "truant" until it can be reviewed and necessary steps are taken to place your account back in "good standing."
FAQ
But why aren't my Neopoints deducted right away?
In order to avoid incurring debt that would lead to various account restrictions, you will have the chance to earn the necessary Neopoints to pay off your bill, which will be required to be paid in full one week after your current bill starts or unless your bill accumulates to 50,000 NPs (whichever comes first).
What if I don't or can't pay?
You will need to pay within a week of your last payment, or before accumulating charges in the amount of 50,000 NP (whichever comes first).
If you are unable to pay your bill, your account will be flagged for review and a support staff member will be required to investigate. The support staff must first judge whether your account possesses sufficient assets to cover your accrued debt. If so, the support staff will then take necessary action to compensate for your unpaid debt which could result in one or more of the following:
- Item(s) removed from the account - Your Neopet(s) put up for adoption - Access to certain parts of the site being restricted - Twice as many ads that you have now (if you are a premium member, yes, you will start seeing ads again) - Any painted Neopets will be returned to a normal colour
So please, be sure to pay on time before any of this happens to you.
On Payment Page
Only the amount of your bill is deducted from your Neopoints, and it may take up to 24 hours to process. (Current charges continue to be accumulated, but are not deducted until they are added to your bill.)
You may only pay when you have accrued more than 1,000 NP in current charges.
http://www.neopets.com/neocharge/
2007
The Battledome was closed down, and those who tried to access the Battledome or any of its sections received the following...
The Battledome Is Closed
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had to permanently shut down the Battledome and its associated activities. Obviously, this is not something we wanted to do, and as much as we'd like to fully explain, we aren't allowed to comment at this time. We'll just leave it at that for now.
We know there are many, many Neopians who have worked very, very hard and spent countless Neopoints to train their Neopets for the Battledome. We would like to thank you for participating in past wars and events, and for keeping Neopia safe via Defenders of Neopia. Please know that we haven't forgotten you. We are currently working on new activities that will put these stats to use. Your efforts will NOT be wasted.
We have also been ordered to remove certain Battledome weapons from the site. We realise there are many Neopoints invested there, as well, so instead of simply deleting them from everyone's account, we're putting together a Battledome weapon exchange program. We're still working out the details, but we hope to allow everyone to trade in their weapons for another item of equal or lesser rarity. We will have this ready by Wednesday to comply with the agreement.
We're sorry for the short notice, and for not having alternatives ready for you now, but it was unavoidable. We're working as fast as we can and we think the new stuff will be quite cool. We hope to have everything else up by mid October!
- The Neopets Team
The Battledome section of the NeoBoard was taken out, and all shops which sold Battledome Equipment were recognized as an invalid shop. Even the Hidden Tower redirected to the letter shown above.
Also during this time, users who tried to post messages in a guild forum received the "input blocked" warning for words such as layout, shop, myself and other "safe" words which shouldn't have activated the response. Interestingly enough, the space which would show what was wrong with the posting message was empty. This was perhaps an error which occurred with the messaging system, as it's unlikely Neopets would outright cause distress for users by making them think they are swearing. Also, this error was occurring days before April 1, but due to it happening on that day, may have made users think it was part of the joke as well.
2008
Supposedly a select number of users was given an invitation to try out the new feature Neobuddies. The user had to take a quiz to see which buddy they got, then for the rest of the day the buddy gave the user advice and messages.
2009
TNT unveiled the next big change for the Neopets site: Neoplants. TNT decided to get rid of all the pets and replace them with plants. This big change was set to take effect on the 5th of April 2009.
Plantopia is coming! No more spoiled Neopets to deal with? That's right! Neopets is blossoming in a new direction: Neoplants. They're fun and easy to play with - just add water and sunlight!
Can't get enough of Neoplants? Don't worry, there's more in store. Here are some of the new games that will be coming soon (all parodies of existing games):
- Magnolia Chase (Meerca Chase II)
- Attack of the Aphids (Attack of the Marblemen)
- Soilmuncher (Snowmuncher)
- Grass Basher (Kass Basher)
- The Stalk Market (The Stock Market)
- and much much more...
As part of the prank, every user was forced to use the green site theme, the Explore page announced the addition of Plantopia, and a Neoplants board was added to the NeoBoards list. There was also a new random event introduced that talked about the benefits of Plantopia: Plantopia is the best! Sun, water, and soil: what more could a Neoplant ask for ?
Additionally, there were several other, smaller pranks, most of which were related to the economic conditions in Neopia.
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- The bank manager was seen wearing a barrel rather than his suit and claimed that it had been necessary to reduce the bank interest: The Bank has reduced interest rates as we didn't want to deal with all those pesky big numbers anymore. Don't worry; this has nothing to do with the economic situation in Neopia. Bank with confidence. Each interest level was dropped by one point but the change did not actually affect the number of Neopoints given.
- Wearable barrels were available from the Second-Hand Shoppe until the afternoon.
- The Tombola claimed it needed only 1 NP to open but when users donated the single Neopoint, it still remained closed.
- No jobs were available in the Faerieland Employment Agency.
- A new random event with a Blue Acara stating: Spare some NP? The faeries won't hire me anymore appeared.
- None of the stocks in the Stock Market changed during the early part of the day and then they all crashed in the afternoon. They all returned to their original prices prior to the crash after the day was over.
- The Hidden Tower was closed due to the establishment of Neoplants: Due to 400 metric tons of madvine engulfing the premises, Queen Fyora has closed the Hidden Tower until further notice.
2010
"Battledome in 3D" was announced - featuring preview videos of people 'battling' with real-life plushies. The 'Prank Warehouse' was made available for the day, where players could play a prank on a neofriend's active Neopet.
2011
Shortly after logging on on 1 April, all the user's Neopets became infected with a "Unknown Disease", featuring coral-like growths on their body and complaining of a "a severe headache and a cough". The Neopian Hospital kept track the number of pets infected and the countdown to the end of the day.
From this page, the player could administer cures to other user's Neopets, but not their own. These 'cures' appeared on that Neopet when it was viewed. The Blazingly Hot Soup Background was awarded to players who cured lots of pets with Blazingly Hot Soup.
The progression of the disease was also recorded at the Neopian Hospital:
BULLETIN [1:03:56 am NST]: Neopets all over Neopia have complained of not feeling well. Crowds are rushing to the Pharmacy for a cure, but the illness has not yet been identified. Scientists across the land are hard at work, trying to find the source of the illness so they can contain it as they search for a treatment.
BULLETIN [3:42:21 am NST]: Symptoms of the unidentified illness include growths on the face and body, a persistent cough, and severe headache. Neopians are encouraged to remain indoors and avoid those showing symptoms of the illness. It is recommended that Neopians cover the gaps in the doors and windows of their Neohomes to keep out germs.
BULLETIN [8:37:06 am NST]: Neopian Hospital over-run with sick Neopets, all suffering from this mysterious illness. Further symptoms include itchiness, dizziness, and muscle aches. If you have any of these symptoms, please avoid contact with healthy Neopets, drink plenty of fluids, and rest in a darkened room.
BULLETIN [10:20:13 am NST]: Neopian health crisis worsens as doctors, chemists, and potion-makers scramble to find a cure. Panic sets in among a worried populace; shelves at the Pharmacy are emptied by Neopets desperate for a cure for this horrible illness. Meanwhile, cases have been reported in every Neopian land, making it a pandemic.
BULLETIN [12:51:59 pm NST]: The mystery disease has been identified as the Scourgies. It is highly contagious. Avoiding contact with other Neopets is critical at this stage so the disease does not spread any further. Doctors are continuing to look for a cure before all hope is lost.
The New Features page updated with a report on the illness, noting that certain parts of Neopia had been quarantined to prevent the spread of the illness.
By the following day, the hospital was back to normal and the Neopets were no longer reporting symptoms - although the pock marks continued to appear on certain images of the Neopets.