I’m sure it’s been said somewhere before. The plight of every newbie, all but penniless, terrible at the games, ignorant of prices and prizes and scams, and disheartened by the fact that it can take months to earn enough for an item another user has 127 duplicates of. But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Working your way to the top? What better feeling can there be but the feeling of accomplishment after slogging through game after game, getting better, honing your skills, learning the ins and outs of trading and selling and auctioning, and finally realizing that you can afford those items you so cherish?
I’m sure it’s a wonderful feeling, but I wonder sometimes if I will ever get to experience it. This isn’t for lack of trying. I enjoy Neopets very much, and after a four month lag after creating my account things like college will do that to you I have dived into it with gusto. I was aware from the first that it would take a great deal of work, but why should that have mattered if I was doing what I found fun and gratifying? It has only been a few weeks, and already I’m finding in myself a distinct urge to give up.
I’ll lay it out plainly: I use a Pentium II processor and Windows 98. I connect at 32kbs on dial-up. I was bemused to notice that on one of the surveys I took to gain Neopoints a method I resort to, as I shall explain that, when asked for my connection speed, what I actually use wasn’t even an option (the highest connection speed offered was 56kbs). I’m trapped in the technological past, it seems, and what with college and a life to start, I won’t be advancing into the future any time soon.
With this in mind, you can easily see my problem: gaining those Neopoints, earning those items, is a long, slow, difficult, and often fruitless pursuit. My computer has crashed multiple times while simply browsing the Neopets site. My choices when it comes to the Flash games is extremely limited, and always of low quality. It can take a good twenty minutes for any such game to load, and they have a tendency to freeze mid-play, losing my score, my points, and one of my game plays for the day. Restocking is an impossibility, as every item is taken while I’m waiting for the page to load. The same goes for the Money Tree and the Rubbish Dump, and any good deal on an item found through the Shop Wizard is likewise taken while I’m attempting to just enter the shop. I take advantage of all the giveaway locations that I can, but good prizes are rare in coming, if at all. I sell what I can, and play the games that do not require Flash. However, real life takes precedent over playing the hundreds of games of Pyramids required to make any large sum of NP.
I won’t claim that no head-way can be made, because I have advanced some through determination, and the kindness of friends. I’m happy in that I now have a Christmas Bori and PetPets for some of my Pets, but nearly all were obtained through charity and that isn’t the same as accomplishing it on your own. I appreciate every gift I’ve been given, and am proud of every point I’ve managed to earn, but all I have to do is glance at the shop with its stock of 127 of the same Paint Brush, and realize that I’m at the bottom of the ladder, and likely to stay there.
Nevertheless, I do what I can. Take the surveys, play slow game after slow game, and patiently reboot my computer after ever crash. But I’m disheartened by the sheer amount of time it will take. You could say I have no patience, but when site updates such as the new Lost Desert look won’t even appear (if I want to go to a Lost Desert location, I have to Google and bookmark the URL), determination tends to waver. If every area of Neopia is updated in such a fashion, I will no longer be able to view them. The last new game introduced that I was capable of playing was Typing Terror, and it moves so slowly that I am beginning to fear that I will be frozen for being suspected of cheating. And if I were not an honest person, cheating would be what I would do, as it seems there is little else that can be done.
Should I send in my concerns to the Neopets Team? I’m sure you’d say yes immediately, but telling them that they need to cease updating sounds ridiculous, even in theory. Ask users to leave some items at the Money Tree for the late comers? Ask them to do the same at the shops? Or perhaps be so desperate as to believe someone when they ask for a password so that they can play the games for me? Of course not.
So the moral of this story? Neopets isn’t for everyone. There are those of us on the fringes, looking in, envious and disenchanted, giving up even though we adore our Pets, or resorting to cheating and scams, simply because there aren’t any other options at all. This isn’t a cry for pity, or charity. It’s just to shed some light on users like myself, ready and willing to give it our all, but always stuck at the back of the line, just the same – Mirriem
Hi! I do understand you, my computer isnt from the 90’s but some stuff STILL dont work here (I’ve 230 in my ram memory. stuff such as neohome 2.0 or that key thing they’ve got simply wont work here). They simply made the site as advanced in technology as they could possibly do but they forget that is not EVERYBODY that has a advanced computer. People that has the advanced technologic computer they expect us to have, are probably NOT playing neopets. Thats another thing -___- great post!