Neopets "mates," "children," etc

[auriya]

This is sort of a question and sort of a discussion.

I've been browsing random lookups and petpages lately, and I've noticed a lot of people have pets with mates, spouses, gf/bf, and even children. I personally have no problem with this, but as I recall there's some Neopets rule against pets being romantically involved, and also I have heard of people being frozen for this. But the rule seems to be enforced inconsistently or loosely, at least it looks that way to me from the amount of Neopets families/couples I've come across.

So, the question is: What is TNT's stance on this? Is there a limit - like, you can say that your pet is married or mated or whatever to another pet, but anything pertaining to it on petpages/stories/art/etc should be G-rated? Or what?

And the discussion is: What's your opinion? Should this rule be enforced more strictly, or should pets dating/marrying/etc be allowed? I've said that I don't mind (as long as everything's very, very squeaky clean - as in, Disney standard squeaky clean), but then again this is a children's site and there's the slippery slope argument (i.e. if such-and-such is allowed, then what's next).

[matchbow]

It doesn't really matter to me if pets are married. as long as it's only the pets. neo shouldn't be used as a dating service. it would ruin the experience so i can see where TNT is coming from there. I think they don't want anything to do with the dating, no matter how G-rated, but there are just too many with new ones popping up daily, to deal with

[Duke of Earl]

I personally don't think the rule is particulary important, but there are always the crazy cases *shrug*

I know what you mean by seeing various relationships between pets, and as far as I know, some or all of it is technically against the rules... I'm not sure how much TNT enforces the rule, but it doesn't seem to be an overzealous effort...

As for individual vigilance? I don't recommend it. Just leave TNT to enforce its beliefs (or complain about them if you must, but NOT on the neoboards ... duh). You really do risk yourself if you tell others in Neomails to get rid of their relationship statements. Some undoubtedly wouldn't hesitate to start an argument and then report you for harassment.

As for reporting others' accounts directly to TNT, sure you can do it, sure you can go crazy, but I also wouldn't recommend that either. Simply put, they're not harming you, so you shouldn't concern yourself with them. Supposedly TNT will notice if you're trying to get lots of people frozen for such a small thing (they know it is) and they certainly won't give you neoboard mod privledge They'd be more likely to just get rid of such a "nuisance."

[auriya]

Oh, I didn't mean I was planning to do anything about it myself; I'm just curious about how this issue is viewed by others. And besides, in my opinion there's nothing wrong about it - it's cute, in most cases, and at any rate harmless.

[.:Requiem:.]

It doesn't bother me at all if two users get together and say 'hey lets marry our pets' or....whatever. Just as long as it doesn't become a theme or anything, I'm ok with it.

[sirclucky]

Clearly from the plots there is some element of family in neopets. I think as long as there is no accual breeding of pets its fine =)

[The Wonder Weezel]

I think having married neopets is kind of wierd... but obviously, neopets doesnt mind according to the upcoming plot where marriage i guess is a big issue...

[Selunca]

I think Neopets is fine with it.. I don't recall them ever having a rule agaist ***PETS*** marring and such. I do know that its stated in the chat rules the Neopets isn't a dating service.

I do the mates and children thing. But in my own account. I have four pets, two of them are married, one of them is their child, and the other is the childs husband.

Weird? No. Keeps me from getting annoying neomails.
"OMIGAWD. Can MI KOUGAR BE UR KOUGAS BABI!?"

[Prowler]

I have no problem with it; a pet is someone's character and if they want him/her to get married or whatever it's really none of my business. The only thing that bothers me are people that publicly ask for dates for their pets. Especially the ones that say 'Wil ur pet b my pets gf?' or something like that.

[Twisted Sanity]

There's a slight problem with the whole marriage and dating thing.

Lab Ray.

Yeah. It can cause a few problems.

But otherwise, I don't mind it so much. It's not really hurting anyone and it doesn't offend anyone (hopefully), so what's to worry about?

[stampsyne]

Terms and conditions say

So that everyone has a good time, you understand and agree that you will not post or send through the site any words, images or links containing or relating to:

#dating requests or offers for yourself, other people, or your Neopets

All other 'say so' about the subject have been in Editorials.

[sparkygoesforth]

I personally have no problems with pet marriage, children, etc. as long as there are no hints of anything sexual in any way. Even very young kids have a concept of marriage, long before they learn about reproduction (their parents may still be married too). I think the concept of family can survive perfectly happily without any thought of the biological aspect at all. I imagine that TNT would not have a problem with this either (just a guess though). But keep all the horrid user dating stuff off the site please!

[o_0]

There's a slight problem with the whole marriage and dating thing.

Lab Ray.

Yeah. It can cause a few problems.

But otherwise, I don't mind it so much. It's not really hurting anyone and it doesn't offend anyone (hopefully), so what's to worry about?

Love you.

I just can't stand when people make NeoBoards asking if anyone wants to be their pet's friend. I mean, go to roleplay for that.

Yes, roleplay. It's better than "Teen Vampire Stuck in Preschool Roleplay".

[AFI_Sorrow]

It doesn't really matter to me if pets are married. as long as it's only the pets. neo shouldn't be used as a dating service.

Exactly what I was thinking. You know that somehow, people are going to use the ability to have pets get married as a loophole to use Neo as some sort of crazy dating service.
O___O Because people are crazy like that.

I think it could have been possible a long time ago, back when there weren't so many users on Neopets. But now I don't think the idea will work too well. TNT already said they won't, and you bet they don't want to look fickle and go back on their idea. Plus the whole dating service, yada yada yada, someone will abuse the pet marriage privledge.

I find that most everyone I know who has married pets gets away with it. So long as they aren't posting in the Neoboards shouting, "HEY! My Lupe is in an inter-species marraige with a Lenny!"

[Kula]

As long as no sexual things are going on, I'm okay with Neopets being married and having kids and stuff...it makes for more roleplay opportunities, I suppose. I just really dislike it when, like someone pointed out, people go around on the Neoboards asking if someone's pets would like to date their's. And if anything is going on that...shouldn't be going on on Neopets.


I think the Team is a little hypocritical when it comes to the whole Neopets being married and stuff...the next plot has a marriage going (a forced one, I think?), and past plots have had families in it (that little Usul and her parents in one of the Merridel plots...), and I've seen stories in the Times that have all-Neopet families, without human owners; they still won't allow it. It's obvious why, since it'd get some people to think they could let their pets do...things...that shouldn't be done on Neopets...o_o;


Eh, I think it should be allowed, and if anything bad is caught happening, they freeze or warn the people involved instead of just banning it altogether...