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I know they are just pixels but planned obselescence of pets just makes my skin crawl. There are good reasons for Neopets to be doing this (Expect to see a lot more new pets. That's my guess). First it emphasizes that pets are commodities. You can trade in your old pet like an old car for a newer model. Second, if pets are commodities there is less chance of users getting attached to them.
First of all, Planned obsolescence is really an over-statement. Neopets is the name of the game. Neo PETS - without pets there is no meaning to the way it is played.
Even though you can play the site without pets, most people want the "ultimate" pet - whatever shape that might take for them.
The site could hardly run as successfully as it is with just a couple of pets to choose from.
In contrast, a light-bulb is planned obsolescence - it is designed to be an item that is bought over and over again. You could argue that pets fall into this category, but only a cynic would describe it as so.
These pets are part of the game. How you play the game is your choice, so if you abandon a pet, it is your choice, not Neo's. Where as the lightbulb will burn out requiring you to buy a new one, even if you only bought it the week before - that choice has been made for you.
As for all the pets in the pound - TNT actually make pets and put them in there for users to adopt.
I know the pound already has the new pets, obviously put there by users, but who is to say why there were abandoned. Maybe the excitement of a new pet made people go crazy, but that is why the pound is there.
Remember, in the pound the pet is in limbo - it neither starves or dies or catches a disease (it will have the same stats as it did when abandoned) so in itself the pound isn't a bad place. Actually safer than real-life where animals are put-down ( this is to show the lighter side of Neo).
In fact, pets can't die at all. A pretty nice touch to the game if you ask me.
I actually adopt pets, take them to the lab and re-pound, so that others less fortunate can have a nice pet.
That is the upside to such a place, I always look for the positive instead of the negative all the time.
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Neopians, however, regularly get frozen and the only way to save their pets is to have either hand drawn and scanned, pixel drawn, or downloaded images on their hard drive, as well as copies of their custom pet pages.
With all this material, it is possible to take one's pet to a personal web site or blog and play with it outside of Neopets.
Oh my, really ..... why would you? I mean, the game is the sum of it's parts, who would really want to "play" with a picture on your computer. Neopets as a whole is the game - not just having pets.
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Neopets fears bad publicity, and Neopets can avoid it by making sure the bond between user and pet stays tenuous.
Once again you make a statement without any actual proof or evidence to support this. As far as I have seen, Neopets has never stopped, banned or turned away any publicity. In Australia, a current affairs show done a terrible piece on Neo (resulting in a ban on 13 and unders playing gambling games, but that is a whole other story). When this was brought up by users, TNT actually made a statement in the Editorial about it.
There are numerous newspaper articles (this forum actually has a link to one).
The bond between user and pet stays tenuous??? Weird. I don't really follow that train of thought....any how, as long as you follow the rules, you can have a long and successful life with your pet if you so desire.