Neopets mentioned in "The Christian Science Monitor&quo

sape789 · **Posts:** 171 **Joined:** Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:55 am

Quote:

Virtual cats and dogs?

Speaking of websites, did you know that even if Mom and Dad won't let you own a pet, you can adopt a furry friend online? It's true. But it's not what you might think.

The thing is, it's not a "real" pet. It's a Neopet, and, according to the website, http://www.neopet.com, more than 30 million "pet owners" already have one.

Visitors can choose from 52 different Neopets, but don't expect to find a golden retriever, Siamese cat, or hamster among them.

Instead, you can select a Shoyru, a winged dragon that stands on its two hind legs, or a Ruki, a virtual pet that's loosely based on the praying mantis.

And forget about playing "fetch." Neopets such as Eyries "can be ferocious at times," according to the website, and they inhabit the tropical parts of Neopia - where Neopets reside online, of course.

If you scroll down a bit you can meet Manaia the baby kiwi.

CWisgood · **Posts:** 1540 **Joined:** Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:39 am

I find it interesting that we actually play 'Fetch' on Neo.

Wicked Monkey · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:08 pm

I wonder how much they paid for the tid bit of advertising... not that neo really needs it... when was the article written I am kinda lazy to click the link and investigate myself lol sorry

oh a banana woot *runs off to the corner to eat it*

JhasNeeh · **Posts:** 406 **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:20 am

Wicked Monkey wrote:

I wonder how much they paid for the tid bit of advertising... not that neo really needs it... when was the article written I am kinda lazy to click the link and investigate myself lol sorry

oh a banana woot *runs off to the corner to eat it*

Quote:

from the April 24, 2006 edition

But how shocking, the first article by a Christian site not having a go. Splendid.

miz sparrow · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:26 pm

[edited to remove reference to scientology]

Just a clarification... the Christian Science Monitor is associated with the "church of christ scientist", not what one normally thinks of as Christianity (catholic or protestant). There are major enough belief differences that they are typically not categorized as the same thing.

not that I am going to discuss that here.

bettywales · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:28 pm

Quote:

ust a clarification... the Christian Science Monitor is associated with the religion of Scientology (Tom Cruise, John Travolta), whose alternate name is "church of christ scientist",

Um.....no. Christian Scientists are not at all related to Scientology. They're the ones that don't believe in going to doctors when they're sick. The religion goes back to the 19th century. Scientology was "invented" in the 1950s or 60s. (I don't belong to either of these religions, but thought this needed correcting). The Christian Science Monitor is pretty well respected.

B55B55 · **Posts:** 1115 **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:10 am

miz sparrow wrote:

Just a clarification... the Christian Science Monitor is associated with the religion of Scientology (Tom Cruise, John Travolta), whose alternate name is "church of christ scientist", not what one normally thinks of as Christianity (catholic or protestant). There are major enough belief differences that they should not really be categorized as the same thing.

not that I am going to discuss them here.

Actualy you're not quite right.

wikipedia wrote:

"Christian Science has no connection with Scientology, which was founded about 75 years after Christian Science and which is not based on Christianity. It is also not connected to Religious Science, a recent denomination in line with the New Thought tradition."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science_Monitor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_ ... _Scientist

Wikipedia may shed some light on the issue. It discusses both the paper and the religion (but i'd advise reading the talk pages too at the moment)

snowykittenz · **Posts:** 40 **Joined:** Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:45 am

sape789 wrote:

Link to the article

Quote:

Virtual cats and dogs?

Speaking of websites, did you know that even if Mom and Dad won't let you own a pet, you can adopt a furry friend online? It's true. But it's not what you might think.

The thing is, it's not a "real" pet. It's a Neopet, and, according to the website, http://www.neopet.com, more than 30 million "pet owners" already have one.

Visitors can choose from 52 different Neopets, but don't expect to find a golden retriever, Siamese cat, or hamster among them.

Instead, you can select a Shoyru, a winged dragon that stands on its two hind legs, or a Ruki, a virtual pet that's loosely based on the praying mantis.

And forget about playing "fetch." Neopets such as Eyries "can be ferocious at times," according to the website, and they inhabit the tropical parts of Neopia - where Neopets reside online, of course.

If you scroll down a bit you can meet Manaia the baby kiwi.

LOL! OMG! when I saw this I panicked I though "oh my I am a Chrsitian yet played on neopets, IO wonder which american Chrsitian has said Neopets is evil *this* time. Is it the fact that games make us want to gamble, or perhaps the fact that we spend too much time on neo rather than doing myhomework."

then I almost fainted when I read it and realised taht the Chrsitian science Monitor is *promoting* neopets. Wow! How cools is that.

If you read it it even sound like theyre saying "gods world is better than that cute furry website neoepts. But that didnt come across in the end.

sape789 · **Posts:** 171 **Joined:** Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:55 am

Alright, alright. I didn't mean to start a debate about religion. I just thought it was a nice little blurb about everyone's favorite website.

Candycaneofdoom · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:15 pm

It makes me happy that the article specifically mentions Shoyrus.

Troggy7 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:43 pm

Candycaneofdoom wrote:

It makes me happy that the article specifically mentions Shoyrus.

Well they are the most popular pet

Candycaneofdoom · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:36 pm

Troggy7 wrote:

Candycaneofdoom wrote:

It makes me happy that the article specifically mentions Shoyrus.

Well they are the most popular pet

Yes, but not if you ask TNT...

anjuna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:31 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopets#Scientology

Quote:

Neopets CEO Doug Dohring is closely affiliated with the controversial Church of Scientology. Dohring has been quoted as saying "Having used his technology in every business activity... Mr. Hubbard's organizational concepts are always with me". In December 2005, a self-proclaimed former Neopets employee said that Scientology had impacted the administration of the company and staff, but had not affected anything on the website itself.

EDITed to add: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/neo-pets/i ... 141826.php ("Inside the Cult of NeoPets")

Ange · **Posted:** Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:11 am

Eep, that's creepy.
I wonder if somebody will send a question related to this to the editorial?

fifthmonkee · **Posted:** Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:34 am

The Christian Science Monitor is owned by the Christian Science church, but it has a fair amount of autonomy and is generally regarded as one of the world's top newspapers, in terms of reporting, and they tend to avoid puff pieces and "scare stories"

In other words, just the fact that they mentioned Neopets at all is quite nifty, and a pretty good sign that the site has a strong mainstream presence. It's the newsworld equivalent of having the boring Jim Lehrer guy on PBS do a story about you.

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Neopets mentioned in "The Christian Science Monitor&quo

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