Featured Game Ticket

[Byakuya San]

They're in trouble now...

But yeah, I can make enough NP from other games anyways (on days when I'm not swamped with homework).

[3lla]

i do think that buy paying $1 and whatever cents that you are just basically paying for the neopoints, plus it is an advantage even if it is only 3k!
I do like the idea of the NC Mall(the whole customization thing and all), but I really couldnt see myself buying from there since everything expires, which just makes it seem more of a rip off to me. This just personally annoys me and it makes me think that TNT are just now becoming bias to people who pay for the extra features at the NC mall.

[stampsyne]

The 'using real money to buy np' thing does not bother me very much. What does bother me to no end is TNTs constant reassurances that this is not going to happen and they are being fair ... and it doesn't pan out. Thier duplicity is astounding. If they can make an item such as this, then there is NO reason why items purchased should not remain yours forever and not be 'rented'.

They should be on one side of the fence or the other. They look really silly teetering up there.

[B55B55]

On the one hand, the NP is negligible. You can generally get more than that out of dailies and whatnot on any given day.
On the other hand...the philosophy behind it bothers me. I get the slippery-slope feeling again.

My feelings precisely. While this ticket is certainly a bad deal and won't particularly affect game play (imho) the idea of the ticket is essentially that it's okay to allow players to buy neopoints. Not a possibility I want to consider.

[Zombie]

...blegh.

Yes, I can definitely see that the slippery slope is now paved in grease and we are all set for a long, ugly slide.

On the other hand, I suppose the ticket itself isn't too much damage, no more so than rare item codes giving out prizes, some of which turn quite a profit if you hoard them.

But yes, we're getting closer and closer to the point when TNT simply lets players buy np outright. Considering this is such a vanilla, sugar-coated kids' site where you cannot type "suck" for crying out loud - perhaps TNT should pay more attention to teaching the wee kiddies integrity and fair play, eh? Perhaps what's not kid-friendly about this site is its ceaseless enticement to spend, spend, spend.

No, no, wait. I've got it wrong. We want to teach the children the joys of consumerism. What is Neopets, after all, but the game of accumulating fake goods to achieve a sense of simulated success? Mind you, that bit doesn't bother me; it's that feeling of achievement that keeps me addicted, after all. But moving it to the level of using real money to buy false success? Lame, man, lame.

On the other other hand, lots of MMORPGs also feature players selling level/gold/etc to other players for real life money. It's frowned upon or technically banned, but everyone knows how to do it if they really want to. The game is thus unbalanced, but I have friends who still play and enjoy games in which they know a lot of this is going on.

[amarise]

The ticket itself doesn't bother me, since paying $1.50 for a measly 6k is about the worst deal you could possibly make. However, the concept of paying real money for np is directly in opposition of what they kept promising they wouldn't do. I'm not really mad about it, though. Just resigned. I won't be shocked by anything TNT does from now on, short of shutting the site down.

[Alex]

I still thing the price paid:NP gained is a ratio that is a huge rip off, though I'd be interested to see how many people actually buy this.

Like amarise, I'm not mad about this either - I could not care less about it to be honest, because if people really want to pay for 6k then that's their prerogative (although it does raise the question of how many users will actually use it to it's full potential). I do think that TNT are setting dangerous precedent with this though, and I hope they don't stray down a path that will anger a lot of the users.

Someone on the neopian_adults community on LJ pointed out the best way it can be used, where effectively you're gaining 12k from the featured games, though again you're only 'paying' for 6k.

Play featured game day 1 (6k) + use ticket; play ticketed featured game day 1 (6k); play ticketed feature game day 2 (6k); play regular featured game day 2 (6k).

[Pink]

To me, it doesn't really matter the amount of nps it earns the person, it's the principle behind it. TNT claimed they wouldn't give Neomall Shoppers an advantage by buying items and this gives them an advantage in the game (as small as it is). Shame.

[Kenjiro]

I thought TNT said something more in the lines of never forcing you to pay for anything in order to be able to play Neopets. That's a little different than allowing you to purchase something to gain an advantage.

As for it being advantage, "unfair" or otherwise: people don't gain extra NP with this for nothing. They have to pay for it. Just like other people could just as well spend more time playing games and get the same result, they 'pay' in labour. Let's say you need to go somewhere, and you decide to take a cab rather than walking. Is that unfair? It's just different methods and different kinds of methods to reach the same goal. And seeing as you pay a buck something for something that you could also get with 5-10 minutes of work, I don't see how the cash option would be an advantage. You pay with either money or effort/time.

And as for TNT/Viacom being greedy smurf, which other company in the world isn't? I'm not complaining about all the FREE things that Neopets offers

[Lee]

I thought TNT said something more in the lines of never forcing you to pay for anything in order to be able to play Neopets. That's a little different than allowing you to purchase something to gain an advantage.

As for it being advantage, "unfair" or otherwise: people don't gain extra NP with this for nothing. They have to pay for it. Just like other people could just as well spend more time playing games and get the same result, they 'pay' in labour. Let's say you need to go somewhere, and you decide to take a cab rather than walking. Is that unfair? It's just different methods and different kinds of methods to reach the same goal. And seeing as you pay a buck something for something that you could also get with 5-10 minutes of work, I don't see how the cash option would be an advantage. You pay with either money or effort/time.

And as for TNT/Viacom being greedy smurf, which other company in the world isn't? I'm not complaining about all the FREE things that Neopets offers

Wow. I really love your perspective on this! And Viacom is a company, they make money that's what they do.

[IcyBlue]

I still find it insanely silly how everyone is still going on about the NC Mall. What about Premium? For paying the flat rate of $7.99 a month (cheaper if you pay for the year), you can earn anywhere from 2k-10k+ a week for free depending on how often you get the extra random events, and especially if you take advantage of the Super Shop Wiz.

It's just... why complain about 3000 NP and all of the "principles" when there's something far more advantageous worth complaining about?

[Mongrel]

I still find it insanely silly how everyone is still going on about the NC Mall. What about Premium? For paying the flat rate of $7.99 a month (cheaper if you pay for the year), you can earn anywhere from 2k-10k+ a week for free depending on how often you get the extra random events, and especially if you take advantage of the Super Shop Wiz.

It's just... why complain about 3000 NP and all of the "principles" when there's something far more advantageous worth complaining about?

Well, REs are random, not on demand. They still require you to spend a lot of time to make money off them. And after the SSW garnered a lot of complaints about giving premium members a real advantage, it was so nerfed that it's no longer much good for sniping. This, on the other hand, is on-demand Neopoints, and if TNT sees a lot of complaining about it, we might get some changes. We're kind of stuck with Premium as it is.

[Pink]

I don't have an issue with the neomall. If someone wants to pay money for an item that is going to disappear in 180 days, that's their perogative.

I may have misunderstood TNT, but that (what I said before) was the impression I got. I wasn't mad or anything, just a little confused at their contradiction in principles. If you are accurate, kenjiro, then thanks for the clarification.

[Q]

I still find it insanely silly how everyone is still going on about the NC Mall. What about Premium? For paying the flat rate of $7.99 a month (cheaper if you pay for the year), you can earn anywhere from 2k-10k+ a week for free depending on how often you get the extra random events, and especially if you take advantage of the Super Shop Wiz.

It's just... why complain about 3000 NP and all of the "principles" when there's something far more advantageous worth complaining about?

Well, REs are random, not on demand. They still require you to spend a lot of time to make money off them. And after the SSW garnered a lot of complaints about giving premium members a real advantage, it was so nerfed that it's no longer much good for sniping. This, on the other hand, is on-demand Neopoints, and if TNT sees a lot of complaining about it, we might get some changes. We're kind of stuck with Premium as it is.

Just want to clear two things up:
1. Premium SHH are not random like regular site ones, you get one per day with enough use of the portal. They are usually 'double', which means you get two stacked on eachother (one is np from a fake lottery win, the other is an item).
2.The SSW was not nerfed because of complaints, it was limited (albeit less limited than now) from the beginning and when TNT found that a great many people were abusing a loophole to use the SSW endlessly for things that never were searchable on the SSW, that's when they put further restrictions on it. Yet somehow it's still excellent for sniping ;D

You also have to realize that most seasoned players won't see the NC Mall game ticket as a good way to make np, it will mostly be bought by kids with daddy's credit card (you know, the ones who always complain of being 'poor').

I guess the TCG's are not being made anymore, but I know people who've made tens of millions of np from the item codes that came with them. I've never seen one person complain at all about that.

[stampsyne]

TCG codes gave out very very poor prizes; 200 sp (or an item of equal value) on average. There was a chance of a great rare prize (MSPP TCG) but it's up there with the 'many will enter few will win' Qasalan Expellibox *rolls eyes*

I know some people might disagree with my tcg evaluation, but that is my true average. My then BF bought me over $75 worth of cards, trying to impress me. I turned all the cards in and graphed the results. I made less than 10,000 np but I married the guy