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Mom! Come see my new pet!!!May 18 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line It's a great place to play and still learn! Best of all you get a pet!
When I opened up our box of Honey nut cheerios, the last thing I ever thought I would do, was visit the web site on it's back panel. But after my son questioned me about it, I finally decided that I would do just that. The site's name is www.neopets.com. The reason I'm telling you about it is because not only is it geared for kids but after spending a lot of time on it I've realized that adults like it just as much...if not more! Anyone can join this site for free and the best part is that you get to adopt a pet for free as well. This pet can be chosen from the "Neopet pound." They have several different varieties of animals. Many you probably have never seen before. You can choose it's color, likes,as well as, a few other things. I don't want to tell you everything or that may take away from your adventure! The good news is you can adopt up to four pets. Once you are a member you are free to roam the site. There are several worlds you can visit like Faerie World, Tyrannia, Mystery Island and the Haunted Forest just to name a few. These world are full of games, shops and quest areas. The games are rated easy, medium and hard and are divided into categories. The categories are puzzle, action and games of chance. Several of the games give out prizes and the best of the best get their name in the hall of fame and trophy's can be awarded as well!The majority of the games are free. But wait! I said the site is free. That's right it is! Neopets has it's own currency! This currency is called neopoints or NP. You earn neopoints several ways and one of them is to play games! You can spend these neopoints on items in the shops, at the auctions or even at the trading post. You can also use your neopoints to build your pet a home or even create a shop where you can sell the items you buy at the stops! Faerie quests are where a faerie will ask you to find something for her and you get a reward. There are several places that will let you do quests and give you a reward if you complete it. Some are timed where faerie quests are indefinite. Your pet can also get a job at the employment agency. Theses are timed quests that repay you with money. You can battle with your neopet in the Battledomes scattered throughout the site. You can battle the computer enemies or even a friend or stranger! It's up to you but equip your pet before battles or you may not win. So could there be more? Oh heck yes! There are academies that you can send your pet to for training, so it can advance in level, defense, attack, agility etc. There are cards you can collect and put in your neodeck. ( Because everyone likes to collect something!) If you want to make your pet smarter you can read books to it. The most read to pets get in the hall of fame. Or maybe you prefer to be one of the elite and feed your pet only gourmet foods. Show off your pet in the beauty contest and it may just win! What if you leave for holidays? You can always leave your pet at the neolodge to be pampered. If you are worried about him getting bored you can always get your pet a pet. These are known as petpets. You can even fight with your petpets if you choose to. Remember though...you don't have to fight battles if you don't want to. This site has a chat room and guilds available to be joined for those of you who are sociable. It also has it's own mail system called neomail where other players can message you. Once you have your pet you can set up a pet web page. They help you with HTML if you aren't familiar with it and give you tips on what you can do to it. If you don't want to create a web page, or are intimidated by it, they create one for you, to start you off. If you get people to click on your web page and join through the neopets link, they reward you with neopoints or rare items. (If you want to click through my son's web page or want to see what one looks like go to: http://home.neopets.com/templates/homepage.phtml?pet_name=Pooterboat) For those who have children like me, you will be glad to know that neopets, is open to everyone but caters specifically to children. When you sign up you are prompted for an age group. Children under a certain age are restricted from several of the game site feature. Children are not permitted without a parent signing a consent form to join chat rooms or receive neomail from other players. ( With the exceptions of guild invitations.) This site has high expectations of it's members. If your web page or store is unacceptable for children to view, you will be removed from the site! This is important to me because I don't need my four year old seeing something that they shouldn't! My son loves the site and it is incredibly easy to navigate in. He is confident playing most of the games and I've noticed that his hand and eye coordination have improved. He has learned to some degree some reading just by navigating through the site. Mind you I'm sure that the pictures beside the words help too!My two oldest children enjoy the coloring pages and masks that they can print off and color. Another thing my son has learned is the value of a dollar, so to speak. He now understands fully that one must work for what they get and can't just run to the bank for money when ever we need it. This has been applied in the game and real life. The biggest thing my son has learned at this site is responsibility. He knows that his pet must eat and likes to be played with and groomed. I think It's a great idea for someone who is considering getting a real pet for a child. After all, They have to spend time with their pet for it to thrive. (Granted it is easier to watch a computer pet than a real live one!) There are several other great things I could tell you about this site, but I know that I am not able to give it the justice it deserves. It is definitely worth checking out. Just watch out...You may get hooked! This site is a combination of Tamigotchi, Final Fantasy, Sim city and several free game sites. I'd recommend it to anyone that is interested in game sites. In fact, I just did! Thanks for reading! Sharlene I apologize to everyone for posting my review on Neopets here, but I couldn't find it anywhere and figured this would be the next best place to put this.)  |
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