Introduction

Neopet.com is a virtual pet website that was launched about ten years ago and eventually purchased by Viacom. Neopet.com essentially allows a user to create and play games with an online “virtual pet.” The pets travel through their online world, Neopia, and encounter various challenges along the way, including fighting with other Neopets. The site is filled with games such as puzzles and general chance contests. Primarily a children’s site, it also includes educational word games. The site is packed with features that will brighten any child’s day.

Features

Neopet.com is flooded with various components, from games to pet creation to shopping to a section featuring Neopet videos. To create a Neopet, a user must first complete a simple registration process. Creating a new pet is quite easy and the user is given a multitude of options to choose from. Children will certainly enjoy this feature.

One excellent feature of the site is the Neopedia, a Neopet Wikipedia of sorts. It contains a vast collection of articles, poems, short stories about Neopia and the virtual animals that inhabit it. The section can be found under the explore tab on the homepage.

Neopia Central, located under the “shops” tab on the homepage, is a one-stop shopping center for all things Neopia. There, users can purchase various items for their Neopet.

Tips and Tricks

Users will want to check out the “explore” tab located at the top of the homepage. A list of definitions is there that introduces the beginner with the world of Neopia and the various playing options.

Parents looking for the educational components of the site can check out the games section at the top of the homepage. From there, look for the educational section and click on “Spell or Starve,” a simple word game that incorporates the Neopet characters and spelling.

Parents will also want to check out the site’s safety tips at the bottom of the homepage which discourage users from giving away personal information to other users.

The new user’s best bet is to take advantage of the navigation bar at the top of the homepage. Everything you will want to do can be found there.

Newbie Friendly Rating

The site is rather congested and users will quickly notice the array of colors and general disorganization of the homepage. Finding exactly what you’re looking for can prove to be a bit confusing at first. The site is also filled with imbedded advertising, which distracts from the primary features of the site. Overall, we give Neopet.com a Newbie Friendly Rating of 5.