Adam and Donna AMA

[Daze]

http://www.reddit.com/r/neopets/comment ... ts_ask_me/

~~~

I have only skimmed some of the Q & A as I have to go out, but they don't seem to be holding anything back in their answers.

[Siniri]

I just wasted the better part of an hour reading that (instead of posting it here as I meant too).

They were very frank in their answers. It made me sad that I joined (and started really playing) too late for all the early plots. They were a bit pessimistic about Jump Start; though they acknowledged that they really had no knowledge, they speculated that the most valuable part of the site is the user database (i.e., our e-mail addresses), and when someone posted that Jump Start supposedly was interested in the adult fan base, they were like "that's what we just said." I think they've gotten burned a few too many times by the marketing/commercialization side of games.

Their new game concept sounds pretty interesting: users can modify the world, and then other users can try out the modifications and up-vote it, and it will be integrated permanently into the world.

[Pickles]

Wow, how did you stumble across this, Daze? That was a very interesting read. I'll hafta check it again later, to see if they've added anything else new as far as responses.

@Siniri - I agree, it looks like they were burned a number of times by the "business" side of gaming. Ugh.

[Daze]

Wow, how did you stumble across this, Daze?

I found a post on the Help board that was talking about some Q&A that they were doing. (Found out that AMA means Ask Me Anything).

I thought it was just old news, but done a google search, and sure enough I found it straight away. Although, it seems that TNT have now deleted all boards relating to it.

It really surprised me that after all this time, they have randomly posted up a Q&A about their time at Neo.

I am a little skeptical and jaded about their treatment of users of their FB games, so I was just wondering if this a a PR stunt for their new game? (I will need to do further research into any new games they might be releasing).

I followed them to their new company (Meteor Games) but that went downhill after the postponement of Twin Skies, then the cancellation of their FB games. Every so often, I check for news on the company, but so far no idea if it will get back up and running.

[Siniri]

I think the company actually went bankrupt, but yeah, they should have told people what was going on about it. They could have given some info without being sued!

They did an AMA a few years ago, too. I can't remember now exactly when, but that was sooner after Meteor Games failed, and there were a lot more questions about it (though they provided fewer answers at the time -- I guess they were still worried about getting sued). If you're interested, maybe your Google-fu can help you find it, Daze. (If you can't, I can try to find the link, which was posted either here or TDN forums -- I have no idea if Reddit has a permanent archive or not...)

[Daze]

Google-fu

!! I love it!

To quote myself:

I was just wondering if this a a PR stunt for their new game?

I found my answer:

moglings (only a working title)


I understand what you are saying Siniri, I have read articles here and there, and I know it wasn't all their own doing that led to the MG failure, but they certainly lost quite a few followers by their silence and bad treatment of their fan-base.

I was very active on the forums and right up to the day, their games closed, they were still denying they games were being shut down. Quite a few of their own staff wrote some scathing reports on a business site about their bad business skills and lack of judgement in making corporate decisions.

Having said all that, I do wish them every success in their new adventure, and like the sucker I am, I will follow the new game and see where it leads.

... One thing I did find interesting (I don't know if this was already knowledge), was a brief answer about a 'famous' neopian:

what did exactly happen with featheralley and why is she so famous?

I am not sure what the big thing is that was supposed to have happened. She was a monitor and I think there was some hoo ha about a Gelert but I really can't remember details.

I vaguely remember finding out some of the staff (not just monitors) were being a bit generous with the 'give item' feature on their own accounts. This was stopped pretty swiftly, but unfortunately a lot of players had already been annoyed by it. Totally understand why. It shouldnt have been allowed to happen. We just took our eye off the ball.

There were always rumours on the BDC boards about this, but no-one could say for certain. It certainly explains a lot!!

ETA: Just got to Blue's posts.

PPTBlue

If I were to create a forum section dedicated to your latest endeavour(s) on Pink Poogle, would you visit, post, utilize it for discussion, input, output, or ... whatever? I know Adam's account still exists. You and Adam have a very very fond place in our hearts!


thyassa

Thanks for the offer, I would love to yes, and old child-free me would say yes. Sadly I have barely enough time to check my email some days so I wouldnt want to agree to do that and be a no show.

We have fond memories of PPT too!


PPTBlue

Thanks Donna. Occasional visits to start things off would be great. Its a no pressure, no commitment offer. We're very low key

[Blue]

ETA: Just got to Blue's posts.

PPTBlue

If I were to create a forum section dedicated to your latest endeavour(s) on Pink Poogle, would you visit, post, utilize it for discussion, input, output, or ... whatever? I know Adam's account still exists. You and Adam have a very very fond place in our hearts!


thyassa

Thanks for the offer, I would love to yes, and old child-free me would say yes. Sadly I have barely enough time to check my email some days so I wouldnt want to agree to do that and be a no show.

We have fond memories of PPT too!


PPTBlue

Thanks Donna. Occasional visits to start things off would be great. Its a no pressure, no commitment offer. We're very low key

Yep. That was me
I yelled Carpe Diem at the top of my lungs and went for it. Or, maybe I yelled something from Braveheart? Seemed like a golden opportunity!

@Daze - Belated HUGE thanks to you! I failed to thank you earlier for your OP which alerted me to this. I was too busy signing up for Reddit and posting there Donna said it was only a 24 hour window.

[Zilary]

This hit me in the nostalgia feels...read about a 1/10th of it at work and will finish the rest before I bed tonight.

(...oh hai guys.)

[Blue]

Woot! Hi Zilary!! wb! gr8 2 c u!

[Zilary]

After reading most of the thread (300-some comments?!) I have a couple of questions that I wanted to ask if I had known (I'm a New Member Reddit user...I only browse 2-ish threads):

1. Would you ever consider visiting a comic book or scifi convention and having a panel (or a meet & greet) in the States? (*cough*DragonCon*cough**cough**wheeze*KaleidoscopeTrack*cough*)
2. Who drew the human avatars (caricatures?) of you and Adam? Who was the main artist of Neopets in the early days and what does he/she do now?
3. Do you think you will have your kids play Neopets? (or even tell them about it when they're older that their super-cool parents founded one of the most popular sites in the early 2000s and now are Internet famous?)
4. I'm assuming the customization of Neopets (aka, the clothes) came after the Viacom purchase, but did you have any say in that or was that completely Viacom? (I'm also have an image in my head of an army of illustrators drawing one article of clothing for every. single. pet.)
5. Are there still people you keep in touch with on the current TNT or are most of that group strangers now? Do you go hang out occasionally with any of them?

Neopets (along with AsianAvenue...the weird socialnetworking site for Asians in the 90s) taught me to code html and essentially start my graphic design career as I was obsessed with making sure my images had the perfect alignment of pixels to make a webpage. Also, it taught me an inking of how the real stock market worked, sorta. I still have a blue Aisha plush (which was the first Neopet I ever had) in my cubicle plush zoo to this day. (Oh, did I mention I design kids plush now for my company?! EEE!)

I don't know how often I'll check on here, but alert me if there's another AMA!

...also I did not meant to turn this thread into an "update about Zilary" thing.