Bored? Rediscover the Userlookup!
Written by: __jxhn_
Whether you’ve been on Neopets for as long as you can remember, or you’re new to the virtual pet phenomenon, the User Lookup has always been something that represents you. Designing your user lookup even has a spotlight, but this article isn’t about graphics. However, there has been a lot of controversy about this and I would love to clarify things.
According to NT Issue 219’s Editorial section, and I quote, “All your correct, official information must be viewable to anyone who visits your account. You can cover your shield, your sidebar, the top portion above your stats, etc. But all your text stats, your Neopets, and your trophies MUST be visible. If you don't like them taking up space, you can put them in a scrolling div somewhere out of the way. :) They just have to be legible by everyone.” I would elaborate, but I don’t know a thing about CSS.
But for me, graphics are the last thing I look at. What really sticks out to me are numbers and facts. And they may sound kind of lame, but working on what makes my User Lookup what it is, is just as fun, and challenging, as competing in the spotlight.
Your status can range from anything to ‘Avoiding the Real World’ to ‘Hiding From Meepits.’ To edit this, click ‘My Account’ and then click ‘Edit Profile.’ My Status currently reads, ‘Online – Hunting For Avatars.’ I chose one that said ‘Online’ just because I wanted to make it seem like it was always okay to neomail me. This may affect how much neomail you actually receive and it’s a great chance to be as creative as you’d like. I’m so tired of seeing ‘b31n9 1337’ on every n00b’s lookup.
This is my favorite part of the entire lookup. Mine says, ‘Emo, Roleplaying, Ninjas.’ And what’s awesome about it is if you read all three together it means something. Be creative with these; they’re a lot of fun and there’s so many to choose from.
Alright, let’s move onto the bigger things now. Yay!
Shops are usually only used for selling things now that Neopets has released galleries, but still, many people obsess over these. My advice to you is to never waste money upgrading it. Is it really that bad if you have to sell only five items at a time? Upgrading the size just wastes neopoints, which defeats the purpose of selling items. The second piece of advice I have to offer is to never put graphics or music in your shop. Maybe a small welcome message or a blog, but don’t overdo it. If your shop’s page takes to long to load, it may freeze slow computers that some users are on. You may miss out on someone buying from your shop if they can’t go in without having to reboot their computer upon entry.
This can be a lot of fun if you have a lot of neopoints. These really portray how original you are, unless you do a traditional ‘Dung Gallery’ or ‘-Color Here- Items.’ The first thing you need to do is to pick a theme. I’m currently working on a Tyrannian gallery, featuring only my favorite prehistoric items. After choosing a theme, buy the items you need and then decorate. Galleries can be as flashy as you’d like, but again, don’t overdo it. It may annoy some users. My advice for opening is a gallery is you should never get stressed out. They’re just pixels and if you can’t afford something, just forget it. There’s plenty of other great items you can feature in your gallery.
Another really fun part of your userlookup. I currently don’t have one, just because I’m so busy trying to get the lab map and getting the items for my gallery. A cool thing to do for your NeoDeck is to go to the list of all of them, look up your favorite pet and buy the ones that feature your pet as a number of awesome Neopets characters, such as Lord Kass or King Hagan. Again, don’t stress if cards are too expensive. I know a few are a lot of neopoints, but you’re not limited to just Neopets. There are Faerie cards and Miscellaneous cards, such as the Snowager and Punchbag Bob.
I will never get a NeoHome, but that shouldn’t stop you. They don’t really excite me but that’s just my opinion. I do know some users who spend all of their neopoints on their NeoHomes. A cool feature with the NeoHomes is that you can put items into your NeoHome and actually decorate the rooms. This is another aspect where you can be really original if you put your mind to it.
Personally, I’d rather join a guild than create one. However, make sure you know who the owner is if you decide to join instead of create, as some Guilds are run by scammers and are used to make money for the owner. You also need to remember this when creating a guild. Not everyone is trusting and you’ll have to prove yourself if you want a successful guild. As contests are not allowed on Neopets, you can still have fun with your members by having INTERESTING guild conversations. I’ve been in so many guilds where the message boards were filled with ‘hi,’ ‘lol,’ and ‘bye.’ Make it interesting, and people will join.
The Battledome is only fun if you have strong pets. You can bring your pets stats up with Coltzan’s Shrine or with the Training Schools. In the Training Schools, you should go to the Swashbuckling Academy for Level 20 and lower and then train in the Mystery Island Training School. (Uber) Faerie Quests are another way to bring up your stats. The Fire Faerie brings up your strength, Light brings up Level, Earth should be ignored, Air to movement, Dark to health and Water to defence. As for intelligence, it increases when you read books, complete the Crossword, play Cliffhanger or visit the Wise Old King.
There are other Quest Faeries as well. The Space Faerie brings your pet up four levels and the Faerie Queen also give quests which bring up numerous stats at once. The Fountain Faerie Quests don’t affect your stats; they affect your pet’s color. Be careful not to pay too much for any of these quests. Make sure that the item(s) they’re asking for are cheaper than the actual price to train in a school (or how much the paint brush costs). Just remember, when you have a Faerie Quest, you can’t use the Shop Wizard, so get acquainted with the Quests board.
Another aspect of battle is Abilities. These are given to you from Bottled Faeries; each element giving different sets of skills. The Bottled Faeries are Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Light and Dark. Be careful with Dark Faeries though. They tend to fly away before helping your pets. And the last thing you need to know is about equipment. PPT has an entire Battlepedia where you can look through if you’re searching for the right equipment.
Another place to be really original and still win something is the Neopian Adventure Generator. These range from quizzes of which Neopet you are to a quest for a Rod of Dark Nova. They can be tricky to make, considering they take so much time, but you’ll see it pays off in the end. They’re a lot of fun to make and to play, especially if you like reading
I know about five site themes. There is Halloween, which is available on Halloween and it was given as a price for the first Random Contest. There’s the Birthday one, which is on Neopets’ birthday (November 15) and on your birthday. There is Maraquan, which is no longer available. It could only be bought during the time of the Curse of Maraqua War. There is Winter, which is given as a random event on the Advent Calendar. And there’s Valentine’s, which was acquired by sending or receiving A Mysterious Valentines Card. I only have the default one.
These are the little icons beneath people’s names on the Boards. These are, in my opinion, the best part of Neopets.com. There are currently 200+ to collect, some more difficult than others, and some people really respect you if you have a lot of these. Some are acquired just by going to a special page or by getting a high score. I have spent hours into avatar collecting just because I’m so addicted to them. PPT has a great Avatar Catalog if you are interested in getting any.
Your pets are definitely the thing everyone looks at. I mean, isn’t that what NeoPETS is all about? Whether they’re painted grey or still basic yellow, your pet is what everything is about. Whether you want to dress them up or prepare them for battle, that’s up to you, because it’s your choice. Whether you want just one or triplets, I’m sure you’ll find yourself treating them like your own children. Because that’s what Neopets is all about, having fun and having friends.
Another great thing about having a pet is designing their Petpage, because no one likes reading the default species pages. There is a spotlight for this as well, and if you know HTML you can make a really good one. If you don’t know HTML, Neopets has an HTML guide which definitely helped me. Some winning pages range from carrots to Meepits to dragons. It’s up to you, and don’t forget to be original.
Don’t get me wrong, I am no expert at games, but even one trophy looks better than none. The easiest (and most popular) is probably the Cheat trophy and it’s a great trophy to start your collection with. If you’re good at a particular game, whether it be browser-based or flash, strive for the trophy. But like I said before, don’t stress over them. If something is too hard, wait a month. By then the scores will be reset and you’ll have a better chance of winning one. Practice makes perfect and having fun is cool too. One day, I’ll get my Dubloon Disaster trophy.
__jxhn_ does in fact have a good Userlookup. Feel free to contact him if you have any questions!
Nessa has no connections to the Userlookup Mafia. Well, no proven connections.
WIS is the head honcho of the Userlookup Mafia. No one is sure what that entails, but it sounds important.
If you have any comments or suggestions about this article you are more then welcome to PM or email the author.