Browser virtual pet sites! (Neopets, Flight Rising, virtu.pet)

Heyo!

Anyone out here a neopets/flight rising fan?

I'm more into neopets, though due to the general state of the site and it being nostalgic for me I play a neopets fan site done in the style of 2005 ish era neopets, called virtu.pet. I'm curious about joining grundo's cafe too (which is similar) but alas I don't have a referral code yet

my fave part I've been enjoying about the fansite is that folks out there are converting old flash games and allowing them to be hosted on multiple sites! (so far grundo's cafe and virtu.pet, maybe more? idk) i think in my opinion they converted ice cream machine better than the actual website

I'm cyflight on flight rising! though it's been a hot minute since I was on there

heyy!!
neopets is something that constantly lives rent-free in my brain even tho i never played it much lmao (i tried but i had a lack of understanding of the website and language as a kid)

i return every few years to fuck around on the site a bit but i never stay for long but man i have a huge soft spot in my heart for it <3

fan sites in style of retro neopets sound great though!! i'll definitely fill in an application for virtu.pet!
what makes you want to join virtu.pet AND gerudo's cafe tho? like why not just focus on one site? :0

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

heyy!!
neopets is something that constantly lives rent-free in my brain even tho i never played it much lmao (i tried but i had a lack of understanding of the website and language as a kid)

i return every few years to fuck around on the site a bit but i never stay for long but man i have a huge soft spot in my heart for it <3

fan sites in style of retro neopets sound great though!! i'll definitely fill in an application for virtu.pet!
what makes you want to join virtu.pet AND gerudo's cafe tho? like why not just focus on one site? :0

That's awesome! glad to see another neopets fan. there's a few different fan sites out there but those two are the ones I'm most interested in and the ones I've heard the best things about! if you need a referral username for virtu.pet you can use mine, it's cycyan (I don't get anything special for it or anything, it's more if the form requires you to know a current player)

I'm interested in Grundo's cafe because it's been around for a bit longer and there's a good chance it has some features that virtu.pet hasn't gone around to adding yet! I hear really good things about it, but it's definitely a site with more members, possibly more folks working on it. That's why it's a little harder to get into, I think, because managing traffic is probably a thing. it's one of the more popular ones!

virtu.pet is smaller and more and more of the site is being added gradually (it's worked on by one person named felix, and some folks volunteer to make/remake assets for the site). I really like how small and cozy virtu.pet is and overall I'll probably always have a place in my heart for it! If I never get into Grundo's Cafe I'd still be happy there. I think folks (including me) sign up for multiple fan sites because they each have their little differences, or different parts that have been added so far. A cool thing I like about virtu.pet is that felix has made an "item crushing system" to get "virtu.gems", which you can use to get extra pet slots (though I think you start with 6? maybe more?) and other little things, such as name changes for your pet. I'm pretty sure you can get an unlimited amount of pet slots that way. It's all in-game with no way to buy them with real money (no microtransactions), and it's relatively easy to earn them - I just crush my rubbish dump items or berries and eventually i have a bunch of gems. It's a good way of utilizing more "junk items" that would otherwise sit in my safety deposit box or get sent to the money tree. speaking of money tree, it actually auto refreshes with some common items by default (handy for gathering quest items) - you can still donate things there, though! sometimes seasonal items are added, for example different pride flags would show up at the money tree regularly last month - this month we have some disability pride flags in there. The site is completely free and he wants it to stay that way as far as i know, it's very much a passion project for him. he accepts donations but doesn't really ever advertise it or ask - I've honestly felt really comfortable being on virtu.pet because of the transparency. I could really go on and on about it!

I hope that wasn't too much info - that's just what really stands out to me about virtu.pet!

cycyanart wrote:

That's awesome! glad to see another neopets fan. there's a few different fan sites out there but those two are the ones I'm most interested in and the ones I've heard the best things about! if you need a referral username for virtu.pet you can use mine, it's cycyan (I don't get anything special for it or anything, it's more if the form requires you to know a current player)

I'm interested in Grundo's cafe because it's been around for a bit longer and there's a good chance it has some features that virtu.pet hasn't gone around to adding yet! I hear really good things about it, but it's definitely a site with more members, possibly more folks working on it. That's why it's a little harder to get into, I think, because managing traffic is probably a thing. it's one of the more popular ones!

virtu.pet is smaller and more and more of the site is being added gradually (it's worked on by one person named felix, and some folks volunteer to make/remake assets for the site). I really like how small and cozy virtu.pet is and overall I'll probably always have a place in my heart for it! If I never get into Grundo's Cafe I'd still be happy there. I think folks (including me) sign up for multiple fan sites because they each have their little differences, or different parts that have been added so far. A cool thing I like about virtu.pet is that felix has made an "item crushing system" to get "virtu.gems", which you can use to get extra pet slots (though I think you start with 6? maybe more?) and other little things, such as name changes for your pet. I'm pretty sure you can get an unlimited amount of pet slots that way. It's all in-game with no way to buy them with real money (no microtransactions), and it's relatively easy to earn them - I just crush my rubbish dump items or berries and eventually i have a bunch of gems. It's a good way of utilizing more "junk items" that would otherwise sit in my safety deposit box or get sent to the money tree. speaking of money tree, it actually auto refreshes with some common items by default (handy for gathering quest items) - you can still donate things there, though! sometimes seasonal items are added, for example different pride flags would show up at the money tree regularly last month - this month we have some disability pride flags in there. The site is completely free and he wants it to stay that way as far as i know, it's very much a passion project for him. he accepts donations but doesn't really ever advertise it or ask - I've honestly felt really comfortable being on virtu.pet because of the transparency. I could really go on and on about it!

I hope that wasn't too much info - that's just what really stands out to me about virtu.pet!

ohh i see, that makes sense!!
yea in this situation i'd definitely be interested in checking out both as well

also i just realized i wrote gerudo's cafe instead of grundo's and i don't even play zelda *facepalm*

virtu.pet sounds really great though!!
when i sent an application there was a field that asked if anyone referred me there and i did actually write that your username there would be either cycyanart or cycyan but that i wasn't sure lmao

and no worries about the info dump, it gave me a better picture of what makes the site stand out! <:

how does neopets look on these fansites though?
is it safe to work on them or is there a danger of them being struck down..?

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

ohh i see, that makes sense!!
yea in this situation i'd definitely be interested in checking out both as well

also i just realized i wrote gerudo's cafe instead of grundo's and i don't even play zelda *facepalm*

virtu.pet sounds really great though!!
when i sent an application there was a field that asked if anyone referred me there and i did actually write that your username there would be either cycyanart or cycyan but that i wasn't sure lmao

and no worries about the info dump, it gave me a better picture of what makes the site stand out! <:

how does neopets look on these fansites though?
is it safe to work on them or is there a danger of them being struck down..?

cool cool! LOL yknow I didn't even notice the spelling, actually, my brain must have auto corrected it haha. oh cool!! glad you went ahead for an application, I think felix accepts them every other week, 30 at a time currently? I hope you can get in soon!

I'm glad the info dump helped and hmmmm that's the thing - neopets hasn't said anything about fansites as far as I know, and as far as I know there's never been any threats or takedowns. Technically, they likely have the power to do so, but it really hasn't been done at all so I think we're all just coasting along until something happens. If you want to be careful of how you spend your time/effort on fansites just in case though that totally makes sense! I'm in pretty deep, haha. I think because neopets isn't really offering what these sites offer and is more focused on making things new instead of like how it used to be, these things coexist because they don't really take away from each other. from what I've seen, a ton of fansite players, if not most of them, also still play the official site in tandem! (even I still check in, haha). right now I think neopets is trying to sell merch and keep the brand going however they can, so I don't think there's much danger there at the moment.

cycyanart wrote:

cool cool! LOL yknow I didn't even notice the spelling, actually, my brain must have auto corrected it haha. oh cool!! glad you went ahead for an application, I think felix accepts them every other week, 30 at a time currently? I hope you can get in soon!

I'm glad the info dump helped and hmmmm that's the thing - neopets hasn't said anything about fansites as far as I know, and as far as I know there's never been any threats or takedowns. Technically, they likely have the power to do so, but it really hasn't been done at all so I think we're all just coasting along until something happens. If you want to be careful of how you spend your time/effort on fansites just in case though that totally makes sense! I'm in pretty deep, haha. I think because neopets isn't really offering what these sites offer and is more focused on making things new instead of like how it used to be, these things coexist because they don't really take away from each other. from what I've seen, a ton of fansite players, if not most of them, also still play the official site in tandem! (even I still check in, haha). right now I think neopets is trying to sell merch and keep the brand going however they can, so I don't think there's much danger there at the moment.

It's less about wanting to be careful and more just general curiosity!

Like, you got nintendo on one side taking down almost completely original fan projects left and right just because they are based in the pokemon world, but on the other side you have lego who permitted bionicle fans to finish and publicly release a leaked old canceled bionicle game. i'm curious where neopets would fall on that scale.

and oh man i genuinely wish i could buy neopets merch, recently a youtuber i follow made a video where they wore a neopets faeries pattern t-shirt and i loved it so much i DASHED to the neopets store in hopes to get it but since they ship from america the shipping was... oof

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

It's less about wanting to be careful and more just general curiosity!

Like, you got nintendo on one side taking down almost completely original fan projects left and right just because they are based in the pokemon world, but on the other side you have lego who permitted bionicle fans to finish and publicly release a leaked old canceled bionicle game. i'm curious where neopets would fall on that scale.

and oh man i genuinely wish i could buy neopets merch, recently a youtuber i follow made a video where they wore a neopets faeries pattern t-shirt and i loved it so much i DASHED to the neopets store in hopes to get it but since they ship from america the shipping was... oof

Makes sense! Nintendo is a nightmare - I think neopets is closer to bionicle in that aspect!

Oh man, I can only imagine!! I haven't even ordered from them because of the shipping, and I'm in Canada. I'd like to but damn the price is soooo high after shipping! It's a shame. I've been lucky with thrifting some old neopets merch, though!

cycyanart wrote:

Makes sense! Nintendo is a nightmare - I think neopets is closer to bionicle in that aspect!

Oh man, I can only imagine!! I haven't even ordered from them because of the shipping, and I'm in Canada. I'd like to but damn the price is soooo high after shipping! It's a shame. I've been lucky with thrifting some old neopets merch, though!

that's encouraging to hear!! let's hope it's true lmao

man i really feel like it used to be way cheaper to ship to canada a few years ago??
my bestie is from canada and sometimes when shipping would be too expensive for me i'd ship it to get and she'd send it with my christmas present but now shipping to her is often almost the same as to me all the way in europe??? hell world

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

that's encouraging to hear!! let's hope it's true lmao

man i really feel like it used to be way cheaper to ship to canada a few years ago??
my bestie is from canada and sometimes when shipping would be too expensive for me i'd ship it to get and she'd send it with my christmas present but now shipping to her is often almost the same as to me all the way in europe??? hell world

I think it used to be! Damn, it's too bad it went up so much! hell world indeed omg

oh man i was obsessed with neopets for years!! i miss it so much now that the site has done a complete revamp, and i miss those kind of 'old-school' sort of site period, the mechanics of basically going around the website like a crazy person and just playing flashgames and so many competitions in drawing and writing! ugh :'( man i miss it. i'll have to check out the site you mentioned!!!

a sort of useless fact, but a heartbreak i have yet to live down. i started neopets when i was kid and for years i participated in the altador cup on the haunted woods team. one year i got a bit out of playing it and it was that one year that haunted woods won!!! teenage me was heartbroken. honestly adult me is still heartbroken. every time i went back to the site after that was bittersweet.

i was a total neopets kid!!!

i think i stopped playing it when they removed that board game. and also, flash had fallen out of fashion. u_u
inspired by this thread i checked the site yesterday. seems they have removed a lot of games, and the site looks a bit different, but i don't think they've fixed the core issues which hindered the playability...
it's too bad they didn't become inventive.

yugocar wrote:

oh man i was obsessed with neopets for years!! i miss it so much now that the site has done a complete revamp, and i miss those kind of 'old-school' sort of site period, the mechanics of basically going around the website like a crazy person and just playing flashgames and so many competitions in drawing and writing! ugh :'( man i miss it. i'll have to check out the site you mentioned!!!

a sort of useless fact, but a heartbreak i have yet to live down. i started neopets when i was kid and for years i participated in the altador cup on the haunted woods team. one year i got a bit out of playing it and it was that one year that haunted woods won!!! teenage me was heartbroken. honestly adult me is still heartbroken. every time i went back to the site after that was bittersweet.

That's exactly the kind of neopets I missed, too! Omg your team winning on the ONE year you didn't play... damn! I hope you enjoy the fansite if you give it a try, so far there's no altador cup as the basics are being fleshed out but a ton of dailies are there, quests are being added here and there and so are new flash game conversions. So far, we have: Advert Attack, Attack of the Revenge, Carnival of Terror, Destruct-O-Match II, Dubloon Disaster, Escape from Meridell Castle, Extreme Herder, Faerie Bubbles, Faerie Cloud Racers, Ice Cream Machine, Jelly Blobs of Doom, Korbats Lab, Meepit Juice Break, Meerca Chase II, Sutek's Tomb, Ultimate Bullseye, Volcano Run, and Zurroball. I think since I joined in October 2022, there's been about 7, maybe 8 flash games added? Each is credited to who did the conversion (and gave permission to be hosted on the site.) There's also a good handful of the click-through/PHP games available. It's definitely scratching the nostalgia itch and it's nice to see updates happen also - with the flash games, it's not a limit of 3 score sends each, it's a maximum of 75,000 neopoints that can be earned per day across them all (so unlimited score sending that stops dishing out points at 75k).

Totel wrote:

i was a total neopets kid!!!

i think i stopped playing it when they removed that board game. and also, flash had fallen out of fashion. u_u
inspired by this thread i checked the site yesterday. seems they have removed a lot of games, and the site looks a bit different, but i don't think they've fixed the core issues which hindered the playability...
it's too bad they didn't become inventive.

Omg you are not alone in missing keyquest!! (I think the board game you mentioned was keyquest, though I had stopped playing for a bit by then and didn't get a chance). So many folks out here wish they'd bring keyquest back but alas. As for the official site... goodness it's been a bit of a disaster. Many parts are completely unplayable or cannot be interacted with due to not converting things from flash. They're currently owned by NetDragon, and that's definitely made it hard for the neopets team to do some of the work fans have been asking them to do. There seems to be a pretty passionate team there, but they're very limited by the position they're in. For example, I'm pretty sure the whole neopets meta/nft stuff was something they had no hand in and therefore little to no control over - it was NetDragon (and Jumpstart, at the time - though now Jumpstart is going out of business). The neopets team told people not to panic about Jumpstart going under as they were still going to be around, but honestly my hope is that someday neopets gets bought by a company who will treat the whole IP better and recognize that the majority of the playerbase is folks that grew up with it and continue to play.

I really recommend using a site like jellyneo or the daily neopets in tandem with the original site for ease of access for dailies. Thankfully, they've converted most of the maps so far... finally... but yeah between the poor choices and the introduction of neocash (aka microtransactions), it's been a bit of a sad dumpster fire to watch. I'm glad fansites are popping up :')

neopets nfts?!?!?!?! first time i'm hearing of that. what happened?

and yeah, the game was keyquest! another game i miss is the one with the surfing board. i used to be obsessed with it.

back here bc im curious what everyone's favourite neopet is?

as a kid i loved acara, bori and gelert the most, but from my teen years onward i've been an ixi stan (tho i always had a soft spot for aisha too)

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

back here bc im curious what everyone's favourite neopet is?

as a kid i loved acara, bori and gelert the most, but from my teen years onward i've been an ixi stan (tho i always had a soft spot for aisha too)

lutari definitely! :'3

Totel wrote:

neopets nfts?!?!?!?! first time i'm hearing of that. what happened?

and yeah, the game was keyquest! another game i miss is the one with the surfing board. i used to be obsessed with it.

yeah it was wild - they were selling neopets NFTs that looked really bad. like they essentially stole from Dress to Impress (a fansite for testing wearables on neopets), they looked exactly like those if you hit "randomize" on everything. Jellyneo called this out and in protest you could "generate" your own neoNFT for free on their site (they were just pointing how blatantly low-effort and stolen the whole concept was, as well as just not aligned with playerbase wants at all). Then there was a second nft thing where there was a neopets metaverse project that also went bad... I think there's some decent rundown videos of the situation on youtube!

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

back here bc im curious what everyone's favourite neopet is?

as a kid i loved acara, bori and gelert the most, but from my teen years onward i've been an ixi stan (tho i always had a soft spot for aisha too)

Ooo!! My favorite neopets are Aisha's and Shoyrus, but I honestly love so many of them. My runner-ups are Blumaroos, Cybunnys, Kougras and Poogles!

@cycyanart any thoughts on the neopets news that was sent out yesterday?

neonUFO (tiredsleepy) wrote:

@cycyanart any thoughts on the neopets news that was sent out yesterday?

Took me a moment there!! I've been really busy, and only recently read the Neopets news in the last couple days. It's so excellent to see!! I have a lot of hope, this feels like what the site would need to flourish again. I really hope that TNT is successful with it all!!