Neopets: Subtle Evil
On a casual viewing of Neopets you may not find it threathening and may even direct others there. The site is bright and "kid friendly" and "free." Such is the case that your children may be sucked in and you can be totally unawares to what they doing. There is no pornography, swearing, or inappropiate subject matter, however their morals are lacking in other respects.
First off, for those of you without familarity with the insidious Neopets, it is a site based on caring for a pet through playing games and buying items. There are millions of users online and has a very strict behaviour policy.
To get money a user has to play games or gamble. This is all well and good until you realize the amount of time and effort needed to get better items and afford to do what you want to do. All the items are overpriced and the Neopet owned stores needed to buy items are impossible to access due to the large numbers of users. It is simply impossible to buy items without a fast internet connection and even then you have a small chance. This means users have to patronize user owned stores with very high prices, thus reguiring more time and effort playing games. The games and gambling give paltry sums of money, and the gambling can often involve substantial loss. The enrmous amounts of money needed to buy certain items is staggering, and then inflation sets in making a bad situation worse. 15 neopoint books would often be sold for 100 times that amount in user owned stores, the likes of which represent considerable amounts time and effort on the part of your child to obtian. Many of the games that pay out the best prizes are also maddeningly difficult and repetitive.
It has been suggested that people become addicted to actions, so that a smoker can become addicted to the motions and events of smoking (standing in a small group and chitchatting) rather than the actual cigarrette. Anyone who has tried to pull a child away from a video game that they have been playing frequently can attest to the likelihood of becoming addicted to anything (wheter or not it contains nicotine).
This is where the insidiousness comes in, the children will play the games because they are fun (at least in the beginning) but later when they become more tedious and boring they will still be drawn back to them like a smoker going for a drag. Neopets is "free" (at least it used to be until it started a preminum membership service) so it needs to make its money through advertising. Our children, thus addicted to this seemingly innocent game, are constantly subjected to advertising at every turn in the site. Certain endorsements for neopoints (the currency of Neopets) can be gained from signing up for sites that flood inboxes with their spam and other that are more nefarious. The advertisements are everywhere, in the links, the items names, and on the banners.
I think there is something seriously wrong with a business model that seeks to make kids addicted so they can be subjected to endless advertising. What's worse, parents see the "kid friendly" site as just that kid friend and devoid of offensive content. There's no blood, no killing, no nudity, no offensive content, so it has the perfect cover to find a way into your homes and you little ones heads.
Unfortunately, the same excuse can be made for a number of other activities, namely television, but that fact does not make their actions right. Monitor your children's activities at all time and make sure you poke around in seemingly harmless sites. Grand Theft Auto may be considered the devil in some circles, but Neopets seeks to get into the minds of your children under cover of being "kid friendly" which GTA has never suggested.
First off, for those of you without familarity with the insidious Neopets, it is a site based on caring for a pet through playing games and buying items. There are millions of users online and has a very strict behaviour policy.
To get money a user has to play games or gamble. This is all well and good until you realize the amount of time and effort needed to get better items and afford to do what you want to do. All the items are overpriced and the Neopet owned stores needed to buy items are impossible to access due to the large numbers of users. It is simply impossible to buy items without a fast internet connection and even then you have a small chance. This means users have to patronize user owned stores with very high prices, thus reguiring more time and effort playing games. The games and gambling give paltry sums of money, and the gambling can often involve substantial loss. The enrmous amounts of money needed to buy certain items is staggering, and then inflation sets in making a bad situation worse. 15 neopoint books would often be sold for 100 times that amount in user owned stores, the likes of which represent considerable amounts time and effort on the part of your child to obtian. Many of the games that pay out the best prizes are also maddeningly difficult and repetitive.
It has been suggested that people become addicted to actions, so that a smoker can become addicted to the motions and events of smoking (standing in a small group and chitchatting) rather than the actual cigarrette. Anyone who has tried to pull a child away from a video game that they have been playing frequently can attest to the likelihood of becoming addicted to anything (wheter or not it contains nicotine).
This is where the insidiousness comes in, the children will play the games because they are fun (at least in the beginning) but later when they become more tedious and boring they will still be drawn back to them like a smoker going for a drag. Neopets is "free" (at least it used to be until it started a preminum membership service) so it needs to make its money through advertising. Our children, thus addicted to this seemingly innocent game, are constantly subjected to advertising at every turn in the site. Certain endorsements for neopoints (the currency of Neopets) can be gained from signing up for sites that flood inboxes with their spam and other that are more nefarious. The advertisements are everywhere, in the links, the items names, and on the banners.
I think there is something seriously wrong with a business model that seeks to make kids addicted so they can be subjected to endless advertising. What's worse, parents see the "kid friendly" site as just that kid friend and devoid of offensive content. There's no blood, no killing, no nudity, no offensive content, so it has the perfect cover to find a way into your homes and you little ones heads.
Unfortunately, the same excuse can be made for a number of other activities, namely television, but that fact does not make their actions right. Monitor your children's activities at all time and make sure you poke around in seemingly harmless sites. Grand Theft Auto may be considered the devil in some circles, but Neopets seeks to get into the minds of your children under cover of being "kid friendly" which GTA has never suggested.
posted by Cynic at
3:16 AM
0 Comments
