Neopets existed in a time where the internet appeared less cynical. No Facebook to spread misinformation in favour of less government sanctions, no planet-destroying cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, no childhood memory can go unmolested. 22 years after its initial release, we now have Neopets NFTs.
Neopets NFTs can get in the crapper
Joining the likes of Spider-Man and a 12-year-old’s scribblings, Neopets NFTs exist as another money-making scheme for the IP. After launching mobile games and merchandise, the most resource-intensive way of selling a JPEG sure is a next step.
This isn't the first time the franchise has attempted to jump on the crypto train. Three years ago, Neopets Cryptoquest launched as a digital card collection game. It lasted a few months. Nowadays, NFTs are a far bigger and more lucrative market to pull off a cash grab. However, they're also far more hated than they were before, because they suck.
This new NFT collection — the Neopets Metaverse Collection — is a library of 20,500 “algorithmically generated lovable Neopets NFTs”. Each NFT has a randomly generated background, Neopet, clothing and “personality”. Woooooow.
Read More: NFT art gallery opens to display crap, planet-destroying crypto-art
Guess what? People hate them.
The Neopets Community hasn't responded well to the reveal of the planet-destroying crypto-art. In fact, the general consensus is that it blows — hard. Popular Neopets fansite Jellyneo took to Twitter to berate the decision to use the franchise for another crypto-scam.
The fansite explained that the NFT launch goes entirely against the point of Neopets:
“The Neopets community overwhelmingly rejects the new NFT cashgrab project. We’re hard-pressed finding someone outside of the NFT community that wants this. No one in the Neopets Community wants this... You can’t feed your NFT, read to it, battle with it, or customise it. It’s the AntiNeopet.”
Unfortunately, the Neopets NFTs will likely do pretty well for the company. However, its resource-hungry money scam won't only run dry fast, but it'll drive the company's reputation even further into the ground. Instead of siphoning the last bits of brand familiarity, they could focus on fixing the actual Neopets product.
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