KURTZLEBEN: She says it's been nice to see more people drifting back to the site over the past few years. And nostalgia is a pretty powerful thing. HILL: I think Neopets as a whole is just a place where people can go, where things will always be familiar, and the world will always be sort of the same vibe that it always has been. It's a refuge from the stressors of the real world. KURTZLEBEN: Dana thinks a large part of the site's appeal is the sense of nostalgia and safety people get from it. They have, you know, flat, almost humanlike faces with a short, little muzzle. KURTZLEBEN: She says the site gave her a chance to develop and sharpen her artistic skills, in part by rendering the pets themselves. She's been a regular since she was 17 and is now in her 30s.ĭANA HILL: Neopets, to me, is a creative outlet of sorts. KURTZLEBEN: Dana Hill (ph) is an artist from Seattle and, unlike Alex, never took a break from Neopets.
But Neopets is kind of the opposite of that for me. PISCATELLI: The internet feels like such a place where you can kind of get lost in negativity.
But on Neopets, there's no pressure to be anything other than how you are. It's easy to feel judged on Instagram or to feel like you have to put on a persona. KURTZLEBEN: Alex says that other forms of social media can be fraught. And I knew it would be a comforting thing that can kind of calm me down. PISCATELLI: If I felt myself having a panic attack or starting to feel really anxious, I would kind of just open my computer, log on and have Neopets there for me. So like she said, she had a lot of time to kill, and she was also struggling with a lot more anxiety. When the pandemic first started, she got furloughed from her job. KURTZLEBEN: That's Alex Piscatelli (ph), who used to play Neopets in elementary school. And we reached out to some users to ask what has kept them there or brought them back after so long.ĪLEX PISCATELLI: I found myself with literally all the time in the world because I couldn't hang out with friends.
A story in The New York Times about the longevity of the website caught our eye. And, apparently, it's having a resurgence during the pandemic. Sound familiar? Well, back in the early 2000s, it was extremely popular. KURTZLEBEN: It's a website where users create and care for their own digital pets, take them on adventures and engage on message boards with other users. Those are the sorts of things that populate the virtual magical world of Neopets. DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Pets, pirates, fairies and a magic money tree.
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