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Dear Jumpstaff: A Roadmap to Neopets Content


hrtbrk

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In the past on pet days we've been swarmed with new items, usually an NC Mall game, mystery capsule or other things from there that require mass amounts of work. It seems like everything like that is released on the same day. A way to make it easier for them would be to release things in more moderation. Like say if it's a pet day, don't release a new NC Mall game update as well, do that the day before or the next day.

 

Guaranteed if our Custo team is swamped with the mass amount of updates on a single day, so is their content and art departments. Make things a little easier for yourself, but don't slack off.

 

Have information in the mall accurate the first time, so you don't have to go back and change everything and create more work for your staff. This includes retire dates and other important information we need to know. :)

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Guest Tahalika

I'm curious, does Jumpstart read on DailyNeo? If they do, this list is very good. Have the contests ready for a new round, make sure the front page marquees are up-to-date and not months behind (Looking at you, Chomby Day,) make absolutely SURE that the paintbrush colors are ready and don't just hint at them. Make sure the news articles contains enough information, more than just three little paragraphs of barely anything. Pictures are important after all, it really helps to attract the eye!

 

I don't think I've experienced an event during the Jumpstart era, or if I did I didn't really notice anything off about it. But the above are always good to remember, and I think another feature they should do is make it so player total actually accounts to something, and not just have it set up to where one thing wins over another immediately (Remembering the Sun and Moon challenge and how the totals were always the same, I dunno if that was Jumpstart or not though.)

 

And also, maybe I'm just writing from nostalgia, but the Neopian Times isn't something to just quit like that. I'm really sad to click into it and see it hasn't updated since Valentine's Day, and apparently according to the boards this was done without announcement. Ceasing the actions of certain things REALLY needs to be announced, even if it is a temporary hold. Because without it, it feels like you flat out abandoned it. I get if right now you're a bit constricted to update stuff, but seriously make an update about it, and at least once every two to four weeks give a refresh so new people will still know what's up, or to tell if there's any progress of returning.

 

I have quite a bit more complaints, but for now that's my main concerns. The site feels basically dead right now due to how inactive everything feels, how everything seems to have stagnated due to the lay-offs. I don't get why they did that, but I do understand that doing this means employment and updates are gonna be an issue. But if that's the case, it really needs to be addressed and not just happen.

 

I'm still optimistic that this Jumpstart Era is gonna be a good one for the site, especially since they introduced possibly my favorite Neopet ever in the form of Vandagyre. But right now things seem shaky, and it's not really doing much to keep me interested for long.

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And also, maybe I'm just writing from nostalgia, but the Neopian Times isn't something to just quit like that. I'm really sad to click into it and see it hasn't updated since Valentine's Day, and apparently according to the boards this was done without announcement. Ceasing the actions of certain things REALLY needs to be announced, even if it is a temporary hold. Because without it, it feels like you flat out abandoned it. I get if right now you're a bit constricted to update stuff, but seriously make an update about it, and at least once every two to four weeks give a refresh so new people will still know what's up, or to tell if there's any progress of returning.

 

 

The boards must have missed that update because they did give us the courtesy of announcing that the Neopian Times would no longer be updated. The staff member who used to take care of it posted on the NT writers forum that she was going on maternity leave. Granted, the original TNT members were still updating the news at this time.

 

However, they did say that it was "unexpected" that it would no longer be updated and I'd say it's fairly obvious that a woman is pregnant and likely going on leave. (ETA: that crossed out part is wrong. I went back and checked haha) No one knows if she also was apart of the layoffs as those happened a few weeks later.

 

 

TL;DR: They did tell us in advance that they were stopping the NT.

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Guest Tahalika

 

The boards must have missed that update because they did give us the courtesy of announcing that the Neopian Times would no longer be updated. The staff member who used to take care of it posted on the NT writers forum that she was going on maternity leave. Granted, the original TNT members were still updating the news at this time.

 

However, they did say that it was "unexpected" that it would no longer be updated and I'd say it's fairly obvious that a woman is pregnant and likely going on leave. No one knows if she also was apart of the layoffs as those happened a few weeks later.

 

 

TL;DR: They did tell us in advance that they were stopping the NT.

Oh whoops, sorry about that then! Tried to look into it from old news and when I couldn't find anything I resorted to the boards. I think I saw a maternity leave mention, but I thought it was presumed that it would be continued by someone else?

 

But man, that's sad, the NT were what interested me into writing as a kid.

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Personally, I think 10 new items a week is a little much and should be cut down on.

Really

We don't need 10 new items a week! That's a lot of work for a tiny team, that might not incldue any contet people!

 

Getting the contests back up and running is really good, as is the marquee. I don't want to see a sign for Chomby day. It's over. Please move on.

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I want the Lenny Conundrum and Better Than You contests back. And the other contests that have been suspended...

 

I agree that ten new items a week seems a bit much. To me, items are less important than the interactive elements of the site (contests, KQ, etc.).

 

I think we really need a good event -- one that gets people talking, not ranting in anger (well, they're always going to do that, but I mean something with puzzles or a mystery rather than just forcing people to spend NP on stuff). Or a new game.

 

They also need to update the community page (the one with the daily puzzle); they've been advertising the same old NT issue for ages...

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They're ending NT? It's been there since the beginning! *cries* My Friday Neopets without NT?? *faints*

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this list is SO. VERY. CRUCIAL. it really does feel dead on the site lately, and i couldn't really put my finger on the why. i had also been away from neopets for about 2.5 years, so i didn't know what was up with jumpstart or layoffs til i read this post.

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I don't think 10 items a week is too much to aim for. Sure it'd be a bit of a jump if they suddenly had to do that starting now, but they can gradually work up to it! Start smaller. Say for instance, goal 1 could be "release 5 new items each week, released properly when they're announced". And then we can go to "have at least one of these new items ready each day" (as opposed to, say, 1-0-0-2-2, which would be acceptable for goal 1). Then up to "have a total of 10 new items out each week, at least one each day" and then finally "release two new items each news day". As the first goals are worked towards, you can build up a bit of a buffer for later! And def aim to fit the rotation detailed in the first post, but if you need an item for Tuesday and all that's ready is a toy, then release that. It's better than nothing.

 

Though I'll re-stress that pet days are the most important news days. Actually, I'll expand that some- if it is a specific day listed on the calendar, it's an extremely important date that people look forward to all year. This is all the pet days, of course, and then a mix of real world holidays and character days and even a few petpet days! The calendar things should always have cool stuff out, and out properly. You don't need to release colors on non-pet important dates, but to make up for it you need to release two item pairs (say, a pair of books and a pair of toys) as opposed to just one.

 

The website is the place where all users look first for their news. If there's is an event, announce it in that day's news. Remind us that it exists every other day or so, even! That takes up space with a fancy image and is really easy to do. If something happens that needs to be addressed sooner than news time, you have this awesome message board just for you that can be used for more than just downtime announcements. By all means post this stuff to FB as well, but do it second. Always second. It goes on the site first. Updates on that news go on the site first. For 75% of the userbase, your facebook page might as well not exist. They are not checking it. Posting there does nothing but annoy the people who have to go dig the information off a different website and redistribute it.

 

Also, there's no need to add width="80" height="80" to every single image on the news page. If you, for whatever reason, need to resize an image, do so proportionally. Let's take the Cap'n Threelegs image as an example since it keeps being used. Its native dimensions are 800 x 425 pixels. Obviously it's a bit too big for the news box, so it'll need to be resized a bit. Instead of jamming it into a square where it's tiny and squished and really really bad looking, let's try this. To start, the widest image usually post to the news is.... generally about 400 pixels wide looking back at old news. That's actually pretty handy, since that's half the width of the Threelegs image! So we can halve the dimensions of it and it should look fine. Since the height is an odd number it won't be perfect, but since it's been resized in half making it a tiny bit shorter proportionately won't even be noticeable. So posting the Threelegs image at 400 x 212 pixels should look great! And hey, it even takes up a nice bit of space to make it look like there's more content!

 

If an image is smaller than 400 pixels wide and going on its own line, then you can just use its native dimensions! They're the intended view, after all! If you've got more images on a line, adjust accordingly. Five 80 x 80 item images can fit on a single line. However, if you're squishing things to resize them and get them all on one line, don't. Just split them into two lines. The only exception to this is Beauty Contest winners- those can be squished a little funny to fit three on the single line since they link to the actual winning entry which is always going to be much larger and nicer.

 

Use your best judgement! Make it look pretty! Take a step back when you've got the news laid out and ask yourself "If I saw an update formatted like this on *insertsiteYOUenjoy* what would I think of it?" In theory there should be a way to preview the news on your end before setting it live, but we won't mind if you mess up a few times and have to adjust the live news real fast after posting because you realized something looked bad. If anything, we'd rather you fix it real fast instead of trying to ignore it.

 

I don't think you all are in any ways used to having a userbase that's always watching what you're up to. And there will be people who complain about everything, but if you're putting in effort, we will see that! We'll see it, and take note, and those of us who are capable of calmly evaluating things will use it when people complain- "Okay, yeah, that messed that up, but they fixed it later! And last week the news looked really nice!"- so always, always, always put your best foot forward. We're expecting some mess ups along the way. We're cool with those. What matters is how you fix those mess ups, and how you respond and adjust when the userbase speaks up and says "This isn't going to fly"

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No way! The NT is going away for good? That's awful! :( Granted I rarely knew/kept track of when it would be released, but I DID like the editorial section. None of my thoughts ever made the cut, but it was still kind of fun to try. Does this mean that one more avatar is going by the wayside? :( Man, first the Random Contest, and now the NT, this blows bubbles... Toxic, acid rain-style bubbles.

 

I like the list hrtbrk, gives them some ideas on what's NORMAL for Neopets users. THEIR CUSTOMERS, I must point out. And it's JUST GOOD BUSINESS to keep your customers happy. That being said I didn't realize that TNT released roughly 10 items a week, I'd think they could walk that down a little bit maybe. With thousands of items already, their imagination pools might start to dry up, but maybe they could build up to 10.. Other than that, I agree with the checklist, I'd personally like to see the Battledome finished. It's been in BETA for what, around 2 years? Ok, at least some progress, like with the prizes being displayed after battles, instead of having to check the inventory to find out how many items you got for one battle, if you got any. Would sure make chronicling the prizes a bit easier, certainly quicker. ;)

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As someone who wants and feels a compulsion to collect items of a certain type, it drives me crazy when so many items are released a week. While I'm not sure if it's the right idea, maybe updating item images instead of/in addition to adding new items might work. The one thing I've always wanted since clothing became wearable is updating all items listed as "clothing" to be wearable. I realize this would take an enormous amount of work and may not even be a viable option, but I think it might be easier than trying to come up with new items all the time.

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No where did they ever say that the NT was ending for good, so we should stop jumping to that conclusion and spreading that information around as we do not know 100%. :P

This was their announcement:
Hello everyone! Our Neopian Times editor is on an extended leave of absence. Although the Neopian Times will return at a later date, today's issue has been put on hold. Please check back next week for more updates regarding the Times. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to find a resolution in a timely manner.

As someone who wants and feels a compulsion to collect items of a certain type, it drives me crazy when so many items are released a week. While I'm not sure if it's the right idea, maybe updating item images instead of/in addition to adding new items might work. The one thing I've always wanted since clothing became wearable is updating all items listed as "clothing" to be wearable. I realize this would take an enormous amount of work and may not even be a viable option, but I think it might be easier than trying to come up with new items all the time.

I don't see how it's hard work or difficult for them to be adding in morphing potions of colours that aren't available or adding new petpet colours. These are typically the things they add in as "filler" for news. Other than that, it's a themed set of items (instruments, food, plushies etc)

 

This is their job and if they are finding things like that difficult or if they are struggling to come up with something that basic and well, generic... then... they should probably be finding a new job.

 

Keep in mind that we used to find these items weeks in advance before they were actually released in the news. If these little items are too much or too overwhelming then I don't have much confidence in the art/content departments.

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Jumpstart, there's one thing you guys can improve that TNT were terrible at!

 

Finish stuff that's in beta! Or at least remove signs like 'in beta' 'coming soon' etc from stuff that's been around for years!

 

Lenny Conundrum was I think for a lot of users something we tried (and failed :p) at every week, it's sad to see it stuck forever on one puzzle. If you plan to eventually restart these kind of things, then in the meantime just something like a 'closed/TBC' picture and "I'm off researching some new fiendish conundrums for you smarty pants. Keep your thinking caps on and watch this space!" would just make it feel more like a proper hiatus and less like half the site's been randomly abandoned.

 

Overall I think if you're finding everything's too much then space things out. If you can't have perfection then I'd rather have half the content 100% right and on time than having 100% of the content occasionally at some point in the near-distant future.

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They need to do something. A site event would be great, or at least do some scores galore. I'm sad that nothing seems to be going on. Hopefully they read message boards and take heed.

i doubt they care....most likely they thought neopets would be a goldmine and expected the cash to take flowing in

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