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Neopets Gambling Controversy
To "feed" their pets, Neopets players have to win points in a variety of mini-games, including versions of poker and blackjack. Australia has a high rate of gambling problems with poker machines ("pokies"), so when a mother discovered her nine-year-old playing online poker to feed his virtual pet, she approached Today Tonight claiming McDonalds was setting her son up for a life of gambling addiction.
TT aired the story Parents not McHappy over pokie toy and the Neopets message boards went nuts. Meanwhile McDonalds heavied Neopets into banning Australians from the gambling games. Today Tonight must have received a lot of hate mail because the next night came Neopet players fight McDonalds ban, featuring interviews with adult Neopets addicts. But this only increased the outrage on the Neopets boards - they're now trying to squash rumors of McDonalds withdrawing sponsorship altogether, and Neopets shutting down."
... featuring interviews with adult Neopets addicts...
Umm... if ADULTS are getting addicted to Neopets, I think, most likely, that's the least of their problems....
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
At least an 8-hour poker and blackjack session is a good way to keep the kids from viewing hardcore pornography or reading slashdot.
"The idea is that you play punting games to keep your Neopet fed and healthy. If you don't gamble, or worse, lose on the punt, your Neopet starves or is sent off to an orphanage."
Karl Marx and Charles Dickens wrote about that before MacDonalds worked it out.
Parents not McHappy over pokie toy
Funny...whenever I show children my "pokie" toy, the parents aren't too thrilled either...
Geez, if parents are that pissed off about gambling, it's a good thing Neopets didn't go with players being able to pimp out their pets to make some extra cash...
If life is a waste of time and time is a waste of life, let's all get wasted and have the time of our lives.
"There's many, many different species and they're all based on real things, like a Lupe is a dog, a Scorchio is a dragon," Jacqui said.
Favourite quote from the response article
"There's many, many different species and they're all based on real things, [...] a Scorchio is a dragon," Jacqui said."
Hmm, I think they better pull this promotion, some people are having big reality problems here. Or maybe I'm not as familiar with Australian fauna as I thought I was....
Right, because in the real world we get $200 every time we pass "GO."
It's not pointless. Put in your E-mail address and you'll receive lots of interesting messages about how you can enhance your sex life and obtain home mortgages.
Monopoly teaches good money management otherwise you go bankrupt.
:-D
My kids are into this in a major way. One of my daughters got creative with the system. She has a derelict account she uses as a holding entity for her neopoints. This allows her to amass huge amounts of points while her real account can be "on welfare". Great! My daughter is learning how to become a welfare queen and milk the system.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
The educational part for my family came after I won the Neopoint contest. (It was first to get 250,000) My kids lost because they did not understand how the whole Neopia thing worked.
:)
YES! HAHA! How do you like them apples, babies? Faced!
Hmm, I guess this is why I don't have kids.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Do you want slashdot shut down because WE ARE ADVERTISING SLOTS TO OUR 14 YEAR-OLD AUDIENCE?
Peter: I should give ya some beer, it'll go right through you.
Stewie: Oh good, then later we can roll a dubie and watch porn.
Peter: Yeah?
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Yeah... My dad used to holler "Tax collector" and take a big bite out of all of my candy bars. That was also a life lesson.
"One touch of Darwin makes the whole world kin." George Bernard Shaw