Make Your Own Virtual Pet

Tamagotchis, Neopets, N-Gage Creebies... some of these are more or less popular than others, but they are all types of virtual pets that can provide hours of fun, engagement, and satisfaction. When you can't have a pet that you physically have to take for a walk or feed, you can enjoy the company and loyalty of a virtual pet anytime.

There are a wealth of different virtual pet communities in which you can create a pet. Make sure you choose the one that's right for you, based on its different features and characteristics. They each have specialties, though many of them share a lot of the same features. Take some time to look at each one separately.

Be sure before you create or adopt a pet that you can dedicate enough time to its care and well being. Oftentimes the way you treat your pet will greatly determine how it develops and what kind of pet it will be. Show it love and it will be a great friend for you!

Even though each virtual pet community is different, many of them share the same features that engage visitors and keep them coming back for more.

A choice of a pet: There are often many different virtual pets to choose from. There are usually dogs and cats and other common pets, but sometimes there are hamsters, horses, birds, llamas, fish, snakes, and even creatures that hardly resemble actual animals. Sometimes you can create your own pet, while at other times you can adopt pets that already exist, that may have been neglected or were created by the virtual pet community.

For instance, with Neopets, you have many characteristics to choose from for your pet. Sometimes a pet with certain characteristics may be suggested for you, but these are the traits to choose for your pet:

• Species - 42 different virtual pets (unless if there are special edition ones available)

• Color - It can be green, yellow, blue, or red

• Name - Anything between 3 and 20 characters long... be nice with it!

• Gender

• Location - Choose whether it likes to live in a forest, sea, river, jungle, town, city, mountain, or wilderness

• Hobby - Does it like to gather food, explore the land, make friends, hunt for treasure, bully others, or read and learn?

• Greeting - Does it greet others by acting friendly, smiling sweetly, approaching with caution, stand its grown, run away, insult from afar, attack if the other is weaker, or try to make friends?

• Stats - It is equally great in strength, defense, and movement? Does it have greater strength and least movement? Does it have greatest defense? Each species has a few different sets of stats to choose from. Also, your pet will always have changing health (Neopet health is on a scale from 1 to 9); mood; hunger level; age; and level. You can even create more than one pet... just make sure you don't neglect the one you already have!

Points and Cash: You are given points and cash often once you join a virtual pet community. You can use these to buy items or improve the well being of your pet. Depending on the community, you can earn points by playing games or battling pets, and get cash by selling old items you don't want anymore.

With Marapets, you can earn different kinds of currency by completing certain types of tasks; earn Marapoints (MP) by playing games, chatting on the forums, completing quests, and randomly exploring the site; earn Baspinar Points (BP) by battling pets; and earn Restock Points (RP) by restocking items from most of the shops in the different parts of Marada, the land of Marapets.

Just be active in the many parts of the virtual pet community to earn as many points as possible. But be careful because sometimes something unexpected may happen to your points or cash... like having them be stolen by community pests!

You can also deposit and withdraw points and/or cash from the banks available in the community. Use them for safekeeping, as you can with a safety deposit box as well.

Items: There is basically any type of item you can imagine, with such random objects like exploding coconuts, wings of flame, and Shenkuu Performer Wardobe. They can be categorized in groups like New Items, Most Popular Items, and Items No One Would Ever Want To Buy, Seriously (these are featured on Neopets).

Once you have your virtual pet, you are often granted with complimentary items for your pet. With Neopets, you are given a new player's guide; a Newbie Pack with objects like toys, food, books or weapons; Neopoints; and Neocash. With your cash, you can buy more items for your pet. In some communities, like with Marapets and Rescreatu pets, you can trade your items as well.

Don't forget about dressing up your new virtual pet! This is something a lot of people have fun with. With Neopets, once you've created your virtual pet, you can customize it in a few ways:

• View and sort items - Choose which items it can wear in its closet, or see what it already is wearing. Sort items by species (items only wearable by your pet's species), zone (the area the item is worn in, such as hat or shoes), or rarity (the value of rarity assigned to the item).

• Apply the item - Put it on your pet!

• Remove the item - Take it off your pet.

• Save your work - You can save the different outfit combinations once you've created them.

• Get more items - Go shopping for more things for your pet!

There are often different shops for you to visit and purchase items for your pet. In Neopia - the land of Neopets - there are different stores, lodges, and other facilities, even banks and restaurants! Neopia comprises of Neopia Central, Neopian Bazaar, and Neopian Plaza, each with different places to shop.You can also go to auctions to purchase more items, or trading posts. Use your cash at all of these places!

Finally, you can even make a home for your virtual pet! In Neopia, you can apply for a plot of land and begin construction after your application is approved. Purchase furniture and other items for your pet's home after it's done! Also, with Marapets, you can stash your items in an attic so it doesn't have to carry all of them with it all the time. You can even make sure your pet's attic or home has a security system.

Battles: This is something that is growing in different virtual pet communities. You can battle Neopets, Marapets, Cyopets and more. In Neopia, there are different battledomes in which to battle. You can target and choose who to battle based on their stats (played, won, lost, drawn, score, difficulty level, etc.). Check your own stats and equipment before you start to make sure it's a good idea to battle.

Games: Each virtual pet community has a variety of games to play for points. With Neopets, the games are categorized into groups like board games, card games, sports, educational, adventure, arcade classic, for kids, showcase games, top games, strategy, quiz games, word games, puzzles, multiplayer, luck/chance, and most challenging. Choose which type of game to play based on your skills to win more points!

Clubs: Many virtual pet communities have lots of clubs for you and your pet to join. With Marapets, users create clubs that anyone can be a part of; some include Fuzzy Friends, Battlers Union, Marapark, Marapets Institute of Art, Marapets Gold Members, and more.

Forums and Message Boards: Peruse the forums or explore the message boards to learn more about the virtual pet community you have become a part of, make friends, enter contests or shows, purchase or trade items, give ideas or suggestions, join groups, or go on a quest and discover new places. Just make sure that you don't violate the rules of the boards or forums or, in some cases, your account may be permanently frozen!

News: Be sure to visit this section in order to stay abreast of the newest developments in your virtual pet community. See who won battles, what new items are available, and what other nw features have been added in the different parts of the community. With Neopets, they have different news sections, including Latest News, New in NC Mall, New Games, The Neopian Times, Contests and Spotlights, and Coming Soon. Use the News section to get a one-up on others and stay on top of the latest things.

Donations: Sometimes you can up your status or earn more points or cash by giving real money, which the virtual pet sponsor will consider a donation to the community. Be careful which community you donate to, and make sure it seems legitimate enough to give your payment information.

Other Features: Some communities have certain features that others may not. Neopets has a Neovision section where you can watch short videos from other Web sites or ones that people submitted, trailers, an more; enter a contest or look through the archives. Also, you can check out the weather in Neopia or look at the Neopedia to make sure you understand the terms involved in exploring Neopia.