31 replies to this topic

[PuzzleWarrior]

I'm trying to get back in rhythm of things for school before it starts so wanted to have a debate over what type of system runs neopets.

I think that Neopets is not a capitalist society. But is run with the ideology of a communist government and functions like a socialist society. Why is Neopets communist because Neopets highly stresses the fact that "everyone is equal here," which is the entire purpose of communism. But how can some thing be both communist and socialist at the same time? The socialism comes into game with the business aspect of Neopets. The main companies are ran by the government while the citizens run smaller, private business. The Citizens are us, the government is TNT. TNT controls the shops in Neopia, while the private businesses are user-run. Neo users can haggle the government prices a bit but they all have set prices. This gives us restocking,where profits can be made because of the market demands over take with the supplies of the shops. The user-run shops operate on a sort of free-market system a bit like the special trading areas setup in china but over there special trading areas have tax incentives and the opportunity to pay lower tariffs. Where on neopets we don't have to pay taxes or tariffs, the only regulations the user-shops have is a limit on price. If you want to get more neopoints then you can get in the shops you take it to auction or put a lot up in the trading post, of course the you can get around having to barter in the trading posts by just paying neopoints and giving an a junk item to get want you want.

Is neopets is wannabe communist society or something else entirely?

[Maeghan]

I just wish RL economy was like the neopets one.

Where you could feasibly stand in a store, a rare item appears, everyones throat punching for it and you turn around and sell it for 1 BILLION DOLLARS.

I would so get my throat punching on for that.

[Honey]

Why is Neopets communist because Neopets highly stresses the fact that "everyone is equal here," which is the entire purpose of communism.

...but some are more equal than others. For example those who buy NC or are premium.

[Waser Lave]

No, it's not.

[PuzzleWarrior]

I just wish RL economy was like the neopets one.

Where you could feasibly stand in a store, a rare item appears, everyones throat punching for it and you turn around and sell it for 1 BILLION DOLLARS.

I would so get my throat punching on for that.

Dude if that ever happen I would be so Adrenalin fill when ever I had out shopping my body would be twitching nonstop.

[PuzzleWarrior]

I've ponder the fiscal nature of the economy. Ponder if you will, where do neopoints come from. Trading, making money is just redistribution, neopoints are not created.

No, neopoints are created, much like capitalism, by the stress and toil of the workers, in our case the workers are the people playing the flash games. Flash games, keyquest, stock market, these are the basis for all of the billions of neopoints that float in the neoeconomy, each 100mil spent on a M-Skull, those points were made one 1000 at a time, by someone.

Well I done know that when we spend are neopoints at Neopia's shops they disappear from the economy to make it more stable TNT said once it in a editorial they put out.

[Silver]

I'd say no to a communist community; since if it were communist, we each would be issued vouchers for items, some of which wouldn't be in stock; and each be given a daily/weekly/monthly NP allowance. The same allowance. I'm hungover, don't know if this makes complete sense.

[Freidmont]

Neopets does have a few communist ideas like government owned shops and controlled speech, but by and large it's capitalist with no restrictions on user stores, trades, a stock market etc. (even if the stocks are rigged)

[Cript]

No, it's not.

Tell it to the soup kitchen, healing fountain, or the giant omelette you hippie!

Only thing missing is TNT taking money from everything you buy and sell and using it to offer free training to poorer accounts.

The Right Answer: Neopets' economy is a Utopia - everyone has enough to feed their pets, have them be healthy, etc but there are no taxes.

[Waser Lave]

Tell it to the soup kitchen, healing fountain, or the giant omelette you hippie!

A capitalist economy would have more use for a soup kitchen than a communist one in its present form really and I bet North Korea wish they had a healing fountain and giant omelette available to them.

[Cript]

A capitalist economy would have more use for a soup kitchen than a communist one in its present form really and I bet North Korea wish they had a healing fountain and giant omelette available to them.

I need to remember communist != socialist.

[iargue]

Absolutely not.

Communism has nothing at all to do with "everyone is equal" at best, that is socialism. Within communism, those who are in power are better then everyone who is not in power, but everyone who is not in power is equal. All labor that is done is done for the benefit of the people in power, and everyone else gets just enough of that share to continue surviving, while the central government takes the rest for their own needs. This shows nothing at all like Neopets, where the government takes nothing for their own needs, and at the same time gives nothing back in return. Neopets does not exhibit ths because they do not force the players to do the work, and then give them part of the credit while taking the rest.

Socialism is (In a base form) about removing the government, and becoming a society run by the people, for the people. Socialism focus's around making it so no one is working for the benefit of others, without benefiting from it themselves. The concept behind this is to make it so that everything positive impacts more then one person. This does not reflect neopets either. Nothing that I do (Unless I give away items, or donate to charity) benefits you. training my pet, playing games, purchasing items. None of that benefits anyone but myself (Unless I am buying from a user).

Neopets is a perfect capitalist society, in the concept that the government handles all production, and provides all materials at a lower then market cost. They do not require any taxes to do any work, are flexible on the price that they charge, and are not out to gain any kind of provide. This provides a central and even ground for anyone to get started working at, and provides all of the benefits of a capitalist society, meaning that you can get rich and gain as much money as you please. This method reduces the common flaw of capitalism, which is the exploitation of the worker. Because neopoints are limitless and easy to get, and any can acquire the same goods, it comes down to the persons own economics, and proper control of supply and demand.

[iargue]

Except of course, neopets does a terrible job at providing protection under the law, allows a huge criminal class to prey upon the poor workers (the game players are the workers).

Resources are not limitless.

within the world of Neopets, resources are limitless, unless Neopets chooses to make them no longer limitless (Retired).

Neopets charges no taxes, thus protection comes upon your own risk.

[Mishelle]

Sloth and King Skarl have both taken taxes from me this week, I'm just sayin

[8143FF763271]

people let's acknowledge the fact that goods in neopets do not work in accordance to the same principles that they work IRL until they hit the user market so drawing comparisons to IRL economic systems is silly. The most insightful thing that has been said here about Neopia's economy:

I just wish RL economy was like the neopets one.

Where you could feasibly stand in a store, a rare item appears, everyones throat punching for it and you turn around and sell it for 1 BILLION DOLLARS.

I would so get my throat punching on for that.

[StrikeFreedom]

The reason inflation doesn't skyrocket in Neopets is that increased goods supply (Draik Eggs restocked or from dailies) balances the money supply (games). On the grand scale of things freezing is insignificant since probably under 5% of Neopets users cheat.

Also regarding: in Neopia the gov't provides material at a cheaper than market cost, a better analogy is that the "gov't"/"Main Shop" is a firm that isn't incentivized by profit and simply sells final goods (not materials) at below market price. Other firms make a business profiting from it.

[Maeus]

...but some are more equal than others. For example those who buy NC or are premium.

If you look at real examples of communism there were always those who were more equal than others. So yes, In many ways with a "state" controlled economy it could be. Though in my opinion it is not a communist or even socialist economy. Though it is clearly not a capitalist economy.

The problem being that there is not a real life structure in which good are produced from nothing and money does not have sinks (e.g. wheel of extravagance) like Neopets does. But if we were nitpick I would call it a Quasi-Capitalist sosciety as it is a case of the harder you work (or bot), the better the return financially

[MEGAKICK]

I just wish RL economy was like the neopets one.

Where you could feasibly stand in a store, a rare item appears, everyones throat punching for it and you turn around and sell it for 1 BILLION DOLLARS.

I would so get my throat punching on for that.

I only wonder what that shop might look like if 95% of the people standing around (or throat punching) were actually Abrosia bots.


Woman walks into store with her two kids
Child 1 - "Mommy mommy! I want that new book! 'Kami's collection of neg rep'd posts Vol 1'
* 20 people throat punching each other in front of cashier
Mom - "Nevermind kids... Looks like Abrosia is camping this store"