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geekify is notorious for not being a very good company from a customer perspective. i'm wondering why they partnered with them to begin with.

I just know that a dedicated fan with a penchant for TTRPGs could probably make a game 1000% times better than whatever the Geekify one is going to be :/ Less trying to be a hater and more point out that the true fans really understand what Neopets is about and are amazing at creating things...and this doesn't seem to be it from what we've heard so far.

Can someone explain to me the Roo Island one? I genuinely don't understand it. Is... All of Roo Island queer? (Then if so, send me there with my fellow LGBTQ folks). The bracelet one I can understand as offensive.

Production sounds like it is not going well, unfortunately.

TNT was against all this...and froze people! YET they make money off a game. smh

@coryldork I think it's just the 'not their kind' but I feel that could be interpreteted in many ways - all of them meanspirited anyway

I'm gay and I'm more offended I don't have the Avatar I backed $1 for yet.

Geekify's products are excellent (Love my coins/pins/cloth map), but their customer service is awful. One time, I inquired about the status of an order by emailing them. 4 weeks later, I had no reply, and I tried again. Two weeks after that, still no reply, so I resorted to asking on the kickstarter, saying it was 6 weeks and no reply on their website, and that didn't instill confidence.

I finally got an email back shortly after that comment, saying my comment was "uncalled for" and demanding I delete it, that they were just "busy during the con season".

Too busy to reply to a support ticket about a $50+ order for over 6 weeks? Yeah... okay. And I tried TWICE for WEEKS to use a normal method of contact, but they weren't replying, so I had to use an alternate method. Anyways, my point is: Geekify doesn't seem to be very good at person-to-person interaction, so it's likely that this incident didn't even come off as implied homophobia, due to their lack of social skills.

If my emails changed since August 2024 but my neopets usernames stayed the same and I’ve updated my email with neopets, will i still get my avatar?

They’ve had 18 months to just drop the avatar smh…. What a bad look for TNT AGAIN

Also, need to address this part, and disagree with the players on this:
"Other debate was around how battle-focused the game seemed to be, as opposed to Neopia's more pacifistic activities like spinning wheels and fishing."

Do- do people not pay attention to plots? Most of Neopet's biggest story arcs involved wars/fights. Did they expect a tabletop animal crossing simulator? It's an adventure TTRPG...

I refuse to buy from Geekify, they have the worst customer service and online presence.

I don't mind it being battle-oriented. It's a TTRPG. But it raises the point that a board game would be super cool to create something not battle oriented... Won't happen but I could easily see various options. A natural would be a real board game version of KeyQuest. But I could spitball a NeoHomes board game, a petpet collecting one, etc.

I do find those comments homophobic which isn't a shocker.

Since when has Neopia been pacifist?

"Other debate was around how battle-focused the game seemed to be, as opposed to Neopia's more pacifistic activities like spinning wheels and fishing."


Hmm… what? Neopets, a pacifist game? Where?
Battledome, numerous battle plots, The Battle of the Obelisk, Sloth’s history with the Grundos… Are those people playing Neopets, or are they just playing dumb??
Also, you don’t NEED to battle. The whole point of a TTRPG is to build your own world however you want. But wanting to remove that whole aspect just because YOU don’t agree with its so self-centered I'd be ashamed of saying it out loud.

@bacon while obviously BD and plot battle is a big part of the site/war lore, there is still a whole other game to be played on neopets if uninterested in that. it really is unique in the sense that everyone plays differently.

@dynohawk Sameeeee! I think people are being too sensitive about something that isn’t a big deal — it’s barely even a deal

This is 100% just a corporate CYA statement trying to throw a licensee under the bus while not accepting any responsibility on their part. Lol Typical Neopets

@duskshadowbrony
@icemask
@bacon
@drougy

The issue is that the Kickstarter campaign promised that this isn't a battle-oriented game. Just to quote some text from their campaign:

"Neopets boasts a wide range of mini-games for fun and profit, and entertainment. Have your party drop you at the Cheat! tables or Grarrl Keno and have them promise to come get you when you either run out of money or when they've finished running their errands. Stare slack-jawed at the Wheel of Monotony while you wait for...literally anything to happen! Play Poogle Solitaire and earn some daily Neopoints. There's so many games of chance and skill to try your hand at, and some can offer some valuable prizes or a break from the day-to-day doldrums of adventuring."

"At the heart of Neopia lies a booming gig economy (unregulated, of course). From hunting down knowledge for the Brain Tree, feeding rare snacks to the Esophagor, or cashing coupons at the Employment Agency, it seems like everyone needs something. Some tasks may unlock new pieces of plot, while some might just be the busywork that pays the bills in today's fast-paced world. An enterprising Neopian can always make a quick buck, and prove themselves indispensable to a grateful task-giver.

Fancy yourself an entrepreneur? Then open your own store! Shopkeeping, scalping, and item flipping are time-honored traditions in Neopia, and there's money to be made off the locals, so long as you stay good with the Shop Wizard. A little passive income never hurt anyone!"

"For those without a mean bone in their body, the system offers a way to play through pacifistically through any number of non-violent approaches - after all, how will The Way of the Fist help those with no hands? Help others to just get along, see the errors of their ways, or get the help they need through a more diplomatic approach and a softer touch. A little kindness often goes a long way, and sometimes reason will see it through."

When a combat system was mentioned during their fundraising, they promised a much more expansive game. The current version is essentially a bait-and-switch. This is why some people are angry at the combat-focused aspect of this beta version.

@stormmonarch

Hmm, I see. Then yes, I fully understand why people are upset. I must have missed this part of the campaign. I retract my earlier statement on this matter.

@drougy - Unless you're LGBTQ then you wouldn't understand. It is offensive and needs to be rectified.

Also one of those quotes mention someone being intoxicated. Surely, that's also against the standards!

Is the Yurble quote implying that Neopets in Roo Island are, in general, gay? Or is this a "neopetified" real life phrase?

I don‘t understand what the fuss is all about, excited to get my avataaar

> his employer didn't seem to be a Roo Island kind of person

oh my GOD i'm a queer person and I laughed so hard at this. why is this needed?????

"Other debate was around how battle-focused the game seemed to be, as opposed to Neopia's more pacifistic activities like spinning wheels and fishing."

like gambling

OK....I don't have ANY intension of paying Neo mo money! No idea about the game. Is this just another thing with bull in it? And why are there no bull pets in neo! Just leftovers.

Agreeing with the comments saying that they should hire a fan or group of fans to write the TTRPG; not only would actual combat be probably more robust/streamlined if a campaign wants to go that route (because let's face it: the plots are pretty violent), but the more pacifist games would actually be plausible! Not to mention that the inserting of real-world issues (like homophobia or sexism) could be done at the DM's and party's discretion and not actually be weirdly put into the source material.
(Also, I bought a Neopets pin from Geekify at a con once and it took them two or so months for customer service to email an item code since it didn't come with one... And that was with prompting. So yeah, their customer service team is sub-par.)

I wish I could've gotten an avatar from this, but I didn't even know about this kickstarter till maybe two weeks ago, when some folks started talking about the mess. I didn't even go to the kickstarter so I didn't even know an avatar was involved.

Darn! I'm an avatar collector, but have zero interest in TTRPG stuff. To the point that I had to learn what TT stood for, lol.

I really don't see how people are reading the first one as homophobic without context. We don't even know if these lines are paired together. In the second, the character described has seemingly negative opinions about femininity, which isn't inherently bad to include in a work of fiction. It sounds like this character isn't meant to be a pleasant person.

I'm queer, before anyone tries to say I don't understand. I do. I get it. But I think this is reaching and needs more context to be properly judged.

Missed my thoughts on the Roo Island line. I took it to mean a serious person who hates fun. The alternative interpretation is very funny, but likely not what was meant.

Now, referring to a male character as a Faerieland type (or not), on the other hand, would make way more sense for this interpretation and would understandably ruffle feathers.

I’m a lesbian and personally I think the copy isn’t particularly concerning. I can certainly see why someone might have an issue with it, but I feel not properly paying the copywriter or Geekify not delivering on their goods is more concerning.

From what I've seen, most Neopets merchandise seems to have so many quality control issues that I'm surprised people even buy anything they put out nowadays. While some of their recent plushies are cute, I'm personally disinterested in purchasing anything they have until they stop going with the cheapest possible manufacturers.

i also took the Roo Island line to mean a strait-laced person who hates silly things

@drougy "Unless you're LGBTQ then you wouldn't understand" I find THAT statement offensive. I don't have to be LGBTQ to be able to understand how someone who is LGBTQ feels. People are discriminated against for all sorts of reasons, not just their sexual orientation. Discrimination is discrimination, no matter the reason. Disrespect is disrespect. And stupidity is stupidity.

I also agree with chevrine. I took the Roo Island comment to mean a person who just isn't into a carnival-type of fun. After all, Roo Island is represented by a merry-go-round. Everybody on the planet isn't anti-LGBTQ, people. Please stop assuming that we are.

As a backer, reader of the beta doc, and talked with the Geekify staff via discord somewhat briefly, i have to say that Geekify is doing their best, but not everything is working out in a timely manner, and TNT is looking over a lot of their docs, if not all. While a lot of folks are very upset, disrupted, confused, or other emotions about the rpg, or even misinformed in some regards, the game afaik is still being worked on. Backers have been frequently giving feedback, and there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. That said i am just a player of Neopets and a backer and should not be taken as gospel or irrefutable fact. I am sad that this exploded in such a way, and still hope the game survives. Word.

@ mewrocks_10

there are dozens of us on the discord going "does this exist in neopia? if so, how? if not, how can we make it exist and fit in?"

I agree with you btw, just saying there's lot of us who want to build the lore without some of this

Hm, while I get how those lines could be slanted to being homophobic, I can also see that not being the case.

* "...didn't seem to be a Roo Island kind of person..." is the more vague one, I'd even argue a stretch unless confirmed for certain it was homophobic. For those wondering how it could be taken as homophobic, Roo Island iconography has often been very bright & colorful, sometimes rainbow. On the Explore Map not only is Roo Island connected to Neopia Central by a rainbow (I don't think its an actual rainbow bridge but it is still a detail on the map) but the border of the hover over icon for Roo Island is a repeating pattern of red, green, blue, & yellow. In addition, while their "official colors" are Red & Green, the Altador Cup's Roo Island team's logo and costumes have that red, green, blue, & yellow color scheme. While all the colors are meant to show Roo Island is a fun & entertaining place, for those of the LGBTQ+ community I can see the being drawn to Roo Island's colorful representation. Still, as @chevrine said above, thinking about the line I think it is meant to be taken as the person being talked about is just stern/serious. The wording is important here. Replace "Roo Island" with "Queer" and I think even you'll agree that's an odd way to state that. Had the sentence been something like "the employer was said to be the Roo Island type" than, yeah, I'd say that could be taken as RI being used a replacement term for queer. But how it's written now? I think no harm was meant.

* "... if the boss is as scary (...), they probably wouldn't be caught dead wearing a bracelet that was so... feminine" is certainly sexist, which isn't great either. Homophobic though? From what little context I get from the paragraph, it's not that the character doesn't want to be perceived homosexual, but rather I feel the take is the more childish (and once again sexist) "I'm a boy so if I had something that's girly it's going to make me look weak/non-threatening".

(Continued from my last post)

The line should be given a rewrite: "...they probably wouldn't have worn such a gaudy bracelet for their first encounter".

Though what I'm more curious about is that incident where part of the document was replaced by "This work has not been paid for by John Taylor of Geekify". Sounds to me there's a bit of worker compensation issue going on behind scenes. I'm going to assume the removed work was one the presumed employee worked on that they're still waiting compensation on. If true, then why weren't they? And if they weren't, are there other parts of the project which proper compensation hasn't been given? If you worked on something you should be paid for it, otherwise its stolen labor, and if parts of the Neopets TTRPG is this then that's gonna leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

is "roo island person" the new "friend of dorothy"

"roo island person" feels the equivalent to me as saying like "she's not a Canada kind of person." at what point was "roo island" any kind of stand-in for queerness in Neopia...? Roo Island is... a carnival land. May as well read "not a Six Flags kind of person" because it's basically a theme park.

now the hypothetical "Faerieland" one someone mentioned earlier makes a lot more sense to me because of "fairy" being a real-world term that has a connection to queerness.

I am kicking myself for upgrading my OG avatar only backing to this project; Geekify has continuously disappointed customers regarding Neopets merch, and I don't recommend them at all.

I am more concerned about the $2 dollars I donated to the project in order to get the item that gives an Avatar.... It has been more than a year already and there is no sign of the reward.

This is coming from a non-binary, gay guy:

Whether or not the lines are homophobic or sexist or not... I just wanna point out that the characters saying them ARE THE BAD GUYS
Not to be insensitive about how others feel about alleged homophobia/sexism... But people, let alone RPG villains often do... Villainous stuff, you know??? That's why they're villains/bad guys...
The fact people are losing their mind over some possibly homophobic/sexist euphemisms when the site-lore has characters attempting Genocides (Bringer of Night, Xandra), cause people to undergo body-horror mutations (Mr. Krawley), evil spirits that cause kingdoms to go to war with each other in an endless cycle of war and death (The Three)... I think people are being overly dramatic bc a mean character said something mean

Battle-Focused Game:
So, yeah, this was always going to be an issue, especially since most TTRPGs mechanics are based off of Dungeon & Dragons (either copying close to it or finding ways to different yet still in the same ballpark). And it makes sense. Like how many people would want to play a TTRPG where they're just going around doing their dailies? Like, you got the real life site for that experience. If you're playing a TTRPG you want to be part of a campaign that sets you and your characters on a grand adventure. Sure, that doesn't mean there has to be fighting, but the thing with TTRPGs is its easier to write-up and get players more invested in a D&D fighting scenario that coming up with a puzzle that's easy to explain, gives everyone in the party a part to do, and feel satisfying to the group to complete. What sounds more fun to do on your turn:

* Choosing which attacks/equipment/abilities that your character has trained/received/built against an opponent and rolling to see whether your character comes off looking cool, the opponent fierce, or something silly happens.
* You're told (or shown if the DM made something visual) a device/mural/thing with the puzzle on it and hope you roll good intelligence/investigation/perception checks to know what needs to be done. Best case scenario you do and you press/pull/place the puzzle piece and that's your turn. Worst is you don't and you're left doing random pressing/pulling/placing either getting no where, accidentally doing what you need to do, completely mess things up, or the DM throws you a bone.

Don't get me wrong, there is a certainly a place for puzzles in TTRPGs, as well as adventuring to many lands to do non-fighting tasks. But fighting I feel for most would be the most engaging element where what you've learned/trained/gotten from said non-fighting tasks can have the most obvious and possibly satisfying use.

Adding to the previous commentary...
This is also a TTRPG and if the group is particularly sensitive about that kind of topic, the dialogue can be altered, you don't have to follow the book to the letter

And speaking about sensitivity... It's so tiring to see people being so reactionary about the mention of sexuality in the beta testing document
I think it should have been worded differently, but ask any experienced TTRPG player that is at least somewhat progressive and they'll tell you that session zero usually discusses thresholds for players and Do's and Dont's about what people feel comfortable or uncomfortable with
If you have arachnophobia for example, you bring that up in session zero so the DM can adapt the campaign and maybe remove any mention of spiders or replace spider enemies with a similar enemy
Same with sexuality... Now, let's not be reactionary puritans... Sexuality involves everything from attraction, hand-holding, to anything else not neopets-appropriate... That's also something that people usually will discuss to avoid crossing the line. If someone in your party is repulsed by any of it, and they think even kissing is two much, they'll bring it up in that session. Not many people know that this is common TTRPG etiquette, so I think adding it to the rulebook or the beta document was fine, just... I think that they could have worded it WAY better, and lo-and-behold, clearly TNT didn't approve that wording

@bacon & drougy
"Since when has Neopia been pacifist?"
"Neopets, a pacifist game? Where?"

Well first they didn't say Neopia/Neopets was pacifist. They said "as opposed to Neopia's more pacifistic activities". Obviously there's more activities to do that aren't battle-focused or would lead to a battling campaign. Just look through the Site Events, just as there's many where there is fighting, there is also many which is just playing games, fetching items for a quest, or a number of other activities.

Now, as I said above, to me I do kind of find it difficult having a campaign JUST be that. These are activities to do ON the campaign to receive either money, supplies, equipment, abilities, training, or a plot mcguffin; but if you're playing a TTRPG I'd think you'd want to be on a bigger adventure; one where YOU and your party are the heroes.

@ stormmonarch:
If you don't mine I'd like to go over some of those non-combat examples they gave to explain my point further:

* Being left to play Cheat!/Grarrl Keno: Okay, that's not an activity, that's a quick gag/distraction for one or some of the party members to put them aside while one/others get into a more involved thing like talking to an NPC. Because is the DM actually going to pull out a deck to play a game of Cheat! or pull up a personal keno rng? No, infact in most TTRPGs I've seen when they have their characters play cards or other games of chance they just have them roll the dice to determine how the game went and/or if they noticed something.
* Stare at the Wheel of Monotony, anything can happen: So this just sounds like a setup TO an adventure, not something a part of it. You're spinning the Wheel of Monotony, your mind wanders, and then get swept up into something else (which either happened or is revealed at the end to be "just a dream" as you wake up to get your Wheel of Monotony results).
* Play Poogle Solitaire: As I said, do you want the DM to actually have you play Poogle Solitaire? No, you're just going to roll for results and winning earns you some NP. This is a quick activity done either because you're at a casino/Games Room and decide to earn some money/kill time, or you're playing Poogle Solitaire for another plot-related reason and thus there's more to this game then it appears.
* "Many chance/skill games, some offering prizes or a break from the day-to-day doldrums of adventuring": Okay, so all this is meant to be a side thing to the main adventure. Though, I think they're trying to apply too much of the user experience here. Yeah, on the WEBSITE you play games to earn prizes and break from boredom on a day-to-day. However this a TTRPG, you're supposed to be on a big adventure that in-story is already taking you away from your daily routine. (TBC)

Also, not only are you not likely playing the campaign every, usually time is of the essence. If the adventure takes you someplace that has these activities, sure, you'll go and play them, but once you leave you likely aren't going back even if a day has passed in-story. "Wait guys, I know we just left Mystery Island because we got the sigil hidden there, but we need to go back to play Tombola again!"
* Brain Tree Quest, Esophagor quest, Faerie Employment Agency: Okay, now these can go eitherway of being a side activity or a setup for a campaign. As a side activity, if you're in the HW, may as well do a quest for Brain Tree & Esophagor cause they're there (Employment Agency less so as you need a specific item to do anything worthwhile, unless you receiving a special coupon for a special request is offered by the DM). As a campaign, they offer interesting ideas which I can see being non-combat, though as I said it's not going to be your run-a-mill daily activity: You're a detective which got a surprise request by the Brain Tree to investigate a series of mysterious deaths it has learned of (and it'll take more then a few Esophagor quests to unveil there secrets). You've been cursed with ever-hunger and now you're only hope is the Esophagor who knows a secret remedy, however he has his own motives as he sends you to fetch food from all over; some ingredients to the cure, other feed the Esophagor's ever-appetite. Seeking to make a small fortune, you decide to become a top quest completer at the Faerieland Employment Agency. But between getting the best deals and figuring which quests are worth using your hard-earned coupons, you learn there's more on behind the agency's reclusive closed doors; will you unravel a conspiracy to manipulate the Neopian economy or join the upper echelons to amass your own fortune?
* Opening & managing a store: That more sounds like an indie game than a TTRPG campaign. For one thing it sounds like a pretty one-person adventure. (TBC)

Yeah, I agree that it requires more context to know if these are actually anti-gay remarks.
They really sound like they hate certain places / tropes and less gender-stereotypical stuff over gay folks.

Also echoing that if the Roo Island was replaced with "Faerieland", it would sound way more anti-gay. As it sounds, they seem to hate fun and games, or maybe just bright colors. Maybe they're just sad beige folks.


These do sound like villains as well. Especially the "scary boss". And yes, believe it or not, villains will hate...Well, anyone they want. That's why they're villains.

TLDR: Not everything is gonna be something worth getting upset over right away.



I'm also more offended for those who bought the kickstarter and merch prior, only to have horrible experiences due to the company's clear lack of competence. Same for those who were volunteering to work with this company, only to possibly have their time and efforts wasted...

I think I've actually heard of Neo users working on the project. I wonder if there are any behind the scenes workers can speak of, or if they signed a contract to not say a word...

Like, I guess maybe other players can take the role of creating NPCs to be customers the shopkeeper player has to deal with, but now it sounds like the DM is just sitting back and only occasionally chiming in for things like sudden shifts in the economy or a natural event occurred. Actually they make it sound like running a shop is something you do while out adventuring, once again trying to apply something that makes sense for the website experience to a TTRPG which feels would be awkward to functionally do.
* BTW, even in combat scenarios a DM can offer a non-combat solution. A character with high charisma, wisdom, or intelligence may be able to talk their way out of a situation if the opponent is sentient. If there's a luck stat those with high (or maybe even bad) luck may inadvertently stumble into an alternate solution, distraction, or something else just so happens to interfere. And of course there's the good ol' just running away and/or hiding, a thrilling game of hide-and-seek.
* If you can't imagine how a character without hands can be a "Way of the Fist" monk than you lack imagination.

Now, a thing with a lot of things I just said is that usually it's up the DM to figure these things out. You can make a game of D&D non-combative (making it a crime mystery, diplomatic mission, etc.) but its the DM who is going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. They're going to have to setup the mystery from every angle, make the puzzles (and make sure they make sense), and maybe have to make their own mechanics & rulings. Remember the Rulebook is just a guide, the DM does not need to follow it or can change it as long as the party agrees to go along with it.

@corvuscantum:
Now that's missing context. So the Yurble and Zafara here are bad guys, aka people you're not supposed to agree with or, at the very least, do things you find insensitive. Obviously to each their own, though I don't mind if my bad guys are, how should put this, regressive against certain groups. Because they're BAD guys, we're not suppose to agree with them, we're in conflict with them to stop whatever they're doing for the betterment of everyone.

Also good points about running a Session Zero to not only set the play level everyone should expect (and possibly give them knowledge of the world and their character) but also so players can set boundaries. The DM is all knowing in-game only, they can't actually read your minds in real life (if they did they then wouldn't need to lie about/fudge their dice rolls to mess with you).

I should have just supported at the avatar tier, I knew anything from Geekify was going to be a trainwreck

This is all so unbelievable. I just want my avatar, man

Im so glad Im not the only person confused on how the roo island thing is offensive. I also took it as meaning anti-silly and not in any way anti-gay. I'm also bi so... its not like I wouldn't recognize if it was trying to be offensive?

I also think the anti feminine one is more about anti woman/anti being girly. Like when I was younger I felt anti feminine because I thought being anti-feminine was "cool". Took me a long time to embrace my feminine side.

So to me, honestly, neither of those seem anti-gay but the second one is possibly problematic for being anti-feminine. But also without context... it looked like that was the opinion of a character not like a "correct omniscient narrator" so IDK. We have to be careful- we should be offended by actually offensive things and not everything that COULD be seen as offensive.

@jawsch I don't think being friends with one of the devs makes you qualified to speak on the inner workings of this project. This isn't just a corporate under-the-bus session. Geekify leadership breached their contract, routinely lied to tnt and its own team and the submission hold ups were from them. They didnt start submitting work properly until late last year and it was inconsistent and incoherent at best. No one has to believe me ofc but tnts statement speaks volumes.

@pikachu315111: My point is that, they advertised the game to be less combat-focused during the fundraising. They described non-combat activities at length, and the test version doesn't reflect this vision. It is like a bait-and-switch, and in my opinion, it is reasonable for the backers to get upset.

In hindsight, the developers may have had little or no idea how the TTRPG would be, and just threw the vaguest concepts to the description during the fundraising campaign. That is still bait-and-switch in my opinion.

@uzachiha

Geekify is always "trying their best". I could try my best at playing piano. It doesn't mean someone should pay me to play. And if I got mad if someone paid me to play and gave me some criticism, well that would make me a bad person.

Geekify needs to realize they are bad at their jobs. They simply are. They are bad at deadlines. They are bad at emails. They are bad at having working machines. Everything is constantly bad with them. So at this point, they need to give into being bad at it all. And also they need to accept that they deserve a large amount of criticism. And not let their contractor who is argumentative at every turn be so condescending to paying customers.

this is a complete bait and switch from what was promised. geekify is a horrendous online retailer, and their staff has been passive aggressive and lowkey hostile to folks on the neopets discord server on several occasions that i've personally seen. they took Two (2) years to deliver the complete y25 usukicon bag (not sure why, as the keychain they said was holding delivery up is cheap looking with a terrible paint job). in short, nobody should be surprised by this awful business being awful, and whoever is replying to their backer comments on kickstarter needs to be moved to floor sweeping duty immediately.

I think people take things too seriously and get up and arms and are offended by anything to these days, I personally didn't find these offensive or homophobic at all. I feel people are just searching for a reason to complain these days.

This is the same company that in 2020 sold their first Neopets Advent Calendar collab as burnt stove top "chocolate" made in a rando's filthy kitchen (the instagram post was appalling) for $20 slapped inside a 10 cent pretty Neopets cardboard package. Regardless of COVID logistics, it was a disaster that traumatized patrons that received a dung quality product.

Too much Neopets for today lol

eesh

I know everyone has their own different experiences and views, but I wont lie, neither of those lines come off homophonic. I take "not a roo island type person" in the same vein of "not a city person" or "not a beach person". Roo Island isn't really inherently one way or another, it's more a land of silly critters that has a hodgepodge of different stuff.

As for the "wouldn't be caught dead wearing something feminine", that isn't homophobic. I myself am in the LGBTQ+ community, I am really not interested at all in feminine stuff; skirts, dresses, jewelry. Not wanting to dress masculine/feminen one way or another isn't homophobic at all? I’ll be honest, it's kind of homophobic to think feminine stuff is linked to the LGBTQ+. Someone being comfortable in what they wear is a core thing of the LGBTQ+, being comfortable with yourself and being comfortable enough to wear what makes you happy. If a character finds jewelry offputting for themselves to wear, even with a stat buff, that's very on point for a characterization. That's not homophobic or even really linked to the LGBTQ+ in that regard.

I cant say for how the change in combat and focus of the game style is, cause I do think that's worth an issue. But I do think the homophobic stuff feels more like looking for something else to get mad about. At least in the regards of what is given, it's nothing. If there was more to any of this, then sure it would be worth talking about. But if those lines come off homophobic, I am not sure tabletop or RPG style games are the right game space for some people then.

I used to like Geekify years ago but in my opinion they are not professional enough of a company to handle a project like this. Their wait times for custom items are not what are advertised at all - and there's always excuses. They also generate labels for packages before the items are even pulled - presumably to avoid being punished by Etsy for being behind. I had a back and forth email chain with the owner about a year or two ago and expressed my extreme displeasure, after my shipping information said "label created" for literal weeks on end. I'm not surprised this is turning out to be a disaster.

well i've also had bad experiences with geekify and their customer service so i'm not surprised there's issues. but i can only echo the sentiment that the roo island quote doesn't seem homophobic (i say as a lesbian). bigger issue is not paying your writers. i haven't kept up with the project up until now but i do hope it turns out well, even though i don't think i'll be able to play it anyway since shipping to europe has been crazy expensive for all of the neopets merch so far. i missed out on the monopoly game for this reason too.

I'm gay and I'm more offended that there is another pay to win avatar.

I'm...not really sure I understand the sentiments here for the most part. The lines don't come off as homophobic to me, and uh...I hate to break it to people, but Neopets RPGs have ALWAYS been combat focused. Neoquest? Darkest Faerie? Wand of Wishing? Heck, all of Neopets' plots have a lot of action and combat in them.

Obviously, I know the real issue is that it was advertised as not battle focused and the playtest materials seemed very battle focused, but I mean...maybe that's just an aspect they were focusing on at the time.

Now obviously, the biggest issue I take with this situation is not paying the writers...although clearly, they didn't do a great job either. Whether it was their fault or Geekify or Neopets' fault at some step along the way, they still need to actually be paid for the work they did do. And of course, there's Geekify's reputation and history and I just...agh, even though I don't agree with half the reasons posted here, the other half is still egregious enough for me to get backing out of it.

Still a shame. Hopefully we get that TTRPG experience at some point in the future, though. From a more reputable source. Though personally, I would certainly still like combat to be at least an engaging part of it. xD