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Creative Contests & Spotlight Updates

Posted by Dave on February 25, 2026, 9:52 pm NST

This evening, TNT posted a lengthy update explaining the thinking behind the recently announced creative contest, spotlight, and themed day updates. You may remember last week that the User Lookup Spotlight was abruptly canceled without notice.

The following contests will be having enhancements:

Mystery Pic: Integration with the Companion app
Customisation Spotlight: Themes, capped submissions, voting changes, prize improvements
Beauty Contest: Restrictions on resubmitting winners, file size bump
Petpet Protection League: Improvements to the script that processes winners, after a pause on March 18th
Creative Contest Prizes: The pool of possible prizes will be updated at some point in the future (the last update was 6 months ago)

The following contests will be experiencing changes:

Storytelling: Reducing frequency to once per month in March; currently two stories per month run
Art Gallery: Reducing frequency to once per week, along with reducing from 72 winners per week to 48 winners; Easel-y the Best avatar updated to be awarded to all past winners with a trophy on their lookup
Neopian Times: Capping submissions to 5 per issue
Poetry Contest: Reducing from 6-8 times per month to instead folding it into the Neopian Times for about two cycles per month

The following contests are slated to be canceled:

None stated by TNT!

In addition, TNT has hinted at a new contest involving social media coming soon, with an avatar and trophy tied to it:

Will new creative contests be introduced?
In short, yes! We understand users need outlets to express their creativity for Neopets, and part of this broader contest update is making sure creative opportunities continue to evolve in ways that are both sustainable and modern. A new contest, inspired by the Random Contest, that will accept submissions via our social media channels, is currently in development, including a new avatar and trophy. More details will be shared soon!

The following themed days will also no longer be as heavily celebrated, if at all:

What other theme days will be reduced?
Limited to no new items will be created for: Sloth Day, Gadgadsbogen, Cancelled Day, Grey Day, Tyrannian Victory Day, Fyora Day, Coltzan Day, Discovery of Meridell Day, Discovery of Brightvale Day, The Annual Chocolate Ball, Annual Gormball Championships, Symol Day, Slorg Day, & Borovan Day.

Read the Full Update »

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There are 105 comments below. Add yours!

Ugh, I don't use social media much and they're pushing an avatar and trophy for it now. I guess the publicity is good for the game and I understand but I'm not sure it's gonna help if I have 0 followers and spam w/e content they want for the contest until I win..

by firefoxtails on February 25, 2026 9:59 PM NST

chat we are cooked

by auberdine on February 25, 2026 10:01 PM NST

oof... just one L after another, huh?

by cinthia on February 25, 2026 10:09 PM NST

Uh, some of this stuff is good, but looks like overall, the frequency is being reduced?

Social Media prizes is Omega-oof, as popular users will win almost every time, compared to someone with like, 50 followers.

by duskshadowbrony on February 25, 2026 10:15 PM NST

Social Media... that leaves me out. I have 0 followers and barely post on FB.

And how does the Poetry Contest work now? If you get published, does it count as a Poetry Contest win or a NT publication? So many questions.

by doggetts_back on February 25, 2026 10:17 PM NST

Ah ok, so they weren't interested in listening to any of the feedback, then.

Justification for reducing contests: not enough time to judge, workload issues.

In the same announcement: Introduces a new contest.

Cool...

by dennykins on February 25, 2026 10:22 PM NST

No avatar for past storytelling contest winners. Sad!

by alltimemarr on February 25, 2026 10:26 PM NST

I think these changes are reasonable if it means they are reallocating resources to improve the site in other more needed areas. I personally don't participate in contests much myself however, so I imagine its more of a bummer for those that do.

But, I am excited for the upgrades to the customization spotlight and beauty contest. I think the reductions on the others seem fair. I dont honestly think anyone is going to particularly miss those themed days (with the exception of maybe Sloth Day and Grey Day)?

Either way, I think considering their limited staff, I want to trust that they're only doing their best with what they have to work with to keep the site going for as long as it has.

by zieloh on February 25, 2026 10:26 PM NST

yikes.

no new items for Grey, Tyrannian Victory, Discovery of Meridell, and Discovery of Brightvale Day is kind is honestly the hardest pill to swallow for me... that is extremely disappointing.
i enjoy themed days to look forward to for random crab to throw into my gallery and collect. what's more however is that themed days like these allowed for np customizable items pertaining to these lands/colors that weren't pet specific. these days are nice breathers inbetween "major" days like petdays and holiday/fest/events/etc. that just overload you with nc, nc, nc. and i say this as an avid ncer... i'm tired of all the nc.

even on pet days there are no new np clothing items that we get anymore. they're all varying levels of fursuits and cosplays and odd creature outfits... nothing that can be used as "discount" versions of nc items that are just regular clothes. now if you want actual clothing items for your pets it's like we're being pushed to the nc mall. you want some new trousers, hair, or jacket for your pet? too bad. pay up and go to the nc mall! best they'll give u is a recolored king kong 2-piece bodysuit.

by inkpot on February 25, 2026 10:40 PM NST

(Adding to my post above) fwiw, I do NOT think that any of these things are unimportant or anything! I just think they don't take precedence above improving the core site. I could be wrong but I want to believe they have a good reason or the interest/participation data to back up their decisions here.

by zieloh on February 25, 2026 10:46 PM NST

NO. NO MORE SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION. GOOD LORD NOT EVERYONE USES THEM!!

by solarboyaaron on February 25, 2026 10:48 PM NST

Social media integration sucks, not only because not everybody uses it but also because everything nu-tnt does tries to move us away from the actual site. the game apps, this new companion slop they destroyed the layout for and now social media. i don't understand why they don't just focus on the site itself when it's the only thing we actually care about.

by auberdine on February 25, 2026 11:04 PM NST

@auberdine

Right!? I want the site worked on, not this!

by solarboyaaron on February 25, 2026 11:18 PM NST

HARD PASS on the social media one. Ugh.

by larimar on February 25, 2026 11:19 PM NST

Taking out those days, we are left with mostly pet days. These special days are what made Neopets Neopets. Very disappointing news.

by stormmonarch on February 25, 2026 11:23 PM NST

oh cooool. I'm in tech and work for the big guys. in no way do I want to mix my professionail socials with neo lol

by fleana on February 25, 2026 11:27 PM NST

RIP theme days... the light of neopets is dying

by seashanty2 on February 25, 2026 11:29 PM NST

None of this bothers me personally and I am very happy to see improvements to the customisation spotlight as I mainly only customize on Neopets now. That gives me something else to do

by tycooncorb on February 25, 2026 11:29 PM NST

All these negative comments.. You guys don't change.

by cisko116 on February 26, 2026 12:02 AM NST

Of course they keep the pet days. More chances for people to purchase NC and line their pockets. I don't use social media and don't care to. A lot of people I know feel this way. If they can add social media contests, they can keep one or two creative contests. Someone still has to judge them. Of course, if they could concentrate on fixing games, that would be the best. And now suddenly all past winners of the Art Contest get an avatar and trophy? If that's the case, then all creative contest winners should get an avatar and trophy. Neo is slowly losing their fanbase with these changes, and the fact they don't actually listen to what the fans want for the site.

by doggetts_back on February 26, 2026 12:05 AM NST

...They're cancelling Cancel Day? That day was always cancelled due to lack of interest. How can you cancel a cancel day?! That was the one day they literally didn't have to produce anything!! XD

And how can one tell a compelling story if one only releases on entry for it once a month? What is this? The Void Within?

But since none of my attempts over the years to get chosen for a creative contest, or to have a question answered in the Editorial of the NT... I can't say I care too much otherwise XD

by apophis324 on February 26, 2026 12:17 AM NST

NO! I will not do social media! I want to play neo on neo! And forget the useless stuff they are coming up with!
AND getting less for more! I don't think so! I am trying to cancel my Premium and I can't! The site times out! Yep! And IF I don't cancel it will renew! NO it won't I will reduce their chance of getting any money out of me! haha

by rosemarie2003 on February 26, 2026 12:25 AM NST

I think most of the changes are reasonable. Although I don't think art gallery needed a reduction, it's already super competitive with a lot of prize-farming regulars. Some of the other changes sound positive.

I'll definitely miss Fyora Day, and also not thrilled about the idea of a social media contest. A lot of us don't want to post neopets content on our personal pages lol... oh well.

by meredith_eldridge on February 26, 2026 1:12 AM NST

LOL. So, "social media channels"... I'm assuming more of that "post this 5 times" nonsense, or "get x followers" nonsense like all the other places online have started doing that I can never participate in because I don't have facebook, twitter, instagram, or tiktok. Okay.

by sakaarson on February 26, 2026 1:12 AM NST

Reading through their explanation of the outdated back-end stuff, it makes complete sense to me that some of the contests are a complete headache to manage, and a longer run-time for each contest seems like a very reasonable compromise to allocate time elsewhere.

The themed days though... surely it's not that much work to draw and implement a couple of non-customization items for each of the days? Like I get wardrobe items are a pain because you have to fit them to every pet, but it can't be that hard to like release a couple of static chocolate food items for Chocolate Ball ect, right? Ofc someone somewhere would complain that it wasn't enough, but just not celebrating them is even less, so...

I'm just thinking as an artist-- drawing a small thumbnail and a writing a one sentence description would take one person like... on the high end maybe an hour, if they were super meticulous? Realistically even less. And if the item doesn't have any special functions, then the process of coding it in has to be practically negligible at this point. Idk maybe I'm missing something. I just feel like goofy theme days are a huge part of the charm of Neopets, and they don't have to be that extravagant.

by kimikicchi on February 26, 2026 1:14 AM NST

Overall good decisions on TNT's part, I'm most excited to see Customisation Spotlight given some new life it has always been less than amazing lol.

by jawbutch on February 26, 2026 1:16 AM NST

What a pity they are no longer doing new stuff for those landmark neopian days - Dr. Sloth will be most annoyed

he's getting no new items on his special day! Hopefully, on these days, they will still upgrade suitably themed old HTML5 stuff so it is reusable ... which is a compromise we could all live with. OK with the reductions in frequency for the creative stuff - the more TNT improves/grows Neopets the less time the current staff have for judging this stuff (unless they employ more or get some volunteers). I am sure most folk will feel happy

about accepting this lesser frequency creative stuff if they know that the main site will get continue to improve and work better as a result. Not so sure

about the Social Media Avatar etc. ... shall have to wait and see what that involves!

by cabbil_bane on February 26, 2026 1:16 AM NST

Getting rid of Grey Day during the Void Within plot centered around the Grey color is definitely.... a choice.

by mistermonster on February 26, 2026 1:22 AM NST

One day Sloth will have his revenge for this slight!

by dragon_lflclub2 on February 26, 2026 1:22 AM NST

@kimikicchi, I agree with your points.

Cancelled Day: literally all that's required is a sentence in the site news saying Today is cancelled due to lack of interest. That's it!!! They get a pass for not posting ANY other news that day (including NC stuff .... hmmmm). Of course, they don't really use the New Features page for site news any more. Case in point, this announcement was on the 'Portal' page I never visit unless directed there by a post here.

Borovan Day: One or two Borovan themed items in the Advent Calendar for that day. They have to put something in the Advent Calendar that day anyway; might as well be Borovan related. Unless, of course, the Ad Cal is next on the chopping block.

I mean, come on!! Throw us a Mint Chocolate Yurble or Quiggle for the Chocolate Ball. It's a recolour of existing items. Surely not that taxing!

by recklesse on February 26, 2026 1:29 AM NST

Most of these changes seem reasonable to me, at a glance. Fairer, and easier on their resources. I don't do social media anymore, so hard pass one that.

But if I read it correctly I'll get a "free" avvie for the picture I sent in Y3 or 4, so yay!

by woodstocki on February 26, 2026 1:56 AM NST

BROKE WEBSITE ALERT

but watch them never miss a beat for NC updates

by graevyard on February 26, 2026 2:25 AM NST

Yikes, poor STC and Poetry Contests

by dr_tomoe on February 26, 2026 2:43 AM NST

No more Sloth Day items?!?!? *flips table*

by neolodgeism on February 26, 2026 2:49 AM NST

I was so excited to read something similar to Random Contest was returning but I cannot STAND the social media garbage. We should NOT need social media accounts if we already have Neopets accounts.
Host any and all contests on your OWN WEBSITE, especially if avatars and trophies are going to be involved!

by biediep on February 26, 2026 3:07 AM NST

social media contest? ugh, absolutely no thanks. And of course customization spotlight gets 100x the submissions that userlookup spotlight gets; do you know how much time it takes to design and code a userlookup?? With contests getting cancelled and heavily reduced, and with poetry getting shoehorned into the Times, I wouldve at least liked to see the Times be weekly again. Maybe when the social media contest inevitably gets cancelled

by peanutbuttermilk on February 26, 2026 4:28 AM NST

Their excuses of "it's too haaaard" is getting a bit old. You are a company, if everything is too hard maybe it's time to step down.
The creative community is actively keeping neopets alive, eventually TNT will realize that too, but it will be too late.

by mustache on February 26, 2026 4:31 AM NST

They just don't want us to play neopets anymore, huh? Wtf?

by shaymusall on February 26, 2026 4:40 AM NST

Well I'm done giving them money now. Please Boycott the "social media contest" until these people wake up.

by rayen on February 26, 2026 4:49 AM NST

If only they would finally allow PNG files to be uploaded for Beauty contest. Improving file size limit is a start at least.

by fenix on February 26, 2026 5:06 AM NST

I thought it was already a rule that you can't resubmit beauty contest art that won previously? If it wasn't a rule already it should have been so that's an improvement.

by xxhopexx on February 26, 2026 5:08 AM NST

I don't understand why arguably one of the most difficult contests to enter always gets the short end of the stick. STC is notoriously gatekept by regulars and now the avatar will be available twice a year? Yikes.

by portmaw on February 26, 2026 5:23 AM NST

social media contest is kind of a bummer. I don’t really use socials.

by mcseagangster on February 26, 2026 5:25 AM NST

What other theme days will be reduced?
Fyora Day

[XANDRA WAS RIGHT INTENSIFIES]

by allanmennezess on February 26, 2026 5:46 AM NST

They seriously can't sacrifice one frame on an animated NC item to create one item for themed days..?

by tyuio_k50 on February 26, 2026 5:49 AM NST

So basically massive downgrades across the board, with the only notable improvements being Customisation Spotlight and Beauty Contest. Extremely disappointing. Social media contests is also a terrible idea; most of us don't have (or want) social media accounts on the websites that TNT uses.

by dragonair23 on February 26, 2026 5:54 AM NST

So bleak. Grey Day is my favourite day

And hard pass on the social media contest, I refuse to use those big corpo socials any more (and I don't really expect TNT to start a Fediverse presence any time soon

by twiddl3d33 on February 26, 2026 6:04 AM NST

I read someone was going to pack it in if the creative contests were axed.
It's hard being a poet.

by anydarnedthingeez on February 26, 2026 6:11 AM NST

Died 2020 Born 2026, welcome back NeoCreation Week.

by problematicperiplum on February 26, 2026 6:16 AM NST

LAZY LAZY LAZY

GOD FORBID A TEAM THAT WORKS ON A SITE, WORKS ON THE SITE

I'm enraged, there's no reason to do this other than laziness and idiocy

by purrmeister on February 26, 2026 6:26 AM NST

I hate this so much, it's so transparently hostile to the userbase, I wish them so much ill will and I'm so tired of these rambly "statements" that don't give the players a chance to comment or respond

I'm done. I'm out. what's the point of playing a site if the staff doesn't give a single coconut about the slop they're pushing

by purrmeister on February 26, 2026 6:29 AM NST

BC gold ban has been bypassed by players for eons. But in the past couple years it has been egregious. It's nice to see TNT taking a closer look with CJ to combat gold squatting. AG now being reduced to once weekly is a bit startling. The other changes don't seem quite fair.

Guess celebrations in Neo are canned because artists need priority on the fifty plus pet caps and more than a thousand pet styles. Like, they were a neat novelty at first, but now they're clearly the entire focus of the site. Everything else is on the back burner to be forgotten.

by pancake on February 26, 2026 6:45 AM NST

Considering the gacha capsules for pet days require a minimum of 5 items each, it makes sense they'd eliminate non-profitable day items to make room for more work on NC gambling lol

by acedemiro on February 26, 2026 6:48 AM NST

Is cozy campfire suddenly broken for anyone else

by saraluna on February 26, 2026 7:08 AM NST

I’m gonna miss grey day and cancelled day. hopefully they’re putting the resources into actual site improvement instead of more neocash slop :/

by tisbutaneko on February 26, 2026 8:42 AM NST

big news! a lot of the contests have needed some updating in aaages, they felt kinda neglected, so i'm glad some are getting a polish! the customization spotlight feels so random and janky lol, and the beauty contest size limit is downright prehistoric, so updates for those will be great.

i'm sad about the user spotlight going away, but at least the gallery spotlight is still around so there's An avenue for people to show off css creativity :/ although the fact that gallery spotlight wasn't mentioned at all either way is a little ominous haha. i hope they didn't forget about it...

disappointed about the social media integrated contest & sad that they aren't bringing back better than you or lenny conundrum . and very annoyed that they didn't actually answer "Why were these changes announced so suddenly?", just apologized. i do actually want to know why! was it a last-minute decision or did they just forget or what...

by sentehisshou on February 26, 2026 9:01 AM NST

It’s genuinely offensive at this point how they’re running the site. What was the point of feedback if all they were gonna do was just ignore it?

At this point, I’d rather the site shut down before they continue to disrespect it and its players like they are now. Their userbase is the only reason they get paid, after all. It seems like money is all they care about, but they will continue to lose profit if they keep this up.

by azonia on February 26, 2026 9:19 AM NST

@sentehisshou Honestly, the answer is quite simple: companies end up making decisions out of thin air. And they realized they had a gigantic operational bottleneck that needed fixing.
That seems like the honest, corporate answer to the question.

by allanmennezess on February 26, 2026 9:35 AM NST

I never participated in those contests and I won't miss them, but I know they were important to some people. However, I found their position to be the most honest possible within what the company can do: there aren't enough people working and/or they are focused on other content, some contests had few participants, and they need to structure them better.

What terrifies me when I read certain comments is people preferring Neopets to DIE rather than deal with the frustration. What's going on?

At the end of the day, they're a company, and companies work with metrics. If a product isn't being consumed and is demanding more effort than return, it's pretty clear they're going to drop it.

Out of nowhere, Gadgadsbogen fans have appeared who are going to SUFFER because there isn't a new berry every year. That's kind of scary to me. I can't wrap my head around it.

by allanmennezess on February 26, 2026 9:39 AM NST

Now, social media contests are great for promoting the website, but terrible for the player base. Who likes that?

by allanmennezess on February 26, 2026 9:42 AM NST

Dom is a fake and disgusting person, these "updates" exemplify that perfectly. At this point it's probably safe to assume that this cryptobro bought his degree in marketing on Wish

by mortychichi on February 26, 2026 9:57 AM NST

I don't mind them updating some of the older contests. However, adding a social media-based contest is very disappointing! If only they'd focus on the WEBSITE!

@kimikicchi I totally agree that those fun little theme days are a HUGE part of the charm of Neopets! I will be very sad to not see at least one or two little goodies created in celebration of Sloth and Slorgs and Grey Day and other themed days. Like you said, it doesn't have to be extravagant, just a book or stamp or something.

There's waaay too much focus on NC pet styles and RNG pet day capsules and not enough on those small but fun non-NC things that made Neopets a charming and enjoyable place to hang out in.

by kirin on February 26, 2026 10:13 AM NST

So they're not going to make a couple items for the Neopets holidays but will throw endless items for generic holidays like Valentines day at us. Interesting. It's like they want to suck out the "Neopets essence" from Neopets itself

by daburro on February 26, 2026 10:34 AM NST

Social Media contest.... they want the community to do free advertising for them...? I just don't think anyone asked for this.

by boxtop01soda03 on February 26, 2026 10:38 AM NST

How do i get the art gallery avatar? I have a trophy but idk how to trigger it. Not in my list of avatars.

by fakeplastictease on February 26, 2026 10:42 AM NST

I think this is really sad - all these silly random days were core to Neopets and made the world unique. Without them it makes Neo less of an escape to a different world. I think this is a huge mistake and is ridding Neopets of its charm.

by morgan on February 26, 2026 11:04 AM NST

I like to make graphics, as its fun! Can make a simple little one in 5 or ten minutes! So they have to cut back all those hours of graphic time? YET...the NC graphics are much more intricate and take a few more minutes..and they sure can put them out in record time and shove them down our thoats! Like the log...one thing you got to do it go check the NC area

by rosemarie2003 on February 26, 2026 12:26 PM NST

"A new contest, inspired by the Random Contest, that will accept submissions via our social media channels, is currently in development, including a new avatar and trophy"
sigh, one step forward, ten steps back

by smaragdeidechse on February 26, 2026 1:12 PM NST

"we regret the lack of foresight on our part to recognise that the community should have been given more notice. That feedback has been heard clearly, and future changes (...) will be communicated earlier" yeah right. This exact thing has already happened several times. And it will keep happening, because they just don't care to actually do what they're claiming here. Just wait for backlash, apologise for the lack of foresight for the umpteenth time, move on and do it again. Rinse and repeat.

by amethyst43217 on February 26, 2026 1:33 PM NST

The most important fact is these holidays brought more content to the site. We would get more neopoint wearables and items in shops, as well as new petpets, etc. With these holidays being forgotten, NP items will surely be left in the dust.

by pancake on February 26, 2026 1:47 PM NST

Definitely not doing social media. They have some nerve., If they want to have a contest on social media AS WELL AS right here on the classic site, that would be fine with me, but not ONLY through social media. Jeeeeshe! Enough already!

by catmagic28 on February 26, 2026 1:52 PM NST

Is there any word on if social media is required for the new contests, or just an extra way to enter? I miss the random contests, but I don't have any social media

by aneon on February 26, 2026 2:26 PM NST

Creativity certainly hasn't decreased, but TNT willingness to spend time and effort in actually READING submissions, in particular, is down the drain with the current judge of poetry/storytelling/nT. It's hard to be inspired when the judging quality is so incredibly inconsistent.

The community is engaged, but the lack of willingness to recognize it is a huge loss. Just constantly cutting back on engagement or new releases in favor of more NC items and "premium" perks is really exhausting and demoralizing.

by suzuka on February 26, 2026 2:43 PM NST JN Staff

Also seconding the social media thing. I refuse to link my personal social media accounts to my online life in any way. Limiting the submissions to something on other platforms is both ridiculous and unsafe for anyone's privacy.

by suzuka on February 26, 2026 2:44 PM NST JN Staff

The thing about increasing social media integration is that the site itself still has the most embarrassing chat filter in comparison...

by weirdee on February 26, 2026 3:01 PM NST

>In addition, TNT has hinted at a new contest involving social media coming soon, with an avatar and trophy tied to it:

This sounds... awful.

by infernodragon02 on February 26, 2026 3:23 PM NST

I refuse to believe anybody was ride-or-die for the Annual Gormball Championships; I do not need 1000 new Gormball-themed items to not buy and to clog up my SDB, why is everyone suddenly Tyrannian Victory Day's strongest warrior what is happening

a social media themed contest does sound like a plague tho

by yayme211 on February 26, 2026 3:39 PM NST

Translation: We only care about lining our pockets with money, not the Neopets site itself.

by wraithaisha on February 26, 2026 3:53 PM NST

so a little out there, but I haven't actually read the on-site news page in years, and I'm sure it's not just me, and I wonder a little if... TNT can see that, and just can't be bothered to write up all these updates if few players are actually checking them out. Not to excuse the lack of items, though. I love Neo's little celebrations to brighten up otherwise mundane days and I'll miss the way they used to be!

I never had the chance to enter contests for some reason or another and I don't expect to start, but I'm pretty confident that I *won't* want to tie my off-site places to a game sorry, even after 20+ years 🥲

by katie2510 on February 26, 2026 3:56 PM NST

Cool, cool. I don't use any of their social media platforms. (:

by gun on February 26, 2026 4:12 PM NST

I'm so sad about the reduction with the fun holidays. Chocolate Ball? The discovery days! Those are iconic days in general.

by luckk on February 26, 2026 5:24 PM NST

I hate that they're dropping themed days at all, but I do find it very funny that the faerie day they're dropping is literally the queen of all faeries, of all people.

by aliteraltrashcan on February 26, 2026 5:58 PM NST

Just what we need, more NT competition when it's the only way to get the Coltzan Stamp these days....

by academy on February 26, 2026 6:35 PM NST

Cancel the day?! TNT dare cancel the Day of the Skyborne Sovereign?
Justice for Queen Fyora, the First of Her Name.
We ride at dawn.

by princesssophie703 on February 26, 2026 7:37 PM NST

I haven't gotten the new avatar for the Art Gallery. I recreated TNT Staff Smasher game and it was accepted back in November last year. I've been thinking of creating something else, but if they retroactive the new avatar to past winners, that's ok too. I hope I get it!

by jenneh on February 26, 2026 7:48 PM NST

So now it's gonna be a lot harder to get into any type of creative contests with this site. I can't say that I'm surprised by that, nor surprised by less themed days, either.

I'm also not surprised by them doing a social media contest that involves trophy/avatar, either - in fact, I was waiting to see WHEN they'd announce this.

I don't use social media, either, although, it does appear that I will have to reactivate my FB account due to the desktop Messenger no longer being available after April sometime alone by itself. This annoys me because I really do not want to even step into the cesspool that FB has become, however, with my friend's medical needs - Messenger is the only way for us to stay in touch, so. I will be patient and do that.

BUT BUT BUT will I strive to do a social media contest? If it did NOT have an avatar, then my answer would've been a simple, "NOPE!" However, it's got an avatar attached - and - I did miss out on a lot of avatars that are now retired... soooo I will just have to see **how** they are doing this, before I will say nay or aye to entering a social media contest.

As to all the hate flung towards this "Dom" person - if he's done even half of what people have claimed - then I totally understand the hate. But I also wonder about if anything is misinformation? A lot of the information being flung around don't have sources - the posters seem to be assuming that everyone knows everything and all about the backstory of this Dom person, etc etc.

I do not know anything. I was on a long long hiatus which started when Neopets was still being run by Jumpstart (if I have my history correct) - with occasional peeks for staying in touch with folks only reachable via Neopets. I came back to discover that I'd missed the beginning of the Void Within plot and the one time only avatar with the beginning of that plot. But then I learned that it's been ongoing for what, 3 years now? I came back around mid-Chapter 9, iirc.

(

by simkim on February 26, 2026 7:52 PM NST

I apparently hit a character limit. Did not know JN comments had a character limit!

So anyhow - I realized that Neopets had gotten new owners, apparently, as far as I was able to figure. I'm beginning to realize that many people believe that this Dom person is the uh, mastermind, behind the TNT team?

And this new thing of having "amassadors" is certainly strange to me.

Overall, I have to say that instead of doing social media contests, they would have been better served by finishing the ToD storyline, fixing some of the issues it's got. Same with FF (I enjoy FF very much, tho, but I do not enjoy side stories, tho). And now they are showing presence outside of a browser website through the Companion App which looks very unfinished although I am LOVING being able to play the Solitaire game without any ads and without eating up battery (FF likes to chomp on battery life).

Seriously, I ask this: what do you (TNT team) want us (players) to say or do on social media that pulls new players into a website that is extremely buggy, glitchy, laggy, and looks like two websites patched together?

These "new" players would probably end up downvoting or whatever it is that they do on social media to us.

Those of us who DO have a social media presence don't want negative optics on their accounts. So once again... what is the TNT team thinking, with this announcement of this social media contest????

by simkim on February 26, 2026 8:01 PM NST

I forgot to mention - I would love to see actual sources regarding this Dom person's actions and stuff - sending me a NM or whatnot would be awesome. I'm sulzzz on Neopets.

I do concur that the past several years - the TNT team (whoever they are) has not been cohesive nor been willing to actually hear users' feedback. The backlash regarding the themed days loss is extremely big (i concur with the backlash myself) because yes, these were what made Neopets so cool and special - and - UNIQUE.

Now? I feel like the TNT team is striving to make Neopets become non-unique, to simply have gorgeous tiny pixel artwork that people eagerly pay lots of money for. I mean, $5 dollars for ONE permanent pet slot addition?? And if I did the math correctly - it's $42.50 to get FIVE permanent pet slots??!???

Heck, I'd love the extra slots, but there is no way in heck that I would spend that kind of money on pixels - including the other NC stuff that I'd love to get but think they are way overpriced. I do need to EAT, my cat needs his stuff, and I have to save up for his annual vet visit. RL trumps pixel every time, for me.

I love Neopets, oh yes, I love it and have loved it ever since I joined in 2008. I was NOT a kid, like a lot of you were, lol. However, I share your love for Neopets. I believed that Neopets would have made an excellent teaching tool for understanding economy, stocks, so forth. And other things, too. (Now? Don't make me laugh. It's no longer even capable of being used as teaching examples. Unless you want to show off how billionaires can take over the world?)

Okay, I'll go sshhhhh...

by simkim on February 26, 2026 8:15 PM NST

they cancelled sloth day. literally unplayable

by xxstarl1ghtxx on February 26, 2026 9:40 PM NST

Terrible news.

I don't want to play neopets or enter contests on my social media account. I want to play neopets on the actual website for neopets??

by frenchmaiid on February 26, 2026 10:12 PM NST

Please no social media contest. I get the point of "advertisement via socmed users" but Keep your contest on site, where the people who play can actually participate. Im glad there is still interest in keeping contest and such, but focus on the site for once, stop trying to branch out into other outlets every other week Neopets

by beezebeora on February 26, 2026 10:32 PM NST

So in short: Upgrade the things that can make more money and get rid of things that don't. Oh and social media. ;; I do feel like Neopets should be shut down instead of pushing it in an obvious direction which a lot of the player-base doesn't like. Almost prefer if it was a rug-pull at this point.

by zenopeltis on February 26, 2026 11:03 PM NST

You just KNOW that these ARE different from their plans when they cancelled it in the first place. Like you just know it was worse and the premium cancellations spooked them.

Like in earnest, I was already okay with scaling things back some. Moderation difficulty of creative contests has been something we've heard about for years. Decreasing frequency of art gallery but increasing winners is a pretty good compromise. Storytelling scale back is UNREAL. That's just. Not gonna work. Glad I already got that trophy.

A lot of these changes could have been accepted with a lot more grace if they gave a shit about what players wanted. If they had given us another poll or opportunity to suggest ideas or respond to ideas, announcements in advance. Also. If there are not many submissions to use lookup. Then why is it a problem. If there are less of them then why can't you handle it???? It's also kind of a line, you don't need to go through every single submission every week, the submissions all go into a line to pick from.

The one I really wanted to hear about is gallery contest? What's happening to gallery contest? It's so similar to userlookup spotlight. And not a word about it?? I can only presume they want to nuke that, too, or they would have mentioned it.

This shit sucks. I was so upset about the userlookup contest being murdered out of NOWHERE in the middle of a news post I cancelled premium on the spot and just. Have not logged in since. Not even out of protest or anything. Purely because every time I went to open it I got to sad and upset and just. Did not want to play. It was so darkly ironic that I had the item page for an nc item in the shop I wanted to buy soon but. Yeah, closed that tab.

by polyhexian on February 27, 2026 3:12 AM NST

Im sending this to the AG daily from now on. Big mistake, TNT. Huge! /~whereidrawtheline

by drougy on February 27, 2026 3:43 AM NST

For those who were surprised they haven't got an Art Gallery avatar yet, it's not active.
Per TNT's notes:
"Coming Soon: “Easel-y the Best” Avatar grant mechanism to be updated to be awarded to users who view the “Picture Competition Trophy” (Art Gallery trophy) on their userlookup "

by woodstocki on February 27, 2026 6:05 AM NST

Look y'all I get it, it sucks when things change and the initial way this was rolled out was VERY flawed. Yet another example of tone-deaf messaging that could have been prevented by having some sort of communications manager to review it before release.

I'd say at least give TNT the benefit of the doubt; I'm trying since it seems they listen to our criticism and feedback. Transparency is yet again the only thing we are asking for.

by sneakysloth on February 27, 2026 6:21 AM NST

I'd say at least give TNT the benefit of the doubt;
-----

Players have been giving them the benefit of the doubt for how many years now???

How much longer do they need?

by recklesse on February 27, 2026 7:39 AM NST

Seems like start to sundown the site tbh.

by khanstant on February 27, 2026 9:15 AM NST

They are allocating these "freed up" resources to create more NC items. I'm so done with this site.

by rytuna on February 27, 2026 11:26 AM NST

players in the comments pretending not to understand that we're not angry about tyrannian victory day being canceled, we're upset that tnt keeps claiming to be soooo busy and have soooo little time that they have to cancel the free days they barely create items for yet can pump out nc pet day capsules 3x a month

please use critical thinking skills

by purrmeister on February 27, 2026 4:43 PM NST

Agree with the above. People being deliberately obtuse like any one specific holiday is what makes people so mad... Sure, it's fine if they don't have a new item for all of these holidays but to completely eliminate all of the lore-centric holidays is just further gutting the charm of the site.

As much as neopets is a game, it's also a world, one that used to feel very alive and colorful and lived in. Now it's just a glorified dress up game. And I love dressing up my pets, I buy NC, but I didn't join neopets for that and it's not what kept me around all these years.

Shuttering the creative contests in top of this? Unthinkable. The creative community kept this dying dumpster fire alive during its darkest periods. To treat us like a burden is frankly insulting. AG, poetry, and NT were some of the most competitive and high volume contests on the site and they weren't spared, so they don't WANT to put the resources towards it.

by liversnap on February 27, 2026 7:27 PM NST

Improving the backend for contests IS working on the site. There's a lot of work that we don't see, but that doesn't make it any less important

by coolkaius on February 27, 2026 7:37 PM NST

social media contests ugh i literally came back to neopets because i was so sick of social media and i literally do not use a single site atm lol

by xxemoaishaxx on February 28, 2026 11:26 AM NST

I wonder if part of the push for a social media contest instead of doing things on the website is that it’s easier for them to use someone else’s programming than to try to add anything to the spaghetti that is their site.

by chudley on February 28, 2026 2:41 PM NST

The singling out of the userlookup contest makes that one person's idea that they decided to get rid of that so they can update lookups and make them "mobile-friendly" feel more plausible

by alphashadow on March 2, 2026 2:15 PM NST

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