2006

This year, Neopets decided to introduce a Neocharge. The idea behind the prank was that, with servers being jampacked, and the user strain on their website, people would be stingier with page loads and views if they knew they had to pay for certain features. Of course, the whole thing was a prank, as most of us knew from the beginning, but the newbies were in a panic.

This is what the neocharge box looked like, and it floated on the side of the screen, no matter where you went in Neopia. It added up what you supposedly owed, but if you tried to 'pay now', it wouldn't allow you to. They really did go all out though, being sure to add help pages, warnings of what would happen should you not pay your bill, such as removing items from your account or turning your painted pets back to normal colors.

Thank goodness it was just their idea of a joke ... can you imagine how quickly you'd rack up points owed?

Here is the actual news bulletin from Neopets regarding the 'neocharge' feature:

New Feature! - Most of you may have already noticed the nifty new window to the right! (If you use a theme, don't worry! It will be available in all themes early next week.) This will help us fight inflation and help reduce stress on our servers, both of which will help make Neopets more fun for everyone. :) You can click here for more information! If you find any bugs, glitches or problems, please let us know!