2008
It seems as the years progress, Neopets puts more and more effort into their pranks! This year, they decided to unveil the 'neobuddies' system. Users who logged in would be greeted with a popup with a random character from the world of Neopia, who told you that you had been chosen to help test the new "Neobuddy Beta System". Ignoring the popup did no good, as it would essentially follow you around, annoying you, until you gave up in frustration and gave it your full attention.
After filling out a quick survey meant to test your personality type, you were awarded with a random "Buddy".
Random, in this case, means you were awarded Bug Eye McGee, no matter what your personality test results were. It seems a few users were lucky enough to be given Sir Fufon Lui.
And his role? To follow you around Neopia offering what was supposed to be helpful hints and advice about the site itself.
And, by follow, I mean popup at the most inopportune moments, like while you were in the middle of a game.
To add insult to injury (quite literally!), your buddy tended to get more frustrated as the day went on, too. His advice was peppered with backhanded comments and slight insults.
Obviously, by the end of the day, the world of Neopia was relieved to know this was not a permenant addition to the site.