The Robin Hood of Neopets

March 30th, 2006, By Duncan Gough

Whilst reading this blog about MMOs, virtual worlds, economies and all that good stuff, I ended up at this post, The Robin Hood on Neopets.

It’s a very interesting story about the fragile dynamics of a virtual world and how, even though you’re dealing with kids, they’re as competitive and as capable of feeling injustice as adults. It’s not as long as involved as any of the EVE stories that I’ve enjoyed reading, such as ZZZZbest for example, but it’s got a great ending.

“The economy was clearly broken, with the rich getting richer, and the poor getting soup. My 13-year old daughter complained about how she couldn’t get any of the medicine she needed to keep her pets healthy because they cost 99,999NP (the maximum price supported at the time.)

I took a particular interest in this game world, being that I’ve been developing online worlds like NeoPets for over thirty years and virtual economies for almost 20. I discussed it with my kids, and talked about how difficult even simple trade economies are to manage, and then my son took a personal interest.”

The Robin Hood of Neopets

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