Interesting question about accounts from Marie

[Shoyru_Lover]

I have a question that has been really bothering me lately. I am a long time adult fan having played since Neopets started!
My question involves several scenarios because I am having trouble seeing where the problem lies. I know that TNT has a strict policy concerning multiple accounts. So I ask you which scenarios would be ok... (I have bolded the questions to make replying easier! :p)
Here I have written four different scenarios.

Scenario 1: I have one main account. The 3 other accounts I have I use as storage only. I use them for galleries. My galleries are empty however, because I cannot play games or do anything to make neopoints for this account or all my accounts will be frozen. I have pets on these side accounts because I do love the pets and given the long list of pets to choose from, I wanted some of the newer ones that came out. However my pets are dying, and are sad because I rarely feed them, and I don't have any toys to play with them. That would cost neopoints, and again, I don't want to be frozen. Even using the soup faerie- I rarely go to since I am usually on my main account. I also really wanted to paint them special colors to make them truly my own unique pet, but a paintbrush again costs neopoints...

Scenario 2: I have 4 accounts. They are all main accounts. I say "main accounts" in that they each have 4 pets that I care for. Neopoints and items are NOT PASSED between any of my accounts. I treat them as if I were a different owner. I do not even belong in the same guild from one account to another as I see this as cheating. I play one account for one weeks time, OR I play one account a month rotating between them. I created so many accounts neopets makes the pets so darn cute that I wanted to own more than the ancient ones I have! So I have accounts with all the pets I like. The first week of the month I only play my first account: games, dailies, talk to that guild, etc. The second week of the month I dedicate to my second account so I can feed and make money for those pets, even maybe build them a neohome. I talk to that separate guild etc. Again, I IN NO WAY PASS NEOPETS NOR ITEMS BETWEEN THESE ACCOUNTS. It is as if they were owned by separate people.

Scenario 3: I have only one computer in my home and live with my 3 sisters and my parents. Me and my sisters don't have email so we used our moms email to sign up to neopets. Me and my sisters would often argue about whose turn it was to play neopets! Well, we all got our accounts frozen because neopets thought that my account was a side account. They didn't know that I only had one account, as did my sisters. Now none of us can play neopets! I miss my pets!! It's not like I gave them neopoints or items! We each played our own game! NOTHING WAS PASSED BETWEEN OUR ACCOUNTS! We are all really upset about it. We were just working out a plan that had me play for the first week of the month, my sister Lisa the second week, Alyssa the third and Jen the fourth. But then we got booted.

Scenario 4: I love neopets. I have 4 accounts but one main one. I'll play my main one alot. I use the other ones to make a bunch of neopoints and buy really cool stuff, or win it from Tombola, or whatever and then send it to my main account. That was I am the richest person in Neopia!

Ok, so, do you see my point? Do you see my question? I was wondering what makes several accounts wrong if no sharing of neopoints or items is going on between accounts?

I do see why Scenario 4 is obviously wrong, and think that enforcing the rule of no transferring items and such between accounts is right and just, but I don't see the harm in having separate (completely SEPARATE) accounts. Whether its the same person like in Scenario 2 cause they like all the cute pets on neopets, or its 4 siblings like in Scenario 3 that just want to play neopets without having a big deal made.

And another question: Let's go back to Scenario 3 with the sisters. What is the difference if the sisters share an email account, or share only the IP address? If they each had their own email account, but used the same computer, would this still be seen as creating multiple accounts for neopoint gain? Or would it only be seen as cheating if they shared an email account? Does Neopets record the IP address? Because you know there has to be siblings that all have an account on neopets!


So, first of all, thanks SO much for reading this painfully long email! and thanks for your terrific site! (It covers everything!) And finally please, I hope you can clear this up. I did send TNT an email about my question, but you know how they get swamped!

Please let me know what you think of this and what the rules exactly are. Thanks!

Sincerely, one of your fans! (I check your page everyday!)

What do you guys think? I post this because I'm sure each of us has had different emails from different staff members, so maybe we can all pool in our knowledge for a definitive response.

[TDG]

[EDIT]

Apparantly I was working on old/incorrect info in Scenario 2 and 3. The correct answers are

Scenario Two : No allowed.
Scenario Three : Apparantly, despite their claims that they base it off more than just IP and Email, it is likely to get you frozen as you're linked by email. So don't do it.

I'll leave my answers quoted so y'all can point and laugh, but bear in mind, answer 2 and 3 are wrong.



Scenario One You're allowed to spend Neopoints on your second accounts as long as they come from your main account. The best way to do this is to purchase things on your main account with Neopoints made on your main account and then transfer the items, to avoid any troubles about being mistaken for restocking to make neopoints through a second account.

Scenario Two This one is hazy and should be avoided. Neopets say they don't mind you alternating main accounts as long as you don't play on more than one as main account at a time, however, I'd avoid it just because it'd be too easy for Neopets to mistake it as cheating somehow. In theory, it should be allowed (though they've said they don't like people changing main accounts too often as it becomes annoying for them to track what's allowed and what's not), but I'd definitely not advise it.

Scenario Three This scenario is actually allowed by the rules. In fact, you are even allowed to give the others Neopoints or items (my sister and I do it sometimes as a thanks for something in real life), however, as you are signed up under one email, it does look suspicious to Neopets. And although they claim they base their "multiple account" freezings on more than just the fact that two accounts are making money off the same email, it'd be really easy for them to assume you were cheating. You are allowed to do it, but you run the risk of being frozen (as indicated in the scenario). If you are frozen, email the Neopets support or a Support Staff member and explain the situation, don't bother with putting a note on your account info saying "My sister's play Neopets too" as the staff ignore those (as so many cheaters use it)

Scenario Four Clear breach of the rules. Making money on a side account through games, dailies etc is not allowed. Sending said money to main account is not allowed. You'd be frozen faster than you can say "I r teh awesome!"

Scenario Three B Again, Neopets claim they have other ways of telling if somebody's using four accounts or whether it is four different people using four different accounts. Even if you had the same Email and IP address, they've said in Editorials that they understand many siblings have no choice but to do this and that they wouldn't be frozen. It isn't against the rules, but it is something to watch out for. I definitely wouldn't advise sending too much back and forth as it'll send red flags up to the Moderators.

In Summary:
Scenario 1 : Allowed. Make money on main, buy items on main, send them to side account.

Scenario 2 : Borderline. Neopets have said they don't mind if you switch your main account, but have also expressly said they don't like people doing it too often. One a month might be ok, but one a week is definitely pushing it. I'd advise you pick one main account and stick to it, use your side accounts as side accounts, you can always just transfer things from your main to your sides.
Scenario 3 : It is allowed and if you got frozen, you should appeal it. The best bet would be to create new emails for each of you, there's plenty of free email sites like Hotmail or Gmail. You don't need new emails, but its preferred by the staff and it'll make it look less suspicious.

Scenario 4 : Breaching the rules twice, definitely not allowed.

Last edited by TDG on Mon Apr 09, 2007 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

[varii]

Scenario three was also adressed in the Editorial of NNT #233

Will I or my brothers and sisters get in trouble if our accounts use the same e-mail address? And does it count as account sharing? Because we aren't sharing, we just have accounts with the same e-mail because only one of us has e-mail. Also, are all of us in danger of getting frozen if one of us (say, my evil brother) gets frozen? ~mememe939
If you play on your own without your parents' help (we're too lazy to look up your age!), then your accounts should have separate email addresses. If one of you is frozen for doing something inappropriate enough to warrant all your accounts being frozen (such as scamming), then your accounts would be linked by email and would be frozen as well. Please ask your parents if they can set up an email account just for you. There are many free email sites, and it just takes minutes to sign up.

Parents who monitor their young children while playing Neopets may set a shared email address, since they are the ones taking responsibility for what happens in those accounts.

[Q]

That whole thing is convoluted and crazy and makes no sense. TNT keeps repeating, "One person per main account." How hard is that to understand, and why spend time creating all these scenarios when it would take less time to read the T&C, news, and editorial?

They've also said that the only way they find a shared email acceptable is if your child is too young to play by themself, and even then you're accepting the risk of being associated with that account should anything suspicious occur in it. Free email accounts are readily available, and even if you as a parent don't want your children to use email for various reasons you can make an email to go with each of your kids' accounts and keep the passwords to yourself and access them yourself when your kids forget their passwords.

TNT states things like this all the time, how hard is it to find out this information? Probably pretty hard if you only rely on other players and their own convoluted and often false/misconstrued stories about how so-and-so got frozen and was entirely 'innocent'.

Scenario 2 : Borderline. Neopets have said they don't mind if you switch your main account, but have also expressly said they don't like people doing it too often.

Outdated; they've stated many times in the past couple of years that this is not acceptable anymore.

[mariehgl70]

Thank you for posting my email. I am one of the people who do scenario 2. See, I wanted more pets! I do rotate between the two. Maybe I should stay on the one for 6 months, then the next 6 months, etc instead of rotating weekly? I don't want to get frozen, but I am so happy with all my accounts. And no, I dont transfer points or items at ALL.

Some of the scenarios I listed I know are wrong. Like 4, thats obvious. But my question is where is the line drawn? I use different emails for my accounts as well. Do TNT go by emails or ISP numbers?

Thanks so much for all your input!



(Those poor kids in my story! Does that happen a lot? Kids getting frozen for having siblings?)

And as to the person above me. Yes, it is actually rather hard to find info on this. There are so many loop holes and so many situations that the account issue is rather hard to get real answers. If I wanted an answer to Scenario 4, yes, obviously its easy to find the rules saying, "wrong, wrong, wrong!" But some situations are different. Hence, this post.

Yes TNT goes on and on about accounts, but not these specific issues.

So anyway- do you guys think I'll be safe if I play account 1 for 6 months, account 2 for the 6 months after and so on?

Thanks again, Kym!

[anjuna]

Clipped from #6 in the Terms and Conditions:

" You May Only Have Five Accounts Because Your Pets Need Your Attention. ... You are allowed a maximum of five (5) accounts. One of these accounts, your main account, can do everything on Neopets. The other four accounts (except if one is a guild account ... ) can adopt Neopets and maintain a gallery but cannot have a store, play games or any other activity that earns Neopoints or participate in any voting activities. You may freely transfer items among your accounts but they should be on the same e-mail address as your main account. ... "

If you only have 2 accounts, I suggest you pick one as your main and "play" only on that (by play I mean games, "dailies" and other usual Neopoint-making or rewarding activities). There should be no reason to "play" on any other account(s). If you only want more pets, you can have more pets. I suggest using the same e-mail for all of your accounts and trying to play within the rules instead of looking for "loopholes" as you say that may jeapordize any or all of your accounts.

[Ange]

I don't see how switching is necessary, to be honest. You can play one account "full time" and keep it your main. It is easy enough to transfer everything you may need to the other account. What you're doing now is highly risky; I think it is only a matter of time before TNT would notice your pattern. I'm actually surprised nothing has come up from your weekly switching. If I were you (and this is just my opinion), I'd pick one to be the NP-maker main and stick with it.

Wasn't there a NT Editorial that addressed main account switching? I think it may have said something like it's okay, as long as you don't go back and forth multiple times.

[varii]

Again, quoting the editorial..

Hey, TNT. I was wondering, is it allowed to have two main accounts, as long as they don't interact with each other? ~mr_sunshine718
No, even if you never send Neopoints or items between the accounts you still may only have ONE main account.

Hi TNT! I'm just asking -- can you change main accounts every month or so? Thanks! ~zbelac
Uh, no. This doesn't quite go along with the spirit we intended when we said you could change main accounts. While there is no definite number of times you can switch, we imagine it would be more like a one or two time thing. Basically, you may switch accounts if you feel serious about leaving an old account behind and starting anew or moving to one with a new name. This shouldn't be something done lightly, and please do your best to stay committed to your new main account. Randomly swapping back and forth all willy-nilly-like is basically using multiple accounts to play Neopets, which is not allowed. (Just because it's not every day doesn't mean it's okay.) We do realise that you may find a username you like better down the line and want to switch to that one, for example, so we're trying to accommodate by allowing you to switch. But make a decision. Pick one account and stick with it, eh?

TNT can be vague sometimes, but they aren't on this issue. They don't want you having more than one main account and they do not want you switching back and forth. But they are perfectly ok with you transferring things to your side account and feeding your pets and having extra galleries.

In fact scenario 1 is probably the silliest to me because someone would be ok with having other accounts and know that it is within the rules, but not know that they are allowed to move things through accounts. What would be the point of starting a gallery if you weren't putting anything in it?

And as for the pets 'dying'..from the editorial again..

I was wondering if the Soup Kitchen was considered a daily. I have too much money on my main to visit it but I visit it on my side account. You can't make money from it but it certainly saves you some. I really don't want to violate any rules so I was wondering if this was allowed. THANKS!!! ~lost_penelope
No, you are free to visit the Soup Faerie and Healing Springs faerie on your side accounts, to keep your Neopets there healthy and happy. This also includes the Neolodge.

Do TNT go by emails or ISP numbers?

I'm tired of quoting the editorial, but they've repeatedly stated that they do a little of everything, but are not limited to emails and ISPs.

[Erin]

I have to wonder why you're so keen to find loopholes in the account allowance rules. TNT states very clearly in the Terms and Conditions that we are allowed a maximum of 5 accounts, and only ONE of them may be used to make neopoints. The only exception is if one of your spare accounts is designated a guild account, in which case you may use a shop to fund guild activities.

Scenario 2 is against the rules, in my opinion. You're not allowed to have 4 seperate "main" accounts. Even if there isn't any transfer between each of them, it's still breaking the rules.

(Those poor kids in my story! Does that happen a lot? Kids getting frozen for having siblings?)

No, it doesn't happen a lot.

[mazil]

Hey mariehgl70, welcome to the forums

As the others have kinda said, I think some of your scenarios (#1 and #2 especially) seem to have arisen from a misunderstanding that you aren't allowed to transfer items and neopoints between accounts...? Both scenarios can be easily solved by earning the money in one account (the "main") and transferring what you need to the others, which is completely allowed by the Terms & Conditions.

(I just had quick read of them, and you can definitely transfer items... I've always got the impression you can transfer NP too if you want, and buy items. It doesn't say you can't transfer NP, but just that you can't earn NP).

[TDG]

Scenario 2 : Borderline. Neopets have said they don't mind if you switch your main account, but have also expressly said they don't like people doing it too often.

Outdated; they've stated many times in the past couple of years that this is not acceptable anymore.

Really? I could have sworn this popped up recently in the editorial. o.O *goes to have a wee hunt around for it*

[EDIT] - Nope, I'm just crazy. Could have sworn it was there though

[EDIT II] -

Thank you for posting my email. I am one of the people who do scenario 2.

Woah! Stop then. Seriously. There's no point in doing it (you can do everything on your main and transfer stuff). You're seriously risking all of your accounts by doing this.

[mercurius]

Honestly, they should just do away with the multiple account thing and just raise the number of pets a person can have.

[Erin]

Honestly, they should just do away with the multiple account thing and just raise the number of pets a person can have.

I agree. Especially now that galleries and shops are seperate.

[Kenjiro]

I just saw an auction where a bunch of Eo Codestones were auctioned by the same person, but three different accounts.. Is that legal? It seemed pretty suspicious, seeing as the 'time left' and the price are exactly the same, and after checking the user details it's pretty obvious it's one user (same place of residence, and almost identical pet names)

[Jerch]

I just saw an auction where a bunch of Eo Codestones were auctioned by the same person, but three different accounts.. Is that legal? It seemed pretty suspicious, seeing as the 'time left' and the price are exactly the same, and after checking the user details it's pretty obvious it's one user (same place of residence, and almost identical pet names)

Perhaps they're the same person, perhaps not, we can't be sure...


Who's to say that they can't be brothers and sisters, etc?

They could have named their neopets after their 'real' pets in the real world, their hometown, their parents, etc.