What era was the best for virtual pet games?

You ever sit back and think about how wild this whole virtual pet game scene’s been? Like, we’ve lived through some serious shifts.



Late ’90s, Neopets shows up and completely changes the game. It wasn’t just a site, it was the site. Everybody and their cousin was playing it. Then the early 2000s hit and boom, pet sites were launching left and right. It felt like every other week there was a new one popping up, trying to put their own spin on things. Some were basic, some were broken, but some of them? Man, they had heart.



Mid-2000s is where the fluff started getting trimmed. It got harder. Only the projects that really had a vision or strong community stuck around. You either leveled up or faded out.


And now? We’ve got mobile pet games, stuff on Steam, even pet games showing up on consoles. The scene’s more polished, more accessible, more everything. But… is it better?



That’s what I’m wondering.


Which era actually hit the hardest for you?

Was it the early 2000s, when it felt like the Wild West and every idea felt fresh?
Or is it now, with games having full dev teams, sleek UI, mobile support, and real funding?



Sure, the tech now is miles ahead. But back then, it was scrappy, creative, and kind of magical. Sites had to make up for lack of features with charm and community. You remember forums being active 24/7, right? You posted, you battled, you adopted, there was always something to do.


What’s your favorite era of virtual pet games?
Do you think the older sites had better gameplay and vibes, or is modern stuff where it’s at now?

• Do you think Neopets-era was the peak, or are we heading into something even bigger now with mobile and PC titles taking off?

uptrendfinancialsignal said:

I am in agreement with that! It was really the big era for virtual pet games. We witnessed iconic sites like Neopets Marapets and others. However, it is important to know that the current era is more exciting as there is a rise of cross platform play and a lot of mobile gaming are coming up too.

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It truly was the big era for virtual pet games, especially watching Marapets and Subeta pull 2k–3k users online at any given time back in the early 2000s? That was wild. However, now we’re seeing games like Lioden and Flight Rising hitting those same numbers, so it’s clear the genre still has a dedicated player base.



Marapets, Subeta, and Powerpets carried a lot of weight after Neopets opened the floodgates. They laid the groundwork for what a feature-rich pet site could look like. I’d put them right behind Neopets in terms of impact and user count. They had (and still have) solid feature sets—forums, economies, pet stats, layered systems—all the things that kept people engaged long-term.



What’s interesting now is how we’ve shifted more toward customization being the main draw. Like, dressing up pets and avatars is fun, but a lot of newer games don’t go as deep in terms of actual gameplay mechanics. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on customization—it definitely adds value—but it feels like we’re missing that balance between looks and substance.



However, I do like how modern pet games are playing around with breeding, exploration, and mobile/cross-platform support. Those are things we didn’t see much of back in the early 2000s, and they’ve definitely opened up new directions for the genre.




Do you think we’ve hit a point where customization is prioritized too much over gameplay? Or is it just the natural evolution of where pet games are heading?

It would also be interesting to see more features come back around. Such as, the evolution of pets growing from a baby to an adult form.