http://www.neopets.com/games/play.phtml?game_id=926

Yeah, I know a lot of you have no interest in Neopets whatsoever, it being for "kids" and whatnot. But click on that above link and play the game at that link. Do it. Do it now.

Okay, played the game? Came back to this post? Good. You may pick up your jaw from the floor now.

Yes, the inexplicable has happened. A First-Person Shooter has appeared on Neopets. I haven't played enough of it to make an effective judgment call on its quality, but what I played so far is kinda meh. Two types of enemies, rather angular and primitive graphics (I've seen Quake 3 done in an internet browser, so trust me, I've seen better), a meager weapon selection, and somewhat sloppy controls (having Fire assigned to the space bar instead of the left mouse button is kind of awkward to me) makes this not exactly a quality FPS.

But still, an FPS...on Neopets.

What the hell is going on?

Is this Neopets' attempt to appeal to the hardcore gamer crowd? A more adult crowd? An attempt to shed its "kiddie" image? A desire to do something different (at least, for Neopets)? I don't know. But regardless, if it's any of the above, if Neopets continues on such a course, it could end up as a disaster. As us hardcore gamers know, the FPS genre is often shat upon by parental watchdog groups, who say the FPS genre incites kids to violence, cannibalism, and other fun things. And the main character of the game, Sergeant Zarex of Section Six, looks suspiciously like a Master Chief ripoff, except without the faceplate. So parents who currently approve of their kids playing Neopets might decide to start writing angry letters upon learning of this genre of gameplay showing up on this supposedly "kid-friendly" website. Sure, the enemies in the game are robots and the weapons seem innocuous enough (with names like the Bzzt Blaster and Sleep Ray), but the mere idea might be enough to send most parents up the wall.

This could indeed turn out to be a bad move for Neopets. But will it? Only time will tell, I guess, but right now, I'm still reeling from the concept.