Editorial > Side Accounts

I have just finished arguing on a board I made. I was asking if it was okay to restock on side accounts. Of course, there was an enormous amount of controversy. Some said that it was okay because it posed no unfair advantage, and it was still financed through your main. Other said it was earning NP on your side, and that was not allowed. I would appreciate if you could clear this up for us. (: ~rare

• We think we already clarified this awhile ago so there's no point debating it on the boards. You may not restock on side accounts, even when your main account is suspended. Being suspended is a punishment, not just an inconvenience for you to have to play on your spare accounts. If your main account is frozen, you may play on side accounts fully, as you cannot know if the account will be returned. (Issue 321)

My friend's MAIN account was recently suspended for around 2 days (48 hrs.). However, she created a side account at the time so she could continue to chat in the guild and such. She then also began to get avatars, though. I read some previous Editorials and learned that playing games was not allowed. So does that also mean earning avatars, even if the avatars were from games? Also, because her account was suspended, there was no way of sending the Neopoints or items to her main in the first place. Mk. Thanks. (: ~omgringo

• Earning certain kinds of avatars on side accounts is fine, like clickables or ones where you need a certain type of Neopet or Petpet, etc. Avatars that require you to play games or do dailies that can grant you either NP or an item is off limits on side accounts, though. You may not use side accounts as mains during suspension periods. (Issue 310)

I saw in one of the more recent Editorials that you can only do certain things on your certain accounts (like you can only earn Neopoints on your main account). Why can't you be able to just earn Neopoints and join guilds and whatever you want on all of your accounts? It's just this question is kind of bugging me. I'd like to know what the point of having to do certain things on certain accounts is... thanks! PS: watch out, some people like to cheat and just make a free yahoo account or something so they can have even more accounts! ~thyssle

• Don't worry, we've been aware since the early days of Neopia of that little trick. ;) The reason we ask that you do most activities with your main account is basically to keep the game balanced, and also to prevent inflation. We can't even express the mind-boggling number of Neopoints that are dumped into the economy every day by Flash games and other activities. Could you imagine if that was multiplied by 5? :X The value of NP would drop and the prices of items would just inflate even more. Also, for activities that give away items, their value would plummet even more, making things less profitable for you. We're sorry if you feel it is limiting, but consider what a positive thing it is that you are encouraged to focus and improve one account instead of spreading yourself thin to build up multiple ones? (Also, you're more than welcome to join/start guilds on your side accounts, just to clear up any confusion.) (Issue 309)

Hey TNT, If we have side accounts and are connected to a guild that allows donations are we allowed to earn Neopoints to donate to that guild? Just wondering. ~i_luvz_shopping_20

• No, no, no. We're sure people could come up with 1,000 different questions like this, but the answer is always the same. Do not earn NP on your side account for any reason! Please use the Trading Post or Auctions to send NP from your main account to your side in order to donate. (Issue 309)

*Insert praise here* TNT, I was wondering, would it be allowed visit the Island Mystic on sides? I understand dailies aren't allowed on sides, but all this one does is give an avvie (and occasionally make me laugh). Thanks for your time! ~:) emily_loves_tyler__c

• Yes, this is fine since you don't make any profit from visiting him. (Issue 309)

Ok I am veeeeeeery confused. What exactly are side accounts? Everyone asks if you can earn Neopoints on a side account, and I know that you can't, but how does that help me if I don't know what a side account is?!? I hope you answer this, cuz u guyz roxz! ~07vbgirl07

• We actually get this question a lot. On Neopets you are allowed to have up to 5 accounts. However, you may only use one of those accounts to do most activities (like play games, earn Neopoints, etc). This is called your main account. The (up to) four other accounts that you may have that aren't your main are considered "side" accounts, and are also known as alt (alternative), gallery, guild, or storage accounts amongst players. These accounts can be used to house more Neopets or perform any other function mentioned in the previous sentence, but may not be used to earn Neopoints (as you so astutely mentioned). (Issue 308)

I hope you answer this question because I have been wondering about it. If you get a shop ban on your main account, is it against the rules to transfer money to a side to continue shopping? I got a restock ban the other day and wanted to do this, but I didn't because I wanted to see if it was against the rules first. Thanks. ~thereheytherehey

• Good call! It is, indeed, against the rules. Restocking is one of those main account only things. *You* are banned (not because you did anything wrong, but because it's the nature of restocking), so you cannot continue shopping, regardless of which account you use. (Issue 308)

Hi, TNT! You guys rock! Anyway, I was just wondering... can you have another account on a different e-mail address and still earn Neopoints? Or would it be considered cheating? Just wondering. ~cinderpelt171

• The main account rule says that each user may have one main account on which they earn Neopoints and 4 alternate accounts where Neopoints cannot be earned. So, regardless of whether you use a different email address or the same, you as a single user may not earn Neopoints on accounts other than your main. (Issue 307)

Do you think having multiple accounts in the marketplace linking to your main shop is cheating? ~from the boards

• We've discussed this amongst ourselves and come to the conclusion that, while clever, it's too great a stretch of the rules. Technically, you are using multiple accounts to give yourself an advantage and earn more Neopoints. While we are not going to retroactively freeze or punish anyone, since it had not been made clear prior to this, we would like to request that anyone doing this please remove any type of advertisements from their side account shops. We know that a few folks who have done this will lose quite an investment, but we have to be fair. Hopefully the time you had them up will cover some of the loss. (Issue 306)