Shades of Lizzy: Daily Addiction

Mood: tired, excited, proud

Currently Listening to: "Make Believe" by Thornley

Ok, technically Thursdays are the designated night for website rants, but I got so busy working on websites that I'm doing the rant today. So, you're probably wondering which site I'm advertising today. Is it one of my own? One of the many I work on? No! I'll leave the latest rpg news for Thursday and talk about a universal favorite instead. Facebook!!!

First there was LiveJournal (which never worked for me), then there was MySpace (which I was too busy to keep up with) and now there's Facebook. At first I was a little skeptical to join. My mom's friends were signing up like crazy and finally she got an account too. This was a little disturbing. My mom using Facebook when she can't even use an instant messenger without my help. Hell, she can't even copy and paste! But still I resisted the mighty pull of Facebook, sticking to my guns and repeatedly explaining that MySpace was better, even if I didn't go on it anymore.

Finally she got to me. I joined with only three friends, two of them being my parents (yeah, my dad signed up too), and the other being the son of my mom's friend. Someone I'd hardly call a friend of mine. But my dad and I had a good time, competing against each other in games. Although I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any blog-making applications. Anyway, fast-forward a year or so, and I was still a little unsure of Facebook. There are many things about the site that still baffle me. But then I got an email from one of my favorite p.c. gaming sites, telling me that Facebook had launched a new game called Pet Society in which you create a pet and take care of him/her while building and decorating their house, visiting friends, and more.

As it turns out, Pet Society had been out for a few months already, but it was still good nevertheless. I signed up right away, creating a tan kitty whom I named Alice, after Alice Cullen. Alice's house only started out with one room, but the more things you do, like cleaning/brushing/feeding yours and your friends' pets, the more points you get, and the faster you move on to the next level and receive better tools - and a bigger house. I started playing last month and Alice is now at level twenty-seven, nearly twenty-eight. Plus I created another Facebook account for the sole purpose of being able to create another pet. This one, looking a lot like Alice, I named Rosalie. ^_^

Anyway, for the last month, Pet Society has been my addiction. Every night at seven o'clock when my parents are at work I log on and compete in the ten daily races, earning thirty coins for each one I win. Then I visit all my friends' pets and take care of them too. And since my mom joined a couple of weeks ago, I've been doing triple duty with her pet, a tan puppy named Cobalt.

PlayFish, the game's developer, has a forum where I hang out for the majority of the day, finding more PS friends, or swapping pictures of our pets and houses. Or, the best part of all, trading items. You see, in PS there are shops where you can go to buy furniture or clothes or food. But some of these things, especially the things in the luxury shop, is very expensive. Quite a few things only remain in the shops for a week, and then they disappear. And then there are the box items. The things that only appear in Mystery Boxes. So, when we buy or receive something we don't want, we have the option of selling it back to the store, for a lower price than we originally paid, or trading it for something else.

The trick is knowing what everything is worth, and knowing how popular it is. For instance, Halloween items are hot. I'm forever seeing trades happen for the black cat stuffed animal, or the monster couch. Christmas things are also big, but mostly the food. Thanksgiving food is the same. I was playing through the Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, so I was able to buy the specialty items and sell for big money when the week was up.

Contests and giveaways are frequently hosted on the forums as well. Rich players who have furnished their house and have reached the final level of game play are buy jukeboxes and lip couches (the two highest-priced items) and giving them away free! I actually won two jukes a few weeks ago. Of course, selling the jukes and lips back to the store for money will only get you 6666 coins as opposed to the 20,000 it takes to buy one, but it's still a good amount of money.

At the moment and in the middle of re-designing Alice's living room because I didn't like the old design anymore. She's only got five rooms out of the maximum six, but I'm already buying up furniture to put in it. I'm also dying to hold a contest of my own, because I'm having so much fun giving to less-fortunate pets. But my mom and I agreed that we'd help a whole bunch of people just as soon as our own houses are fixed up. And we're nearly there!! ^_^

Enough talk for today, must go and check on my trades. Here are some pics of Alice in her house.