Virtual Pets Forum - Virtualpetlist

Warning: Image Heavy Review!
Anatheria. A site I spent many of my years working for and playing on. It's the site that got me into making pet art, actually; it was the first that I was realistically able to work for, and it was great to be a part of it for a while. I joined back when it was still Kenopets, in 2006, and I've since had to make a new account, but I've still got them both. I've quit the site entirely, so I admit there will be some bias here, but I will do my best to be neutral in my review.

First Impressions:
Looking at the current layout, the site screams 'empty' to me. There aren't very many images, the news isn't on the front, and all you can really see, aside from the top banner, is a bunch of text. Not very enticing, if I may say so myself. I remember on one of the older layouts, there used to be all kinds of cute images our former artist InsaneCoffee (now an artist at Subeta, congrats girl!) did to spice things up, but it would seem they've either been removed or the admins forgot about them. For me, at least, once you start diving in (if the empty front page somehow doesn't deter you) you can tell how barren it is (more so than The Barrens themselves). There aren't a whole lot of things to do on Anatheria outside of some games, minigames, and getting the pets you want. The forums are inactive and aren't the best way to get to know people, honestly. It's very easy to run out of things to do on the site. There maybe be 60+ pet species and 500+ items, but not much to do with them.

Layout(s):
I'm going to talk about all the layouts that Anatheria/Kenopets has had since it began, since I remember using them all.

This was the first layout, which while plain, seemed a little ahead of its time in terms of navigation, since I'd never seen people use top navigation before, or even have pet stats in the sidebar. Coming from the old yellow neopets layout, this was really cool. You had the option of choosing a number of different ones based on other pets, and they were very pretty. It was easy to find everything, though a little stale (then again, most layouts were in those days haha)

I can't find a more complete screenshot of the layout unfortunately, but this is the best I can get. This was the second layout that Anatheria had, right when it changed to Anatheria. I always found it more aesthetically pleasing, honestly. It had a top banner as well, and it indicated whether it was day or night, as well as top bar navigation underneath it. It was very uncluttered as well, and it looked very sleek and modern. Navigation was still very simple and easy.

Avoiding having to make a new screenshot myself, this is the best one I can find. This is the rather barren and empty layout I spoke of. Everything's still simple and easy to use, but it's still so... boring, and it reflects on the site.

Overall Score: 7/10 (C)

Artwork:
In this case I may be partially inflating my own ego, but I think the artwork on Anatheria is rather spectacular. It's improved a lot over the ages, and it certainly shows. The style, however, isn't the least bit consistent with one another. Each artist uses their own style, and none of them are necessarily bad, but you can definitely tell who did what.

Old to New

Other Images:
Pets (Natural + Elements)

NPCs:

Items:

The wide variety of styles has honestly never been a deterrent for me, and it's almost part of Anatheria's charm. Consistently inconsistent, I guess you could say. None of them are particularly bad either, though a lot of pets still need revamps to match.

We've had a wide variety of people come and go, many of which went on to be very popular artists (InsaneCoffee, Clarri/Clarrissa, Neiko, Hinatacha, AishaNeko) and I only wish they would've stuck it out with me a bit longer haha.

Overall Score: 8/10 (B)

Content/Features/Updates/Things To Do:
I don't even know where to start with this... It's pretty stale. There's a surprisingly wide variety of html games to play, but not many activities otherwise. You can easily buy all the power drops you need for all the elements (outside of Lightning, Crystal, and Miasma) and you can easily get all the pets you want within a week or two at most, then you're left with nothing to do! The News is usually empty for weeks at a time outside of eggs stocking in the hatchery once a month. I know from a staff standpoint, we did our best to draw things, but we can only do so much until they're implemented. We can't even upload things ourselves, and we have to sometimes wait months for things we made to be uploaded (often for things meant for a release soon after they're posted!), often badgering the admins to do work. They will often upload things marked for revamps, or upload things that are over two or three years old, and when confronted, seem to give nothing more than a shrug.

Overall score: 3/10 (F)

Final Words:
I have great memories with Anatheria, but I've come to really dislike it. The admins seem to focus more on their own lives (not a bad thing!) than the site itself, and it shows with the neglect of it. I know that they'd refuse to sell to another party, and as far as I'm aware, they may not renew the site when that time comes. They have a lot of amazing ideas, but are very poorly practiced. They don't communicate well with staff, and so everything is rather disorganized. Nothing gets done, and it really isn't helping the site. Even when I expressed ideas to help, I was blamed for the site's downfall, which was irritating, being that I was the only artist who bothered to stay after such a long time. I don't think I'll be able to enjoy the site again, honestly. My friends have moved on, nothing will get fixed, and I've completely quit with trying to pull it out of the depths of failure.

I still wish Zerkonia and Pyroneus the best of luck with their lives, but I don't see their site going much further than this.

Final Score: 6/10 (D)