A Kotaku reader and former NeoPets artist writes to tell us what it was like working for NeoPets. He said that while none of the Scientology psychosis leaked over onto the site, there was plenty of it behind the screen.

From the lengthy letter:

Adam and Donna are nice people, in and of themselves. The negative aspects of NeoPets, all came from the side of Scientology-Oriented business structure/psyche. From the very get-go, any employee who applies for a job, will be faced with a couple of personality screening tests. I shit you not, I had a more comfortable time with my SAT's in high school! A lot of people make fun of Scientologists in an ignorant sort of way; they don't really know what goes on behind the curtains, but I assure you, it's not pretty. In hindsight, it's a little ironic that many of the execs are part of the cult, and many fledglings didn;t seem to get promoted to that level without first converting (this was the case while I was there). A mere observation, more than anything else. Unfortunately, many businesses that visit/partner up with these guys will look at the architecture of this successful business, and will be inclined to adopt it for themselves. It is for this reason alone that I want to see NeoPets fail.

The NeoPets mole (is that one of their characters?) goes on to say that most artists last about six months and that when he was there typical pay was about $12 an hour.

Despite all the internal brain-washing, bad karma and general higgly feeling he got from working there, our reader was happy he got the experience and said it helped him land a much better job when he left.