Interview With a Beta Player

Hey Jammers! Third day posting in a row WOOP WOOP :O

I'm back again with yet another promised posting topic: interview with a beta player. As I said before, my longtime buddy Gogreen16 was a beta tester back in 2010 and has played AJ ever since. She has a very good memory of her experience, so I thought she would be perfect to interview for all of you!

For those who don't know, Animal Jam's beta testing period went from July 17th to September 9th of 2010. While many things from beta still remain today, it was the first "version" of Animal Jam and was remarkably different.

Because the community was very very small at the time, very few screenshots, videos, or players from beta testing remain. In this way, Gogreen16's memories are incredibly valuable for anyone curious about Jamaa's history!

So, without further ado, here is the full interview!

Question 1

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Me: What's something that most people don't know about beta testing?

Gogreen16: Well, one thing I remember the most that a lot of people don't know is somewhat beta, but only lasted for about half a year. 

Every once in a while a staff member from AJHQ would come and visit Jamaa and answer questions and just have fun with the others. 

They had this special little badge on their nametag. One even came to my den once. I don't quite remember what they called themselves.

Me: Are you talking about guides?

Gogreen16: Yeah! Guides! I'm pretty sure that's what they were called. Not a lot of people remember them. 

Fun fact: I remember when the beta testing ended, everyone's 30 day trial of membership ended. Lots of people were upset. So whenever a Guide would come around, people would just pester them for membership XD

Me: Maybe that's why Guides went away XD

Gogreen16: Yeah that might be why they stopped doing that.

Question 2

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Me: What were some of your favorite things about beta AJ?

Gogreen16: Can I list three things? 

Me: Sure :)

Gogreen16: One: the free membership, obviously lol. Hmm... let me think...

Me: Awhile ago you told me how you really liked the nature facts

Gogreen16: Yeah! I was just about to mention that! :O

So two, the nature facts. And three... since Animal Jam was my first multiplayer game, I would have to say just being able to make all sorts of cool friends!

(even if it was hard to talk with them using bubble chat lol)

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Me: Wait, so did everyone use bubble chat?

Gogreen16: Well... sort of. I'm not entirely sure, but I think you could get a free trial of it. Or maybe it was extremely cheap and I didn't know about it.

I wanna add a fourth favorite thing, if you don't mind: the mystery and lore to the game. It wasn't as extensive as it is today, but back then it had a simple story to it that made it more interesting for me and many others.

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Gogreen16: Since the game was still very small and had only one server (Well, about one server, I'm not entirely sure) you could run into the same person multiple times. The small amount of players made the experience feel more special, kind of like a family.

Question 3

(Image credit: The Jammer in this image had an AJ blog, but it's no longer viewable.)

Me: What do you remember about the beta medical center?

Gogreen16: Ooohhh man XD One word: chaos...

This was one of the first places where roleplaying took root. Imagine this: there are jammers everywhere, each one suffering from sicknesses and injuries. The Jammers roleplaying as doctors are literally doing anything everything to keep the Jammer alive, but no matter what they do, they always die.

So basically, the whole thing was a mess, but... a fun and hilarious mess.

Me: Was there music in the medical center?

Gogreen16: Yes, but it was very faint, much like the Chamber of Knowledge. I don't remember exactly what it sounded like.

Me: I remember there was an audio file that surfaced which was rumored to be the medical center music except it sounded like saws and equipment...?

[NOTE: I've been looking for the YouTube video that had the music and can't find it right now, sorry D:]

Gogreen16: Actually, now that I think about it, I think the music sounded a bit like that... but I can neither confirm nor deny this.

[NOTE: On the AJ Wiki page for the beta Medical Center, it says the audio was quiet voices and the sound of tools being used, but it unfortunately does not provide a link to the audio]

Question 4

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Me: What was your opinion about Coral Corner? (The pottery shop in Coral Canyons)

Gogreen16: So when Coral Canyons first came out, it really added to the magic. The one problem I had with it was that all it had were printable coloring games and pages. I wasn't really into those. Regardless, I often went there just to listen to the music–

Wait a minute, you meant that pottery shop! From what I can remember, it just seemed like a regular shop to me. It was afterwards when they changed it to a den shop did I realize how much I appreciated it. I still miss that shop...

Me: Ceramics are my favorite AJ items. 

Gogreen16: Same :( rip

Question 5

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Me: What in today's AJ reminds you of beta, if anything?

Gogreen16: The old map of Crystal Sands. Whenever I'm walking in Crystal Sands, I have flashbacks to the time they announced they were giving the land a makeover. I was pretty disappointed. 

Me: I wasn't around then, but pictures I've seen look amazing.

Gogreen16: The older map felt more peaceful. The landscape looked really amazing. I faintly remember going to the top of the cliff and just having my animal stare at the forest below. 

The only nitpick I had was that you couldn't go in the water.

Me: I've seen video of that, yeah XD

Question 6

Me: What's your favorite item from beta testing?

Gogreen16: Cami's Frog. I still have mine all the way back from the beta days. I have and never will give it up.

Me: Anything you'd like to add before we close the interview?

Gogreen16: I am completely shocked at how popular this game has become over the past eight years. Before it was just a small little community, now millions of people play it everyday. I'm happy it's managed to last a lot longer than most flash games...

I'm happy that I've made so many friends here. I don't regret staying one bit :)

Me: :'D

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Big shoutout to Gogreen16 for letting me interview her!

It's amazing how much a single game can make us happy and leave such a lasting impact. I haven't come across any other game, online or otherwise, that has had such a strong pull on its community as AJ, inspiring us to come back year after year. :')

I hope you found this recounting of 2010-2011 era Jamaa interesting!

More posts coming soon... :D