Fer.al vs. Animal Jam (Classic)

I'm baaaaack for a rare second post of the day!

Well.. I spent basically the whole day playing Fer.al.

All that searching for resources left my senri with some swole thigh muscles. Because that's just how Fer.al works 


Earlier this morning when I first got on, I spent some time just chatting with random people at the spawn point, which was nice because it was the most social I've been in months xD 

Sad, I know, but then as I started exploring the whole 'collecting resources and going on quests' part of Fer.al, it started to seem like I was playing a single player game as it felt lonelier and lonelier.

It's probably a combination of huge maps, long-winded quests for simple resources, and an almost alien-feeling atmosphere that gave me a sense of disconnect that I don't get with Animal Jam. 

Not saying that's a bad thing, necessarily! Even though it's different and a little colder feeling, it's clear there was a lot of effort put into the game's fantasy atmosphere that makes it really unique, and I appreciate that. 

It's probably a good thing that Fer.al isn't just "Animal Jam for older kids" and has a feel of its own c:

I guess I like how AJ is, at its best, kind of like a bridge between fantasy and reality with its lore intersecting a bit with learning about and protecting the natural world. (I've personally always found it grounding and comforting, even though Wildworks hasn't been the best with the nature element for a few years, though it seems they're working on it now!)

On the other side, Fer.al is definitely more on the pure-fantasy end of the spectrum. That's how I'd describe the main difference between it and AJ!

AJ aesthetic- earthy
Fer.al aesthetic- "alien earth"

Even though Animal Jam makes me a lot happier, I found it way more easy to play Fer.al for hours and hours because the collect-and-craft structure of the game is so simple and addictive.

On AJ, if you're searching for an item, you better be ready to dedicate weeks and weeks to building up a respectable trade list to give you a better chance. 

On Fer.al right now, you can know for sure that you can get the item you want if you put the time into collecting enough things. It's a long and repetitive process, but without the struggling that can come with trying to find someone on AJ who wants to trade with you. 

This will probably change as the game's community grows and forms a more player-driven idea of what's rare and what's not, but as of now, enjoy this simple time without much trade drama at all!

Alright. I'm gonna try to get some sleep now xD

See you in Jamaa! Or... Fer.al!

~DoomyPanda

First Time Playing Fer.al!

Hey Jammers! Fer.al went open-beta a couple of days ago, so I've been exploring it today.

It's a little confusing. You're not really given a tutorial of all the things you can do, so you just figure it out. There might not be much of a tutorial because there's not a whole lot you can do as of yet-- but there's still plenty you can!

From what I've figured out, you go around collecting resources that you can use to craft/purchase items– Graham's Workshop style.

You can also chat with a lot of other people. Be warned, you can swear in fer.al, so if you don't wanna see that then turn on chat filtering:

It's kinda like AJ but angstier

Fer.al is pretty buggy right now, but not so much so that it's unplayable. As you can see, my senri's ears are all weird looking for some reason. At one point, I went to a different land through the map and my colors changed completely.

Though, the only thing about fer.al that I find genuinely annoying is how much it freezes. I don't know if this is a widespread problem in fer.al's early stages, but I've needed to completely restart my computer three times in the past few hours of playing. My computer isn't even that bad and I barely have anything on it! Hmm.

The environments are really pretty!

Confusing, but pretty...

The lands are really really big. So much so that the first quest I did (which was to find a missing NPC) pretty much had to lead me where to go with arrows. There's lots of parts of the map that are not on paths and might be hilly (Blood Tundra, mostly). 

It would have made quests more challenging/fun if they didn't just point you where to go, but then again they might have just been impossible that way.

Maybe some quests don't do that– I dunno, I've only done one so far!

I think my favorite land is Lakeroot Valley! It's the greenest and leafiest c:

All in all, I don't think I'll ever connect with Fer.al in the same way that I connect with AJ Classic, but I'm definitely going to continue exploring it. It's a nice way to spend a day inside.

It's too bad that dragons cost real money though... >:T

Have you tried out Fer.al? What are your thoughts on it? Comment what ya think!

~DoomyPanda

Why The AJ Community is 'Toxic' + more

Hey Jammers! 

If you haven't seen the post I wrote last, be sure to check it out. You might find it very interesting!

–––

You may have noticed that Wildworks is treating Play Wild (now called 'Animal Jam') a lot different than Animal Jam Classic.

In recent days, they changed the art used for AJ Classic in such a way that it's very clear they want you to play Play Wild instead:

Top image: lots of items to get Jammers excited.

Bottom image: no items because AJHQ wants you to play the game in the top image instead.

Of course, I'm not saying that everyone is motivated mostly by items– I'm certainly not. But from what AJHQ knows about the people who play their games, and from general basic psychology, items are a lot of what make people play their games.

For reference, here's what the AJ Classic art looked like during the big update around May 1:

Less items, but still enough.

So... why exactly does Wildworks want people to play Play Wild instead of Animal Jam Classic?

I think there may be a worst case scenario, AND a best case scenario. I haven't talked about this before, but it's something I realized recently.

Worst-case Scenario

Wildworks is going to slow down updates on Animal Jam Classic and gradually push it aside, all while getting the most money from Play Wild and Fer.al.

I really hope this won't happen– that's why it's the worst-case scenario.

There is definitely evidence against this– namely that Animal Jam Classic is still surprisingly popular (most people who say it's 'dying' just never log on) AND AJHQ has said time and time again that it isn't going anywhere.

And now... the best-case scenario. You didn't think there was one, right?

Best-case Scenario

Wildworks is hoping to get the most revenue (money) from Play Wild by concentrating micro-transactions (bundles and stuff) there and emphasizing Play Wild the most so more people play it. 

This would allow Animal Jam Classic to be able to focus less on micro-transactions and more on the stuff that actually makes the game great– lore events (haven't had one of those for a long time), connection with friends, and learning about the natural world.

I'm not saying it's one or two possibilities– I'm sure there may be a mix of things in there. I came up with this because I noticed the most recent Animal Jam Classic bundle is directly available for diamonds in the diamond shop. 

Maybe that's normal and I'm just not as informed about diamond shop things, but it's an idea nonetheless.

I also thought of this because of the recent homepage changes to be more natural and in-line with the original AJ art style.

–––

This last segment of the post will be about something completely different I've been thinking about:

You always hear people saying that the Animal Jam community is toxic. Most people just care about items, they'll lie to you ("it's my birthday!!" "I'm in the hospital D:") in order to get items, people scam, people are mean... etc.

Though some of this is incomplete, I'm not saying any of this is untrue. So, time to answer the age old question... What made the Animal Jam community so toxic?

It's surprisingly simple:

It's a game aimed at kids with a ton of different items and a trading feature.

This may come as a surprise, but pretty much ever since trading was introduced, there have been mean people.

Young kids might look at the freedom of anonymity they get online and use it to be mean to people, and most instances of people being mean or toxic involve trading somehow. 

There have always been rude people. Even though I joined in 2012 and still think it was a great time for Jamaa, people were actually the most rude to me during that time, and it always had to do with me not accepting a trade.

You might be surprised but I would really frequently hear "fat panda!!!" if I declined a trade. It's a weak and bizarre insult, I know, but it was just accepted. I never hear that stuff nowadays, possibly because more older people play AJ now and the chat filter is stricter. 

But don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that all things are much better now. In fact, things seriously need to change, and Wildworks has enabled a lot of toxic behavior by focusing most of the game on trading.

So how do items and harassment get connected? Well, I know from experience that at least 90% of instances of toxicity on AJ come from someone refusing a trade or wanting items so bad they would scam or duplicate items or hack into someone's account.

I haven't even talked about the worst things I experienced on AJ– on two separate occasions, I and a buddy were followed by a Jammer who was hacking into the game to follow us into locked dens and random places without being buddies. That person ended up getting into my friend's account right in front of me, in a locked den, and took many of her rarest items. 

The worst part is that it seemed to happen every time me and this friend were online together. We were close, but we stopped meeting because we were too nervous about it happening again. It was really sad.

If the Animal Jam community is toxic, Wildworks can fix it, though people being obsessed with items gives them a lot of money. 

In my opinion, something Wildworks can start with is put Spiked Collars and Wristbands (the original ones that people go crazy about) in stores. This would destroy the fake Spike economy created by the AJ Item Worth Wiki. It would upset a lot of people, but the Spike economy was entirely imaginary anyway. The supposedly rarest spikes are the most common.

Wildworks needs to go back and re-adopt the idea they originally said about item rarity-- "items don't have a set worth. A fair trade is just something two Jammers can agree on".

–––

Wow, I was not expecting to write up a giant rant so early in the morning! Let me know what you think about any of this, whether you agree or disagree or don't care. :)

See you in Jamaa!

– DoomyPanda

A Parable for Wildworks: Coca-Cola Classic

Once upon a time, during the ~ancient age~ of 1985, the Coca-Cola Company made what has been considered the worst marketing decision a business has ever made.

It changed the formula of Coca-Cola for the first time in 99 years, and sought to replace the old formula entirely.

People went kinda crazy about this, protesting in the streets and whatnot, so they decided to release this new formula of Coca-Cola while also keeping the original.

They decided to replace the original Coca-Cola in another way– giving the new Coke the name of the original. "New Coke" was now just "Coca-Cola," and the original Coca-Cola became "Coca-Cola Classic"

Does this remind you of anything?

Well, nobody called New Coke "Coca-Cola" as the company intended. Everyone just called it New Coke, and called "Coca-Cola Classic" just "Coca-Cola," because that's what they had been familiar with all their lives.

After a while, the company realized it made more sense to call the New Coke "Coke II" instead of "Coca-Cola," because no one thought of it like that.

–––

The whole process of making "Animal Jam: Play Wild!" into just "Animal Jam" is almost exactly like Coca-Cola's famous mistake.

I just learned about the story of the Coca-Cola name change a few days ago, but I'm sure there are people at Wildworks who are actually old enough to remember it happening.

Even if they weren't, it's so famous that it's almost like Wildworks got inspired by that blunder. 

"Hey, did you know that 40+ years ago, Coca-Cola made a huge mistake?? Yeah, let's do that same thing!!! xD"

–––

Even though the Coca-Cola fiasco got much bigger because Coca-Cola was/is a massive corporation, I'd honestly have to say that changing the names of AJ and AJPW is a worse decision.

Why? Because Coca-Cola was always just a gross concoction of chemicals some people like to drink, and AJPW and AJ are both very different virtual worlds/communities that kids rely on, especially in unstable times such as now.

Wildworks would probably be too embarrassed to make the shift back to a naming system that makes sense, because then they'd need to admit that they made a blunder, but I feel like that would be a small price to pay to make Jamaa feel stable and normal again. Both Jamaas.

–––

Aaaaaaand I think that's all I have to say for now. I hope AJHQ will understand that pretty much no one is gonna refer to AJPW as Animal Jam. It's just confusing.

See you in Jamaa!!

~DoomyPanda

You Can Still Change Them Back, AJHQ...

Hey Jammers!

I want to apologize for the lack in posts lately– I think I haven't posted since the first of May. I've really wanted to be here to give everyone angry (or excited?) about the new changes an outlet to talk about it, and support in case the AJ changes are genuinely stressful to you, which they seem to be for a lot of you (and me.)

I've been dealing with a lot of intense anxiety the past two weeks that I've needed to work on (not having to do with AJ) so while it would probably be a good distraction to spend time with this lil community, I've been so panicky that it's been hard to distract myself! 

But don't worry, I'm working on it. Slowly. I'm posting today because I finally feel ok enough to do so! Yay! 

I'm so glad I could log in to Blogger to see a whole bunch of comments from you guys. I'm so glad AJ Stream has become such a friendly corner of the bigger Animal Jam community!

---

On May 3rd I wrote a comment on the Daily Explorer with a few questions/suggestions that I brought up in the previous post, and...

Well... at least someone looked at it. 


No guarantee they "passed it onto the developers" like they sometimes say, and we still have no idea if they're going to work on making AJ Classic compatible with Chromebook.  

BUT I did see someone in the same comment section echoing my opinion about the homepage! So there's hope.

Also, side note: People have been talking about how you can still definitely play AJ Classic on a browser with the tiny Log In button. You definitely can. But by the end of this year, you won't. I guess that gives Chromebook users a little time to figure out what they're gonna do to play AJ Classic once Flash stops working. 

Not everyone can afford to get another computer, so this really stinks for Chromebook users. I am hoping that, despite the ambiguous reply from AJHQ, that they're going to eventually work on a Chromebook app for Animal Jam Classic so we don't have a whole giant group of Jammers forced to quit. I'd miss you all so much :(

The next segment of the post is one that I wrote up a couple of weeks ago, but I think it still stands:

---

I've thought about this a lot since it happened, and I've come to the ultimate conclusion that the name change was just a flat-out bad decision. Not just for the Jammers who have to put up with it, but for Wildworks themselves. 

Unless AJHQ goes into more detail about WHY this switch would be beneficial, 

Changing Animal Jam: Play Wild! to just Animal Jam is like trying to give a game that was originally just a mobile spin-off the credit that normal AJ has for its longevity. 

Adding "Classic" to the name of the original game that started it all just makes it seem like AJHQ is going to be pushing it aside from now on... though it's important to note that AJHQ has said multiple times that Animal Jam Classic is not going anywhere. 

But most importantly.... now we have two very different games with basically the same name. That is the biggest problem. 

When people talk about normal AJ and AJPW... while people will use the phrase Animal Jam Classic, no one will use 'Animal Jam' to describe Play Wild. It's just wrong and confusing. 

EVEN AJHQ ISNT ADHERING TO THEIR NEW CONFUSING CHANGE:

----

Additionally, here's this post that shows AJHQ is just confusing themselves:

The only game mentioned is 'Animal Jam'. With Wildworks' annoying change, 'Animal Jam' is supposed to just mean 'Play Wild' now. Guess what? All the 'AJ Backgrounds' are from what is now just supposed to be called 'Animal Jam Classic.'

I wonder if it was just one person at Wildworks who decided to change the names and everyone else was opposed. Was it you, Clark!? -_-

----

Let's randomly switch gears and talk about the Play Wild app now.

Up until I logged in a couple weeks ago, I hadn't logged in in a few years. The login procedure is definitely much more sleek than AJ Classic. 

It makes my laptop heat up a whole lot; the fans get concerningly loud xD

Honestly, 3D CGI makes me kind of nauseous and the only thing I like about Play Wild is my den:

c:

---

I hope you're all doing well, though I know that quarantine has really impacted most of us, physically or mentally. 

I know I've definitely been struggling more intensely because of it, so if you feel similar, know that you're not alone. 

You can rant or even just share how you're feeling anytime in the comments, and you can let me know in your comment if you want it actually published, or just want to rant to me privately. I won't be able to respond in that case, but you'll be in my thoughts <3

Thanks for reading, and jam on~

~DoomyPanda

(Haven't used my image signature in a while because it's on my desktop computer that my brother has been glued to for the past few months xD)

Bad and (Possibly) Good Changes

Get ready for a long, embarrassingly complainy rant (:

––––––––––

Oh boy it's Thursday, let's see what's up in Jama–

AAAUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhsjmsfbm,


UUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH




I'm gettin' a bad feel about this marketing decision, Wildworks. 



Even worse that now the AJ homepage just centers around Play Wil– oh, I mean Animal Jam. 

And there's not even a clear notice of the change. Do you know how many 11 years olds will question the integrity of reality because of this? I KNOW I HAVE. Come on, just put a text box at the top!!! Communicate!!!

I didn't want to say this but come on, it's quarantine, everyone is losing their minds, and they're turning to virtual worlds to feel normal and when you make a big confusing change WITH ONE DAY OF NOTICE and don't even put a text box at the front telling us what's up? Why do we have to go to the Daily Explorer to understand what happened?

I have a literature final to do today and I was planning on just focusing on that but as soon as I heard about this bizarre change I knew I just had to jump on here and rant about it until the shock subsides and I can breathe again. Maybe it's pathetic but I'm kind of shaking right now xD

AJHQ, I feel like you'll regret this. There is pretty much 0 benefit to you confusing everyone. 

As far as I know, pre-existing games don't change names unless they're remade. 

Animal Jam and Animal Jam: Play Wild! are a perfectly logical series... just because AJPW might be a little more popular doesn't mean you have to completely rebrand IN ONE SINGLE DAY!!! Tell me, WHAT game has done that before???

UUuUuuuuughggghhhh

What also sucks is that they have a shady player login button on the normal Animal Jam page that goes nowhere if you input you login info:

Kinda makes me feel like I just gave away my info to someone :\

I downloaded it, and..

At least it seems full as normal. Not too many people are freaking out, thankfully.

Though I hope AJHQ makes it so the display of the app is less... uncomfortable:

I really feel like the full blue border background is important to make the user experience less overwhelming, but I can't get that with this app. Stuff is blocked out and I can't see the full border, which is something important to consider. 

Lots of people won't be used to the border being messy, and considering how quickly and without notice this transition happened, it is important for AJHQ to fix the display ASAP.

I try to shrink the window to make it feel more normal and it just doesn't work out:

AJHQ, if you're reading this very complainy post from a very complainy Jammer, please fix the display so the whole blue border (and the wood border within) are visible. It's visually uncomfortable the way it is.

I guess I'll also add in that the home screen could use a re-vamp to make it look more like Jamaa, but that's a given and AJHQ is probably working on it:

Calming down and moving on, let's talk about what this transition could mean about AJ in the future:

I am hoping with all my heart that this doesn't mean AJHQ is trying to push aside normal AJ as its flagship game and give less attention to it than Play Wild. (Yes, I am still going to be using "Play Wild" and "Animal Jam" in the way that they are. You'll see that everyone probably will.)

Updates better not get reduced even more than they already are on normal AJ. 

Many of us have waited a bunch of years for Wildworks to establish Fer.al and therefore resume the more interesting AJ updates we've lacked since late 2017. As I've said before, the character of AJ has been a little diluted since work on normal AJ updates has been outsourced to other studios (which happened due to work on Fer.al).

While the new homepage layout makes no sense and will need to be revamped so AJPW and normal AJ are equally accessible, I'm feeling kind of hopeful about what the new art of the home page might mean for the future.

To help you get what I mean, let's compare the art of the previous home page with what we have now:

Above is how it looked before the switch. Pretty basic, not the most distinct color scheme, heavily focused on items and promos. 

And now...

 If you've played AJ even half as long as I have, you'll recognize that the original warm, earthy, jungle-y color scheme has finally returned! The leafy border is very telling.

Last time it looked even remotely this earthy was a while ago, when the homepage looked like this:

But the olive tones almost look even more like an older, far prettier home page:

(Side note: Why'd they even change this in the first place??? Why did the homepage get less cool looking over the years??? What the heck. Also I used the Wayback Machine for this image so the other animals didn't load. The frog is here, tho :D)


Maybe you don't care about the homepage, but I am really passionate about the  original visual style of AJ, back when nature was emphasized more. It's not just nostalgia. When I look at the older homepage right above, I just feel so safe and happy and at home and excited about life. 

There's so much depth, I feel like I'm right there in Jamaa and not just looking at characters on a screen. It's just so beautiful!! X)

It's sad they changed the style to flat and 2D. You can always change it back, AJHQ!!! 

Which is why I am a little bit more hopeful about what the visual re-vamp of the home page could mean: more focus on nature and the environment. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and AJHQ is too overworked to think about the homepage. 

(YOU KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO??? I should make a giant color palette of all the classic AJ colors!!!! YES.)

Now this has become a ramble-y post. To finish it off, I painted the clay panda I showed you all in my last post:

I used the default AJ panda colors, with some highlights and shadows :)

The only paint I had was earth-based facepaint, so I just need to keep this little friend away from water or I'll have to repaint them <3

Now I have a friend to sit near me while I post :')

Thank you for reading this ramble-y post! I hope your days are as sweet as they can possibly be in times like this. 

What do you think about these sudden changes on AJ? Do you agree or disagree with my all-over-the-place thoughts? Any way you think, I wanna hear your thoughts!

See you in Jamaa~

~DoomyPanda