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!

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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.

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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".

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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