Please Don't Buy Items for Actual Money + Headdress PSA

Hey Jammers! With my goal of steadily increasing the amount of posts per month on Animal Jam Stream, I think I'm gonna focus on shorter content-focused posts with less long rants. 

I'm assuming y'all will be fine with that. Besides, most of the posts on Animal Jam Stream are already like that. I guess these past couple years have just been more rant-heavy as I've become more and more emo about AJ. 

Anyways, let's begin today's topic, shall we?

Today's topic is...

...all about why you shouldn't freaking do this!

I wish it was obvious to everyone, but according to the massive amount of these listings on Google, apparently not. 

Before we get into why exactly you shouldn't buy or sell virtual items for real money, I want you to take a closer look at that last image:

The original listing for that collar was ten thousand dollars.

It's supposed to make the reduction to $500 look reasonable, which it absolutely isn't. That was most definitely intentional on part of the seller. I'm not 100% sure what the 'DO NOT BUY' means, but it might be a kind of disclaimer so that if you buy the item, the seller isn't required to actually give it to you. I could be wrong, but from my research, that's be a possibility.

And hey look, here's another person selling the same item for $5 each:

But before you get excited, that doesn't mean you should rush over and try your luck at getting a spike from a seller who has no actual obligation to actually give you the item. 

I think of this kind of thing as advanced scamming. Not only can the person easily avoid gifting/trading you the item you pay for, but actual money is involved, as well as potential account information and maybe even credit card numbers. 

Not only that– buying or selling AJ items for real money goes directly against the terms of Animal Jam, so it can definitely get you banned. 

Screenshot from Animal Jam's Terms of Service.

But aside from that... I just hope you see how it's a bad idea to pay any amount of money for a pixelated item with no actual worth. I'm not saying items can't have sentimental value, of course– just don't break any laws or rules to get them. 

– – –

I don't exactly remember how I stumbled upon listings for Headdresses, but seeing them honestly made me kinda sad.

A while back, Wildworks had informally announced that they would never bring back Headdresses to stores. This was for a very good reason: having them as in-game items is deeply disrespectful to the Indigenous cultures for whom they hold great importance. It treats those cultures and the violent suppression they've faced like a joke. 

However, it feels like the intention to be respectful was only surface level, because announcing that an item is never to come back to stores without outright deleting it only increases its demand. I think it's safe to say that Headdresses are now one of the most high-demand items because AJHQ wasn't brave enough to actually delete them. Now Headdresses have an even greater presence in the game.

I'm not saying that the players who trade for and collect Headdresses are bad people. Most people aren't taught the history and just want more aesthetically pleasing, high-demand items to create looks with. 

It's still a good idea to do what you can to educate yourself and not perpetuate the demand for Headdresses, but ultimately, the responsibility falls on AJHQ to delete them once and for all if they're actually serious about respecting Indigenous cultures.

– – –

Welp... there goes my goal of writing a short, condensed post for today (:

I hope you enjoyed reading anyway. Let me know your thoughts in the comments if you feel like sharing 'em! As always, all points of view are welcome to be shared as long as everyone is kind to each other. 

Seeya~