Autumn Den Contest :D

 Hey Jammers! Sorry for such a long gap in posting. October has been a difficult and weird month in a lot of ways, and midterm week always seems to turn into midterm month for me ^^;

As you're probably aware, Halloween is soon approaching. Did you know that this Halloween will be a full moon all across the United States? A full blue moon to be exact-- meaning, the second full moon in a single calendar month. 

...And according to the farmer's almanac, this hasn't happened since 1944!!!

I'm not sure yet if I'll be doing anything for Halloween, but I know I'll definitely try to find a place where I can see this special moon c:

What are you all doing for Halloween? Will you be howling at the moon? :D

:O awooo....

Now, moving on to the main focus of this post...

Animal Jam Stream is having an Autumn Den Contest!!!

Cool commenter vaiana70 came up with this great idea a while ago, and I've been meaning to do it ever since! I love holding contests :D

Whether you're member or nonmember, have a lot of items, or don't have many items, everyone is welcome!

If you wanna participate, here are the steps:

Step 1: Decorate your den, using the season of autumn as your inspiration! It can be super autumn-y or just have a few autumn-y elements– it's up to you. You don't need to go overboard with decorations if you don't want, just have fun making a den that looks good to you :D

Step 2: Once you're done, unlock your den and comment your username on this post! I'll be checking comments regularly, and once I see yours I'll check out your den and take some screenshots. When I'm done, you're officially entered in the contest, and I'll reply to your comment to let you know! 

So, if you win this contest, what prize do you get?

I'll tell ya:

Yup. You could win my one-and-only spiked item: a Rare Blue Spiked Wristband!

As you can guess, I'm not that much of a trader xD but I hope this is prize-worthy enough!

And of course, in addition to the Rare Spiked Wristband, your den will be featured on this blog for everyone to admire c:

So, what is the due date for you to enter the contest?

Personally, I take a long time to decorate my den, so I wanna make sure you have enough time to make a den you're happy with. 

That's why the deadline is on November 20th!

EDIT: The deadline is now NOVEMBER 25th! 

If you wish to enter, decorate your den and comment your username here before that day!

I hope this also helps the people like me who are often too busy to be on AJ much ^_^

Before I close this post, here's a cool Masterpiece I found:

I love looking at it; it's so soothing and Animal Jam-y.

And if you don't know the artist of this piece, Difficult, they were the awesome author of the wonderful Animal Jam Timber blog up until February of this year when they decided to move on. 

Even though the blog isn't updated anymore, it still provides a great resource. Difficult is an experienced AJ player, and you can find a lot of interesting gems of knowledge hidden among the posts. You should browse it sometime! :)

Alright everyone. I can promise you this time, that there won't be another month-long gap between posts– I actually have a fun idea for the next post, and you might see it coming as soon as Halloween! 

Until then, Jam on! 

Construction part 2 + Gratitude

UPDATE 10/14/20: I have midterms right now and I'm really struggling with school stuff, so it might take even longer than usual for me to post next >.<

Thank you for your patience!! You are all so wonderful :')

Hey Jammers! Not much of a post again, but the beloved Night of the Phantoms update happened:

Some new diamond items...

Arabian horses are back, and the possibly copyright infringing My Little Pony promotional art is back as well... xD

Hyenas are here once again!

Pet hyenas AND pet turkeys are back as well. As you can see, Jamaa Journals rhyme during big events like Night of the Phantoms.

This page was actually accidentally put in the last update, but was then replaced by the Matsuri festival page. Here it is again in its right place!

And finally, the Spooky Party has returned along with its signature pet bats :) 

And there also looks to be at least one completely new den item:

I went to check the Animal Jam Wiki page, and yep, today is the day of its first release! Dang, that wiki is well-updated. 

It's so cute! I love that snazzy little bow :D

The statue is animated, too– a little ghost whooshes around it every so often. All in all a really great item! 

Moving on...

SO this post is called Construction part 2 because I mostly just wanted to update you on my long, treacherous quest to re-do the layout of this blog. On some browsers Animal Jam Stream was taking a really long time to load, so I deleted a couple things (page bar, and a 'recommended posts' thing that stopped working months ago) that I think were causing problems, and it worked! As far as I can see, it loads fine now.

I'm not done though-- I want to re-do the layout of this blog to make it prettier to motivate me to post here more often. I actually got pretty far with designing a new header earlier this year, but I just never finished it because a lot of stuff happened in my life that was very difficult for me and I lost sight of my creative goals.

Generally, what's making my goals take longer is:

1. Classwork

2. Still haven't completely unpacked after moving (or mentally adjusted to my new space, for that matter) >.<

3. I started using a different computer earlier this year and I haven't yet transferred my other files or put Photoshop on it

4. Just difficulty concentrating a lot of the time– seriously, every few sentences I write in a post or an essay, I get up and pace for at least five minutes, and by the time I'm done there's no more time to do anything else I want. I really need to stop that xD

5. Aaaaand, of course, mental health issues. I've been dealing with those for a long time, but especially these past few months they've been terribly hard to deal with. I'm just constantly on edge all of the time TT_TT

But I'm not gonna turn this into one of my Sad Posts™, because I do know that things will get better, for me and for the world we all live in. Even if it's hard to believe.

And while that list up there is for your information, it's also a lil to-do list for myself. I can't believe I've waited this long to transfer my files! I'll do that ASAP so I can get back to making this blog look pretty.

For the new layout, I'll be taking some inspiration from this old Jamaa Journal cover I thought was cute:

I mean, it won't look exactly like this, but I'm gonna try to model the sidebars after it.

Maybe I think too much about this blog's design, but it is my happy place after all :)

Before I go, here is a similar to-do list of a few post ideas I have for the future:

1. Compilation of all of Animal Jam's signature fonts-- not just Tiki Island and CC Digital Delivery. No, this will be a post for the true AJ nerds who wanna know the fonts used everywhere, even during beta testing. 

2. Theory about what would happen if the most high-demand spiked collars/wristbands got released in stores again– and why maybe that's a good idea.

3. And more fun contests, for sure! 

This might seem random, but I wanna let you know that I appreciate all of you. Yes, you the one reading this! I almost can't believe you're taking the time out of your day to read this blog that I care about so much, yet struggle to keep up with. 

Even on the days where I'm paralyzed by anxiety, worried about everything going bad, it's such a gift that I can log into Blogger and see a new comment or two. I so appreciate how every one of your comments spreads positivity in its own way, through your honesty, through your kindness to others, even just a comment about something you did or something that's on your mind, even if it's just something silly. 

And sometimes I forget how special that is. 

Most blogs don't really get comments, or have regular commenters. The fact that so many of you have been checking in to comment is actually crazy special. You've put up with my slow posting schedule and made Animal Jam Stream a special, positive place. A virtual zen garden on the internet.

I'm endlessly grateful for you. Even while I've been going through the most difficult point in my entire life, even while I don't post as often as I'd like, you've all stuck around in your own way. And I am so honored. 

As I recover, as I adjust to my new life situation, I really want to show this gratitude to you all and rededicate myself to making more interesting posts. I want to give back and be more consistent here. I'll need to get better at managing my time, but I swear this will happen. 

Until the next post, stay safe, and I hope to see you in Jamaa! :')

Construction :0

 Hey Jammers! No actual post today, just a notice that I'm going to be trying to fix some errors with my blog, so things will look significantly weirder (I think). I might temporarily remove both sidebars or do some funky things with the HTML to find the source of the problems.

Among other things, Animal Jam Stream takes forever to load on certain browsers for no good reason, so I'm gonna try to zero in on those problems and fix them.

In the meantime, here's the interesting results from the poll to the sidebar:

Wow! It seems putting spiked collars/wristbands back in shops isn't such an unpopular idea after all-- among readers of this blog, at least. A big thank you to whoever voted! I'm planning on eventually making a bigger post on this when I have the time and focus to do it.

Okay guys! Time to do my best to make this blog less glitchy! Let's hope I don't mess anything up irreparably! xD

~DoomyPanda

A New AJ Blog Appears!

Hey Jammers!

Online school has started back up for me again, and even though it's harder to focus than with in-person school, the routine of having classes again has been pretty nice. As I've been adjusting into this routine, I've been posting less, but that won't be for much longer-- I'm planning on posting more this year!

Now.. to the Jamaa Journal!

We got a mini update today, just three pages. But hey, at least its not 4 pages with the fourth page being an advertisement for Play Wild xD

Pet phantoms are back! Now if only AJHQ made them nonmember. Occasionally through history, AJHQ has turned some member's only animals and features into features for everyone. I still remember when penguins became nonmember... good times. 

What's your favorite kind of pet on AJ? For me, my number 1 favorite has to be pet ladybugs. I also like pet frogs! You know, AJHQ should release all or a few of the "original" pets like dogs, frogs, kitties, etc. as nonmember, because there are just so many member's only pets now. 

I think the Ol' Barn is a pretty good den! Items tend to look nice in it. Glad it's back :D

So, something that's interesting here is that the icon for this page of the Jamaa Journal is a drum lying sideways, even though the page it represents is completely different. Hmm..

Moving on...

Fun fact: at this moment in Jam Mart Furniture, you can buy a Leaf Pile, or a Rake and Leaf Pile. The rake seems to cost an extra 50 gems X)

The Leaf Pile was first released in Jamaa a bunch of years ago. Then, after a while, I think AJHQ thought it would become popular or high-demand so they stopped releasing it and released the Rake And Leaf Pile instead. And now... you can buy both. 

I prefer the normal Leaf Pile :D

And now, to the main focus of this post, the thing I'm most excited about:

A new Animal Jam blog has emerged from the darkness! Please welcome the Animal Jam Popcorn by Popcornpizza25!!!

For those you don't know, before YouTube started being the most popular way to talk about Animal Jam and get noticed, there was a massive community of AJ blogs like the one you're reading now. 

Most people moved on from that, but Animal Jam Stream is just such a peaceful and positive thing for me that I'm still here, and not going anywhere! :)

It's normally extremely hard for a blog to get views, in comparison to a platform like YouTube, so different AJ blogs helped each other out by featuring each other. That's what I'm doing today!!

So far, Popcornpizza25 has written some awesome detailed posts about all kinds of Animal Jam related things, and I'm sure there's something on the Animal Jam Popcorn that anyone could find helpful, or at least bring a smile to your face ^_^

No matter how far you choose to go with your blog, Popcornpizza25, I'm happy you decided to start one and you already have some great stuff on it! :D

So everyone, click here and visit the Animal Jam Popcorn! 

*EDIT: Popcornpizza25 changed around their blog name and URL since I originally made this post, so I updated it with their actual current blog info :)

Alright, that's all I got for now.

See you in Jamaa! My next post will be sooner than two whole weeks, I promise XD

10 Years

 Hey Jammers! Just today, it seems we got an update on Animal Jam Classic:

Y'know, it really doesn't actually feel like 10 years of AJ. That's probably because this update doesn't feel proportional to how big a deal 10 years of AJ is (if that makes sense)

We have a bundle for members. I gotta say, that top hat with horns looks cool, but I don't know about the pointlessly spiked items :/

Rainbow raccoons are leaving very soon, and to take their place is the autumn coyote! I wouldn't get one, but I think they're pretty.

Here we have the returning Autumn Armor, which actually looks really cool! I think I'm excited for the changing seasons in the Northern Hemisphere.

And then, a little reminder that Journey Books exist! And that the Conservation Museum exists, too! We're due for a new exhibit there, AJHQ. Why not an exhibit talking about reforestation, in honor of Wildworks' accomplishment with WeForest?

The Conservation Museum is actually one of my favorite rooms in Jamaa. It's just so peaceful there...

I ran into a buddy there and had a heated conversation about the impacts of the spike economy on the experience of trading. You'll definitely be seeing a bigger post about this from me soon, because I have some ideas...

Happy World Rhino Day! Wait, actually, World Rhino Day is on the 22nd-- but wait, every day should be World Rhino Day, so go ahead and celebrate!

Go to worldrhinoday.org to learn more :)

Some new pets have arrived! Or, more accurately, returned for the season. 

Aaaand, last but not least, (but probably out of order), a little fun fact about Animal Jam during beta. 

AJHQ seriously didn't do much of anything to celebrate 10 years of AJ, but of course there could be a variety of reasons for that. Namely, the current pandemic making everyone's jobs more difficult, and you can't blame anyone for that. 

Particularly, it seems like there hasn't been enough support for the people who design new items. If you look at the newer items coming out, they're all pretty flat and basic, some even looking like a few bits of clip art stitched together:

 I wonder if some people were laid off, or if the people designing items are just overworked or struggling. I know how that is.

I'm personally of the opinion that it's ok if AJHQ stops doing the new-item-every-day thing if they just redirect that work towards new, better updates.

Or AJHQ can just go through their giant list of unreleased items and figure out something cool to do with them:

This is the E-bookshelf, also known as the Minibookshelf. Presumably meant to be a bookshelf where you can read the various minibooks found in the Chamber of Knowledge, all from the comfort of your den. I posted about this some time ago, but I thought I'd bring it up again!

Even if that feature wasn't specifically embedded into this item, it's a really cute looking item that should seriously be released soon! Perhaps AJHQ can give it a role in their Playing For The Planet initiative, and have it store new minibooks about the environment.

All of these underwhelming new items make me wonder why AJHQ is releasing them while sitting on a treasure trove of really cool unreleased designs. You can view some more here on the Animal Jam Wiki.

---

Ten whole years of Animal Jam... that's a big deal.

In my view, there have been a lot of steps forward, but also a lot of steps back. Such is the history of an influential game.

Moving forward, I feel like the most important thing for Wildworks to do is to remember that their games mean more than items to most people who play them.

These games are about community, especially during this pandemic where kids have to unfortunately distance themselves from friends for safety. What can be done to maintain a more positive community environment?

These games are about creativity, not just of the players themselves with Masterpieces, but of the people who work on the games, too. If ideas are running low, why not use some of the many suggestions that pour in every day from Jammers?

And most importantly, in my view... these games are about animals. They should strive to bridge the gap between kids and this natural world they inhabit. I know it's possible, it happened for me in the earlier years of AJ, but since then Wildworks seems to have strayed away from this. How can Wildworks incorporate more nature into what they create?

I'm planning on putting a poll on the sidebar about an idea I have... stay tuned.

See you in Jamaa!