Random Saturday Ep 35: Feral (leaks!)

Hey all, Blue here with today's Random Saturday!

Today, I am going to be talking about what has changed in relation to Feral since I made the last Random Saturday about it. And yes, a lot has changed.

Since I last talked about Feral, a couple new things have come out. I'll start with the biggest one yet: Feral beta signups!

Feral has posted the signups for its beta testing, which is speculated to be happening sometime around late December. You have to be over 13 to sign up.

The next awesome thing is that a bunch of new leaks have been released,  including what some of the animals are going to be! There are a lot of pictures, so the rest of the post is under the cut!

Agent Insights Ep 25: Gifting Wars

Hey, Jade here, with a new Agent Insights. Today we’ll be talking about another type of scam- Gifting wars.

As the name implies, gifting wars are a sort of contest where two Jammers gift each other items, each item better than the last, to see who can gift the best. The items may or may not be given back at the end of the contest, it’s up to the participants. This kind of contest can be a fun game to play with friends. However, it can also be easily turned into a scamming scheme. For example:

One day, in Jamaa Township, you see a Jammer dancing and saying “gift me, i gift back better!” Intrigued, you gift some item to them, maybe a Rare Item Monday. You wait for a little, then get a Jam a Gram: They gifted back a den beta! You decide you can trust them, since they gifted back a better item, so you trade them a Spiked Wristband. They gift back a better color of the Wristband, so then you gift them a long Spiked Collar! Maybe they’ll even gift you a Headdress back..... but then, as you’re waiting for their gift, you see them log off of Animal Jam without gifting anything back. You’ve just been scammed out of your spike!

As shown in the scenario above, scammers will repeat the cycle of trading a few times in order to build up your trust, until you’ve gifted them a rare enough item that they want to keep: then, they’ll disappear. 

Luckily, this scam is relatively easy to avoid! Simply use the trade system instead of gifting, and they won’t be able to take an item without giving anything back. Don’t fall for scams like this! Stay safe, and jam on!

Random Saturday Ep 34: Speedo Sands and Sandy Shores

Hello everybody, and welcome back to another Random Saturday; today's episode hosted by yours truly, Gamma Shade! Today, I decided to bring up something a little bit different: the two unreleased lands originally discovered by jammers in 2017, Speedo Sands and Sandy Shores. The news of this came out only two years ago, but somehow, I didn't find out about it until now!
So, here's a quick overview of the topic. In 2017, a group of hackers had gotten into AJHQ's files of Crystal Sands and had somehow leaked the concept art out into the public.

Some believe this concept art was the original ideas for the Crystal Sands remodel that we see today. For those who don't know, the first Crystal Sands looked pretty different than today's, with it a little bigger and (in my opinion) way better than the one we have now.

The old Crystal Sands was remodeled into today's in 2011, with the concept drawings above being the possible early ideas for what the modern version of Crystal Sands would look like.

Jammers were able to get into both Speedo Sands and Sandy Shores by following any buddy who had gotten access to it, similar to how people got into the Untitled Room, another unreleased area. 

They were also able to walk around inside of these lands, getting to see the early sketches of how Crystal Sands changed into its final project. See a video about this here.

For awhile, jammers were crowding into these rooms, eagerly wanting to look into what these unreleased lands were and what was around them. But AJHQ found out and quickly put a stop to all of it. 

Every jammer who went into these rooms were suspended. According to the AJ Wiki, this suspension often depended on how long people spent inside these rooms. The rooms were quickly removed from the game and that was the end of all of it. 

Hearing about these lands now, I think it's pretty interesting, not only realizing the lands existed but also hearing what it takes to create the lands in Animal Jam. It's pretty cool that we're able to get a glimpse of how it all works. What do you guys think? Were any of you guys able to get into Speedo Sands and Sandy Shores when they were available? 

Welp, that's all I gotta say for this topic. Hope everyone has a spectacular Feast of Thanks!

Adios,

      Shade

Agent Insights Ep 24: How Not to Confront Scammers

Hello everyone. Flint here to do an Agent Insights, talking about what you shouldn't do when confronting scammers.

Hopefully, we all know scamming is bad, and you should respond negatively to it. However, some methods of responding to scammers are unhelpful, counterproductive, too extreme, or unnecessary. I'll tell you some things you shouldn't do in order to be the most helpful. These go for agents and non-agents.

Note that you can't convince scammeres they're wrong right at that moment. That really needs to be done organically, by the scammers. They need to do it themselves. Yelling at them that scamming is wrong won't work. Have you ever changed your mind after being yelled at or snarked at?

Do Not Harass the Scammer

Harassing includes insulting, demeaning, snarking at, threatening, or spamming the scammer. Doing this isn't actually going to help anybody. You aren't warning anyone, you aren't gathering evidence, you aren't investigating the scam, you aren't even making the scammer regret scamming. You're just being mean. I think people might do this because they want to be mean anyway, and have found an acceptable target. Either way, harassing is unhelpful and mean, so don't do it.

Do Not Scam the Scammer

This makes you a scammer. Even if you scam back your items, you're still scamming. Scamming is never justified for any reason. Don't.

Do Not Go Undercover

While this is especially a rule for our agents, this also applies to you. There's a very good chance that if you try to go undercover as a scammer, you will get reported/suspended, outed as a non-scammer before actually doing anything, and/or end up actually scamming someone and being unable to return their items. For these reasons, you should not go undercover as a scammer/part of a scam team.

Do Not Stalk the Scammer

Every so often, I see people who follow the scammer around long after the scam is complete and they have stopped scamming. They aren't anonymously tracking a known serial scammer and only making themselves known when they are actively engaged in scamming. They aren't remaining in the scammers' den or following the scammer after they left a world to make sure they aren't still scamming. The people I'm talking about here randomly show up where the scammer is hours, sometimes days, after they've scammed someone and harass them or scream about how they're a scammer during their FNAF roleplays. This is ultimately pointless. You're wasting your time. You aren't helping anyone, you aren't convincing the scammer. You're just being mean.

In summary, a checklist of things you should make sure of before confronting a scammer.

• Will this gather evidence, warn others, or impede the ability of the scammer to scam?
• Am I being mean? If I were the scammer, what would I think of this action?
• Do I truly want to help, or do I want to look cool?

Goodbye, everyone!

Random Saturday Ep 33: Ostriches in Play Wild

 

Hey all, Jade here with your Random Saturday! Today we'll be talking about the newly announced animal coming to Play Wild: the Ostrich!

This new animal looks to be a fun and streamlined player character- with animations including hiding its head in the dirt and gliding across ice.

Their design is quite aesthetically pleasing, and there seems to be a nice variety of clothing items that go well with these birds.

Since it is coming to Play Wild, we can reasonably assume that it is also in development for AJPC. Are you excited to play as this animal in Play Wild? Or are you waiting until it comes to AJPC Whatever your thoughts on this new animal, stay safe and Jam On!

Agent Insights Ep 23: Cross-Platform Trading

What's up everyone! Today, I bring to you your next installment of Agent Insights! Today's topic is cross-platform trading, also known as cross-trading.

So, first things first. What is cross-trading? Well, it could be seen as a form of trust trading (because there is a certain level of trust involved) across platforms. Say if you are rare on AJPC but not on AJPW. Say there is another jammer who is rare on AJPW but not on AJPC. Therefore, you two struck a deal for you to trade them a good rare for a typically bad item in AJPC, and they will do the same in AJPW.

Now, however, this system has a huge loophole. After you trade them a good item for a bad item on AJPC, they may not keep their side of the deal and not turn up on AJPW. If that happens, then, it's a scam.

Now, I understand that different people are rare on different platforms and both are run by AJHQ/WildWorks. With Feral coming up, I can see how cross-trading can become more and more common. Therefore, AJHQ, if you are reading this, I have an idea.

There could be a "holding system" in which the trade will not fully go through until the itens have been given. So, there could be an option to indicate that this trade will be completed in AJPC/AJPW. Then, both items will be taken from you and the other jammed, placing them in a cloud system. If the other jammer doesn't trade yoi the items on AJPW within a certain time limit, you get your items back from the cloud. You are able to view the trade from the cloud option, and the time remaining.

Well, that's all from me now. Till next post!

-Dew

Random Saturday Ep 32: Snails!

Hey guys, Cat here. Today we will be taking about pet snails. Yes, you heard me. Pet snails are on Animal Jam PC!

They are cute little pets with a lot of different personalities.

They are full of fun and joy!

They come in a wide variety of colors too! 

This one's pink! When I bought it, it had an interesting personality

of Zany, likes a sweatband for a toy. It also loves sunflower seeds. 

I suggest picking up one of these cuties

in the Diamond Shop today!

They cost only 3 diamonds to purchase. Cat out.

Agent Insights Ep 22: Phishing

Hey everyone. Flint here to talk about phishing, and as it relates to Animal Jam. 

(I know there's an old post from 2017 talking about this, but I'd like to make it an updated Agent Insights, so everyone can find it easier.)

Phishing is when scammers pretend to be legitimate people/websites/companies/whatnot in order to fool people into giving them personal information like passwords or credit card numbers. 

 The most common example is getting an email/text claiming to be from a company you do business with (e.g. Netflix, Apple, etc). Said email/text will say that they have detected suspicious activity on your account/hackers have tried to log into your account. They will then give a link to a place where you can supposedly do something to stop hackers getting into your account, involving entering your password/personal info.

Phishing is a scam. Any links they provide will go to scam sites that will steal your info/give you viruses. However, the point is to look legitimate, so that you trust them enough to enter your info. There's actually a good image that AJHQ provided a while ago, in response to scammers pretending to be AJHQ. It shows the signs of a fake email from scammers. 

Note the following, in case you can't see the image.

• The email is not the official email of AJHQ. The official one is support@animaljam.com. 
• Animal Jam will never ask for your password over email. Clickable links are only sent from the actual Animal Jam site. 
• Spelling errors, or any errors in punctuation, grammar, etc.
• 
  

And, some tips for spotting phishing emails in general.

• Spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors
• Generic, non-personalized greeting. Animal Jam might send you links with Animal Jam Parent, but most sites will address you by your name or username.
• Links that redirect to weird places. If you hover your mouse over a link, and it does not go to a place you'd expect it to go (e.g. instead of animaljam.com, it goes to bit.ly/838383838383.)
• Panicky language, such as demanding you reset your password now, you need to click this link or you will be hacked, etc. If it makes you feel panicked, there's a reason for that. 
• Wrong email addresses. If the address doesn't make sense or it contains errors, it's fake.

Basically, to avoid these, never click on links from emails unless you were expecting the email. If you are concerned, go to a new tab and pull up the site independently, then reset the password or whatever you think needs doing.

That's all, folks. Bye!

Random Saturday Ep 31: Animal Jam Membership Bundles

Hey all, Jade here with the latest Random Saturday! Today, we'll be discussing membership bundles.

Recently, Animal Jam came out with their latest bundle- Rags to Riches. This bundle includes the Pauper and Aristocrat outfits, a lemur, the Ol' Barn, the Princess Castle, and other various den items, and it is available to anyone purchasing a membership in the month of November.

On the Animal Jam site itself, these bundles are described as a way to encourage new people to try member benefits. In the past, Animal Jam has released 19 of these bundles through gift cards (some of these are reoccurring), and 21 bundles through online purchase. These bundles include a variety of items, animals, dens, and other perks, and those who receive them are very lucky indeed! However, there may be some mixed feelings about these bundles in the Animal Jam community, for a few different reasons.

First: If you already have a membership, the majority of these bundles aren't available to you. Why buy another membership when you already have one? The only way to get every bundle would be to buy a monthly membership every time- which is tedious, a waste of money, and won't even guarantee that you could get every bundle, since there have been multiple bundles within one month before! 

Second: For those who don't have any way to get the bundles or a membership at all, this simply adds another layer to the separation between members and non-members. More animals, more dens, and more items that non-members can't get easily or even use.

However, many Jammers who have the opportunity to get these bundles do love them! It adds a bonus to the perks of membership, and it can be a fun surprise to see the mystery den items you receive with the bundle.

Overall, there are a lot of pros and cons to the membership bundle format, and there is no real consensus within the Animal Jam community to whether these are enjoyable or not. What's your opinion on the bundles? Do you enjoy them, or do you think they're unfair? Well, whatever your thoughts on the bundles, stay safe and jam on!

Update Post - October

What's up everyone! I'm here with your update post in the month of October! Without further ado, let's go!

Firstly, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to Gamma Shade, who recently joined the society. Welcome!

Next, Omega Cat has passed the training and is now a Gamma! Congratulations!

Next, the team event, "The Search for Moku'ahi" is currently ongoing. Anyone can participate, even non-society members! Just head over to our discord server if you want to participate.

Finally, we are in the process of revamping our society documents to reflect the current way we do things.

That's all the updates right now. As always, if you want to join our society, head over to the joining tab above and fill the form in!

That's all from me now. Till next post!

-Dew