Random Saturday Ep 36: Guides

Hey everyone! Welcome to another Random Saturday, this week's episode with your host Shade! Today, we are gonna be going into a lesser-known fact about the beginnings of Animal Jam. That is the Guides, found around Jamaa during 2010 and early 2011. 

Guides were Wildworks (then called Smart Bomb Interactive) 

 employees that were found around Jamaa during the beta days. Their main purpose was to interact with Jammers and help out new players getting used to the game. These guides are similar to AJHQ's Animal Jam account today, except it was more than one person interacting with the AJ community. Their accounts were very similar to normal Animal Jam accounts, being able to do basically the same type of things a normal account could do. There were a few differences, though: Jammers could not buddy them, jam-a-gram them, or go to their den, like you could with a regular AJ account. 

Guides also had a green tint to their chat boxes, so Jammers could know where they were and wouldn't get them confused with others. They were also noted to have an AJ badge next to their name tag, something that wasn't available to other members. Sometimes, guides played games with jammers around Jamaa, most notably a game called "Shaman Says," 'shaman' being what alphas were called in the beta days. The winner of this game would be gifted gems. 

Another cool thing about Animal Jam guides were their ability to become alphas (or shamans, as they were called back then). As seen in the photo above, one AJ Guide was sighted as Graham in the Lost Temple of Zios. However, this is the only alpha (at least that I've been able to find) that has been seen as a Guide. Sadly, there isn't that much information out there about Guides, partly due to the fact that had so little of a presence in Jamaa until they disappeared. But they are an interesting and cool concept! I believe it could've grown into a much bigger thing if given the time to, especially with the concept of Alpha Guides. What do you think about this feature? Should AJHQ have kept it in the game?

Agent Insights Ep 27: Super Sapphire Scam

What's up everyone, I'm here with your next edition of Agent Insights. Today, I'm gonna talk about a possible scam in AJPW. I'm not sure if it has a name yet, but for convenience, I will call it the Super Sapphire Scam, or SSS for short.

So, as you probably can guess, this scam involves a super sapphire potion. I've seen people advertising before that they will drop a super sapphire potion when others trade them good items. Trading others well is usually not a problem, but we must always know the value of the items on trade. If the items are of low value, then it probably isn't worth trading them a good item for a bad one.

The thing that makes this a possible scam is that we do not know if they really have the potion. AJHQ has made it so that potions can't be traded. Therefore, they could claim to have the potion when they may not. There is also no way for us to prove that they don't have the potion, because we can't ask them to put it on trade. As a result, they could get good items for bad items, and leave without dropping anything.

So, how do we avoid this scam? One way is to trade fairly. You could trade them stuff that is of equal value to the item on trade. If they reject, then it's fine. I do not recommend you to push the value of your trade higher, because you may get scammed. If you really want the sapphires, you could watch the ads on AJPW. They give you a good amount of sapphires, if you're lucky.

Alternatively, yes, AJHQ, if you're reading this. I'm speaking to you (again). To prevent such scams from happening, you can make it such that potions can be traded. This way, people can trade items directly for the potions and get it for themselves through a fair trade.

That's all from me for now. Have fun, but remember to stay safe too!

-Dew

Agent Insights Ep 26: Impersonation

Hey everyone, Flint here to talk about impersonation scams in another Agent Insights. 

Impersonation scams are when someone pretends to be someone they aren't to trick you into giving them items. This scam takes many forms, which are listed below.

Famous Jammers

Sometimes, people will pretend to be famous jammers to try to get people to gift them items. To avoid this one, only give gifts to the main accounts of famous jammers/known alts that have been confirmed by the famous jammer.

Random jammers claiming to be alts are most likely lying. Look closely at the username and make sure it's spelled correctly. And, of course, anyone who says they are famous whom you haven't heard of should be ignored. They're probably lying for attention/items. 

Hackers

Sometimes, people will claim to be hackers, and tell you if you don't give them your items, they will hack your account. This is a scam because, if they really are hackers, they could just hack your account anyways without asking anything. Plus, if you get hacked shortly after, you'd know exactly who it was and would be able to report them.

 The only reason people would claim to be hackers and ask for items is if they were not hackers and just wanted to scare you into giving them items. Ignore anyone who says they can actually hack your account (they almost certainly can't), and keep your passwords secure. 

AJHQ

Sometimes, people will claim to be AJHQ, and then tell you to give them items. Reasons vary, but they include "your items are glitched and we need to check on them", "do it or we'll suspend you", "your items may have been hacked in and we need to check on them", and more.

AJHQ does not need you to give them items. If items may be hacked/glitched, they can just look at them and delete/fix them without your permission. AJHQ will not threaten you either, as they can just spawn in items and thus don't need yours. Ignore everyone who says they're AJHQ unless they are the username "ajhq". (Note that individual staff members whom you don't like can't ban you for no reason)

If you want to avoid these scams, a simple way is to just not give anyone items unless it's in exchange for a fair trade. If anyone demands items, ignore them. Stay safe out there, jammers!

Update Post - November

Hey all, Jade here with your update post for November! 

First, we’d like to extend a thank you to our Gammas Cat and Shade for their first posts on the blog! 

Next, the team event, “The Search for Moku’ahi” is still going on our Discord! Anyone can participate, if you want to join or just to watch, you can join our Discord through the link in the sidebar! 

We’ve also made good progress this month in revamping and updating many of our documents, mainly thanks to our very own Delta Dew! 

Finally, we’ve decided that for this upcoming month of December, we will be cutting off posting halfway through the month in order to give our agents plenty of time for the holidays. We’ll still be following our typical schedule up until then! 

That’s about it for this month! As always, if you want to be an agent, head to the joining tab up above and fill out the form there! Stay safe, and jam on!