Random Saturday Ep 04: AJ vs PW

Hello guys, and welcome to another episode of your Random Saturdays. Today, I'm going to be touching on the similarities and differences between AJ and PW. Without further ado, let's go.

To do this comparison, I will be listing a few categories, and comparing AJ and PW using the listed categories.

1. Age

AJ is definitely older than PW. AJ started in 2010, while PW started in 2015. This makes AJ older than PW by 5 years.

2. Membership Advantages
In both AJ and PW, members are able to do more and get more than non-members. In both AJ and PW, members get premium currency - diamonds in AJ and Sapphires in PW. In addition, in both games, there are member-only items that only members can purchase. However, there is a significant difference here. In AJ, many of the items sold in all stores are only purchasable by members. In PW, all items in all regular stores can be purchased by all members. The only member-only items can be found in packs (as weekly gifts), the weekly member gift and the travelling salesman, who carries both member and non-member items. However, although only members can purchase the items, it doesn't mean that only members can use them. That's right, non-members are also able to use and wear those items, provided they are able to trade for it. However, there is another difference. In AJ, all adventures (except for the forgotten desert) are available to all members. On the other hand, PW has a mechanic called Pack Runs that is only available to members. In this regard, both AJ and PW have membership advantages. However, the membership advantage in AJ is much more glaring that the one in PW.

3. Lands
Being older, AJ has many more lands that PW. Balloosh, Bahari Bay, Crystal Reef, Deep Blue and Kani Cove are the lands that exist in AJ but not in PW. (As of writing this post)

4. Animals
Being older, AJ also has more animals than PW. In fact, PW has no flying animals at all. While AJ is continually releasing new animals, the animals that we get in PW are animals that can already be found in AJ. However, in AJ, most animals are member-only. In PW, all animals are available to everyone for purchase.

5. Regular Games
Being older, AJ has many more games than PW does. Sky High, Mira Says and Swoopy Eagle for just a few examples of games that exist in AJ but not in PW. On the other hand, PW also has a few games that AJ doesn't. Jumbled Up, A Puppy's Tale and Block Break are a few examples. That being said, AJ still has a wider variety of regular games than PW does.

6. Buddy Games
While AJ may have more regular games than PW, PW actually has more buddy games than AJ. PW doesn't have Pairs, Rock Paper Scissors, The Shell Game and Tic Tac Toe, which AJ does. However, AJ doesn't have Checkers, Pop'n, Super Cube, Trivia, Jamaa Derby, Beachside Blitz, Stack Attack and Log Jammer, all of which PW does have. By a direct comparison, PW has a wider variety of buddy games than AJ does.

7. Freedom of Speech
AJ has 3 ways to chat. Safe chat, bubble chat and safe chat plus. Safe chat plus is the most unrestrictive of chats. However, it is members only. PW has 2 ways to chat. Bubble chat, and safe chat.

8. Music
Although both AJ amd PW have amazing soundtracks, I have to say that PW has an overall better soundtrack than AJ, from my point of view. This is because PW comes up with a new soundtrack for every new den that comes out in the game. Those soundtracks have very high atmospheric quality. They set the ambience of the paired den very, very well. Also, PW and AJ have the same land OSTs for the lands and parties they share, if I'm not mistaken. Thus, overall, I feel that PW has a better soundtrack.

9. Earning premium currency
The premium currency for AJ is diamonds, while that of PW is sapphires. I personally find it easier to collect sapphires in PW than diamonds on AJ, as a non-member. This is because the only way to get diamonds in AJ as a non-member is through the daily spin, amd chances are so low. In PW, they have a system I like to call the Games Rewards System because they reward you with sapphires when you hit certain milestones in PW games. For example, you can earn a total of 30 sapphires for completeing all the levels of gem breaker. Thus, it is generally easier to earn sapphires on PW than AJ.

10. Extra features
In this regard, I think AJ has more extra features than PW. AJ has the Jammer Wall, party hosting, and adventures which PW does not have. However, PW has packs, pack runs and levels which AJ does not have. However, from an overall standpoint, AJ still has more extra stuff to do than PW does.

11. Other thoughts
I personally feel that the overall atmosphere in AJ is slightly Darker than the atmosphere in PW. I think that this could be due to the fact that AJ has the adventure storyline going on, while PW does not. In AJ, the story about phantoms is all over the place, while phantoms in PW only make their appearance during the night of the phantoms.

Alright, that's all I can think of now. Stay tuned for your next random saturday coming next week!
-Dew

Random Tuesday Ep 01: Sol Arcade Den

Disclaimer: Random Tuesdays have been discontinued and merged with Random Saturdays.

Flint here with your first Random Tuesday! Today, we'll be talking about the Sol Arcade Den. 

The Sol Arcade Den is a small-ish den released in 2014. It’s nearly identical to the Sol Arcade structure, only lacking the machines/shops.

The ground is composed of blue platforms, including the platform you spawn on, connected by paths/floor on the rest of the ground. Next to the spawn platform is a rocket, identical to the Sol Arcade structure’s rocket except with wood filling in the doorway.

There are some rocks surrounding the rim of the den, as well as rocks surrounding certain platforms and a half circle of rocks in the middle of the den. On the bottom left of the den, there is a boarded-up light source carved into the rock. It is unknown what this is supposed to be.

The floor- and wallpapers in this den usually have special textures. Most of the wallpapers change into the surface of a planet or another space theme. The floors can be a variety of things, usually more abstract/loopy versions of the original carpet.

Time for my opinion!

I like the overall theme of the den, as a spaceship. The wallpaper patterns are also creative and pretty. The platforms are open, but still defined, so you can use them as rooms. The den is also small enough that you can easily see all of it, preventing you from getting lost as you do in bigger dens.

I dislike the amount of nooks in this den. There are multiple places where the area is too small to set up a room in, but too big to leave empty. There are also almost no walls aside from low rims around the platforms and the outer walls, which makes it hard to use wall decorations. The outer walls also appear to be perfectly smooth, while the trim is a polygon with corners, making most things placed on the wall look weird.

Overall, the design of the Sol Arcade Den is cool, but it also has a weird layout that makes it hard to set up things in it. That's all for today! Thanks for reading!

Random Saturday Ep 03: Den Mazes

Hello all, Jade here, with episode 3 of Random Saturdays. Today’s topic will be den mazes!

Den mazes are a connected series of dens, with options to both go to the next den or to go back to the original den. You aren't told which option is which. The goal is to pick the right portal and make it through the entire series of dens. If you're bored on Animal Jam or are having a hard time thinking of something to do, they're a great way to waste time!



You may or may not have heard of the user aflower, who has created one of the most famous mazes. The maze starts off in their den, which looks like this:

Their den contains a portal leading you to the den of themazeshop, whose den contains a masterpiece listing the rules of the game, as well as the next portal.

(Rules: Try to pick the right portal or you come back here. Make it through the correct portal to win! Good luck!)

From then on, all portals in the den will take you back to themazeshop, except for one, which will take you to the next den in the maze. This goes on for around 16 dens. I’ve listed the dens and the correct portals at the end of the post (click read more) if you would like the answers to the maze.

aflower’s den also has a portal leading to the den of windyartshop, which has a few other art shops connected to it. After around 3 dens, you are led to another series of “maze” dens, but without options to go back to the original den. Some of these dens are also pretty cool, so if you’re still bored after exploring the original maze, I suggest going through these as well!

That's all for now. Tune in next time for another episode of Random Saturdays!

> Jade <

Society Update: Removal of the Chat Room

Hello everyone, sorry for the recent inactivity, we froze all posts while we got some stuff sorted out. With that, we have decided to remove the chat room! It has been around since the society was started and it's very bittersweet to see it go. From now on, if you want to contact the SASS team, the only way to do that will be through our email or Discord server.

Random Saturday Ep 02: Is AJ Going Downhill?

'Sup guys. I'm back with this week's Random Saturday post. Ok, just want to say that I lied, random Saturdays occur once every two weeks. Without further ado, let's go.

Today's topic is about AJ in general. Is AJ going downhill? Well, AJ started back in 2010 when there was no member - non-member difference. Those were the early days of AJ. Back then, AJHQ was able to roll out new content at a rather steady pace. It was, after all, new at that time. As with all new things, content is easy to create. More lands got released, Mt Shiveer, Kimbara Outback and the Oceans are lands that did not exist in the old Jamaa.

However, as time went by, AJ became more developed. To help AJHQ keep the content coming in, they need funds. Where do they get that? Memberships, of course. The member - non-member divide began to grow, and with each update, the divide only worsened. Remember the times when Oceans were member only? For those of you who joined AJ in recent years, non-members of the past had fewer animal choices, couldn't change the colours of their items and didn't have access to (almost) all adventures. That was when AJ probably reached its lowest in the earlier days. However, things took a small turn.

AJ noticed the problem. They made changes to the system by allowing non-members to change their item colours and more. While it worked for a while, I personally do not think it can pull AJ out of the hole it dug itself into. Mindsets were fixed. The member - non-member divide is still there. Older players are leaving. It just isn't the same AJ that we knew from the past. To make things worse, since AJ is already well-developed, new content rarely comes out, if at all. In other words, I feel that the content in AJ is getting stale. Could this be a contributing factor to the downfall of AJ? Maybe.

Now, let's look at an example. In 2017, club penguin closed in favour of a new club penguin game, club penguin island. By doing that, it allowed club penguin to start anew. AJ had AJPW. However, AJ still existed. Also, AJPW wasn't completely new - it was simply AJ-for-mobile-minus-adventures-plus-treasure-hunts. AJ didn't really start afresh like club penguin did. In that sense, it didn't truly come up with new content.

All in all, I do feel that yes, this is AJ's downfall. If AJ doesn't do something about it soon, I feel that the AJ userbase will just fade away. With the userbase fading away, AJ's funds from memberships will be cut (since there will be fewer users), just further speeding up their downfall.

Well, that's it from me now. Do tune in 2 Saturdays from now for your next Random Saturday. Ciao!

-Dew

P.S. With the downfall of AJ, comes many consequences, for one, many people would lose their jobs. All of the AJ Youtubers, bloggers, and employees, for example (That includes us) would be down and out. Not to mention all of the merchandise and resources gone to ruin if and when this occurs. Think everything that went down with Club Penguin on a slightly larger scale. Thanks, Dew, for letting me invade your post!
-Is

Society Update: Code of Conduct Update

Howdy-do-da everyone. Life is all well and good and now, for some exciting news. (It's not actually exciting, I have to do this) We have updated the Code of Conduct. Two new rules have been added, numbers 16 and 17. I seriously recommend reading it. Everything going on here will make more sense if you do.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/106Q88FiB6oSKGlWxRwKZq7me8eMj3IlVXesLs94HdhU/edit

Toodle-oo

-Is

Society Update: Resignation

Hi all, I am so terribly sorry to inform you of this but, Beta Maretu has resigned. We have no ill feelings towards her and wish her the best. Like many people, she grew disinterested in the game and had many scheduling conflicts. We are not only down an agent, we are down a friend and will severely miss her and everything she has done for SASS. Farewell Mar, good luck with everything.

Peace

-Is

Random Saturday Ep 01: Flower Crowns in AJPW

Hello guys! Dew here. We've started a new series titled "Random Saturdays", in which we post about non-scammer-related AJ stuff. Without further ado, here is your first Random Saturday post.

What I'll be posting about today is the return of flower crowns in AJPW. It's been out a while now, but flower crowns have returned to stores. It is currently being sold at epic wonders for 2,200 gems. That's right, it's being sold for gems.

 Flower crowns were released during the Beta Testing period of AJPW, and they used to cost only 500 gems. What made them very valuable is that they disappeared from stores after Beta Testing. You might think that the price hike is reasonable for an item as valuable as a flower crown. However, I personally do not think so. Back then, gem earning was rather tough. Best Dressed and Jamma Derby didn't exist, making gem-earning more difficult. Now, with more games added (jammer vs jammer included), gem-earning is relatively easier. This could mean that the valuable flower crown could be bought for relatively similar effort. However, the release of the flower crown in epic wonders disrupts the trading plans of jammers. What if the flower crown was the only valuable thing they had on trade? In my opinion, AJHQ made the item close to worthless by releasing them in stores. This is even more so if they become "permanent items", or items that never leave the stores.

In summary, I do not think that is was such a good idea to release the flower crowns back into stores. I feel that AJHQ could have come up with a better way to make the crowns available to all jammers to obtain, instead of using gems which are easier to obtain these days.

Well, that's all for now. Do tune in next Saturday for another episode of Random Saturday! Yay!