Why Are There So Many Wolves in Animal Jam?

Hey buddies, it's Stang!

Have you ever wondered why the majority of the population in Animal Jam consists of wolves?

There are so many wolves for a few main reasons:

1. Beta
When Animal Jam was first released, the first animals were the monkey, bunny and wolf. Obviously people didn't really like the monkey but the two other animals were very popular among players. Also, since there animals were from the beta times, they are non-member so everyone can be a wolf or bunny. But why did people choose the wolf over the bunny?

2. You Can't Eat Your Friends
It's slightly awkward when you're a wolf and your friend is a bunny because based on the natural laws of nature, the wolf eats the bunny. And so people had to choose one or the either before things got strange so they chose the wolf because...

3. They Look Cool
Wolves look cool. Maybe that's just my opinion but it seems like it's many others' as well.

Well, I hope you liked that little explanation! Thanks for reading, share to support and jam on, bye!

~Stang

P.S. Happy Holidays everyone!

P.P.S. Yessssssss my project Scratch City (inspired by Sim City) got featured! Click here to check it out.

The Old Alphas

Hey buddies! Stang here ;)

Did you know that the alphas weren't called alphas before? The were originally referred to a "shamans" but AJHQ had to rename them because shaman is a religious word.

A shaman is a person who acts as the link between "the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illnesses, foretell the future, control spiritual forces" and more. Many religions practice shamanism.
Credit to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shaman for the definition. 

Who were the Animal Jam shamans? The original alphas were Liza the Panda, Cosmo the Koala, Graham the Monkey, Sir Gilbert the Tiger, Peck the Bunny and Greely the Wolf.

This is a scene from the animation of their backstory.

Originally each alpha didn't have a backstory and they were kind of just... there. They were mascots and during extremely early times, they would walk around like a normal player (except they wore their own special clothing and had a personalized name tag) and interact with you.

If you'd like to know more about the Alphas, check out this website.

Thanks for reading! Please share to support and jam on, bye!

~Stang

300,000 Views!

Hey buddies! It's Stang.

We just got 300,000 views!

Thanks everyone for being so supportive of me, the blog and the other authors. This blog is only two and a half years old and it's already gone so far.

I'm especially thankful for those who have stayed with the blog since the beginning and those who have contributed to the blog through news for the daily posts or other submissions for pages. Also, thank you to Blogger and Google for existing so that I could have created this blog in the first place!

Blogging has been a journey. It has presented challenges and rewards. I love blogging because I can present my ideas to a community of people who share a similar interest. I meet new people, learn new things and also get back constructive criticism to improve. Sure, it can be stressful at times but I think this unique experience was worth it.

Once again, thank you to everyone helped make this possible. Sorry if this post was really sentimental, but for you guys who want to know more about Animal Jam itself, don't worry, I'll make a post soon.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Share to support and feel free to comment your feedback and suggestions. If you want to request a post, I will mostly likely make it so don't be shy, go ahead! Play wild and jam on, bye!

~Stang

The Halloween Update and Pretty Much Everything That Happened In Between

Hey buddies, it's Stang.

I haven't seen you guys in a while. Today, for Halloween (or early/late Halloween), I decided to check out Animal Jam and give everyone a little update.

I didn't play Animal Jam in a really long time so everything's pretty nostalgic and I tend to go crazy in my mind about certain things haha. I guess this blog is pretty much a blog for old Animal Jam players who want to catch up on their old possibly-favorite game every now and then. I don't know about you, but I fit that category.

Happy Night of the Phantoms! :)

They have new loading slides this year and they turned out great!

Here's the Halloween edition Jamma Journal. Like last year, it's been, er, "modified" by the phantoms. Anyway, there's a ton of new phantom-themed items and events. 

Steampunk Parlor items are coming to stores! Woohoo, I can't wait! Steampunk stuff looks so cool. 

There's a lot of new items, which I'll show you later in the post, and people have been playing Bitter Sweets (an adventure) a lot. 

There's a new animal! I wonder what it is...

Okay so I was really lazy and didn't want to find the hint so I just searched it up and it's rumored to be a bat (could it be a non-member flying animal? :D). However, this random jammer says otherwise. 

Here's an advertisement for a polar bear gift card. 

The Halloween theme is abundant throughout the lands! I also want to say that name tags no longer show! You can only see them on the pop-up. Honestly, I never got the point of them but they're just so... nostalgic. 

Wow wow, what's this new thing? If you click on the game icon on the top bar, a shortcut to all the games will appear!

These obviously aren't all the new items but you get the idea.

There's mostly old things in-store, but a few new items have been added, like the "Big Hair with Curlers" (very scary, 10/10) and the Bread Hat (I love this!!). 

In the furniture shop, most items are spooky, glitchy, pumpkin or Halloween themed. The glitchy theme looks so amazing, but why is the cauldron pool even a thing... like aren't you supposed to cook stuff in there, not swim in it?

There's a new pet elephant and a returning tarantula. 

Lynxes look so cute! Ahhhhh I want to hug it!

Here's a new den! I can't tell if they changed the name or if it's actually new, but there aren't any other variations in the stores. 

Normally I wouldn't point out random items, but this, THIS, THIS IS AMAZING! Congrats to the Animal Jam employee who designed this! 

As usual, the phantom vortexes can be found around the lands. Beat level five for a prize. 

The prize this year is a Phantom Archway! If you click on it, a gate drops down.

The currency icon returned to its original place (thank you AJHQ) and their look has changed slightly. 

And finally, there's a new adventure called Graham's Workshop where you take raw materials to form complex products. For some reason, it reminds me of Minecraft plus farm games.

For Halloween, I made a horror-shooter game (very different from my other games). If you get scared easily, I don't recommend it, but otherwise, please check it out! :)

Click here to play!

Although I don't post often, I really hope this blog has a lasting effect and will be remembered by many. It can be used pretty well as a thing to look back in the past.

Anyway, thank you for reading and staying with the blog for such a long time! I value each and every one of you; thanks for supporting my blog. Share to support and jam on. Happy Halloween, bye!

~Stang

Animal Jam: The Beta Times

Hey buddies, it's Stang!

A long time ago I put up a poll asking if you guys wanted a beta page. The winning choice was "yes" and so I set out to create one. Amid a busy schedule, laziness, and other work, I only managed to cover the creators and the lands.

However, now I've decided to turn it into a special post. Here it is!

Animal Jam: The Beta Times

The Creation

Animal Jam's full name is National Geographic Animal Jam (it was created by National Geographic). It was launched in 2010 by Smart Bomb Interactive, who was in partnership with National Geographic.

Smart Bomb Interactive and National Geographic. 

The beta times were during 2009, when they chose beta players to test it. In May 2010, only then did they release it publicly.

Fast Fact: Animal Jam was designed for five to nine year olds, but many players are older.

Credit to: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bgSKSxiqGmk/maxresdefault.jpg 

This is what the old login in looks like. The logging in area has changed greatly; from this to the little sidebar, then the new pop-up.

The Den

During Beta days, everyone got the biggest den ever known to Animal Jam.
The Beta den.

(There was only one den.)

It included a huge bridge, a two-story building, and a patio. You can actually see and walk around it at the Beta parties.

Credit to Animal Jam Flash. 

This is part of the house. The ladder brings you upstairs.

Credit to Animal Jam Flash. 

Tan, plain stairs led from the first floor down to a spacious patio.

Credit to Animal Jam Active.

The Lands

The first "starter" lands were Jamaa Township, the Lost Temple of Zios, Serapei Forest and Crystal Sands (which looked very different then).

Here's some pictures which are all from the official Animal Jam wiki.

Jamma Township and the Temple of Zios. 

The Serapei Forest and Crystal Sands. Crystal Sands was originally a plain, flat beach rather than the pirate-themed water park we see now. 

The Items

Items from the Beta days are referred to as "betas". The items that have not come back to stores are usually extremely rare and worth a lot. However, their value has gone down due to the adventures, where you can win them.

Some items from the beta times include the pirate sword, mask (commonly called a tiki), top hat (commonly called a founder), arctic hood, beard,  and the tan carpet.

Some items from that time have rumors or stories about them.

It was rumored that a special item, called Skully, was sold in stores and then removed from everywhere, including player's accounts. It is the cheapest item that was sold in stores and technically the rarest, since none exist anymore.

Another item is Cami's Frog. One Animal Jam worker's daughter who really liked her stuffed animal frog and played Animal Jam as a beta player. Sadly, she got cancer so her parent made Cami's Frog on Animal Jam. (In case you were wondering, she recovered! :D)

Other Stuff

The top bar didn't have that many options as there is now; there's no parties, or adventures. However, they removed two buttons! One was the currency counter: it displayed your gems, diamonds and tickets. Back then, during beta times, there were only gems. The second was the timer, something that parents or really well behaved kids could use to make sure they didn't play too long. (I believe AJHQ removed it because they wanted people to play more.)

There was no summer carnival or daily spin. 

All the items were very 2-D. 

The color palette looked very different. You has less colors and the clothing pop-up did not show your money. There were also less patterns.

Picture credit to the oifficla Animal Jam wiki. 

Many areas have been renovated (like a new photo booth in Club Gecko), and the art has changed.

There were no underwater lands or features.

There were no pets.

The only stores were Jam Mart Furniture and Jam Mart Clothing.

Credit to Animal Jam Goldfish. 

There were no members or non-members; everyone was the same. In fact, there wasn't member or non-member anything; no items, dens, etc. Everyone had a gold name tag.

There were only wolves, bunnies and rabbits.

Animal Jam shamans (or alphas, as they are called now), would walk around and talk to you.

What It Was Like

I was a beta tester. Unfortunately, it was really boring then because you couldn't even trade so I quit. Later I got even more bored so I decided to retry it and I loved it.

Anyway, life in AJ Beta was really calm. There wasn't too much to do at the time (there were far fewer games, lands and people), people were generally kind, and you couldn't trade.

However, it all went uphill from there! :)

Anyway, thanks for reading! Share to support, comment any feedback or suggestions, and jam on! Bye!

~Stang

P. S. Please check out my latest Scratch project here!

3 Tips for Decorating Your Den

AHHHH I didn't post for such a long time 0-0 Sorry everyone, I'm busy and also not feeling very well D:
By the way I'm basically the only author here so if you don't know yet, it's Stang : )
Anyway, let's get to the post:

This is a special post about....

◦°˚\(*❛‿❛)/˚°◦ How to Decorate Your Den ◦°˚\(❛‿❛*)/˚°◦

Today I'm going to show you a few different styles or patterns and the steps to get a den like it.

1. Minimalist Style

This style consist of lot of space with sparsely placed furniture items. It works best in a a bright, large den. Member dens are the most fitting, but you can still try to attempt it in a non-member's den.

Note: Put colors that match the walls and floor, otherwise it would look really bad, since a whole room is basically relying on a few pieces of furniture.

2. Multiples of the Same Thing

This isn't a style but a way to decorate part of your den. (If you decorate your whole den like this it's acceptable but kind of weird. However, it looks really nice if you're making a store.)

Tip: Make sure everything is lined up and evenly spaced!

Here's another example: (see the hamsters and plushies)

3. Sections

Try to think of your den as multiple sections. 

As you can see in the picture below (it's a little messy :P), near the front entrance, there's the main room section, with chairs facing opposite of a fireplace and other random stuff lining the wall. You can tell this is a section because it has a rug as the central item in the middle. 

The next section is the fluffy area with the white rug and 3 stuffed animals. And above that is yet another sections with two chairs and a table. 

A Little Tip: 
Don't clutter your den! If you really want to, try to make it look organized. Leave space between objects; for example, don't put 5 cups on a table by a wall with a window and hanging ceiling stuff (like a snowflake).

Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions or feedback, please comment the below. Share to support and jam on, bye!

~Stang