'Only Members!'

So there's this thing I've been seeing around AJ recently.

I used to see it a lot more a few years back, but it seems as if it's making a come back (cheesy sounding, I know)

It's the whole 'Only members!' thing.

The term litterally can be put anywhere, from 'Party in my den ONLY MEMBERS!' to 'Fashion Show in my den ONLY MEMBERS!' and I'm here to say I'm so freaking sick of it.

Some people can't afford memberships/parents won't allow them, or can't get them in their country and because of this you're going to discriminate and make it so they can't go to your online party? It's as wrong as when blacks were discriminated against (even though in this case it is not as extreme).

Because this post is so short I think this is the perfect transition for another topic that's been bothering me for years now.

Members and non-members are not suppose to have equal rights in AJ.

Members pay actual money to get the privileges they get. Would it make sense if non members got the same privileges for free?

If they did then no one would buy memberships and AJ would go bankrupt.

You may be asking why this matters.

It matters because AJ is a business, like it or not, and they need money to run the website. It costs more than you'd think.

Now this may sound like a controversial post-as in first I'm saying 'non-members and members are equal' and then 'members pay so they get more privileges'.

Besides, compared to other websites non-members in AJ have a lot more things. For example, if you're non-member in Club Penguin or Moshi Monsters it can get boring fast.

Well what I mean is that non-members shouldn't get all the privileges members do because they don't pay, however that doesn't mean you should discriminate them.


~wolfs:D

The Beauty of AJ Relationships

Just as a side note before you continue, when I say 'relationship' I'm not just saying friendships, I am also referring to dating/crushes or basically any sort of relationship with some one on Animal Jam. 

Also - I am not using IRL/in real life because that sounds a lot like saying my friends on AJ are fake, and we're not really friends, and they're not real people. 

I recently realized AJ relationships are beautiful. 

I have a few reasons for this, however I believe even though I don't have many reasons, my reasons are strong. 

I think it's beautiful because you know nothing about the person other than their personality. 

As in, you have no idea what they look like, if they have an accent, where they come from, and so on. 

I'm not just saying that Animal Jam is exclusive in this sense, really you can apply this to any online game or chat room/internet friend. 

I have met several people on Animal Jam who I came close to, and I would actually consider them better friends than some of the people I know outside of AJ(heidei, rileyri62, xxquicksilverxx, lightnightstrike85, lovebug, etc...). 

And when we drifted apart, I felt loss. 

Most recently with heidei and rileyri62, when we stopped talking about a year ago, I felt a huge loss in my chest and honestly typing it here is making me tear up, and it's hard to admit because I'm afraid they don't feel the same, and think I'm just 'some girl on the internet' and don't feel loss like me. 

I feel the same about dating on Animal Jam.

I'm not saying you should be dating on AJ, as many girls/boys rush into dating strangers on Animal Jam because (I guess?) it seems cool.

I'm saying when you actually have feelings for someone on Animal Jam, and they don't necicarly have to be the opposite gender. 

If you've never had legitimate feelings for someone on this game, then you're probably thinking I'm crazy and you can't have feelings for someone you don't know. I thought the same, I actually remember one day I was in Sarepia Forest and I saw someone say something alone the lines of 'I don't understand how you can have a crush on AJ when you don't know the person.' and I thought, Yeah I agree, how can you have feelings for someone on this game? 

However, I ate my words not very long after. 

I met a guy and basically I we ended up dating and it was nice, I actually had feelings for him, and to me this was amazing, because outside of AJ I have not had an actual crush since the 1st grade. I've lied about crushes to fit in, but that's not the same as the feeling you get in your chest when you have a real crush. 

I've had at least 5-7 crushes on AJ and many of them I have dated, and I would like to say not all of them have been boys. 

Now I'm not going to say I was openly looking for a girl to date, rather I was catfished. 

If you don't know what a catfish is (other than the animal) it's basically a way of saying when someone makes a fake profile and poses as someone else. 

As in I met a 'guy' and it turned out he was just a girl pretended she was a guy, and I've been on both sides of this, as I've been the one who was pretending to be a guy, and the other way around. 

And both ways I had feelings for the other person in the relationship. 

I didn't mean to make such a long post about my relationships in AJ just to prove a point, but I do feel it was important to have.

~wolfs 

A 'True Fan'

Today this post is going to be a rant-vent post, mainly to point out annoying fans of generally anything.

Do you know what the most annoying thing is when you become a fan of something?

When you decide to somehow let word out that you're a new fan of [blank], somebody decides that you're not a 'true fan' or you don't 'count' because you haven't been there from the begining. 

Honestly, to anyone who does this, what the hell is your logic? I would try to imitate you, but I have no idea what goes through your mind when you say something like 'you're not a true fan'. 

Shouldn't you be happy more people are discovering what you like and enjoy? 

I understand that you may want to keep it to yourself, but that is no excuse for hating on someone because are a new fan. 

What's worse is being shunned for only liking the older/newer things they made.

A good example of this is a band.

Say this band started out making rock, but then switched gears and started making pop?

So what you only like some of their music? You can still be a fan! You're no less or more than the next guy. 

Perhaps your upset because they will no longer be making rock music, but you're got to remember that being a musician is their career. They've got to make money, and sometimes making 'pop' is more successful, it makes more sense to continue.

Perhaps the band is not doing this as a way to get money, but rather they are growing and learning. There is no reason you should try to prevent that, if you don't like their new stuff, simply don't listen to it!

Want to know what is equally as bad? 

When you get shunned for liking multiple things and the two things you like are considered 'rivals'. 

A good example of this might be One Direction and Doctor Who. (I'm not saying all DW fans hate 1D, rather that this is a good example because 1D placed their 'day' on DW's anniversary)

Say you like both DW & 1D, yet you are are told you've betrayed Doctor Who. 

Who the hell cares? 

Being a Whovian, I do find it a bit annoying that 1D decided August 23 would be their 'day', after it being Doctor Who's anniversary for over 50 years.

However, I wouldn't go shun 1D fans, what control do they have over the date 1D decides to make their day? 

Simply put, don't shun other fans because they haven't been there as long as you, only like a time period of something, or are fans of two different 'rivals'. 

~a very annoyed Wolfs

The Contriversity on Mailtime

Hey guys! 

So I haven't really been posting, but I probably should've thought about my 'promise' I made about posting once a week. 

I'm not really 'busy' but I never really remember to make posts, plus around the holidays (summer, winter, etc) I travel quite a bit, which really doesn't help my case. 

But I've decided to do a quick two-sided opinion post about mailtime. 

Here's a bit of history. 

Julian2 popularized mailtime, but I don't think he was the first. I might be wrong, but I used to enjoy watching his videos and I do believe in one of his old videos he did say something about someone else doing it first. However, I'm not sure so don't quote me on it. 

Ever since then several other popular jammers have done it, many people still do it, including everyday jammers who ask for items. 

Technically mailtime is not scamming. 

I believe last year-ish if you asked AJHQ about weather it was scamming or not, they'd say no. Because, technically it's not. If people want to send you items/you ask for people to send you items and you film it, it's not scamming.

 However, this is the part where I say I bet if you asked AJHQ about it being scamming today, they'd probably say it is scamming. This is because you could tell people to send you gifts but not actually record. This is why if you say the word 'mailtime' in AJ you'd getting a warning. (I don't know this for sure, but I'm positive it's correct considering AJ has admitted MT is not scamming.) 

Mailtime time could also be seen as a way of shaming people who are not rare. Those who try to be rare and send good stuff and can't. Sure, maybe whoever is hosting the mailtime will say "Thanks so much!" but do they really mean it? Humans are greedy and it would be impolite/mean to act unhappy with the item they were given. I'm not saying people who do mailtime always do this, I'm just pointing out it's extremely easy to lie(which takes me back to my last point). It also praises those who can send rares. Often times more than one famous jammer would receive something good in their mailtime (maybe a spike, freedom wings etc) and buddy the person. I do recall once GummyUnicorn and Bepper pointing out that this isn't them wanting rares from the person who sent the item, GU and Bepper said they added the person because it showed how big of a fan they were. Honestly I'm sure there's fans out there who'd like to do this (as I was saying before), but don't have any good items, besides they could be giving them their one rare item, and now-a-days most people don't even add the person who gave them a rare item, they open their player card for a second or so and that's it. It could be considered an unfair process altogether.

It could also be viewed as a way of appreciation to fans, as in you send me something in trade for being on screen for a couple of minutes, or a way of getting a response from a famous jammer even if they don't physically send you something back. I don't have much to support this side, however for some getting featured in a video of their idol, even for two seconds, is a big deal, so I can see how some enjoy mailtime. 

Personally I don't have a 'side' I don't think it's wrong or right.

These aren't all the points for both sides, just some that I think are strong for winning a debate or something like that. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this :P 

I'm going to bed (it's 3am for me) 

~wolfs4evea

SkyClan was Epic

Hey everyone. 

I know I said I would try to post at least once a week, but last week I was busy getting prepared for halloween and my birthday (believe it or not my birthday is on halloween), and this week I stupidly waited last minute to finish a project that was worth a last amount of points. 

Today's post isn't going to be as cheerful as I wish it was. 

So around two years ago, one of the first things I put on this blog was a post about my AJ clan. It was called SkyClan is EPIC!!. 

If you haven't already noticed, today's post is titled 'SkyClan was Epic.'

Was. 

It makes a big difference. 

You see, around two years ago I remember heidei, or the former leader of SkyClan, one of my best friends on AJ told me (in summer), that she'd just realized she wasn't going to be on much that year.

That tore me apart, however it didn't turn out so. 

We talked often. Sometimes roleplayed. 

It was all very fun. 

Until winter. 

I visited a family member and stayed with them for a long time, I even started going to school there. They had no computer so I never went on AJ. 

When I came back home and went on AJ I found many of my old close friends like heidei, pen45, or rileyri62  hadn't been on in a long time.

Eventfully, I quit, or took an unannounced break from AJ. 

Sometimes I would log on and see heidei, riley, but mostly pen. 

Everytime I met up with them it was like nothing had changed and it was heartwarming. 

However summer rolled around and I barely went on AJ. 

School started up again and I started playing a bit more. 

Often checked how long my old clanmates hadn't been on. As the number grew, my heart broke more and more.

Then one day, the numbers dropped back to 1. 

I watched and waited. 

And then it was 30 again.

I know this isn't too interesting.

I know we've all had close buddies that eventfully quit, but this is really hard for me to talk about. I'm always so nervous they might think that it's stupid I'm still heartbroken about something so old, and that I was never really any of their 'best friends' on AJ. 

I can still remember the day I had joined SkyClan. 

I had been listening to Here's Hope by Owl City all day. 

 I was feeling good. I walked into Sarepia Forest and saw someone roleplaying as a lost kit and decided to roleplay with them. 

Then heidei showed up and announced that she was hosting a clan in her den. The girl bolted. 

Heidei and the kit were trying to get me to come along, but at the time I hadn't yet read warriors and thought clans were for cats who couldn't feed themselves. 

So I refused for a long time, until I finally gave in. 

I was named Darkheart, a queen. I was in love with my name. 

There's more, but it's not too interesting.

Anywho, goodbye everyone!

~wolfs/silverstar