Truth Be Told - Post 2 of 5 - The Truth About LIONS!

THE TRUTH ABOUT LIONS

Lions are some of Jamaa's most iconic animals. Everyone either owns one or knows someone who does.
To some people, they're just a huge waste of diamonds that you could be spending on llamas or Rainbow Armor. To others, they make the very best avatar to play as.

To me, however, they are just pixels that people use to try to look better. For example, if there was a little nm bunny hopping around in a clothing store, and a giant lion avatar approached them and let out a mighty roar, how do you think the nm would feel?
This sounds silly, I know. But think about it.


Consider this:
all non-member animals are smaller than lions.

Now consider THIS:
there are plenty of member animals that are also larger than nm animals.

And finally, consider this:
non-members look smaller and less 'powerful' than paying member animals.

Don't get me wrong, I love lions. But the fact that AJHQ makes all of the member animals dramatically bigger than nm animals makes me shake my head.

What are they trying to accomplish by doing this?

If someone is playing Animal Jam for the first time, but they feel left out and 'not as cool' as members...
they probably won't continue to play, much less buy a membership.

Now, on the other hand,
there are some people who will go ahead and purchase a membership so they can become cooler.

But still, see my point?

It isn't just about animals or memberships.
There is a message much deeper that I am trying to get across.

Animal Jam WILL NEVER BE FAIR

Imagine this scenario:

A 9-year-old girl has just finished creating her account on Animal Jam. She is super excited to play for the first time. Lisa guides her through a tutorial, where she learns how to make her animal walk and how to customize its appearance. However, she doesn't know that she will be JUDGED based on that appearance.
She logs onto the game, finishes looking around, and decides to try and make a new buddy.
She heads to Jamaa Township because it seems to be the busiest place in Jamaa.
When she arrives, people immediately approach her and say things like 'what kind of look is that' or 'we wont talk to you unless you change your colors'.
She is confused, so she walks past them to the Pillow Room.
She quickly realizes that people like to get 'adopted' on Animal Jam. She thinks that sounds fun, so she tries to join in.
The first person she approaches is a member arctic wolf. She asks him "Can you adopt me?" to which he replies "No, I only adopt members. Sorry."
Slightly disappointed, she approaches a different animal. This time it is a brown non-member wolf named Princess.
"Hello, are you trying to get adopted?" the girl asks curiously. The brown wolf stands up and eyes her over. "Yeah, we're pretending to be dogs. But if you wanna join our pack, you have to make your colors the same as ours." they reply.
She reluctantly changes her colors to brown with a black lightning bolt design (the same as the other dogs).
"Good," says the leading dog; "you can join us now. It is hard to get adopted here, so you might be waiting a while. People only want members these days."
The girl nods.
After a long day of sitting around with the pack, the girl decides to leave.
She goes to her den and decorates. She thinks it is unfair that most of the den items are for members. However, she continues to make her den the way she likes.
She then goes to Township and says "party at my den, come join!".
Nobody goes to her den except one person.
They are a member panda, and they say immediately "wow your den is not very good. become a member!" and then they leave.
The girl feels so alone. She wants to be a member but she can't afford it.
A few months later, she receives the surprise of her life. Her mom bought her a 6-month membership for her 10th birthday!
She was super excited. It came with free diamonds, too. She went to the diamond shop and spent them right away on a full set of Rainbow Armor.
She had never smiled a brighter smile.
A few days later, her den had epic music, her animal had an epic outfit, and she had a full buddy list.
But she was still rejected by some people.
They said she wasn't "rare enough" and they wouldn't trade with her. They called her a "noob" and a "new jammer" and teased her.
Things would not get better.
She got tons of rares over time, and became one of the rarest Jammers in Jamaa! Then people teased her about being "all about rares" and "forgetful of friends".
She wouldn't ever be accepted by everyone. And neither will you.

I hope you actually read that very long story, and I hope you acknowledged its message.
No matter how hard you try to fit in on AJ, there will always be people who don't accept you. Be who you are, and smile.
Animal Jam is a game.

The topic of this post is Lions, so let's bring it back to that.

Lions are pixels.
All animals are pixels.
Animal Jam is pixels.

Don't let pixels ruin your day.

See you next post, this is 2fangwolf signing off.

Be true to yourself, that's my best advice.

CLICK HERE to read the last TBT post!