Updates on the World According to Fem!

Since my posts are being randomized by random things, I decided to update this blog again :)
These updates are...... *drum roll please* To-Be-Annouced Tuesday, World Wednesday, Thought Thursday, Fact Friday, and Smile Sunday (I have no idea what to do for Monday ;-; )

I bet you're all thinking, what the heck is this? Well, from now on, everyday (except for Saturday and maybe Monday) will have a little tibit of intresting-ness. And they follow exactly what the labels read.

To-Be-Annouced Tuesday: Basically update day, and anything to-be-annouced.

World Wednesday: Follow-up on the International News; anything big or small, whatever catches my attention most. Discuss them in the comments!

Thought Thursday: Due to my being Sagittarius, I am naturally philisphoical. This day ranges from discussing the meaning of life, or thinking serious thoughts (like which is better: cookies or cake).

Fact Friday: This day is dedicated to sharing a little unique fact; ones that you may have never heard of...

Smile Sunday: Seriously, do I have to explain this? What's better than a laugh to brighten up your day?

As for Saturday and Monday, well, on Saturdays I won't be able to post, and for Monday... hmmm, I think I have an idea.

And since it's Tuesday, this fits in! :D

This is about to make your music-on-youtube life so much easier...

Have you ever started listening to this awesome song, and couldn't stop? Like, you wanted to listen to it while gaming, drawing, writing, etc, but you don't want to press the repeat button 1000000 times?
Well, this is going to make it so much easier...

JUST TYPE 'REPEAT' AFTER THE WORD 'YOUTUBE'

Example (btw, this is the instrumental version of 'Fanastic' by Henry):

Regular No-Repeat URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqLLvx2A8P4

The Repeat-Music URL: https://www.youtuberepeat.com/watch?v=ZqLLvx2A8P4

This will take you to this link: http://listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=ZqLLvx2A8P4#[Official_Instrumental]_Henry_%ED%97%A8%EB%A6%AC_-_Fantastic

Proof that isn't a fake site? Well, I'm using it right now, and I took a screenshot:

That's it today; I hope this has helped!

Philosphy of Scamming

Recently I have posted the 'Philosphy of Scamming' on Animal Jam Scam Watchers' Society. You can view it here (original post here;AJSWS - Philosophy of Scamming (also, for the comments thing, Balaur (The Dragon in Black) has apologized about saying them  )


~~~

It seems that, in every server, there is a scammer. The question is, why would they take away the most precious element, trust, for a mere pixels?

If you look in the dictionary, scam is defined as ‘a dishonest plan, usually to get money.’ However, in Animal Jam, it would be defined as a ‘dishonest plan to get rares or betas’. The words ‘scamming’ and ‘scammer’ stem from that word. We define ‘scamming’ as a verb ‘to carry out the dishonest plan (scam)’ and ‘scammer’ as ‘the person who carries out the dishonest plan ‘scam’. 

Now that we have clearly defined the meanings, we can get on to the ‘why’ part.

Why do they scam? I speculate the reason is because of greed. They want the rares/betas for themselves. Let’s face it, all humans are selfish. We all want the best for ourselves, and if we see something that some else has, we get envious. Envy is defined as ‘feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc’. The feeling can have a positive or negative affect on your actions.

The positive and negative effect comes from motivation. Motivation drives you forward to achieve what you want. However, this leads to a fork in the path. You can either work hard and honestly to achieve that dream item, or you can cheat and deceive others. After all, they all have the same result in the end, right? Wrong. Though you have the same item, the feelings you create/have are different. If you work hard for the item, and you finally get it, you feel exhilarated. You feel like you’ve climbed the highest mountain and made it all the way to the tippy top. You feel like all the hard work has paid off, all the setbacks you have encountered were worth it.

But if you got the item dishonestly, you will not feel the emotions I have described. Sure, you might feel happy about it, but you do not experience your work being paid off, and guilt is still lurking in the corner. Scammers think that this way is a ‘short cut’ up the mountain. But this ‘short cut’ is filled with brambles, thorns, steep cliffs, and most importantly, guilt.

We humans have many feelings, and guilt is one of them. However, guilt and shame are different (to make this clear, here are 2 sentences I have found that define them; ‘I feel shame for who I am’ and ‘I feel guilt for what I did’. Everyone has felt guilt in their lives, whether it is stealing candy from the candy jar, watching TV when you’re not supposed to, etc. But wait! Isn’t Animal Jam a virtual world? Virtual worlds simply don’t exist in real life! So why do all those scammers break someone’s heart for those meager pixels? Haven’t they heard that trust is easy to take, but near impossible to gain (that rhymes)? That’s one great mystery there. I don’t think having the most rare item on AJ get you straight A’s on your report card, or land you a job. This sounds illogical here. But to be fair, let’s try to think of it from the scammers’ point of view.

To them, having the rarest item is EVERYTHING. They probably think of it all day and night, fascinated by the dreams they think they will achieve. I know y’all viewers are thinking, ‘why don’t they use the darn trading system like everyone else?! It’s there for a reason!’ Heh, at this point I’ll have a barrage of scammers exclaiming things like, ‘I don’t have the betas/rares to trade for it!’ etc, but that is NO excuse for cheating someone out like that. Everyone else can get by with the trading system, so why can’t they? Well, to be blunt, scammers are ‘addicted’ to Animal Jam. It’s not like a drug addiction, but it’s almost the same. Your dreams are enraptured by the game, and your senses are snared in. It’s like you’re glued to the computer, unable to leave, because, oh look, a wolf party is coming on in a hour! How about I stay awhile? I know there are others who are also ‘addicted’ to Animal Jam but they aren’t like scammers. Because the scammers know they are doing the wrong thing, but they can’t help it. Almost like their self-control flew out the window, and thoughts of betas flew in.

After all of that talk, I have thought about the reasons of why scammers scam.

1.    Popularity/Media. 

Look at all those famous jammers out there, Snowyclaw, Wolffeycat, Wootmoo, Wisteriamoon, Libertyy, Julian2, etc. They’re all wearing the coolest/rarest items on Animal Jam. Adorned in spikes, worns, and betas, they are the role models for the other jammers that wish to be famous. One might think that having the rarest items might not get you the most viewers, but that is not always the case. Other players look up to them and try to be like them. As they say, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. Having good blogs and excellent videos can make you popular, but since all of the ‘famous’ players have betas and rares, this implies the fact that ‘to be popular, you must have tons of rares’.

2.    Pressure

This is also like the media factor. Your (online, not real life) friends are wearing rares and betas, and you’re left wearing the common items. You feel uncomfortable as you sit down to chat with them in Jamaa Township. I don’t fit in with them, you think as you admire their spikes and headdresses. What can I do? I don’t have rare enough items to trade for one of those headdresses… although… you let your eyes wander over the screen. A player catches your eye, and they are wearing a spike. “Trust me for this spike! I don’t accept!” The wolf sings, and immediately, the yellow trading symbol hangs over his head. Curious, you wait and watch. After a few more minutes, you see the wolf chanting, “Last 10 seconds! Miss Prettylily is winning!” Glancing over to the tiger named Miss Prettylily, you notice that she isn’t wearing much items, only a head flower and a couple of Rare Item Monday rares. A few achievements are plastered on her player card. Interesting… Suddenly, your attention is jerked away by an artic wolf. She is sobbing, crying: “Scammer! He scammed me of my rare purple headdress and worn!” An idea begins creep into your mind, a twinge of guilt as it begins to develop. You try to brush away the guilt, thinking, it's for the best, right? At least I can fit in…

I don't think I need to extend the rest of the scenario for you to know what’s going to happen.

3.    Enraptured

These are the types of scammers who are the scariest, in my opinion. They scam for the pure enjoyment of it. They enjoy cheating others out of their items, delighting in being ‘smarter than them’. One might say these scammers are heartless, or to be blunt, psychopaths (psychopaths are people who can’t feel emotion, but I’m sure there aren’t a lot of people like that in the word, or on AJ for that matter).

To conclude what I’ve just written in a simpler format, I shall use an analogy:

AJ – real world

Scammers – thieves

Rares/betas – gold/money/gems

AJHQ – police

Jammers – people/citizens

SWS and other scam-catching agencies/individuals – volunteer police

Before, the thieves were just ordinary people. But they were driven by greed to get gold/money/gems, so they devised a plan, a scam. Since the police aren’t patrolling 24/7, the thieves take advantage and begin to grow bolder, stealing in ‘broad daylight’ (<- advertising publicly). Many citizens notice this, and since the police don’t really care/have time, they begin to form volunteer police societies/officers. But because the volunteer police do not have the ‘legal right’ to send the thieves to jail, they can only create awareness. And because the thieves are aware that only the official police can stop them, they think that the volunteer police are not a threat. What they don’t realize is, education/awareness is a very powerful factor. The more the citizens are alerted to these thieves, the less valuables will be stolen.

I can conclude this post in many ways, but I have chosen a rhyme and a quote to end this. Before I do that, I would like your feedback, questions or comments on this post.

Signing off,

Agent Fem

AJSWS - Council Elections End!

Wooo, so the elections for council members end, and 6 agents have been elected:

Beta, Taco, Shiver, Alpha, Electro, and yours truly. Cerise made these fabulous signatures for us; mine looks like this:





Pretty, no (I got asteriks because my name was too small XD) Anyways, I plan to put up the SWS picture-link once I have access to my dad's computer, because this one doesn't have the Snipping Tool. That's it for now, au revoir!

(Also, join Flight Rising! The latest registration window just closed, but there will be one next month I think. I'll post it when it comes!0                                         

We've All Done This....

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aZ1PMo5CvY4/Vb4WMrYMulI/AAAAAAAAE3U/h7-5-A5SPsY/w420-h435-no/2015%2B-%2B1

Sorry about that lack of posting; anyways, FR's Thundercrack Carnivale has ended! Too bad I didn't get those Lightening Sprockets. Also, CS's Summer Event will be ending... in two days. Apparently the rarity of the alicorn dropped, because alot of people were getting them on their 2nd try! Nothing else to report about, except I'm getting braces tomorrow. Ugh. I heard that it hurts alot, and you aren't allowed to eat chips and stuff. Imagine 2 years (well, a year and a half) without chips!
Anyways, a picture of... cuteness?

http://stylearena.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/funny-animal-pictures1.jpg