My experience with a membership on Animal Jam

 So last month (May), Animal Jam, a virtual world that I've probably been playing for a decade now, promoted a free membership code (which lasted 2 weeks)! I don't know how often they release membership codes, but I might have seen a post on Reddit and Twitter where AJ promoted a similar 2-week membership code in 2020. So I suppose it's quite rare!!!

This was my FIRST time having a membership on Animal Jam! And you know, it's actually a lot more... enjoyable than just being a non-member??? I mean, no wonder I rarely play this game...

Anyway, I decided to create a post featuring my highlights during my two weeks of membership! Yeah, not OC-related, buuuuuuuuuut...
This is my blog, come on. I post by my rules!

First up, here are all the animals I had during my membership!

When I used to be more into the game a few years ago, I had a habit of naming my animals "DJ [insert last name]". I think it all started when I had a bunny named "DJ Kawaiipaws" and I liked how catchy, cute, and cool it sounded, haha.

I always wanted an otter as my main animal! Almost everyone in the game plays as an arctic wolf, and - don't get me wrong - while I do think they look cool, some of the other animals are kind of underrated. Otters are one of them. I mean, look how adorable they are! They're so cute in real life, too!!!!

The rainbow raccoon, DJ Perfectpride (come on, I just had to pick that name, it just fit), actually showed up in the diamond shop during my membership in celebration of pride month! Apparently, it's been around since 2020.

The falcon and fox named "Rosy Fieryflower" are meant to be "cosplays" of my OC, Rose.

Lastly, the wolf, DJ Grandgem, is wearing an outfit (well, sans the flowers on the tail) that my younger self chose back when I was more into the game. I even picked the same fur colors and a similar name my younger self liked! I usually cycled between the names "Baroness Grandgem" and "Queen Grandgem".

Here are the pets I made during my membership!... well, just the ones with the golden locks. ^^;

I believe I named the black and brown dog "Sugarpaw" and colored it to look like my own pet dog.

I also love my gecko's rainbow mohawk and bandana combo.

Some screenshots of my den! Definitely an upgrade from my basic, one-room non-member den.

I believe it's Cosmo's Den, and I decorated it to look like a mix of a grotto/greenhouse/garden! I kinda have a thing for this aesthetic, haha.
I even had a decently-sized plushie room/stash!

Peep my friend photobombing (or "photo booming", as I said in order to get around AJ's strict chat filter) my screenshots - yes, the other raccoon and the wolf are owned by the same friend, lmao.

Last but not least, my jammer wall! Yeah, that one thing you can't even access unless you're a member!!!

I made my first post on it (the top one with the otter) the day I redeemed my membership code, then I made the next two posts when I attended the "Bunnies Only" party. The last post was made a day or so before my membership expired.

I'm not even exaggerating, the game has a HUGE lag issue, for some reason. And it's not just me experiencing it, my friend (the same one mentioned previously with the two animals) also mentioned going through a laggy game. It was especially bad for us when we both played the "Forgotten Desert" adventure (it didn't matter whether it was just us two or we played with two other random players). Neither of us remembered the game being this laggy before it was transferred to a downloadable program after the end of Flash!

With all this being said, I will NEVER be playing Animal Jam again... well, at least I won't be playing for a VERY long time. I've already deleted the AJ app from my computer and I don't plan on reinstalling it unless there's a significant update (like another free membership promo). 
I know we all have our preferences, but AJ just isn't worth it for me anymore. The game has declined in popularity since around 2015 (according to Google Trends when I looked it up a while back) and pretty much the majority of players nowadays only care about trading and rares. It kind of sucks, honestly, I miss when the game was more focused on animals and conservation and all that (especially when it was originally backed by National Geographic - this was how I discovered AJ in the first place!!!), and I even miss all the roleplays people used to do, as cringeworthy as they were (like those adoption roleplays in the Pillow Room, and random people starting little scenarios in their dens and all that).

But I guess that's how all childhood games/MMOs decline (and dare I say eventually die off).