Board Thread:Trade/@comment-37261000-20190531010707/@comment-39471250-20190622045652

'''My username is butterflylungs. I know I am a nonmember, but I still want to do this. If I am eligible for a prize, please jag me to hopefully work out a possible deal. '''

'''I joined Animal Jam this year. I had only first recognized trading in the many bubble chats popping up in Jamaa and a few failed attempts of my own.'''

'''It was only when March slid onto the seasonal stage that I began to truly find the importance of trading. I found the straw hat listed as one of the prizes on the Lucky Clovers adventure wiki. At that time I had only a cheap couple of accessories won from Sky High and Special Delivery. Several others were member items won from the gift spin. I could not buy many accessories because of being a nonmember, but the straw hat was one of the few exceptions.'''

'''I played the adventure over and over, picking up the minor den items as prizes, but never achieving the Epic Chest, of which a straw hat was a single possibility. It seemed hopeless, as the adventure page loaded for possibly the sixtieth time, that I might win. I played the original adventures countless times, I scrolled through the general Animal Jam wiki pages to gain knowledge of locations, biomes, trivia about past experiences on the game. And yet, despite my desperate search for information, I didn’t have experience. I lacked sociability.'''

One particular day something clicked in my mind: why not trade for a straw hat?

I put together the few things I had into the trade slot before watching the loading signal hesitantly.

'''Your offer has been rejected. '''

'''I didn’t know what had been wrong. Had I not given enough? '''

I asked the user and those around them, and the answer was simply, a LOT of rims.

The user told me a short while later that the straw hat had been traded for a den beta.

'''I didn’t know what a RIM was. I didn’t know what a den beta or a clothing beta or a bad long was.'''

'''My frantic Googling brought me to this page. To Animal Jam Worth Wiki. In my hassled mind, it became a haven of wisdom. The definitions of a Rare Monday Item, a beta, longs and shorts, and what could be traded were here. I used it not only to avoid under trades, but also over trades. Sometimes a person would offer me four items for what was probably half of that, and thanks to this wiki, I knew to reject their offer and clarify the object’s worth. Thank god for this page - if I hadn’t found it so early, I might have inadvertently gave others unfair trades. I might have damaged others’ self esteem and my own online reputation.'''

'''Trading has become something great for me. Not only does it offer me a chance to get desirable items, it’s a chance to interact and socialize, a way to strike up conversation and a way to befriend other Jammers. The qualities required for trading have also seemed to bleed into my normal life as well - I have noticed that I have better confidence when refusing something I don’t want, and I now have a better work ethic. Early refusals for trade have trained me to accept “no’s” with more grace than a timid “okay”. '''

'''I don’t know what would have happened if this wiki wasn’t here to help; most likely I’d still be a Jammer, replaying old adventures and scanning stores for affordable, yet non unique items. I wouldn’t have been educated about the trading system and the currency in Animal Jam. I wouldn’t have been able to look for deals on the trade board. And I would have lost many opportunities to interact and practice life skills.'''

'''There is no one person this wiki should be dedicated to. It was, and is, a culmination of many hands working together to create a complex network. I feel that the page should be acknowledged as such - as something that honors everyone who contributed to it, as a  monument to their hard work, as a rising digital empire for a still-popular game. '''

'''So thank you to this wiki. Thank you to everyone who helped create it, who contributed, who filled a hollow internet archive with information, wisdom, and experience. Thank you for creating something that helps not just one person, but Jammers everywhere, at any time, in any generation.'''