Tell us who you are and what you do.
My name is Joi Podgorny and I am the Director of Community Engagement at Smart Bomb Interactive, creators of various online and mobile games, including AnimalJam.com and Tunnel Town, on mobile. I oversee in-game moderation, as well as all customer service and social media engagement efforts for our brands.
For the uninitiated, what is Animal Jam?
Animal Jam is an online playground targeted toward children where players can become their favorite animals and play in a beautiful and immersive online world – filled with games, interaction and tons of learning opportunities. We partner with National Geographic for much of our multi-media content, so as kids are playing, they can watch videos about animals in their habitats, play games with trivia about the natural world and interact with friends surrounded by artwork inspired by real world flora and fauna.
What does success look like for a project like this? Is it simply numbers and registrations? How do you measure engagement or learning?
We definitely look at all the numbers that an average business looks at – revenue, sales, registrations, etc. But with a product that contains community, we are lucky to have other metrics that can gauge success – like engagement on and off the site. The average play session for our players is well above the average for online games – 60 minutes. During that time, they have tons of opportunities to play and interact, and as I like to say – accidentally learn. Players watch over 60,000 minutes of videos each day and read over 275,000 animal and plants facts a day that are throughout AJ.
What are the main federal rules that govern your work?
As a game where players can purchase memberships, etc., we are, of course, PCI compliant with our financial transactions. We also comply with the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA), but went even further and gained Safe Harbor with the FTC to ensure that we have even more help staying up to date as the laws change within the industry. We chose Safe Harbor through the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), as they also help to ensure that our advertising to children stays within best practices. As we expand into non-US markets, we will seek to achieve similar best practice status within each territory.
And what does COPPA compliance mean for you in practice?
COPPA compliance ensures that we are doing everything we can to keep children’s personally identifiable information safe and secure and that we are keeping their parents aware of what our information privacy practices are. As such, our databases are secure and we have robust filtering systems for our registration, chat and image collection functions. I manage a large team of human monitors, all background checked and thoroughly trained, who constantly verify and improve our rules, guidelines, triggers and settings to ensure we are doing the most we can daily to keep that information secure – both according to the law, but also above and beyond, for the sake of our brand and for the players.
At what kind of scale are you working? How many kids can freely chat with each other?
We have over 16 million registered users on Animal Jam. Our default chat setting is Restricted Chat, meaning that players can interact with each other using only words in our pre-selected dictionary. If a parent decides they would like their child to have more or less freedom in their chatting, the parent can choose to change their child’s chat settings within our Parent Dashboard. For example, should the parent wish to allow their child to type “Yaaaaay!” instead of just “Yay!” they could change the setting to Safe Chat that allows words to be typed outside of the dictionary. Conversely, a parent could choose to limit their child’s interaction to Bubble Chat, which only allows their child to choose from pre-selected phrases. This said, the vast majority of our players (over 80%) are perfectly content using our default Restricted Chat setting.
Our team reviews chat daily to verify our filters and settings are calibrated correctly, as well as to ensure that we are keeping up with new cultural trends and tactics players may be trying to dodge or otherwise circumvent our filters.
You threw my daughter out of Animal Jam when she was making plans to meet a friend for lunch, which I thought was a pretty impressive catch. She thought she had mistyped “duck.” What other kinds of behaviors or activities have you interrupted?
Thanks – I always love it when we can turn a discipline from the game into a positive parent interaction. As far as other behaviors/activities, where do I start? Obviously, for COPPA compliance, players trying to give out personal information is a very high priority – that’s addresses, emails, and phone numbers – but even Skype and other instant messaging usernames, FaceTime handles, and any other methods where players would be communicating outside of the game and potentially sharing that personal info.
While there is no law around it (which most parents are surprised to learn) we are also very diligent regarding inappropriate behavior and conversations, including cyber dating, drugs/alcohol, violence, vulgar language, cyberbullying and anything else we have deemed inappropriate to be associated with our brand and within the younger demographic we attract.
How much grassroots community has grown up around AJ? Do you seek to influence it?
Our fan community is truly epic and it is always a great source of pride when I work on a brand that can inspire one. In addition to the vibrantly engaged communities that we have developed on social media sites, there are many fan-run communities on those same social media sites with numbers that rival our own.
Plus, we have thousands of fan blogs and fan sites that act as citizen journalists, reporting on news within our world of Jamaa, including new items, opinions on new content and guesses of what’s to come. We only interact on our brand controlled channels, but the kids know we are paying attention since we respond to their feedback whenever we can via new content features or promotions.
Your site is built in Flash. Has mobile taken its toll on you, as it has for my own games production? What is the technology outlook for desktop-based worlds? HTML5? Unity?
Our goal is to create an enduring and trustworthy children’s property, so we look at mobile as an opportunity. Desktop-based gaming isn’t going to vanish as a result of the mobile revolution, but you’re right – the technology outlook has changed. As a company, we’ve made a big commitment to Unity on desktop and mobile platforms, and we have some Animal Jam stuff in development that we think is pretty revolutionary. Flash still has its place, at least for the next few years. And 2D games will always be around, because there are some great play mechanics that can only be done well in 2D.
After Club Penguin was bought by Disney, there was an explosion of virtual worlds but many have gone by the wayside. Is there still a future for such things?
We don’t really think of AJ as a ‘virtual world’ in the Club Penguin mold. The point of most virtual worlds is to get players heavily invested in one avatar character that represents them to the world, and then advance that character through a social hierarchy or leveling system. Animal Jam encourages players to try on lots of different animal characters, and to distinguish themselves in the world differently according to how they feel like playing that day. It’s a virtual world in the sense that any persistent online environment is a virtual world, but that includes most MMORPGs, too. We think of Animal Jam as a social network and playground, and there is definitely a future for those.
I LOVE AJ best game ever!!! I’m a member and buddy me I’m paw52600 no caps
AJ is the BEST game for kids im only 9 so i know what im talking about. im a member so for those people out there that have aj my user is lloveaj434 no caps
hello i am yubbie2468, I am 10 and i am so adicted to animal jam that i am only allowd to play the computer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (yeah im that adicted)!!!!!
I started playing in 2012 when i naws 8 and now i am 10 animal jam is such an amazing game… But there are some bad things about the game. (Bellow)
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animal jam is a very educational learning game and the only concerns in the game is: Lying, Scamming, Cheating, Innapropriate Language, Rude ignorant people and Sexual Refrences (Ok so some are bad but people are like that but only 8.5%!! So if you dont wish your child to experience things like that then consider Club Penguin but animal jam is still so much better)!!!
Add me if you wish 🙂 😀 remember my username is yubbie2468 or 07734hello (no caps and no saces for both of them)!!
Thank you for you’r time Kind regards,
Yubbie2468 or 07734hello (Amelia Pysciota)! 🙂 😀 😛 :U :3 c: XD 😀
Hello Animal jam! i am gosiminoles, i think i got hacked because my stuff was gone 2 months ago or may be it was a glitch, but my friends sent all good stuff and i was SO happy 🙂 they are the best friends i could ever have! And dont forget BE A JAMMER NOT A SCAMMER!
If you dont believe me thats ok, i just wanted to tell you guys what happened and why my buddies are such great friends! i dont like my friend because their rares! i like them because they are kind. and i also got one rare spike LONG wristband in the eagle adventure!!!!!!! i was so happy i could cry! Me and my grandma like to talk about animal jam sometimes, : i dont like it when people do trolls and stuff : its CRAZY! i just wish they would stop and think about it.
HEY lol 🙂 im here any im telling you that i love jamaa so much 🙂
my yellow worn blanket got scammed plz give me one my username is savannah15805
ty
Uhm work for ur own rares i get my spikes s0cammed sorry♡♡
funest game ever in history from conobonoiscool
lolololololololololol
I am very sorry to hear that and I hope u get a new head dress!
Hi guys! Do u guys want to now what I always say to people who dis on Aj? I say Haters be Hate in. I play Aj all the time and I love it!! Oh and bye the way my User on AJ is Adrien5 send me a buddy request if u want I am a non-member and I am really nice and never ever ever ever scam anybody. Thank u guys so much and hope u buddy me. 🙂
I got scammed of my orange and white headddress, spike, rare bow and arrow and rare shark fin at a so called “trust” party by youkids12 and she is known for spamming i looked it up but i didnt know. so i trusted her because she kept deing good trades and i did too becuase i dont spam but she was just earning my trust and waiting for a good one DX so she accpeted and blocked me once she got it and i cried for days and never got it back…. please block the animal jam user : youkids12 and buddy me im (MIghtyarcticwolfie) :C Thank You.
I am so sorry!!! If there’s anything i can do just let me know. 🙂 I’ll buddy you
To get stuff back press the: Contact us button on the bottom of the page you put your user and pass and tell them what the problem is, i got my rare spike back.
I got scammed my black long and I only have a green long and now I’m like cryign saying this my orange long just got scammed please send me any color spike I’m litterly crying I’m mak81615 please buddy me if you can. Bye!
I LOVE ANIMAL JAM . IT IS AWESOME .IONLY GOT SCAMMED ONCE AND I LOSAT A RARE PINKFOX HAT AND A RARE HEART LOCKET:(
BTW MY USER IS ANNASTISA
ALL CAPS
MY YOUTUBE IS CAROLINE HOAK
PS I DONT LIKE THE NEW UPDATE CUZ I TRIED TO TELL MY FRIEND WHO MOVED AWAY MY GOOGLE THING
AND I GOT A WARNING SIGH
PPS IM 11
My name is Jaden Moore. I play Animal Jam even though I might be a bit too old. (i’m 12)
If you want to buddy me my username is Spottedleaf529. I share my account with my sister 😀
Is your sisters name Josie more and does she go to 4th grade and is in mrs Meeks class and does she live in Harrison ville mo and does she live on a farm and her fave animal is a cheetah ? Cuz I have a BFF and her name is Josie Moore and she plays aj and she has a big sis i think and a few brothers i think too
lol,Spottedleaf….im a warrior cat fans too and im also 12
And my rare spike was scammed 🙁 but yeah Spottedleaf529 if you want to be my buddy
OOOOOOOOH YOU JUST GOT OWNED X’D
Well im 14, and… im Sunny09876 way 2 old to play dis game lol it get boring after like 3 years…
and yesh I have played 4.. 2 and a half years I tink 😀 awesomeness and Jaden m. u posted right be for meh bday lol
lol happeh burddey den :DDD
The reality is that no kids website with a social element is safe from predators who pretend to be other kids. Adults should be responsible for looking out for their kids and teaching them how to deal with inappropriate approaches from complete strangers on this type of site. Parents wouldn’t let their kids loose in Disneyland at age 7 by themselves, but seem to think that it is safe to let them on to this type of site by themselves. There is no difference.
someone plz buddy me my username is campbell950 and i’m a jammer not a scammer
I used to love animal jam now i hate it my account got hacked i played it to get rares but now its all ruined my user is zackee12
Im sorry about u getting hacked this is audry aka bubblebunny8797 but I will give you my red worn or light orange rare fox hat on one condision okay ? That is if you play aj okay and it don’t matter if your rare or have tons of bettas it just matters if you have fun be fair and learn so bye for now and remember be a jammer not a scammer!
Im 9 and I play animaljam its my favorite game but there are like 73 year olds that play i mean if your 20 or over and you play aj there is one thing I have to say get a life dude beacause people keep on scamming jammers hacking jammers and mating and dating sick am I right ? So I would like if ajhq would like get a thing were it blocks all the old people beacause im here to learn and have fun not to be scammed or hacked or defiantly not to walk into a den and see pervs mating
well u cant know if they’re old so….
Well actually, if they tell you your age, you can know and Audry, if 73 year old’s play this game they need to get a life and start thinking more about their Health Insurance.
animal jam rocks sometimes but it makes me sad sometimes those prices in there are outragoes
OMG!!! I love animal jam so much.
Umm guys you are so dramatic!
U are too soooooo yeah U Play a too
I’m 11 and I have been playing animal jam for a few years. There are scammers mostly on Aldan (one of the servers), but they are probably on other servers as well. Ever since some of the previously released adventures, people have lost sight in what AJ is really all about. It used to be about friendship, not scamming for rares and such. I miss the old days in AJ when people weren’t scamming and hacking like they are today. It’s just sad knowing that there are sick and crazy people on the site too. I mean, come on, there are toddlers that play this game too! People are freaking out over “rares” which are really just pixels. I hate to admit that I play on the website for a long time some days, but I don’t use those hours to scam younger players, hack the site, or any of that rotten stuff. I play the site to see what will happen and if it has improved at all. Keep in mind that there are little kids that play this, and they usually learn from us, but if you don’t care about it at all, then you really shouldn’t be on the site whatsoever. I am sorry if my comment is long, but I am trying to be rational about the site itself. Little kids need people to set examples for them, and they most certainly don’t need scammers or hackers teaching them bad things. Nobody has to agree with me, but it would be nice if you would think about what I have said. Don’t set bad examples for little kids, it isn’t right.
I heard animal jam was closing down in 2016……..please don’t close down I love your game and I want to play it a lot so don’t close down or my life will be in minecraft a game were there’s all blocks
Please don’t close down animal jam 2016 plz I’m buying membership a lot
They are not 🙂
It is confirmed they are not shutting down and it is just a rumor. So we are all safe do not worry 🙂
🙁 Animal Jam always play, don’t shut down or i come and smash ur faces in!
Your going to smash AJHQs faces in? Geez, you don’t have to be so harsh. We get the point that
you don’t want it to close down but, don’t gotta do that man, geez. Besides, 2016 is a loooong way away
so they’ll have enough time to think about closing it down or not, and by your comment I don’t think
they’re going to close it down. O_o
********Warning:***********
Animal jam is really addictive and should not be played by children under the age of 10. As their concentration levels fall, and their behaviour is unmanageable that obsess about nothing else – as they crave the next reward Animal Jam has to offer then for the subscription paid by there parents. Avoid introducing to younger children minds.*********
LOL im 13 and i never stop playing
But i’m 8 and like the game, besides that I watch violent shows such as “Sword Art Online” so yeah. :
P.S. I’m Podgirl
no fair im 9 and i play!
i hate it just never give us membership
I love animal jam I just don’t like scammers or hackers someone scammed my purple worn! 🙁 my user is wolf02800 add me if you are on aj a lot! 🙂
Hi guys add me if u want im pinkiepie2700 🙂
HIJAMMERS my user is rabbitmaster65 plz add meh and if not i will add you
my username is lightnintony5
animal jam scammers
Hi im Star and im 11i love animaljam so much to do i love to trade and make friends i even want a hat that says aj on it im so crazy about animaljam and my user is bunny43656 u will see me on alot. haters of animaljam i totaly understand and its not completely safe
there are some ppl that are very discusting on it and ppl we all know its life but its a kids game and u guys are ruining it that goes for every scammer hacker ect so yeah i rlly like to meet ppl but some creep me out by asking tons of prsonal questions even my buddies sometimes but hey its a great game and if ur gonna like ruin it then i feel bad for u ppl and non members to they get nothing am i the only member who cares!?anyway i live aj but sometimes i hate is bye!
I love animal jam, its so fun. Yo, my user name is SoulCollector555, search and buddy me if u want to be friends. Just want to put that out there. One of the main reasons i play is because it has the most adorable animals, plus i enjoy chatting with others, trading and roleplaying. I’m a major roleplayer. That game has so much to do though i do agree on it not being totally safe. Ppl ask me for my password and stuff like that, way creepy. I’m on animal jam most of the day, every other day. Loves it. Haters can hate if they want.
well i had a headdress and yaqui, shes a jammer, SUPPER RARE! and i traded her my headdress for something and she took that item off list, so i traded for another thing witch it was blank and i didn’t see what it said only the item that was on before. and i traded me rare headdress for it and she accepted and left to her den. i told my friends and they said, well if u get scammed you spam, scam u spam. and it actually worked. and then she got my rare bows for it three of them black one white. i was like GOSH MAN! she left i tried to get them back. but my friends where like, i guess that was a pretty bad fail. and i said “i didn’t fail, i succeeded in a different way”. so hopefully you guys dont spam random people and stuff. i don’t believe if scammed u spam at all. just know that everyone succeeds, just in a different way. 🙂
lolz i have been reading all the comments and i say im quity8 wanting to quit becauz everything is blamed on me everytime i go somewhere :'( and im also sad cause ppl hate me so ya i have never scammed and all you bullies out there let me tell you something i learned from god: no matter how long you try and bring me down me and everyone else will not fall… we are All loved by someone and that someone is god if nobody else does.
thx alot for some support i get hardly any but still.
Awesome comment 🙂
Animal jam is a game that has turned my sister into an unsocial turd who would rather play Animal Jam than go out with our dad, go to an amusement park, go to the park and do any social activity.
This game just annoys me, the music is repetitive, boring and stupid.
The animals look ugly (especially the wolf and the monkey)
The people on there are children who do stuff like give away their password and parents email.
The site is a place for pedophiles to track down kids and trick them into giving them their personal info.
This website is bad, if you’re a parent don’t let your child play this.
Its not made to be bad and not safe! Its made to be fun and safe! It’s not ajhq’s fault that grown ups go on aj and try to trick kids into telling them info also if they have free chat bubble chat or restricted chat they are still almost perfectly safe with free chat it can still block your message like if you say “MY email address” it will block it cuz of this part “email address” so and with restricted chat you can’t say to much info you can say “I have a dog named buddy” and thats ok but if you say “I hate black people or i hate white people” i think it would be blocked i never tried because I’m don’t hate people for their color so anyways if you have bubble chat you can’t say ANYTHING will you can’t say much at all so ya its pretty hard to NOT be safe with animal jam.
You just annoy me.
I’m 11 and I play animal jam. And I totally agree with Natasha! Like animal jam is a great game. It’s super fun, entertaining and yeah. But there’s a bunch of crap like scamming, hacking, personal info give out etc etc… Animal jam has become to much scamming ( my opinion ) I love animal jam and I’m seriously terribly addicted and I never want to get off so I hope animal jam never gets deleted. But animal jam needs to monitor a little better. Like Natasha said: “Cool” members never learn! And tbh it’s true… : like I never watch those videos ( except that gecko one xD ) what animal jam is really about now is getting good stuff. That’s why people scam. And animal jam needs mods like they can be on animal jam too can’t they? Anyway this is my opinion and yeah my username is bunny668mh maybe send me a gift or a Buddy request? Plz? Thanks! ~ Bunny668mh
Hey animal jam my founder and tiki were scammed can you get me mine back I am aj5649
i love animaljam so much thats all i play all day long but on warm sunny days i go outside and plz ppl dont be mean and rude be nice plz
grace did you ever go to a camp before what is your last name?
i love ajhq my youser name is chloeb407
love you
im 6 april 7 is my birthday
can I get a free headdress since mine got scammed my user is icecream101
i like animal so much that i became a member but now when i try to log in it says that my password is wrong when i know that it is right