A game that I LOVED as a child was Animal Jam. I begged and cried and weeped for my parents to purchase me a premium membership, and for my 9th birthday, they finally gave in. Thus began the love affair between me and the fictional town of Jamaa, where you could become nearly any animal you wanted and build a life completing quests for new goods or making friends in town hall.
The mechanics of the game were relatively simple. Each player is allowed to choose an animal to play as — say, a snow leopard, bunny, or wolf — and then given free reign of Jamaa. In addition, players could execute mechanics like publishing a chat bubble in public spaces, trading items, playing mini-games, and designing a home. These mechanics led to interesting dynamics. For instance, scamming was a huge problem in Jamaa, so over the course of the time in which I played, developers took large measures to prevent scamming that arose as as function of the trading functionality. The chat bubble mechanism allowed for the formation of friendship between new Jammers, and even unexpected dynamics such as political movements. There was a lot going on in Jamaa, particularly for a game designed for children. However, for me, the chat bubbles allowed me to make new friends from all over the world online, which was my favorite dynamic. From such simple text, spoken by cartoon wolves and bunnies (?) sprung surprisingly strong friendships which brought me back to the computer every weekend or when my parents would allow me.
