#welcometojorvikjojo

[theeastgirlchronicles]

#WELCOMETOJORVIKJOJO

This past Wednesday Star Stable announced a partnership with JoJo Siwa and a lot of people within the SSO community reacted in a disrespectful and hateful manner. Before I address some of the reasons people are upset about this collaboration, I wanted to give some information on who JoJo is. Hopefully, this will provide insight into why Star Stable wanted to partner with her.

If you’re an adult, like me, JoJo really doesn’t fall into our demographic. I am familiar with who she is through collaborations she has done with YouTubers I do actively watch. I find her to be a bright, bubbly girl who is living her truth and was smart enough to find a way to capitalize on it. Outside of the SSO Community bubble, the world knows JoJo as a dancer, singer, actress, and Youtube personality. She was a top-5 finalist on season two of Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, appeared in two seasons of Dance Moms, has over six million subscribers on her YouTube channel and has released several successful singles. JoJo will be debuting her new single “Every Girl’s a Super Girl” in game on April 11th, two weeks before it releases worldwide.

Fun Fact: Her single “Boomerang” talks about bullying and has been viewed more the 490 million time.

When it comes to JoJo partnering with Star Stable, one of the main pain points seems to be the fact that JoJo has nothing to do with horses or the equine/equestrian community. This is a subject I have been wanting to talk about for a while. When I first started playing Star Stable I noticed that one of the first questions people asked me was if I own horses and/or ride horses. When a stated I do neither I normally got an “oh, see you around” response. So I would like to announce that I don’t play Star Stable for the horses, I play because I am a gamer.

Although I think horses are majestic creatures, I am not passionate about them and the equine/equestrian world does not really interest me. I have gained a lot of knowledge about horses and the community that loves them since joining and that is great. For example, I now know the difference between a buckskin and a dunskin (shout out to Maddy and Ruby). But I don’t think it is right to state that someone cannot be a part of the SSO Community because their interests and career are not horse related. I am a Quality Assurance Specialist for a credit union who loves writing, reading, and staring at my ceiling fan. I collect old/rare books, unique pens and socks, love buying purses, adore cats and have been an avid gamer since I was a little girl. Atari, anyone?

Outside of Jorvik, JoJo is extremely relevant right now. She has an optimistic attitude and promotes girl power and being true to yourself. In a PR Newswire article, Taina Malen, chief marketing officer of Star Stable Entertainment, stated, “JoJo embodies the vision of Star Stable because of her confidence, inner strength, and desire to make the world a better place for tweens and teens. JoJo is a great addition to the Star Stable family and an amazing role model for our players. Together, we share the same mission to empower girls throughout the world.”

I, personally, find nothing wrong with what Malen said in regards to the partnership. But what about what was unsaid? Star Stable and JoJo will both be benefiting from this whether it is through new followers/players or financial means. But is that a bad thing? No. I think it is evident that as a company Star Stable is going through a significant growth spurt and in order to accommodate business and player needs the company needs to earn money. By collaborating with JoJo they now have access to her consumers. More players means more money, more money means more company resources, more resources means more player content … do you see where I am going here? This partnership is actually a huge win for Star Stable and should positively impact our community.

For my fellow adult SSOers out there, I get why we don’t connect with JoJo or some of Star Stable’s more tween-centric updates. But I am going to ask you to take one for the team and remember that Star Stable’s demographic is young tween/teen girls. We started playing the game with this knowledge, therefore should not be surprised when the company tries to capitalize on it. Business is Business despite how much I want an adult only server and the ability to actually type “three” in chat.

For the players that are hating on JoJo, I just have to ask, why? Is there not something more productive you can do with your time? Besides, how can you possibly “hate” someone if you don’t know them on a personal level? If JoJo does not interest you, that is perfectly fine. But that is not a good reason to flood the community with negativity. If the urge to bully someone ever crosses your mind then you need to sit down and figure out where that thought is coming from. Talk to a friend or trusted adult if needed. You will find that, normally, the object of your hate has nothing to do with the real issue.

Now, with all this being said, I would like to welcome JoJo to our community. Why wouldn’t she want to be a part of it? The SSO Community is so wonderful guys! I would never begrudge Star Stable due to the fact I have made such amazing friends and spent many happy hours playing this game.

#welcometojorvikjojo I am glad you are now a part of the Star Fam.