Are you at risk of getting banned?

[Adventuredaz]

what are we supposed to do? Freeze frame on joeys collar to read the inscription on his lapel pin? Thats nuts!

Somebody must have to post the answer, lol

we should run out to walmart and buy the movie that has been out of print for 5 years

Don't forget e-bay - can pick them up there too.

 

[mtlhddoc2]

Don't forget e-bay - can pick them up there too.

not and get them delivered by Sunday for the weekend quest!!

 

[ShadowKittyKat]

I truely do not know how VMK can stop anyone from this. Sure they will ban them but they will get their IP changed and log right back on. Sure they will say "no more mules" but people will make them anyway. Sure they will threaten the players with bans but will that stop them? Of course not! VMK, don't you get it? The players do NOT care what you say. They will mule, they will post answers; anything to help make their VMK experience easier and more enjoyable! Don't you want the players to have an enjoyable time?

It's pure common sense to take something and make it easier/enjoyable for them. Now seriously, sorry if you take alot of hours making a quest that we can look up in minutes, but still, nobody wants to spend ten minutes on a four-minute-time-limit task where you have to remember a license plate on a random car in a movie that 95% of the VMK population has never even heard of. Common sense is usually looking it up on the internet, and taking guesses with friends, then posting the correct answers so nobody else has to waste their time guessing.

On the DIS we are all friends. Friends help friends. You can't stop friends from helping each other.

Flame away!​

 

[Since1971]

How many mule do you have? I only have three so i have nothing to worry about. Are you at risk?

Nope Absolutely not. I have one other character and the only reason I have the second is because I created my first character before I knew you could create one in the parks for extra things. We live close so technically I could create one every time we go, but two is more than enough for me. It gets boring having to play so many games to get the credits up on both of them. My daughter has two for the same reason as me. DH only has the one he created in the park.

I may need to re-read the newsletter, but I was under the impression that Yavn was talking about people with 50 or more mules right now that aren't being used.

 

[valeriesunshine]

I have only two , so I guess I'm not at risk.

 

[Since1971]

And: don't post spoilers he says? what are we supposed to do? Freeze frame on joeys collar to read the inscription on his lapel pin? Thats nuts! Oh, I know, we should run out to walmart and buy the movie that has been out of print for 5 years to find the answer to the fourth word of the 3rd song sung by a female charachter in the key of G. Get real Yavn! Welcome to the world of the internet! If they arent posted on this site, they will be on another, or another, or another.....

LOL! I really agree. Come on. I was 13 when Tron came out, but I never saw the movie, nor would I remember everything from that long ago if I had seen it. I have no desire to purchase a re-release of the movie. It just isn't in my budget to do so. My daughter watched High School musical on Disney Channel a few times and she still had trouble with some of the answers. If they wouldn't make the questions on the quests so obscure, the answers wouldn't have to be posted. This is supposed to be a game for kids anyway, right? Why make it so difficult?

 

[caribbound]

I really think you guys are getting worked up about nothing. Relax! It did state a few characters/mules are ok for various reasons, but the over 50 crowd are the ones to worry. These were created just for credits, I would think, which they would rather you play the games for your credits. Even with the multiple mule accounts, my opinion is that they may just "clean house" with unused characters, possibly clearing out some memory on their system and freeing up the character names for others to use. Our first characters took at least 5 tries before not getting the message that our name choice was already taken. I don't think they will be banning the regularly played characters. I just created my 5th character to see the credit benefit (haven't even used all the codes on my other characters) and I still plan to make at least one BITP in January for the ears and badge. Each of my kids will also since they don't even have black ears.

I suppose if you're using your 50 mules every week for host games or quests with rare prizes then those regularly used mules may come under scrutiny if they look at how many accounts come off one IP address. If you have time to do that many on a weekly basis even for daily's, I'd say get out in the real world a bit more. Wait, I say that to myself but I play my main 90% of the time, just too much time! LOL

Relax, listen to some music, have a cool or warm drink (depending on your weather and tastes, lol), and keep doing what you normally do. Just don't make new accounts and maybe clean out/delete a few that haven't been used in months. Check for goodies on them before deleting though!

 

[Tiinkerbelle]

Well it does say if you've created 100's, So I'm assuming 10 and below you are safe? I have 1 main, 2 main mules, my fiances account, and the others(6) that hold my cluttered junk.

 

[cat_herder]

[*]Type your password anywhere except in the Disney registration and log-in pages, or in the



Guess they will have to get me.
1) I use the same password for a lot web sites.
2) I have a file on my hard drive with my password

 

[cat_herder]

And: don't post spoilers he says? what are we supposed to do? Freeze frame on joeys collar to read the inscription on his lapel pin? Thats nuts! Oh, I know, we should run out to walmart and buy the movie that has been out of print for 5 years to find the answer to the fourth word of the 3rd song sung by a female charachter in the key of G. Get real Yavn! Welcome to the world of the internet! If they arent posted on this site, they will be on another, or another, or another.....

Maybe because it took them weeks to create the quest they thought it would take us weeks to complete it??? Of course they don't normally run that long.

I have use Google to look up a lot of the trivia since I don't know much of it at all. Some of the movies they have used for quest, I hated the first time I saw and have no desire to look at them again.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I really think you guys are getting worked up about nothing. Relax! It did state a few characters/mules are ok for various reasons, but the over 50 crowd are the ones to worry. These were created just for credits, I would think, which they would rather you play the games for your credits.

---

Relax, listen to some music, have a cool or warm drink (depending on your weather and tastes, lol), and keep doing what you normally do. Just don't make new accounts and maybe clean out/delete a few that haven't been used in months. Check for goodies on them before deleting though!

The problem is, that many of us that have been playing for a long time have that many mules that are no longer used.

Most of them were created by us when credits were more difficult to get. Some still use them for credits only purposes as they either don't have time to sit for hours at a time every day playing games or they can't play games worth a darn due to computer/connection problems.

And, deleting them off of Disney.com does not completely delete the VMK account. I have already tested it myself.
You can delete it and you won't be able to log into VMK, but, if you try to use the same email account, VMK will say there is another account with that address. Plus, I have friended one of my mules before I went to delete him. He was still on my friends list after his account was deleted.

I think that there is a possibility that he might not ban all us over 50 mulers, but, there is no telling what he will do.

 

[moikturtle]

Now seriously, sorry if you take alot of hours making a quest that we can look up in minutes, but still, nobody wants to spend ten minutes on a four-minute-time-limit task where you have to remember a license plate on a random car in a movie that 95% of the VMK population has never even heard of.​

Well, I have a little trouble taking his statement that they always put so much time and effort into these quests very seriously. So many times it's the exact same quest being used over again. And then there are numerous other times where there are spelling errors, typos, and the like. Maybe I'm just overly nit-picky, but if someone is putting so much time and effort into something that's their JOB, shouldn't they be going over what they just typed a *little* more carefully?

 

[Adventuredaz]

Well, I have a little trouble taking his statement that they always put so much time and effort into these quests very seriously. So many times it's the exact same quest being used over again. And then there are numerous other times where there are spelling errors, typos, and the like. Maybe I'm just overly nit-picky, but if someone is putting so much time and effort into something that's their JOB, shouldn't they be going over what they just typed a *little* more carefully?

No, while some of what you say is true there have been errors and they have repeated some quests. And true that as their job perhaps closer to perfection would be expected of any of us in our jobs if we wished to keep them. I will agree with him that many of these quests take a lot of time to put together and design. As the user we may not always appreciate all the particulars of the quest. Keep in mind we don’t always know who puts these together, I would imagine some are given out to staff as projects.

Now there a re a lot of ways to look at this. From a player quest stand point (where prizes are limited and put up by the player) I am totally apposed to spoilers and think hints only are appropriate. And if you every tried to put together a quest or game you know how difficult they can be. I also feel use of mules here is wrong.

When it comes to VMK wide quests, I always try to do the quests on my own with possibly up to half a dozen friends on VMK messaging or IM and always try to help people when they get stuck. I think spoilers are acceptable to have and use because these are put together in the same fashion as the chains of friends I just described. We are a community and we work together on it. Probably the harder quests to put together are the movie quests and they are also unfortunately the most likely candidates for needing spoilers. I have seen many of these movies once, but doubt I can recall and don’t think yanking out the tape to figure it out is the best plan. When multiple choices often you can guess through, if it is filling in the blank you stand around and wait for someone with the right answer. You know out of one side of their mouth they say they want VMK to be about helping and out of the other them act like it is the worst thing you can do. You really can’t figure these folks out some times. And while I disagree with the way the message has been delivered – we wanted to know so now we know. I feel this method took what could have been a good feature and breached the veil between VMK and the outside world and almost threatens the free exchange of thoughts and ideas here and elsewhere. I continue to speak freely on my thoughts but maybe we will have to have an underground spoiler chain where they aren’t posted but passed along by pm and IM and whatever other messaging and we will all get our buddies. I am half being facetious here but I can think of a few forums that might actually ban spoilers. - It’s late I’m going to sleep on it some just can't stay away from this thread.

 

[The Wolf]

I think we need to wait for some sort of clarification on the whole Mule/Banning issue.

I notice Yavn has a habit of doing things like this and only giving small bits of information to, as they say, put the cat among the pigeons.

To not have some sort of "grandfather clause" that takes into account previous mule creations will, like many have already said, cause the loss of a lot of regular and longstanding VMK players.

I know many people who have a number of mules and don't actually use them for credits but merely to have names for holidays etc to add a bit of fun for both themselves and friends.

To be honest I think the VMK staff need to get their own house in order long before they start attacking and banning players. Ask yourself when was the last time you got a timely (if at all) response from any sort of query to The Black Hole? When was the last time you had a host game run smoothly? When was the last time you entered a shop to purchase a new item and actually had enough credits without spending every hour of every day plugging away at games to earn the credits?

As for the whole "we take ages to make the quests" thing, c'mon get real. We are probably talking a day at most and anyone that is saying longer is merely padding out their job.

Playing devil's advocate here this whole newsletter could easily be the start of a slope that will lead to VMK becoming a pay for play game and the mules subject is just an excuse to start sheperding just such a thing in.

As someone already said, the staff didn't mind how many members were mules and how many weren't when they crowed to the industry how many players they had and you can bet they don't tell Disney those figures when they submit the reports that they must have to.

The staff need to actually start listening to players and not just the hangers on and yes people that always turn up in host games and yavn's room. A monthly forum with staff members and players where actual issues could be discussed. And I don't mean a certain person joining forums merely for a bit of ego stroking as it currently appears to be. Or even a questionaire that doesn't just ask the questions they want to hear positive answers to and allows players to make a comment that will then actually be taken on board.

Oh and one more thing on a personal note, enough with the stinky pins already! They are little more than a small image in a menu, if you must do them at least build a display board that people can put in their room and show them off. The same goes for clothes, is there something wrong with giving us a wardrobe to store our various couture in?

OK Rant over I'm heading back into my hole

 

[Tiinkerbelle]

I am one of those people who hasn't seen EVERY Disney movie (especially not the new ones since they just don't have that "Disney" feel to me.), so I NEED help from others so I would never complete the quests.

I also maybe created more then 6 mules @_@ I can't remember, it was during christmas and halloween when getting credits was impossible. Took me 4 days to save up for Snow man magic. 3 To complete a costume on just one account @_@ thank goodness the 15 credit pirates games are gone.

 

[FrontierNatasha]

Wow three pages. A record for me.

 

[Tailfeather]

I'm glad I found some folks who were as upset with this newsletter as I was. I have, I think, my top seven reasons why this made me feel just a little bit hot under the golden ears.


7) Okay who REALLY writes in and asks Yavn what bugs him? Who cares? And besides, when was the last time people got replies from things they wrote in anyways? Thousands of unreviewed CL apps, yet he finds emails about what bugs him? Seriously. Who did they think would believe THIS whopper?

6) So no one likes cheaters/hackers. I get that. Of course, darn near every online game has them. My guess is the fact that you produce a game that's buggy enough to allow such ENORMOUS loopholes for the cheaters is probably hurtful on the pride, but perhaps if the quests weren't so obscure or the good items so expensive with difficult ways to get them, people wouldn't be trying to cheat to get credits to buy or extra items to trade off. Considering all the people who seem to be 'host favorites' and best quest winners have rooms and rooms FULL of rares just lyin' around like manna from heaven, I'd guess lots of people are taking advantage of loopholes or other ways to cheat.

5) Quest answers. *snorts* Okay let's start with the obscurity...a weekend long quest may not yield the answers to some of the ones (esp like Tron) you're using to make them harder. But okay, you want it hard, fine. How about mixing it up a little if it takes you so long to do these quests and set them up? When was the last time a quest didn't have this pattern: go to some rooms, sit down, find a mickey/horseshoe/atom, play ghosts, answer some questions, play fireworks, emote a smile cause you're done? half of them are rote by now. Why not post the answers to help some folks? Just like the even answers in the back of your math book, some people are always going to cheat, but some honest folks need a helping hand, which I have noticed, less and less players on VMK are willing to extend to them.

4) Mules are a staple on every online game. They are normal and again, always included in your count of players in the game to PR releases. They are harmless. If you'd lower prices or make quests achieveable more than once (so people who suck at games can have friends help out), perhaps you'd see less of these. With magic pins starting at 10K and some people having reserve $$ of 250K+, you've set it up so that people are going to get mules to get extras so they can be the East India Pin Trading companies. Whole rooms full of things for rarest of rares. It's ridiculous. Nothing should have that much weight in a game you created for 8-14 year olds. No wonder you have scammers and hackers. It's become a business. Look at EBAY, for goodness sakes. 350$ for an inferno... that's the staff's fault.

3) Not informing staff... wow this one is really funny. I can't recall how many times I've reported something like a host scamming people or someone being nasty to other players or doing things that violate VMK values... only to recieve a msg from the almighty staff to leave the room or ignore the player if they bother me. Effectively doing NOTHING to the player or host doing the wrong. Basically telling me NOT to *******..then admonishing me for not tattling. Interesting psychology, that.

2) Players not helping others. Hrm. Well since I started on VMK, I've seen obviously experienced players snubbing guests or newbies. Including ones with CL tags or something clute like future CL, ask me anything, in their tag lines. And I've noticed that the CL and Hosts frequently have 'not trading' or 'no friend requests' in their tag lines, which is the unfriendliest thing a new player can see. I know there's a size limit, but maybe we could program our leaders to have more space to make people feel welcome and part of the gang? It shouldn't be a bragging point that the host has you in their list. And you shouldn't ask a host to take a pic and have them tell you no...cause somehow that's become a big deal, too.

1) I think read earlier about people thinking this rant was capricious and arbitrary. I agree whole-heartedly. Considering that I spend 45 mins to an hour trying to get into a host game only to get disconnected while waiting because some citizen (who also clearly doesn't care abut VMK community) does magic or dances in the room almost every time I try, get frustrated because the hosts randomly and yes, arbitrarily hand out pins that become very valuable without no warning and frequently to the same people, and that there are so many ways for people to find bugs and cheat that makes it hard for everyone else to 'keep up with the Joneses', I figure there might be more important things for the VMK staff or producers to expend energy on, not a rant that basically chastises the player of the very game that signs their paychecks. When they can make servers stable, home pages not screwed up for weeks on end, hosts not play favorites and games that don't have bugs TO exploit, I would be perfectly willing to listen to complaints about player behavior. Until then, they've got better things to do rather than rant about people have a bunch of mule characters that aren't hurting anyone.

The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth about the game and the people who create/run it. What kind of publicity is that? Someone in PR should be demoted for letting that go out on the pages the public reads when they decide if they want to play the game.

That's just my two cents... (well, maybe a quarter's worth this time)

 

[Tiinkerbelle]

I agree on #'s 1-6 .

 

[Tailfeather]

I felt like I was Denis Miller... "not to get off on a rant here"... but I mean really. I had been enjoying the newsletters previous to that and seeing it just made my blood boil. As for #7, I still think it was a weak excuse for them to vent their frustrations with player behavior.

 

[ShadowKittyKat]

I would really like to know, why was that Newsletter published to the public? Basically, the producer was just yelling at the players and never congratulated players on the good things in VMK - the things they should be focusing on.

I can see a lot of players not even wanting to play the game anymore. Why make a game and yell at the players - making it so unenjoyable for them that they leave altogether? That will also affect things like going to the parks, purchasing items, etc.

I hardly wear my VMK t-shirt anymore. Hey, I think it was just a waste of my money, now that I think about it. But you probably don't do refunds. You probably already spent it on something other than new VMK servers that can handle VMK and it's players better.

VMK, you're going to have cheaters on your game. Everyone is going to have cheaters on their games. If you are so mad about it, why haven't you fixed the problem a long time ago when it started, instead of letting it build up in time?

I also agree that VMK should delete accounts that were not active in about three months. At least send a message to the registered e-mail address asking if you can delete it. And if you don't get a response, go ahead and delete it. It was probably a fake address anyway.​