Article made the Wall Street Journal

[NotAZoo]

Just got this alert from Google and of all places the Wall Street Journal has written an article on the closing. Either way pretty impressive to get that kind of press.

http://online.wsj.com/public/articl...cOXjCthXwE_20080618.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

 

[snowgracefulstone]

awesome article and contains a link to write to the reporter
Lets get those letters flying

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

woot. awesome article.

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Amazing, glad to see this.

 

[snowgracefulstone]

I think its kinda funny the way the refer to us as "obsessive and dogged"? Lets show them what those words really mean!!!

 

[mizmouse]

thanks, I'll get this up at my Save VMK blog!

 

[lisuhut]

Hi
I have sent an E-mail to the paper ,hope others do the same,good luck all.

 

[aengus]

This was a very good article!

 

[TinkPinkPoem]

Someone from this board made this article come true, by contacting the Wall Street Journal and talking to the journalist.

Woot for SoupDragon (aka OneLittleSpark)!!

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Nice article!

I was saddened when I read this at the end though:
"I've been playing for almost two years, and I've made really good friends and had really good times," says 13-year-old Grant Hale of Naugatuck, Conn. "I was really sad and really mad when I found out they were closing VMK." His family is grudgingly preparing to renew its subscription to Club Penguin, which it had planned to cancel.

Which is exactly what the company is hoping the majority of us do.
I now will never invest any money into any Disney online game unless it's VMK or very much like VMK. And even then I will be wary of it as I know they really don't give a hoot about any of us.

 

[mom2cookies]

Notice, he failed to mention as did the Disney representative that many of us were/ are willing to pay to play? I did send a letter thanking him for writing the article.

 

[Dashzap]

Actually I thought it was a limited article...it is a sociological milestone to have an online community shut down...the article was bare bones.

 

[Belle1997]

Is it just me but I have yet to find an article that really understands our plight. I guess modern journalism says write the facts only forget about the heart strings.

This one got closer than most but still did not get it. Disney used us, lied and manipulated us by saying it was only promotion. Thousands and thousands are crying at the word of Disney. When has Disney made so many cry? Disney is a brand that you have all learned to trust. But after this game most of us can never trust them again.

Why is it so hard for these journalist to get it. But them again Disney the makers of VMK do not get it either.

Or maybe Disney just owns way too much media for the story we all want to hear to come out.

 

[NedsTJ]

Actually I thought it was a limited article...it is a sociological milestone to have an online community shut down...the article was bare bones.

I agree completely with this statement. I think this would have been a much different situation if "second life" was to annouce it's closure....
But otherwise the best article on the whole affair I've seen yet. Too bad it's probably to little to late...

 

[BriarRosie]

Actually I thought it was a limited article...it is a sociological milestone to have an online community shut down...the article was bare bones.

I agree, but it's hard to convey the depth VMK meant to people when you're dealing with people on the "outside". It seems strange to us that the articles seem to gloss over things, but if we never played VMK, it probably wouldn't seem so out of touch.

I felt like I got slapped with a huge dose of perspective the other night, while watching Unwrapped on the Food Network.

Stay with me, here. I've got a point, but it'll take a little time to get there.

The show was featuring food collectibles, and it showed a tour group of people who crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls to go to the Campbell's Soup factory and employee store. The store was opened up to the group, not normally done.

You should have seen these people. They were all dressed in red and white, with Campbell's shirts, handbags and even shoes! They were like kids in a candy store shopping like crazy for the Campbell's collectibles in the store.

I thought they were all nuts. And then perspective slapped me. Hard.

Substitute the Campbell's clothing with Disney clothing. Substitute the tour bus going to Campbell's to the one that is taking the Adventures by Disney tour to Imagineering, where the group will be able to shop at the employee (aka cast member) store, Mickey's of Glendale. Think of all of the Disney fans going nuts buying up everything in sight.

Now who's nuts? Hmm...

When it was Campbell's, I couldn't relate. When it's Disney, I could.

I'm thinking all the media look at us the way I looked at the Campbell's people.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Oh, I agree, Briar. Most people don't understand. Those that are Disney fanatics just might. But most don't because to them, it's still just a game.

I've understood this for a long time. My own father thinks I'm insane because I care so much about a "game". Many people still don't think of relationships on the internet are real. They only think that relationships are real if you know a person face to face.

Not to mention that there is a somewhat stigma of being a Disney fan. Most people I know think Disney is for little kids and losers. And they start thinking this way about the age of 10-13.

So to us, VMK closing is devastating, but to the majority of the world, they really don't give a darn. It's not something that would affect them.

Therefore, news reporting that seems lacking is normal for this sort of thing.


I do wish that there had been more news about the personal side of VMK. The stories of the Madison's, the Slinkyman's and the countless others. But news is generally not reported for the emotional side.

 

[mizmouse]

Here are pics from the hardcopy...this article took up a large portion of the WSJ Marketplace front page!

 

[the_jedi_master]

Of course they took a photo of the uninteractive JC

 

[disvaclub92]

Interesting article. I love how the new reason is this "We never want to disappoint a guest at any time, but in this particular case, we said this was a great product and it was extended due to popular demand, and we had to take this action to move forward with our portfolio of franchised products," says John Spelich, a spokesman for Disney's Internet Group.

So forward the portfolio of franchised products, seems a little narrow thinking when you can roll them up into one complete package call your Portal "Virtual Magic Kingdom" and then let that game feed off to your "franchised products" if a person choses to do so.

Just my two cents.

 

[Dashzap]

Here are pics from the hardcopy...this article took up a large portion of the WSJ Marketplace front page!

Technically it is the front of the second section...