Welcome
NotQuiteGeek, to you and your child, to VMK! Don't feel embarrased. For a "child's game" VMK can actually be quite advanced. I'm a 34 year-old adult myself and I had some issues when I got started and still do.
Yeah, BTM is a Maze. And after hours I couldn't get through it my first time alone. If it wasn't for the kindness of another player I would never had got through.
As you walk around VMK you can search for hidden places (like the maze, the Monorail, Treasure room, etc.). When you're exploring move your mouse cursor around edges looking for the red "EXIT" icon on the floor. Click on those. Most will just have your character walk to the next room. This is the same as if you clicked the Globe button, gone the the map, and clicked the next room to jump into it. But sometimes, instead of another room from the map you'll go into someplace else. Like if you're in Adventureland's Forbidden Temple and you click the EXIT inside the big skull you'll find the Adventureland Monorail Station. There's a Station in each of the lands, and none of them are on the Maps. I'll let you find them.
It's good to hear you've learned some basic credit-earning methods. There are now 9 NPCs from which you can earn credits each day (well, every 12 hours). The Player's Guide will list them out. Then there's the Music game you found where you mix and play. Contrary to the message you receive with your credits, you can actually
mix your music every 3 hours for credits and you can
play your music every 15 minutes for the credits. That's 11 sources of quick cash, aka The Dailies.
Besides the Dailies you can earn credits playing Mini-games. There are four. Adventureland has the Jungle Cruise and Pirates games. New Orleans has the Haunted Mansion or "Ghost" game, and Fantasyland has the Fireworks game. They can be pretty difficult for new players. So try not to be too frustrated. Some people are Experts at all, some only Master a few, others can't do any very well. I've been playing VMK since April '06 and I'm at least above average at all of the Mini-games, though I hate to play Ghosts and Jungle Cruise (Ghosts is very frustrating for me to control and JC I find too boring). Jungle Cruise will only give you 20 credits no matter your score unless you make the High Score page. In fact the act of Nedding is to play JC just to start, crash repeatedly until game over, get 20c, repeat. Ghosts give you 5 credtis for each ghost you catch, win or lose. Fireworks gives you 10% of your score in credits so even if you do poorly you'll get
something and if you do well it can be quite lucrative. Pirates costs credits to play so can drain you if you do bad, but once you get good it can be fun and profitable. Also you can find/schedule meetings with other Disboard people to play "Pirate Parties" where the teams let each other win to optimize credit earning.
Use your credits, as you have, to buy things in game. Visit shops and check out the "Specials" tabs, as these are most likely to be retired, especially in the Emporium where things are sold for short periods of time and retire every week. In time these retired things become more valuable and can later be traded for other rare items.
Another way to get stuff and to have fun are to take Quests. At the bottom of your screen there's a Q button. Click that and you'll find the Quests. Some are super easy (like the Mickey Special Quest). Others, more difficult. You'll find Quests for magic pins in Tomorrowland. In addition to being fun to have and play with day-to-day, the Tomorrowland magic pins are useful for other Quests. After you feel comfortable with the basics of walking around and have tried a Mini-game or two, give the Diving Pin Quest a try. It's tough, but you'll feel pretty good once you finish that. Go to Tomorrowland's Captain's Quest Quarters. You'll find one of those special Exits I was telling you about behind one of the pipes there. That will get you "up" (which is actually at the bottom left of the screen) to the Captain's desk. Double-click the desk and you'll be prompted to take the Quest. Get your Diver pin (you have to complete the BTM Maze) and you can go on to the Driving and Space Quests in Tomorrowland. Each gets more advanced.
Then there are Hosts Events, Games and Quests. On the main VMK page you'll find a calendar of when these occur. The Events/Games are usually held in certain private rooms, hosted by... VMK Hosts/Staff. At the time listed in the Calendar you'll click your Globe icon, Public Rooms and search for "Host" (though it's usually at the top of the list, as it's so busy). Get in Queue and get in the room. Get a VMK Pass to keep playing other things while you wait. If you make it into a room before the end time of the Event, you can participate in whatever Event/Game is going on and usually have a chance to win a prize. These Host Prizes are usually non-buyable Host exclusive items that are fun to collect and/or trade to other collectors. Sometimes you don't have to go into a Host room to participate in the Host Event. For example, during the Event times on Sundays there's a Quest and all you have to do is click the Q at the bottom of your screen, find that day's quest and play it. These are usally pretty simple and will win you one or more items. A handful of times per year they also do various Ride-a-thones or Competitions.
Besides the economy of VMK (credits, buying, trading), there's the chillin' and playing with friends. It's fun to just virtually sit in a room and chat with friends. Other times you can jump around to other peoples' Guest Rooms and play their games, quests, ride their rides, or just hang with them. You can also design your own rooms for chillin' in and/or build your own rides/games.
Whew... I've typed too much.
Heh. Anywho... you've found a great resource. When I started I fumbled around and had to figure things out for myself. I didn't discover Disboards until four months into playing. And my learning/knowledge grew exponentially from there. If you have any questions down the line. Post them. You'll find lots of cool people to help. You might even find a friend or two!
