New Yavn Speaks 4/1 - Yes it's real this time ;)

[WWEDUDE]

Live and direct from VMK Central, it's the man with the VMK plan – ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here's Yavn!

What in the Disney World?

Hey there! Yavn here. Ok, so we're getting reports that odd things are happening in the Kingdom. Esmeralda has sensed a portal opening in VMK that leads to another world and Shrunken Ned tells me that some odd looking Toons have also been spotted in our Virtual Magic Kingdom. Now I've got PirateVinnie and the rest of the VMK Staff looking into this and as soon as we can figure out what's going on, we'll let you know.

Anyway, I'm sure you want to know the theme for this month? Well, we've got, I mean had, some great plans, but somebody (cough, Yeti) lost them!
(Just between you and me, we're partnering with our pals at Toontown for a Topsy Turvy Toon month!)

What does this mean? Well, don't expect a new ToonTown land to show up in VMK, but it does mean a whole bunch of cool items and events. Stay "tooned" for more details – sorry I couldn't resist!

A Pirate's Quest for Me

Now about that Quest, first off, on behalf of myself and rest of the VMK staff, our hats are off to those of you who completed it. Yes, it was a hard Quest, but then again, I've never known a treasure hunt that offered such amazing treasure to be easy.

We were especially pleased to see VMK'ers working together in the Pirates and other games to complete the Quest. What we didn't appreciate were those of you that asked for answers (not doing the work while other players worked for hours), players who posted spoilers and the players who were just downright rude to other players in the game lobbies. There were other issues too which I'll get to in just a second...

Why did Captain Blackheart make the challenges in the Quest so difficult? Well, pirates are a crafty bunch, Blackheart is no different. Like all pirates, he wanted to make his treasure really hard to find.

I know that frustrated alot of you. We were frustrated too – we worked very hard to put this Quest together for you and thought you wanted (and deserved) amazing rewards – several players however, didn't think they should have to work to get them.

We all face many challenges in life and they aren't always easy to figure out – take it from me, anything worth doing takes time and determination. The old saying really does apply, cheaters don't prosper – and in the end, they just make it harder for the rest of us.

While we're on the topic of cheaters, one last comment about the Quest – I'll remind you again, using any program that modifies VMK or plays VMK for you is not only wrong, but against VMK Values and will get you banned. In short, if you didn't download it from VMK.com, don't use it with VMK! (And trust me, we know when you do...) Technical problems (as well as closing the Quest when we did) were a direct result of players that didn't follow these simple rules.

Rest assured, we learned quite a few things from this Quest that will greatly affect future events.

Finally, yes, it was a challenge, but we sincerely hope you enjoyed Captain Blackheart's Quest and even if you didn't complete the big one you got to play the mini-Quest and get some cool treasure. It's just a shame that some players had to spoil it for others and that's all I'll say about that.

Topsy Turvy beats Scurvy!

On a lighter note, we've ransacked those plundering pirates and are now working with wacky Toons! So what can you look forward to this month in VMK? How about some never-before-released Magic? We've got it! How about a new room? You want a sneak peak? Sure:

Now this looks like a nice place for some cool refreshment.

All this, plus other amazing stuff I can only hint to because I'm still looking for our Event Plan! Yeti! Walk with me to the Churro Cart... do you have any idea where you put those plans? What do you mean a Toon took them? What? Ok, show me which way he went... Yes, of course I'll buy you a churro...

Stay here guys, I'll be right back.
-Yavn

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

- throws up -

great. toontastic! -.-

 

[sm4987]

That's wonderful for new magicand the new room looks really goodl!!!

 

[DemonLlama]

Technical problems (as well as closing the Quest when we did) were a direct result of players that didn't follow these simple rules.


-Yavn

So players didn't follow the rules, cheated to win, so VMK punishes those of us NOT finished and still trying.

You KNOW who they are, but WE get punished.

Yeah, we're in the Twilight Zone.

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

I saw that show today in school! our teacher had a work shop so she let us watch this one where this guy goes into a bank vault. he comes out and bam. everything is blown up.

 

[Mnementh]

I know that frustrated alot of you. We were frustrated too – we worked very hard to put this Quest together for you and thought you wanted (and deserved) amazing rewards – several players however, didn't think they should have to work to get them.

Uhhh... Yavn, could you please show me the people who got 575 points in pirates, 45,000 points in Jungle Cruise, and caught 75 ghosts that DIDN'T work to get their rewards? I'd definitely call that work.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

Interesting about the 'change of time' comment....
Cute room though I'm not sure how I'll use it lol
Kim

 

[pixiewytch]

What?! I don't think I could be anymore offended. So it is the vmk'ers who wanted spoilers and cheated that ruined the quest?? You have got to be kidding me. What a slap in the face that is to all of the players who worked their you know whats off for nothing. The flaw wasn't with the players, but the game this time around. Sorry.

Oh, and as for cheating, that is exactly what was required to complete the pirates portion so what in the heck is he talking about? I was really starting to move on from this but reading that just made my blood boil, not just for myself, but for all the others who devoted time to this. It makes us look like a bunch of lazy good for nothing whiners, which I don't think the majority of players who lost this quest are.

Oh, and I'm just thrilled about another hybrid theme month.

 

[Yankeegal5]

is this real if it was awesome but something smells fishy!

 

[steamboatpete]

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how jobbing my daughters out of a fair chance to win the prizes was an appropriate response to what VMK considered cheating. What the heck are they talking about anyhow? Cheating? The difficulty in this quest was the vast number of tasks and the huge minigame scores needed.

If anything, the "cheating" was how we all had to rig Pirate games (and for some, mansion games) in order to advance past task 16. That sort of cheating apparently warmed VMK's heart, to "see us working together."



The most frustrating thing for me was not having enough time to play, especially given that I played the "pirate shooter" role about 40 times and had to spend 21 credits each time and win little to nothing and then almost didn't have time to finish myself before the arbitrary and uber-secret noon closing time.

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

Yavn just keeps going and going.. 0_0

I may not have finished the quest, but how the.. are we supposed to win at pirates without trying to make a team here on the DIS?

That seems utterly impossible for a fact we can barely trust people in VMK anymore.

I want to see yavn try to beat that quest.

I dont think this would ever happen if we actually paid for VMK. But since its free. i think they have a right to do what they want, but we also have the right to complain and rant.

 

[WWEDUDE]

Half of this newsletter is yelling at us for posting spoilers.

 

[Yankeegal5]

nvm i read it on the page i cant wait to get that new room kinda look like outdoorsy

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Players cheating with programs, scripts, whatever, are wrong. Deserve to be banned too. But yet again we are seeing VMK put the blame on everyone but themselves for their own screw ups-- namely creating a quest that their own system couldn't handle and not letting those who weren't cheating finish it tonight if possible. So much for being a game targeted at children. But you know, further proof to me the game isn't designed anymore for children or people who have regular (and busy) work hours.

I just love also how the tone is there YET AGAIN that it's their goal to teach us the value of patience, hard work, etc. etc. via things like this quest (same thing was said about the Sparrow game, that it was to teach us patience). It's a game. There is a lot of value in this game in terms of things people can learn/skills they can hone, but it is not VMK's responsibility to try and teach us moral lessons or ethics. Much like the daggone Disney food police telling me I can't have my white bread hot dog bun in WDW anymore because it's bad for me, I don't appreciate this either.

I am on the verge of saying some very un-Disney like things and act very Donald Duck-like, so I will pick up my feathers that I just tore out and leave to go cool off for a bit.

 

[PopStar]

It's just a shame that some players had to spoil it for others...

Yavn must have a time machine in store for us, because he just brought us back to the elementary days!

 

[pixiewytch]

Yavn just keeps going and going.. 0_0

I may not have finished the quest, but how the.. are we supposed to win at pirates without trying to make a team here on the DIS?

That seems utterly impossible for a fact we can barely trust people in VMK anymore.

I want to see yavn try to beat that quest.

I dont think this would ever happen if we actually paid for VMK. But since its free. i think they have a right to do what they want, but we also have the right to complain.

Or we could stick him in a room full of vmk'ers who lost this quest to answer to.

 

[pixiewytch]

Much like the daggone Disney food police telling me I can't have my white bread hot dog bun in WDW anymore because it's bad for me, I don't appreciate this either.

:

This gave me the kind of belly laugh I needed all day long.

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

Or we could stick him in a room full of vmk'ers who lost this quest to answer to.

omg ROFL! When i read that i thought of a big cloud of smoke with players rambling throwing punches and kicks and legs going in and out of the smoke, appearing and disappearing haha.

 

[Adventuredaz]

Yeah, we needed a lecture from Yavn. That brightens anyday, in fact it increased my overall satisfaction with VMK over this quest by...well none. I am surprized he didn't just jack up the requirments like he did with the Green car quest. This removes doubt for me about if he is still involved in VMK - still not sure on Hula.

 

[Mnementh]

Or we could stick him in a room full of vmk'ers who lost this quest to answer to.

Not even just the ones who lost. Add in the ones who finished the quest but had to see their good friends be disappointed because they got screwed out of 10 full hours of playing the quest.