Now That the Pin Trading Event is Over...

[flowergirlbecca]

After a weekend of all the click, click, clicking, i'm glad it's over. I feel extemely lucky to have gotten one pin(the bride in the attic), as I was dc-ing all over the place!(not to mention having troubles getting in line to begin with)

 

[HeDiedxILive]

Between my girls and me, we:
dc while in 40-49 position: 1 time
dc while in 30-39 position: 7 times
dc while in 20-29 position: 4 times
dc while in 10-19 position: 2 times
dc while in 3-9 position: 5 times
dc while in 2nd spot: 2 time
dc while first in queue: 4 times
dc while entering the room: 3 times
dc while in the room: 8 time
dc while in a trade window: 3 times
traded: 1 time

Can you say, "FIVE star dc magic?"
Sorry buddy. I feel the pain. Glad you got to trade at least once!

I got in twice. Jolly Roger and Grand CA. Could not get in at all yesterday for that Leota I wanted.

 

[cat_herder]

Well, I did sent a polite email to VMK telling them how unhappy I was about event. I even listed the trades I had planned to make on the 3 times I actually got in room and was in the trade window with the host all 3 times before DCing, but I doubt it will do any good. Frankly VMK had never done the right by me even thought I have heard they have done it with other people.

 

[Shaymojack]

I got zip-nadda-nothing.

 

[zeniff]

i managed to get 8 pins in total, 1 which i kept for myself (grand cali) all the others were given to friends as gifts cause im cool like that

oh cool, guess im one of your friends since you traded me 1

 

[Mnementh]

Even though I was fortunate enough to get 5 pins, I tried so hard to get them. I had my share of DCs myself. Not counting the hundred or so times I attempted to get in line and failed over the course of the three days, once I actually got in line, I DCed 10-15 times, and then in the actual trade room I DCed 4 or 5 times, so I can still relate to everyone who had problems getting in.

 

[qruthie]

I had a very lucky weekend in that I didn't dc any of the times I was able to get in line. I probably have some sort of repetitive stress injury from the gazillions of times I tried to get in line.

This pin "event" was very discouraging for me. I expected to see multiple staff trading rooms open for each session. We would have still had problems getting in line and getting dc but more people would have had the opportunity to take part in the event. Having one room open with a maximum line of about 50 people makes no sense at all when 4,000 people are playing the game. I'm guessing the intent was to make it easier for staff to enjoy the holiday like the rest of us. But, if the goal was to give staff the holiday off then perhaps they should have scheduled a ride-a-thon for Tron stuff instead of a pin trading event.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I consider myself lucky to have gotten in as much as I did.
I ended up with:

Hong Kong Disneyland Pin
JC Lion Pin
JC Zebra Pin
Pirate Attraction Pin 1/5 / Jolly Roger
Mighty Eye pin

 

[Lilley]

Thats a big ZERO for me. I was not even able to get into the line this time. BUMMER!

 

[cat_herder]

I had a very lucky weekend in that I didn't dc any of the times I was able to get in line. I probably have some sort of repetitive stress injury from the gazillions of times I tried to get in line.

This pin "event" was very discouraging for me. I expected to see multiple staff trading rooms open for each session. We would have still had problems getting in line and getting dc but more people would have had the opportunity to take part in the event. Having one room open with a maximum line of about 50 people makes no sense at all when 4,000 people are playing the game. I'm guessing the intent was to make it easier for staff to enjoy the holiday like the rest of us. But, if the goal was to give staff the holiday off then perhaps they should have scheduled a ride-a-thon for Tron stuff instead of a pin trading event.

The key phase here is "enjoy the holiday". Did you really "enjoy" the pin-trading event? I certainly did not enjoy it. I find them horribly unfair. Some people got 5 or more pins, some got 4,3,2,or even 1 pin. Most people I have talked to spent many hours on end in line or trying to get in line and got nothing. Many people could never even get in the queue, not even once. How fair is that?

All I truly want in VMK is for the disconnecting to stop. At least that way it certainly would be more equal to everyone. Would you be more willing to stand in a line of 150 people if you knew you would never dc and would get a shot at game or prize? Other online games don't dc people, why does VMK?

 

[Beherenow]

I was able to enter the room several times, but never actually made it into a trade with the hosts without a DC, SO I came away with nothing.

 

[caribbound]

I sent a polite note as well, suggesting they come up with a way to make the line go faster so there is less disappointment and frustration, as I KNOW that's not their intention for us. I may have suggested having two staff members trading at the same time, but you'd think that was obvious and I know someone said they did do that at the end of Sat. I believe. Not when I dc during my Lion pin trade though.

I didn't count the number of dc's, at least 5 inside the room and one at the end of the trade (no lion), plus quite a few in line. I do know dh is quite disturbed by it all.

Between us all, over the three days, despite disconnections, we got:
Churro
Talking Toucan
Bride in the Attic
Grave Digger
Master Gracey
Lion

Worth the time on Saturday? No.

 

[Disney Dreams]

... Between us all, over the three days, despite disconnections, we got:
Churro
Talking Toucan
Bride in the Attic
Grave Digger
Master Gracey
Lion

Worth the time on Saturday? No.

Oh, Car, i feel your frustration and I understand completely, but that's a pretty nice collection of pins that you managed to acquire. Enjoy them!

 

[qruthie]

I had a very lucky weekend in that I didn't dc any of the times I was able to get in line. I probably have some sort of repetitive stress injury from the gazillions of times I tried to get in line.

This pin "event" was very discouraging for me. I expected to see multiple staff trading rooms open for each session. We would have still had problems getting in line and getting dc but more people would have had the opportunity to take part in the event. Having one room open with a maximum line of about 50 people makes no sense at all when 4,000 people are playing the game. I'm guessing the intent was to make it easier for staff to enjoy the holiday like the rest of us. But, if the goal was to give staff the holiday off then perhaps they should have scheduled a ride-a-thon for Tron stuff instead of a pin trading event.

I need to clarify this post. I'm sorry for hurting staff's feelings. That wasn't the intent of the post. I know staff worked very hard last weekend and did their best to make the pin trading event as pleasant as possible. Many people were able to trade for pins they have been wanting for their collections. That is a very good thing! A huge THANK YOU from me to VMK staff for doing that. I'm in tears knowing that I hurt someone's feelings by not expressing my thoughts very well in this post. Please accept my apology.

I did assume some staff had the holiday off, as they should. Staff are people like the rest of us and like to have fun outside of VMK and have days off. I didn't and don't have a problem with the possibility of staff having some time off for Labor Day weekend. My issue is that IF the supervisors of VMK staff did give some people the day off (I sure hope they did!) then a less labor intensive event should have been scheduled to allow more players to participate. I suggested a ride-a-thon as a possible option. Note, I put the responsibility in the hands of the supervisors of the VMK staff, not the staff themselves.

I stand by my comment that having only one room open for each trading session didn't make sense due to the large number of players in the game. My constructive suggestion for a pin trading event was and is to have multiple rooms open per session or if that can't be done, then schedule a less labor intensive event.

Again, I'm sorry for hurting anyone's feelings in my attempt to make a constructive suggestion.

 

[Maleficent2]

I need to clarify this post. I'm sorry for hurting staff's feelings. That wasn't the intent of the post. I know staff worked very hard last weekend and did their best to make the pin trading event as pleasant as possible. Many people were able to trade for pins they have been wanting for their collections. That is a very good thing! A huge THANK YOU from me to VMK staff for doing that. I'm in tears knowing that I hurt someone's feelings by not expressing my thoughts very well in this post. Please accept my apology.

I did assume some staff had the holiday off, as they should. Staff are people like the rest of us and like to have fun outside of VMK and have days off. I didn't and don't have a problem with the possibility of staff having some time off for Labor Day weekend. My issue is that IF the supervisors of VMK staff did give some people the day off (I sure hope they did!) then a less labor intensive event should have been scheduled to allow more players to participate. I suggested a ride-a-thon as a possible option. Note, I put the responsibility in the hands of the supervisors of the VMK staff, not the staff themselves.

I stand by my comment that having only one room open for each trading session didn't make sense due to the large number of players in the game. My constructive suggestion for a pin trading event was and is to have multiple rooms open per session or if that can't be done, then schedule a less labor intensive event.

Again, I'm sorry for hurting anyone's feelings in my attempt to make a constructive suggestion.

Not sure how you found out that a staff member feelings were hurt but I suspect it was the same as it happened before when staff contacted a DIS member within the game.

I am deeply concerned about this Roof!

You should not be made to feel like you have hurt staff feelings and who ever made you feel that way needs to be reprimanded... I am sorry if they (staff) do not want to hear that but it concerns me that any member of this or any other VMK fansite forum is approached within the game and made to feel bad about something they have said here on the DIS or any other forum board for that matter. If that is how you found out about "hurt feelings".


VMK staff should under no circumstances discuss this with you with in the bounds of the game itself or at all in my opinion. Players should not have to worry about what staff members feelings get hurt. Actually their feelings should not be getting hurt to begin with they should be able to take constructive criticism of the game for what is it an avenue to possibly the betterment of the game not a personal attack.


This is not the first time this has happened and I truly hope that VMK makes it perfectly clear to their staff that actions of this sort should not happen.

What you said was a valid statement and response to how you felt about this event, period.

Footnote:

We( the DIS VMK Moderators) will not, according to DIS BOARD GUIDELINES, allow bashing of individual VMK Hosts, staff or producers although we do welcome open discussion about the game and its events.

 

[Laurabearz]

I also agree that the odds are not very good for getting in this type of event. I love the idea of having two hosts working the pin trading, as that is the slowest event around....

I Do Appriecate some of the new games the host have put together that does move people in and out quickly... Kudos to those games!!! I also think they have tried several ways to speed things up, like going thru teleporters to get your prizes instead of them having to do thier magic....

Things ARE getting better, Events like the Ride a tons and Slide Events went MUCH smoother than the first go arounds..... They are listening to us.

Of course we would like all the changes to happen NOW, but if we look back over time, they are improving...... Just slowly.

 

[darkacre]

There seems to be something about the way the servers decide who to dc that makes it more likely that people sitting in a queue will be disconnected. It might be a very difficult fix from a technical standpoint, I don't know. But based upon my observations from the weekend, it seems like an obvious solution might be to make more than one trade room, and shorten the number of people in the queue. If there are 2 rooms, but 2 staff members trading, there will be twice as many people getting to do trades. If you shorten the queue to 25 people, it will be just as easy/hard to get into a queue as it was before, but once in line, you will stand a much better chance of getting through to trade.

 

[BriarRosie]

I also agree that the odds are not very good for getting in this type of event. I love the idea of having two hosts working the pin trading, as that is the slowest event around....

I Do Appriecate some of the new games the host have put together that does move people in and out quickly... Kudos to those games!!! I also think they have tried several ways to speed things up, like going thru teleporters to get your prizes instead of them having to do thier magic....

Things ARE getting better, Events like the Ride a tons and Slide Events went MUCH smoother than the first go arounds..... They are listening to us.

Of course we would like all the changes to happen NOW, but if we look back over time, they are improving...... Just slowly.

YES! The reason the ride/slide events work so well is that the throughput
is much faster! The "autoprize" feature you mentioned that they've used
with the ride-a-thons and winner teleporter exits have been a much needed
improvement with efficiency.

I agree that games that allow a lot of players at a time (Beach Front Property
and the new "Where's Hula?" hiding game) are good examples of efficiency.
And a game that you can actually participate in is much better than a game
you dc in the middle!

 

[Mnementh]

If you shorten the queue to 25 people, it will be just as easy/hard to get into a queue as it was before, but once in line, you will stand a much better chance of getting through to trade.

I don't think it will be just as easy to get in line. I think it will be harder if the queues are shortened. Once people are in line, obviously they are no longer fighting to get into the line. With a queue of 50 people, that's 25 less people fighting to get into the line than if you only have a queue of 25 people. More people fighting to get in line means a slimmer chance that any one particular person will make it in.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I think it is important to distinguish Hosts for the game elements themselves. The hosts are paid staff doing a job. They do not set up the games or determine how the game functions, etc.... It is very unfair to be angry with the hosts for an event that caused frustration.

Although the idea of 2 hosts working one line in pin trading is an excellent one, it just does not make business sense. This is a free game and staff are paid. It would be extremely difficult to justify the business expense of paying 2 employees when they are only pay 1.

As much as it is a game and enjoyment for us - it is a business. With VMK as a free game, sadly there is no justification for them to add additional staff during such events.

Again, I think that the hosts this weekend did their best to keep the lines moving - but it isn't their fault that so many of us had a frustrating experience. They are not the decision makers behind the game - they are just the "faces" that we see.

-Disney Dreams