Oh Great.. Yavn's got an update to the recent announcement about the future of VMK.

[Kasiks]

*coughtikiroomundernewmanagementdie,iago,diecoughcough*

lolsecondaywiththetikiroomundernewmanagement, personallyiknowitisbad

 

[disvaclub92]

* cough * Captain EO * cough *

gmta

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Do some of you need some cough syrup?


Andyway, there are lots of things that the company has done over the years that haven't been successful.

I never asked for nor wanted some of the rotten movie sequels they've put out.
I have asked for and have yet to receive Song of the South released in the US.

The same goes for a lot of other people that happen to be Disney customers.


And what they are not realizing is that VMK has much more potential than they ever have used.
What they've failed to realize is that VMK has a much wider appeal to people than all the niche games they are creating.
VMK isn't just 1 or 2 things Disney. It's everything Disney.
It's the parks, it's the resorts, it's the movies, it's the clothes, it's the sports, etc.
Every single thing that Disney does can be cross promoted within VMK.

And the reason for having much fewer players than their other games? Just look at how VMK was promoted and how those others were promoted. I've hear much more about those other games than I ever heard about VMK. You have to advertise to get people to come. Why is VMK not promoted on their other sites? I never even heard of VMk until I came to this forum. And I spent a lot of time on Disney.com and on other Disney specific boards.

Also, the customer service for VMK was and is horrible. Fix that, fix the server problem, add in some cross promotions and advertise the community.

 

[Belle1997]

I respect your decison. But one may ask how do they know the VMK audience. Is it a tracking cookie that I am always deleting

Until the save VMK chant began I never realized they amount of families that played all together. Something very unique in today's society.

The amount of kids with Autism or other disbilities. How does disney track this.

I was going to discuss the financial but that I am sure disney does know. Alot just not sure how accurate.

All I know is that I absolutely bought products for VMK rewards that I would 100% never have bought. Though I do understand I was not required to.

Yes VMK has a small group compared to Toon.

One thing my hubby pointed out, many people will not play because it is free. They feel if they put money down then they expect good service.

For free you get what you are given.

I think Disney has a pretty good handle on it's audience as a whole. But I keep thinking since there really is no game like it on the web do they really know. I do not remember any survey. I know they can track some cash flow but not all of it.

So I am left to ponder how could they know the the type pf players in VMK. Maybe they do. Just not sure how. And if they do 1984 has become a reality

 

[TLinden16]

And the reason for having much fewer players than their other games? Just look at how VMK was promoted and how those others were promoted. I've hear much more about those other games than I ever heard about VMK. You have to advertise to get people to come. Why is VMK not promoted on their other sites? I never even heard of VMk until I came to this forum. And I spent a lot of time on Disney.com and on other Disney specific boards.

Also, the customer service for VMK was and is horrible. Fix that, fix the server problem, add in some cross promotions and advertise the community.

The promotion was there. They had store fronts in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World for two years. At Disneyland, they had a significant number of terminals at Innoventions for over two years, plus a kiosk in Disneyland to get the cards for almost two years. They had pamphlets, and had ads in the Disney Magazine, and Disney Adventures.

The cross promtion was there. Remember the Monsters Inc. game to get doors on the Disneyland? The pirates game to get Sparrow? Narnia game to get the wardrobes? The promtion to get the Stitch stuff if you booked a Disneyland package? The Bridge Terabithida treehouses? That's quite a bit of cross promotion.

The promotion was out there. People obviously created characters in the park, but they didn't have the interest anymore once they got home.

One thing my hubby pointed out, many people will not play because it is free. They feel if they put money down then they expect good service.

For free you get what you are given.

This is true. If we were this demanding if the game was free, imagine what we would have been like if we had been paying for it? Yes, we got what we paid for, and that's why we had to deal with server issues, and poorly run events.

And as for the Disney mistakes, I'll give Aengus Figment--they totally messed that one up. But for every Figment, there's a dozen Buzz Lightyears, Test Tracks, and Mickey's Philharmagic's.

But Captain EO ran for between 8 and 12 years in four differnet parks, so it definitely paid returns for Disney. And while I agree that the new Tiki room at WDW isn't as good as the original, that does seem to have it's audience. I always see people lining up for it.

My point is that while there is a very enthusiastic and close knit niche for the game, it is miniscule in the big picture.

 

[Jasonbobdude]

It seems like a better application for the words "Keep Moving Forward" from Walt would be to keep VMK going and improving it like the real Disney parks. It doesn't say "Move forward to club penguin" or anything like that for me at all.

Still writing letters.

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

Hey Yavn! Just beacuse you right to us that it won't change the dessicions means Disney is squirming and thing to use your words to tell your 3 remaining fans that it's final. We will win you'll see.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

The promotion was there. They had store fronts in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World for two years. At Disneyland, they had a significant number of terminals at Innoventions for over two years, plus a kiosk in Disneyland to get the cards for almost two years. They had pamphlets, and had ads in the Disney Magazine, and Disney Adventures.

The cross promtion was there. Remember the Monsters Inc. game to get doors on the Disneyland? The pirates game to get Sparrow? Narnia game to get the wardrobes? The promtion to get the Stitch stuff if you booked a Disneyland package? The Bridge Terabithida treehouses? That's quite a bit of cross promotion.

The promotion was out there. People obviously created characters in the park, but they didn't have the interest anymore once they got home.

Those were the wrong promotions.
Promotions in the parks to get people to play a free game that was supposed to get them to the parks?
Those people didn't have to be conviced of going to the parks. They were already there.

While the others were fine, it really wasn't enough to get people playing. How many people do you know that came to the game because they played the Terebithia trivia game? One or two? Most that played that game were already playing VMK. Same with the POTC & Narnia games.

The ultimate purpose of VMK was to get people to spend money on Disney products.
They really needed advertising for VMK on things that were not already owned and operated by Disney. Then they place ads or in game items and promotions on VMK about their other Disney products. Such as the parks, resorts, movies, clothing, other online games, etc.

Draw in people from outside the Disney sphere and get new people interested in Disney.

That didn't happen from what I've seen.

 

[Kataang]

There are good things and bad things.

The bad thing is that I have a great idea to make a game room but I see no point in it now.

Another bad thing is how much time I've invested into VMK. All gone.

The good thing is, I won't have to come every Fridays just to get a pin or something. And I can use the time I save for homework.

The bad thing is, I'm probably gonna use this time to procrastinate on Avatar: The Last Airbender forums.

Speaking of forums, at least we have each other right?

TO HABBO HOTEL!!!

jk - Habbo eats up your bank account too quickly.

 

[disvaclub92]

The cross promotion was there. Remember the Monsters Inc. game to get doors on the Disneyland? The pirates game to get Sparrow? Narnia game to get the wardrobes? The promtion to get the Stitch stuff if you booked a Disneyland package? The Bridge Terabithida treehouses? That's quite a bit of cross promotion.

The promotion was out there. People obviously created characters in the park, but they didn't have the interest anymore once they got home.

The promotion in these examples were for the movie, not for VMK so I would not consider it cross promotion unless your a fan of aquiring screensavers, that would be the only way to find it. The promotion from the Monsters game and Stitch Stuff were not really fluid promotions for VMK, because I know alot of DIS VMK'rs said most Monsters cards were found in trashcans. Stitch Cards alot of people who did not play VMK gave to friends and such. Kind of like the Wanted Posters and the Candy Cards you had to ask after you made the necessary purchase and some staff did not know.

The key here again is that clearly it was a promotion tool for traveling to the parks for the celebration. Therefore, as previously stated, I honestly feel that the accounting for the money made as a result of VMK may not have been appropriately designated as a result of VMK. The intention here was to get revenue from vacations and they sure did that. If it was not, it would have been on the disneyonline portal. Then the accounting of revenue from the game would have been more closely monitored.

 

[MissAriel]

You're not ticking me off, SorcererDonald. In fact, you took the words right out of my mouth.

The use of Walt's words sickens me almost as much as their decision to close VMK does. It is such a perversion of what the man himself stood for that it only serves to illustrate just how cynical, cold & heartless TPTB are.

And while we're on the subject: Perhaps Yavn would like to explain to me how buying an existing game like Club Penguin shows "innovation and creativity"?

Agreed
I hate it when they use Walt's quotes. Look at all the other quotes he mentioned about Disneyland. That has to count for something. Well were not giving up just yet.

 

[mtblujeans]

....All I know is that I absolutely bought products for VMK rewards that I would 100% never have bought. Though I do understand I was not required to....

I did too and I don't think I will be doing that again. Lesson learned.

 

[Evoulie]

"We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children could have fun - together." —Walt Disney

Ev

 

[TwirlerGirl]

Hey Feather Head, I'm with you. DO you think they were surprised by the number of players who won't take no for an answer? Fire those letters and emails at them. Cannons to the right of me, cannons to the left of me, full speed ahead.

 

[LuckyOrchidEffect]

I am a college student and have studied economics for four years as a part of my degree plan. Nowhere, in any macroeconomic or microeconomic reasoning, can I find a feasible explanation for their cost/benefit analysis that led them to the conclusion that pay-to-play won't constitute a financial gain.

Operational budget for VMK= ?

250,000 "active VMK players world-wide"

Allow for aggregates like "mules" and call the total number of players 75,000.

75,000X $79.95 (annual membership fee for Toon Town) = $5,996,250.00

Add in aggregate spending for VMK pins, cards, and DVD's for Movie Rewards


This total likely far outweighs the annual operational budget at VMK. Even if the number of players is reduced to 25,000 the total earned revenue from VMK would come to just under $2,000,000 from membership fees alone. It makes no financial sense to undertake an edeavor as big as VMK, with as many potential paying customers, and throw them out the window. If someone can find this logic for me, I'd be happy to listen.

 

[LittleWoodenHead]

Yavn Speaks has been revised again!

Interestingly, the "innovation and creativity" paragraph is now missing, including the "moving forward" quote from Walt. Could it be that our complaints about its misuse have been heard?

Also gone is any mention of their attempts to create a way to recognize our VMK friends on the other Disney virtual communities, as well as the warning about the sites that are popping up in an effort to keep the game alive.

As Alice said: "Curiouser and curiouser."

 

[StephenTXT99]

They probably saw the reply on Savevmktoday.com on the front page there is an open letter about speaks that pretty much disputes it and uses a Disney quote. Something BIG is going on at Disney me thinks a big wig top dog is getting involved now.

 

[sm4987]

They probably saw the reply on Savevmktoday.com on the front page there is an open letter about speaks that pretty much disputes it and uses a Disney quote. Something BIG is going on at Disney me thinks a big wig top dog is getting involved now.

Well wouldn't it be great for us is someone up top would get involved and listen to what we have to say! Not just listen mind you............but keep our beloved game open!!!!

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

Squirm Muahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!! Dance Disney Dance!!!

 

[MissAriel]

Squirm Muahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!! Dance Disney Dance!!!

Hahaha You tell em!