Seriously how do we bring the Disney experience to VMK

[Belle1997]

As it was pointed out in the disappointing thread of again VMK shows the non disney way.

How do we as players try and change this.

Now I know I have given stuff away built a room etc. We can share the disney experience as players. Many of us do this.

I know this is a free game.

But is it really. Majority of us buy lots of disney merchandise, visit the parks, watch their movies it all goes into a big part which helps to fund VMK.

In May VMK will be 3 years old. Nothing has changed. Yes better games, more items. But the lack of communication and undisney behaviour is getting beyond acceptable.

I understand growing pain but by now they should have understood the disney epxerience going the extra to bring good feelings to their guests.

So what can we really do as players to get this message across.

For a kids game it is a failure. Maybe that is why Club pengiun is so much more popular.

If they run this game with Walt's philosophy this game would be beyond awesome instead a constant reminder that it has the pics of Disney but not the heart of disney.

So any real helpful tips.

We write VMK anyone got a response how do we really get this message out there.

Well if we complain to loudly then they will just can it. Well after three years I have seen many friends just give up on VMK more than half my avid disney friends hardly play anymore.

Is it pointless to even try? Why is it so hard for them to get this simple message.

Who is ultimately incharge of the decisions of VMK. Who is the boss of these programmers that do not listen.

I do not know, I am just so sad at again their mistake made so many truly happy and felt special to keep changing it to the point that they have crushed the spirit of players again.

 

[SkippyPaul]

You've made some very good points here. I guess the bottom line is, we all get something different and personal out of vmk. Everyone plays for different reasons. So while vmk has given us many new things, the point is we have to create our own circle of fun in vmk. I agree the game is anything but free, with the trips to the theme parks, movie theatres and purchasing the disney products just to receive "free" vmk merchandise. Not to mention trying to keep our computers up to their rigid standards so we are able to see that loading bar move.

You would think they would have most of the bugs worked out after almost 3 years but in my opinion the games are worse than when I joined making it nearly impossible to get credits just to buy the expensive things they release.

I think we've all seen friends slowly disappear for one reason or another. Friends who got bored with the game or friends who got banned for ridiculous reasons. Yet we see known scammers, and harrassers allowed to remain behind like roaches after the H-bomb. They want our input, yet they listen with deaf ears.

Yet.....we remain. As mad or as frustrated as we get, we stay, why? Hmm I got my reason . Lets give them a bit more time before we throw in our virtual towels.
Rob

 

[bopper]

Sometimes I like to sit in the Esplanade and give out Pirate posters to new players.

 

[Disneychick74]

Personally I agree that VMK has fallen way short as a child game.
I play VMK ALOT..like hours upon hours a week..
I am so broke from building my room for the contest that when Confetti magic came out I could not buy it.
I play Mansion ALOT also and when it was double credits I was raking them in but they STILL were not enough.
I dont know about anyone else but my 10 year old (Who does not play VMK at this time) only gets an hour of Computer time a day and that is only IF he gets his homework done.
HOW ON EARTH is the average child supposed to save the credits to buy these outrageously high ticket items?????
How can you tell a child, sorry you cant play the host game because it is full AGAIN.
The magic in the theme parks come from CONSTANT interaction with cast members, not an hour a day of POSSIBLY getting in to see a host and have them tell you they CAN'T Answer your questions.
The players of VMK are left to their own devises the ENTIRE time the game is open.
Have a Question? Use contact us and get back a response that does not even REMOTELY have ANYTHING to do with the question asked.
Maybe VMK should use that little booth in Frontier Land Dock as A VMK info booth and staff it with Hosts or staff everyday.
All we want is answers to our questions and acknowledge some of our concerns....MAYBE we need to start another "ASK YAVN" thread and see if he will answer some of our questions.
All I know is that VMK is going down the toilet and getting more and more difficult to stomach....It is becomming a chore to log in and make credits...not fun.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Yet.....we remain. As mad or as frustrated as we get, we stay, why? Hmm I got my reason . Lets give them a bit more time before we throw in our virtual towels.

I get what you're saying Rob, but I am personally at the end of my rope. I have given them almost 2 and a half years to improve this game. While we have more things available to us than before, the overall quality of the game has gone down the proverbial drain. I would give anything for the game to go back to the way it was when I joined in November 2005. The game has gotten nothing but worse, IMO. I've long said forget the new rooms, clothes, magic, games, whatever and just fix the customer service issue. Nope, easier to just keep plying the game with items, I guess. I think someone at VMK or multiple someones think that since people stick it out even when they are hugely upset, then they can get away with it all going downhill.

Belle, you bring up very good points in your post. I honestly think the only way they might get the message is if a large amount of people stopped playing. Would they even care then though, that is the question. For the time being, I will maybe pop in on days things are sold (if I can afford them, that is ), but I am so sick of it all I can't bring myself to be a regular anymore. I haven't logged on in several days now and will only log Donald in when another player lets me know he's ready to trade. If I hadn't already agreed to a trade, I wouldn't log in at all. The ineptitude we deal with as players on a regular basis has finally made me borderline hate this game.

In the meantime, if I could figure out some higher ups at the Disney Company to write to, I would. That could also be helpful if a lot of us wrote, especially we adults who have checkbooks to back up our words. I think fiddling with Contact Us (aka the Black Hole) is more than useless at this point. You want something done, go to the top; don't mess with the underlings, as my grandfather used to say. Maybe that would be useless too, but it's amazing to me that a game like this can exist with such cruddy customer service when the Disney name is SUPPOSED to equal excellence in guest service.

 

[CelebrationNM]

I didn’t make many friends in the last thread, but let me try again.

Sure, this can be done. Somebody mentioned the "Disney Difference." There is a lot that goes into this. Anybody who has gone through Traditions can tell you Disney’s service theme: “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere.” They’ll also be able to recite the service standards, namely, in order of importance: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency. This is amazingly universally applicable, even to VMK. VMK Example: The safety aspect is always first and foremost. The in-game staff are there to make players safe before they are there to be nice or even helpful. It would be good to think of ways these standards could become part of the Virtual Magic Kingdom as well.

On the other hand, it is just so difficult to parallel what happens at the Parks and Resorts and what happens online. At P&R you can’t walk around a corner without seeing a Cast Member. On VMK the in-game staff are few and far between. At P&R things are personal because, well, people are face to face. It is so much more difficult to communicate clearly in a game world. Things aren’t perfect on the property though: ever try signing your kids up for the ever popular Unbirthday Party at a resort? People get there early and line up for a long time during peak times and some of them still don’t get in. And every attractions CM I know has been criticized of ruining hundreds of vacations by not letting a kid that was an inch too short onto the ride. My point: people go away unhappy even at WDW, although there is a much tighter system in place to resolve guest service failures. VMK might need to increase the size of its in-game team to aid with this. It is a good suggestion and I think a few people could make a lot of difference.

Your concerns are good. This game needs to be friendly for its younger audience. They need to upgrade their capacities to make the game run smoothly. (Park example of efficiency: The WDW monorail operates with a 99.9% uptime. My guess is that VMK doesn’t.) Another very legitimate suggestion.

I would also suggest writing letters (not emails) to some of the managers or executives. VMK is managed by WDPRO (Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online). A lot of them are in Glendale but there are offices in Lake Buena Vista too. Do some searching and you’ll find a few names of people to contact. (Careful to look at the dates on articles though—people move in, out and around fast.) I would imagine that they do genuinely care about the integrity of the game—the VMK “contact us” people, from what I can tell, don’t have any sort of influence over what happens.

It's great that you care so much and I would like to think somebody would be happy to listen to your concerns. After all, the company is always looking for a way to increase the popularity of its product.

 

[IliketheTitanic]

Ok heres something that has been getting on my nerves that last couple of weeks.....How often do you see the word "Owned" or Just plain rude remarks like that in pirates? I know of a player who was very rude and shows no respect for any VMK player that plays pirates. He would keep saying: "Haha! you got owned!" at one point I apologized on his part, and he starting saying I was his mummy (which cant be possible because im a male).While yes, I understand you have a right to free speech, that doesnt mean it isn't plain RUDE. There have been ALOT of rude and disrespectful players playing pirates lately and it needs to stop, it will get you nowhere being rude or mean towards other people. Just Something that really bugs me is when people are mean to other people in anyway.

I really dont see the point in using those words, this is a Disney game, which was created for kids and adults have fun and hang out with friends, not making them feel bad and put them down saying: "They got owned!" or "My Team Stinks!"OR "You lost new.be!"

I think VMK Should add this to against the VMK Values.

 

[gshawen]

Have a Question? Use contact us and get back a response that does not even REMOTELY have ANYTHING to do with the question asked.

I see you have gotten a message from VMK_Shorty also. They might as well title him VMK_Dumbo, it suits him much better.

 

[Belle1997]

Ok we are trying to figure out what we can do to make this game awesome and have them listen to us.

I think VMK should have a focus group a mixture of players day one players and new players. For each will see things differently.

But I guess when they read these boards they do get an idea.

But this focus board group would be listen to. Like when they have a competition we would have imput. Like if you have 2000 entries at least 100 should win.

They should have sign up times so the people in the UK or west coast know when they need to sign up and can make arrangements.

When we had group competition so many more players got prizes. Though running group is very rough. So many more enjoyed the prizes.

And I think the hosts need a raise. They are the front line workers and always get the crap of what the designers do. Not fair.

They went around to 2,000 rooms and then got stuck making very difficult choices which if the designers had not been scrouges would have been so much fun for them.

Does not need to be this way. The designer sit there making decisions and the poor hosts end up saying I do not know I am sorry etc etc.


Next get someone with good social problems skills to answer the contact us.
not looking for key words.

I know they get tons of emails. But maybe if they ran the game more disney like there would not be so many.

Good skills in the end means less work

 

[SkippyPaul]

Ok heres something that has been getting on my nerves that last couple of weeks.....How often do you see the word "Owned" or Just plain rude remarks like that in pirates? I know of a player who was very rude and shows no respect for any VMK player that plays pirates. He would keep saying: "Haha! you got owned!" at one point I apologized on his part, and he starting saying I was his mummy (which cant be possible because im a male).While yes, I understand you have a right to free speech, that doesnt mean it isn't plain RUDE. There have been ALOT of rude and disrespectful players playing pirates lately and it needs to stop, it will get you nowhere being rude or mean towards other people. Just Something that really bugs me is when people are mean to other people in anyway.

I really dont see the point in using those words, this is a Disney game, which was created for kids and adults have fun and hang out with friends, not making them feel bad and put them down saying: "They got owned!" or "My Team Stinks!"OR "You lost new.be!"

I think VMK Should add this to against the VMK Values.

Ok.........forget my former post here. I think I reached my breaking point in vmk tonite. In a matter of an hour in pirates.............
I made about 400 credits thanks to lag
I was called..........cheap, lose.her, more.on, cheater, and that Im getting reported... for what I have no idea.
Is anyone at the helm in vmk anymore???????????????? Not only can you not earn credits but you get called every name in the book in the process.
over and out for the nite!!

 

[moikturtle]

I see you have gotten a message from VMK_Shorty also. They might as well title him VMK_Dumbo, it suits him much better.

They went around to 2,000 rooms and then got stuck making very difficult choices which if the designers had not been scrouges would have been so much fun for them.

I'm not sure that it is very productive to call any staff members names like "dumbo" and "scrooge". Just as issues may not be the direct fault of Hosts, they may also not be because of the designers. Even if issues ARE due to any of these people, calling them names will get you nowhere. Complaints about issues are one thing, but name calling is never cool.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

For what it's worth, I was told way back when with my Pirates pin code issue over the phone that the messages such as "Your request for help has been closed" and "Our last email answered your question" are auto-responses.

I've never seen Shorty in VMK, so for all we know, he/she might not even be a real person and just the title they assigned to the auto-reply emails. If he or she is a real person, I feel bad for them if they're the ones tied to the auto-responses that tick so many people off. I wish they would add a tag at the bottom of emails saying it's an auto-response, if indeed what I was told on the phone was accurate.

 

[gshawen]

I'm not sure that it is very productive to call any staff members names like "dumbo" and "scrooge". Just as issues may not be the direct fault of Hosts, they may also not be because of the designers. Even if issues ARE due to any of these people, calling them names will get you nowhere. Complaints about issues are one thing, but name calling is never cool.

Spend some real money on pirate quest pins and have a code not work, than send in the info 4 times and get the same Dumbo reply back asking for you to include the information they need to correct the problem. The information was in the first response to them, but I repeatedly did this over a 5 month period with the same Dumbo reply back. So I went and traded for the item and a month later they send another reply back that the item is in my inventory so I received it from the code.

I received it in a trade, not from a code. The replies back from VMK_Shorty were worded like automated responses not from someone who actually read the message I sent. If VMK_Shorty is actually somebody who reads the thousands of complaints sent in every week, he is not doing his job.

Their response reminded of that movie about that guy who was trying to get his medical insurance to pay for medical treatment he needed to live, and the insurance companies policy was to always deny everything until the person on the other end gets tired of wasting their time and stops bothering them.

And this is not the first time I have had issues with the contact us button and VMK_Shorty, most of the time you will not get anything accomplished so I don't even bother anymore.

It's a virtual item, how much would it have cost them to just put that item in my account?

 

[Belle1997]

ok maybe the designers are not scrouges but I am going from day one of playing. I am going by history of events. The hosts are always saying we do not know, write to contact us.

When green car quest was first done it was easier then it was raise to an unbeliver score I think it was 300,000 not even the very best could do that it was basically a perfect score.

It was brought down enough that say the top 20% could get it. It was a result of a designer not being happy.

The quests got really hard too. So hard half the members in this board could not do the the needed game scores. Yes it stopped the mules but is stopped too many players.

The host have done a great job at making the quest fun again. So that even the young players can enjoy them. For that is truly who the game was focused to.

Then these competitions lots have written about how they are run etc. I see no reason why they can not raise the amount of winners. If was an adult game maybe I could see why.

But this is a kids game. If it were not for the many kind adults playing most of the kids would stop playing.

There were 33 teams in a group ride building event with 10 people on a team there were 330 winners. I do think the amount of teams alowed to register was 200.

See what I mean makes no sense to me why they can not change the amount of prizes.

 

[NedsTJ]

I won't make many friends with this, but let's not forget that VMK is "FREE Entertainment". (Aside from what some of us have spent buying pins and other items in the parks). And for what that's worth, it's pretty good. If I were paying $10 or $20 a month to play, I'd have a totally different attitude about it.
I suspect that the budget for VMK is a small part of a larger marketing plan. They are probably watching the results via the # of pins sold, hat's bought, movie reward points used for vmk items, etc. The guys running the show at VMK are making do with what they got.
I also suspect that VMK might still be in a "probationairy" period with Disney, as they try to figure out how to best leverage the Marketing bang here. Expect to see many more Disney movie tie-ins, much more High School Musical stuff, etc.

Then again, all of the above could be the result of the flu med's I'm currently on...and the lack of coffee since it rips my throat apart these days...LO-cough-L

 

[Belle1997]

Well if it is ever going to be a pay to play it better work on its act.

Would I pay to play VMK yes but only if it was run better like Toontown. My husband plays that and can actually talk to a real person. Wow what a concept.

It still might only be run on mimimal resources but I would volunteer to go through disney trainning and answer emails for free.

Just like the moderators of this board and so many 1000 do give their time to help make a place safe interesting and successful

 

[Disneychick74]

I won't make many friends with this, but let's not forget that VMK is "FREE Entertainment". (Aside from what some of us have spent buying pins and other items in the parks). And for what that's worth, it's pretty good. If I were paying $10 or $20 a month to play, I'd have a totally different attitude about it.
I suspect that the budget for VMK is a small part of a larger marketing plan. They are probably watching the results via the # of pins sold, hat's bought, movie reward points used for vmk items, etc. The guys running the show at VMK are making do with what they got.
I also suspect that VMK might still be in a "probationairy" period with Disney, as they try to figure out how to best leverage the Marketing bang here. Expect to see many more Disney movie tie-ins, much more High School Musical stuff, etc.

Then again, all of the above could be the result of the flu med's I'm currently on...and the lack of coffee since it rips my throat apart these days...LO-cough-L

Downtown Disney is a real place and VERY free to visit..that does not make the cast members or the store clerks Rude and Cluesless.
They are Disney employees and held to a very high standard, I think the question is VMK free or not Why are they not held to that Same High quality supurb Disney standard??

 

[aengus]

I just want to be put on the record that if I thought VMK_Shorty were an actual person and not a form letter or a group of people, I would not have let that comment stand. I am only saying this because I dont want everyone to think its OK to bash some staff members at such a personal level and not others. If I am wrong, someone just has to show me a picture of VMK_Shorty or any kind of proof of individuality.

Return to your normally scheduled programming

 

[lisuhut]

Hi
Whle i agree with most of the things said on these posts ,i must stick up for VMK-shorty, even if he is not a real person,i sent an e-mail on my grandsons behalf because it was saying that he had only found 49 hidden mickeys although when you counted what was on the list ,there were infact 50,the next day when i signed him on to get his credits he had been given the gold pin and credits that where owing to him.On checking my e-mails VMK- Shorty had replied saying sorry and it had been put right.I then e-mailed back saying ty for quick response and i recieved yet another e-mail saying ty for contacting them again .So maybe things are getting better ,slowly but surely.
maybe just maybe.

 

[StrikeKing]

Playing on VMK is supposed to be FUN!

Playing the games, dressing your character, buying items/rooms and furnishing them is supposed to be FUN! This is all that you can do on VMK - it is what it's about!

So when they charge WAY TOO MUCH for items, rooms and clothing AND then don't give out enough credits in the games to be able to afford these things (at least not without giving up hours upon hours of time per week catching ghosts and sinking ships), then all they accomplish is to completely TAKE AWAY THE FUN!!!

I think a lot of this frustration really began when they charged 10,000 for bat magic, took it away, then still had it as part of the car quests! (What were they thinking!) And yes, the high fireworks scores needed to get the Autopia Car Magic Pins is just crazy! Don't even want to get started on that!

I completely agree with everyone who has been disappointed lately with VMK it has become less fun and more like WORK! ARG!

One more thing I'd like to rant about: I don't know about the rest of you, but I am anything but an encyclopedia of Disney Trivia - WHY must we get pushed back 3 tasks when we get a question wrong in a quest??? Does this serve any purpose at all other than to cause further frustration to the players AND on occasion create ridiculously long lines getting back into rooms to redo tasks!!! I can see perhaps knocking you back ONE task, but THREE? Come on, give me a break!