They have begun deleting inactive players!

[mking624]

Ok I am trying to understand this all.... really I am....

But honestly how can anyone really be all that upset, if in an example above, the person has not been logged into VMK since MAY OF 2005!!!! How attatched were they to VMK?? May of 2005... I just dont see why they or anyone else is upset about that.... And I feel badly that so many are upset about this... (((Hugs)))

I also dont have a big issue with the 6 months time frame someone tossed out. If a kid is only logging in once a year, or in spurts... then how much do they have to loose. I know Mal mentioned loosing a Day One Peep... Well, again, 6 months is a long time to not have anything to do with a peep that one 'cares so much about'

I do agree that VMK should have put forth some guidelines for everyone and let us know what they are, but at the same time, Yavn did say it was coming. (As always in a poor, vauge, and cryptic, way that Yavn is famous for....)

Ok... putting on myflame suit.... fire away...

No one is going to flame you, but I'm sure you expect that people will disagree. There's a couple of key points I think you're missing...
1. Kids are kids and don't have the ability to come online to play as often as an adult would. We have three accounts here...one for me, one for DH, and one that we keep here when my siblings come in town. VMK will not work on their computer...they are 6 hours away so they play with this character when they come to visit which is only a few times a year. How attached do they become? Well ask an 8 year old that question when he's thrilled he gets to to play with his character and play around with some of his favorite items that he purchased with the credits he earned himself.

2. No one is arguing that Yavn didn't say it was coming. We knew he said that. The problem is that his mention of it was in a newsletter. So what happens to the people who weren't able to come online while the newsletter was up? And what happens to the people who joined VMK after the newsletter was changed...particularly if this were to happen again? I mean no offense to Yavn whatsoever, but I personally don't believe this was an appropriate way to handle this at all. If this is something regarding account/character deletions, they need to make mention of it in a much more serious manner than a newsletter that is typically reserved to discuss random things like quests and new items.

 

[Cabelle1863]

The problem is that his mention of it was in a newsletter. So what happens to the people who weren't able to come online while the newsletter was up? And what happens to the people who joined VMK after the newsletter was changed...particularly if this were to happen again? I mean no offense to Yavn whatsoever, but I personally don't believe this was an appropriate way to handle this at all. If this is something regarding account/character deletions, they need to make mention of it in a much more serious manner than a newsletter that is typically reserved to discuss random things like quests and new items.

I must have joined after the newsletter was changed. I didn't see any mention of this on the VMK site or in the TOS I agreed to when making the characters for DD & I. It's news to me. I had no idea until this was posted here. If they want to do something drastic like deleting characters they need to be up front and let people know. They need to be very clear on the circumstances that would call for the deletion of characters. It's disappointing that they seem less than honest and forthright with this new policy.

I can only play VMK on my DH's laptop. On my 3 year old desktop it will crash within 30 seconds and says that Flash needs to be upgraded to correct it (yes, it's upgraded). It's going to be a while before we purchase another desktop. So If I was unable to access the laptop for a while DD & I would be stuck. If I'd known I might have reconsidered joining VMK. I wouldn't want my DD & I to go through all this effort to have our characters deleted on us for circumstances out of our control.

 

[Jumangi]

Ok I am trying to understand this all.... really I am....

But honestly how can anyone really be all that upset, if in an example above, the person has not been logged into VMK since MAY OF 2005!!!! How attatched were they to VMK?? May of 2005... I just dont see why they or anyone else is upset about that.... And I feel badly that so many are upset about this... (((Hugs)))

I also dont have a big issue with the 6 months time frame someone tossed out. If a kid is only logging in once a year, or in spurts... then how much do they have to loose. I know Mal mentioned loosing a Day One Peep... Well, again, 6 months is a long time to not have anything to do with a peep that one 'cares so much about'

I do agree that VMK should have put forth some guidelines for everyone and let us know what they are, but at the same time, Yavn did say it was coming. (As always in a poor, vauge, and cryptic, way that Yavn is famous for....)

Ok... putting on myflame suit.... fire away...

I believe he meant 2006.

 

[Maleficent2]

I believe he meant 2006.

LauraBearz is a she.

 

[Jumangi]

LauraBearz is a she.

I know that. Adventuredaz is whom I was referring too.

 

[Maleficent2]

I know that. Adventuredaz is whom I was referring too.

ah sorry thought you were referring to bearz. my bad.

 

[tigressjewel]

I have no problem with them trying to get the mule situation under control. Though I do believe they could have put a little better planning in to the registration process from the beginning to prevent most of this. From what I could find the mules and deletion of such was mentioned in two past newsletters, once in Sept and once in Oct.

Sept read this: (referring to What Bug's Yavn?)
“3. Mules
A Mule is an account that is created and used just once or twice to gain items or credits. While it's OK to have a few different accounts/characters to play with, there are some players who have hundreds of characters, and rarely use them. If you are a player that has lots of Mules (more than 50) beware, we're now cracking down on these players and will start banning accounts. “
October we had this:
“Something to Mule Over
Ok, so we are still getting questions about Mules... First, let me give you my definition of a Mule. A Mule is a character that is created to help collect credits or items and then abandoned. A character that is played with on a regular basis is not a Mule. If you have a character or two that you play with - don't worry we don't consider these Mules.”

My daughter only HAD three accounts The message that comes up on these deleted accounts says this:
“You didn’t visit VMK for a long time and according to VMK rules your avatar was removed from the game.” What rule??? I can't find that rule anywhere.
It doesn't say it was removed because you had too many characters, as was told to us in past newsletters. In fact Yavn even stated it was ok for us to have a "few". Its True the newsletter said characters that were used once and then never played (meaning inactive) would go, but this also didn't apply to my daughters accounts. She got excited because she got a new park character, and moved some things over to play with the new one for a while. Kind of like getting a new doll, and the old one sits unplayed with for a bit. Doesn't mean she didn't want it though. If someone cannot understand why this is upsetting to a child, I guess I can't explain it. I'm sorry if some think its whining for me to be upset over it, but when something hurts your child, for no good reason, the natural reaction for this mom is to lash out at that which caused the hurt.

 

[swimmingirl47]

i dont get it though, wat is the point of having good friends, and keeping them on your list even though they are never coming back on vmk? i just delete them,, because most likely i dont even remember them.

 

[redbaybound]

Is there any recourse to a child's character being deleted? My son has been ill; too ill lately to sit in front of a computer screen. Awww rats....

 

[Iris]

I have had to think about this situation for a while to decide how I feel about it. I am a little annoyed that some of the kids that play have had accounts deleted. Anyone who is a parent knows that life often comes first in a kid's life whether they are in elementary school or high school. My two girls are in high school and lately have not been able to log on much because of homework, dances, games, etc. That doesn't mean that they don't value their characters that they have created or ever want to play them again. It just means that other "stuff" prevents them from playing more often. Fortunately for both of them, their day one characters are active and well in the kingdom.

What about the accounts that are gone. Poor Jewel, I am so sorry for your child's account and as I said in the game, my family can help you replace some items. Both JamminJoey and CrazySteph have volunteered some of the items when they heard the situation. But what about all the other kids out there? What do they do now?

I can appreciate that they want to eliminate or "crack down" on the number of mules created but is this truly the way to do it? HOW ABOUT LETTING OUR CHARACTERS PLAY A QUEST MORE THAN ONE TIME? Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. But seriously, a lot of people use mules especially when there is a new quest and your character can only play one time. I believe the idea behind letting us all play once was so that everyone can have a chance to complete the quest or to make the item offered rare. NOT WORKING! Everyone just creates or uses their mules to get more of that item (or to get more credits when most of those multi-character codes were still available). So the same people are still playing more than once, just as a different character. Same amount of people no matter what. And before most of you say "I never do that", I am talking only about the people that do, which is quite a few of us. I am guilty of using a mule to get extra quest items, especially if I have friends who are out of town during those quest events.

A lot of mules are created to get those extra credits to purchase items from the codes that can be used. Why not bring back the BIG credits when some big ticket items appear? Anyone who remembers Everest Month last year remembers all those big credits for games. Why, because Bat Magic was 10,000 credits. We got 150 credits and ice for each game of pirates. We got 1900 credits and ice for each game of fireworks. Where are those big credits now? VMK continues to show case big ticket items (the return of Bat Magic ~ new hats for each friday in February) but where is the help with the credits? If you don't want us to use mules, then please find easier ways to earn credits. And keep the outside games current and working(Yeti Vision, Narnia, POTC, etc.)

This is just a game. Who cares how many mules are created? Who cares if we all have boat loads of credits? Who cares if we help each other out with quest answers? (sorry, I had to stick this one in there too-I realize that the castmembers work to produce a challenging quest but hello, they also get paid to do it as well-remember that your target market is 8-14 year olds).

I don't know, I just don't understand any of it.

Disclaimer: This is just an opinion and we are all entitled to our own opinion. Now back to your regular programing.

 

[cat_herder]

This is just a game. Who cares how many mules are created? Who cares if we all have boat loads of credits? Who cares if we help each other out with quest answers? (sorry, I had to stick this one in there too-I realize that the castmembers work to produce a challenging quest but hello, they also get paid to do it as well-remember that your target market is 8-14 year olds).

I don't know, I just don't understand any of it.

Disclaimer: This is just an opinion and we are all entitled to our own opinion. Now back to your regular programing.

I agree with you. I don't understand it either. They are paid to create/maintain the game, wheither it is creating weekly pins, hosting games, creating quest, etc. They are paid to work no matter what they are doing.

What we chose to do with it is our business not the VMK designers/staff. They are paid to do it. We *chose* to spend our spare time in the game. They should be nicer to us to keep us coming back and to keep us going back to the parks.

 

[tigressjewel]

I have had to think about this situation for a while to decide how I feel about it. I am a little annoyed that some of the kids that play have had accounts deleted. Anyone who is a parent knows that life often comes first in a kid's life whether they are in elementary school or high school. My two girls are in high school and lately have not been able to log on much because of homework, dances, games, etc. That doesn't mean that they don't value their characters that they have created or ever want to play them again. It just means that other "stuff" prevents them from playing more often. Fortunately for both of them, their day one characters are active and well in the kingdom.

What about the accounts that are gone. Poor Jewel, I am so sorry for your child's account and as I said in the game, my family can help you replace some items. Both JamminJoey and CrazySteph have volunteered some of the items when they heard the situation. But what about all the other kids out there? What do they do now?

I can appreciate that they want to eliminate or "crack down" on the number of mules created but is this truly the way to do it? HOW ABOUT LETTING OUR CHARACTERS PLAY A QUEST MORE THAN ONE TIME? Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. But seriously, a lot of people use mules especially when there is a new quest and your character can only play one time. I believe the idea behind letting us all play once was so that everyone can have a chance to complete the quest or to make the item offered rare. NOT WORKING! Everyone just creates or uses their mules to get more of that item (or to get more credits when most of those multi-character codes were still available). So the same people are still playing more than once, just as a different character. Same amount of people no matter what. And before most of you say "I never do that", I am talking only about the people that do, which is quite a few of us. I am guilty of using a mule to get extra quest items, especially if I have friends who are out of town during those quest events.

A lot of mules are created to get those extra credits to purchase items from the codes that can be used. Why not bring back the BIG credits when some big ticket items appear? Anyone who remembers Everest Month last year remembers all those big credits for games. Why, because Bat Magic was 10,000 credits. We got 150 credits and ice for each game of pirates. We got 1900 credits and ice for each game of fireworks. Where are those big credits now? VMK continues to show case big ticket items (the return of Bat Magic ~ new hats for each friday in February) but where is the help with the credits? If you don't want us to use mules, then please find easier ways to earn credits. And keep the outside games current and working(Yeti Vision, Narnia, POTC, etc.)

This is just a game. Who cares how many mules are created? Who cares if we all have boat loads of credits? Who cares if we help each other out with quest answers? (sorry, I had to stick this one in there too-I realize that the castmembers work to produce a challenging quest but hello, they also get paid to do it as well-remember that your target market is 8-14 year olds).

I don't know, I just don't understand any of it.

Disclaimer: This is just an opinion and we are all entitled to our own opinion. Now back to your regular programing.

Cruise girl.. You rock! Thank you to you and your girls for the compassion towards me and my DD. I've had many very kind and generous offers from people to help replace things that were lost and I so much appreciate it. I honestly did not post for this reason, but its warmed my heart to see it. I'm thinking of doing some kind of special birthday bash on vmk for her, maybe go in her character and give her an extreme makeover room or something. I can work on it during the day when she's at school. Her birthday is Feb 12.

I know there are others kids who lost their account also, and I'm sick over it. I started to go through the Dis Kids Network yesterday and the first three porters I tried, I got a message saying I could not enter. This was the same message I got when trying to enter a room on my daughters deleted account. Some garbage about excuse our Pixie Dust while we rennovate.. blah, blah, blah. Nothing magical about this rennovation VMK!! I was too upset to finish going through all of them but today I'll go through the entire network and find out how many kids were lost.

I also want to thank you for the very good and valid points you brought up. I am just really hoping that VMK is paying attention and hearing the consequences of this blanket decision they made. If I were to see some kind of apology or regret on their part, it would go a long way in restoring my faith in the game. Some credit changes would be awesome too, as you mentioned, they did it last year during everest, why not do it again?

Is there any recourse to a child's character being deleted? My son has been ill; too ill lately to sit in front of a computer screen. Awww rats....

I'm so sorry to hear your son is ill red. I hope he feels better soon! As far as recourse, I have written in. I'll update if there is any news.

 

[Cpt.JackSpearow]

It would really stink if somone like Baby had to go away or there computer broke for 6 months, wow that would stink.

 

[Panda]

This is just a game. Who cares how many mules are created? Who cares if we all have boat loads of credits? Who cares if we help each other out with quest answers? (sorry, I had to stick this one in there too-I realize that the castmembers work to produce a challenging quest but hello, they also get paid to do it as well-remember that your target market is 8-14 year olds).

I don't know, I just don't understand any of it.

Disclaimer: This is just an opinion and we are all entitled to our own opinion. Now back to your regular programing.

I totally agree with everything you said. VMK should remember this a game for young kids. Thanks for getting good points across.

 

[Dizneemad]

my daughter had her account banned for 10 years and had several items now rare on her account. As these cannot be active in the last 6 months are they now saying you are no longer banned but deleted.

 

[LisaInNc]

The first time I went to WDW after VMK started I made a character for my DD who was not ready to play VMK yet and I am going to guess it will be another year until she is ready.

I wanted to get her a cool name before all the good titles were taken and I did get a great title. She also has the Made in the Park Badge and the VIP. I would have a fit if I lost her.

I do log her in every other month or so just to keep her active. When I saw this thread I had a small panic attack but I am happy to report her account is still there.

So if VMK is serious about getting rid of inactive people make sure you log in often to any account you wish to keep!

 

[FrontierNatasha]

So basically if someone is banned for 6 months or longer they're pretty much banned forever? Now I find that sad, well unless they really deserved it. But if vmk really has to delete accounts then why not make it longer? At least a year vmk just think about it. Think about the reasons someone can't log on. What if, like someone mentioned, they can't log on at home and can only log on upon visiting someone? What if other life things get in the way like school and other things? What if they have to go away for a long time? What if their computer breaks down for a long time? What if they get really sick or in a bad accident and have to stay in the hospital for a long time? Trust me I've been there and there is not a single computer in the rooms. What if they get lost or
abducted? What if they get their hands amputated and have to learn to type with their feet? There are so many more reasons out there. OK I'm done for now.

 

[redbaybound]

I'm so sorry to hear your son is ill red. I hope he feels better soon! As far as recourse, I have written in. I'll update if there is any news.

Thanks jewel. So do we.

 

[Cpt.JackSpearow]

What if they get their hands amputated and have to learn to type with their feet?

Excellent point

 

[Xpdtion-futureWDI]

So basically if someone is banned for 6 months or longer they're pretty much banned forever? Now I find that sad, well unless they really deserved it. But if vmk really has to delete accounts then why not make it longer? At least a year vmk just think about it. Think about the reasons someone can't log on. What if, like someone mentioned, they can't log on at home and can only log on upon visiting someone? What if other life things get in the way like school and other things? What if they have to go away for a long time? What if their computer breaks down for a long time? What if they get really sick or in a bad accident and have to stay in the hospital for a long time? Trust me I've been there and there is not a single computer in the rooms. What if they get lost or
abducted? What if they get their hands amputated and have to learn to type with their feet? There are so many more reasons out there. OK I'm done for now.

On the ban note: they can still log in when they're banned. I think that counts as being active.