Non-Disney Online Games Virtual Family Kingdom Thread

[BlueSneakerGal]

no offense but i think she faked it @_@

ok ok I am going away for a while... you all have fun in there and give fin a hug for me too

 

[poohluv2u]

My heart has always been with the kids in the game. I personally loved to give to others. I have logged on to VFK. It is dissappointing, all I see are kids and some adults who are trying to relive what VMK Beta was. They have discussed how they are going to get rich, how they are going to be this or that. So unfortunately to alot of people, they do feel this is the new VMK. This is where they are going to become the person that they tried to become in VMK. It just saddens me, I hope they do get their dreams but honestly think that they should move on and try to be themselves not someone they want to be. That is why I made the comment above.

I agree with you Dis, I have heard .. well seen .. talk of how they like that this is a new start, and everyone is equal, and how that is fair. Eventually though when the game moves on, there will be new players in another year who don't have what the beta players have. So.. it will all be exactly like VMK with the haves and the have nots .. it's just all par for the course .. both in real life and virtual!

 

[Cardinal]

1) Promises: Everyone knows (and if you read back a couple pages you will read a nicely worded post about intentions) that we all have good intentions, yet sometimes those are unrealistic. I believe this is the case here...they want to give us everything we want and are asking hosts and begging through email. I believe that some of the things are just unrealistic, and apparently they are seeing that as well. Like today for example, they waited to open to do some more things to the product. They will probably take it down and tweak again sometime during the day.

After all these letdowns, how long will it be before they decide that operating such a massive virtual world is unrealistic?

2) Help Calls: over 15k in guest names...I am thinking that they have been inundated with help calls from real issues to when am I going to get my name, and where is my shirt and why can I log in but not so-in-so. Seems they are working not only on a budget of money but of people as well.

I think of it this way: VFK let those 15K guests in. It was their choice to inundate themselves with guests by opening a game that's simply not ready for such heavy testing. If the creators of VFK were so concerned about making a good game, they would not be so quick to grab the coattails of WDIG. Releasing a full beta (that actually had more than the fraction of functionality the players enjoy now) would have been more productive for them and more enjoyable for us in the long run.

If you are concerned about the kiddies, then lock up the thread. But we are doing Toons and Pirates which are both violent (and you CAN say a lot there, believe me, I play Pirates), GAIA which when I visited is not a kiddie friendly game, and other games...including sending us to a Beta testing site where there are tons of Mature games.

Toontown.... VIOLENT?
Here's where you are going to lose your following. There are too many things wrong with this paragraph; it is too easy to poke holes into your reasoning here.

Sorry, Dreamytime. I'm afraid that I might *gulp* be agreeing with Aengus.

 

[bluecruiser]

Problem is I have to read all these posts. So I still have to worry about it.

That's why you get paid the big bucks aengus.
Well ... that and the prestige!

 

[Mintz]

Whenever I log in and click on my friends list, it's always empty and doesn't show my friends. I added more people today and refreshed the page and went back in and my list got empty again. Anyone have this problem? Is it a bug and will my friends come back on the list?

 

[poohluv2u]

Oh no! As my mother would say .. there's many a slip between cup and lip
Was that a typing error Blue?

 

[tofubeast]

Let's resume to the funny bugs that make us laugh. I saw some small people earlier...but not this small!!

 

[punkskateboarder]

im in the wating list as punkskateboarder!

 

[IliketheTitanic]

Let's resume to the funny bugs that make us laugh. I saw some small people earlier...but not this small!!

Quick get the "eat me" cookie!

 

[wdwdreamin]

I saw someone that small too!! Every time the person spoke I kept imagining this teeny tiny little voice!

 

[BlueSneakerGal]

Oh no! As my mother would say .. there's many a slip between cup and lip
Was that a typing error Blue?

edited

 

[BlueSneakerGal]

Whenever I log in and click on my friends list, it's always empty and doesn't show my friends. I added more people today and refreshed the page and went back in and my list got empty again. Anyone have this problem? Is it a bug and will my friends come back on the list?

It is a bug. My friend list has not come back, but others in game have told me that their's had... so I guess it's hit or miss.

 

[lizbeth374]

yay I have my name! I'm not a guest anymore!

I have to say, I think people are seriously over-reacting to nothing. Reading through the last several pages of posts, one person posted a vague mention of something said in passing, and by 2 pages later people were ready to sue the VFK people for false advertising, or at least give up on VFK entirely.

Right now, we've got a small group of people taking time out of their lives to try and create something to fill the void VMK has left. They're working like crazy to get this thing running and when you consider the timeline that a typical professional game company with dozens of employees work on for a game of this level of complexity, they're doing amazingly well. Remember that these people have no corporate backing, they're doing this in their free time.

Perhaps, hindsight being 20/20, it might have been better if they asked for Beta testers to be adults. But they had no idea of the numbers they would get or the problems they would run into. And considering that the whole point was making up for how bad everyone felt about VMK leaving, I hardly think it would have made them any friends if they had so done. Instead of people complaining about how the whole game is not kid-friendly (which quite frankly I don't see) we'd have people complaining that they don't let kids play.

Most of the complaints are about things that we're guessing at. We have post after post of people complaining about paying for parental controls, without anyone knowing the first thing as to what that might mean. A passing comment like that certainly doesn't mean they're going to make it unsafe for anyone who doesn't pay! We don't even know what that might mean!

We have people complaining about the lack of response, or the less-than-secure login - while these are reasonable concerns, again, this is BETA testing - not a finished game - and if you're concerned about those things, don't be a Beta tester. Wait for the game to be completed. Beta testing used to mean exactly what this is - not Alpha testing, as some have argued. Beta testing has for decades been a process of getting outside involvement in running through the programming to find bugs that the developers don't find because they don't think of the creative things people try or they don't have the software or hardware that causes conflicts. If you look at older games, Beta Testers get credits at the end, and there's usually just a few of them, like 5-20. They're usually required to sign non-disclosure agreements and have to promise to put in a certain number of hours to test out all the glitches. To expect full service and proper security at this point would be asking a lot of a typical company, let alone a group of programmers trying to do something in their spare time.

I love the people on this board, and there are many great comments and all, but I'm getting tired of so many posters looking at all the people with VMK and/or VFK as some horrible corporate evil monster that's out to get our children molested. One big concern is that they came on and ADVERTISED their plans on the forum, a clear violation of the rules! Looked at another way, a couple of people with a plan to ease our suffering by creating a replacement for VMK, who also happened to be members of this forum, came into the forum where their friends are and told us all about their plan so that we might be slightly less sad. How evil and horrible! They should be shot!

I guess all I'm saying is, cut them a little slack! This is not some sick plan to steal your children or your identity. This is a few good people trying to help, and they're making the occasional mistake. Give them some time before you condemn them!

Why do you think Disney VMK was so tight-lipped about everything? It's because every time someone let something slip (like Sarah's comment about future pay-for-play programs) the rumour mill immediately started churning out conspiracy theories. If you appreciate how much harder Sarah and their team are working to keep us informed, please don't undermine their efforts by contributing to these outraged reactions when rumours start off supposition. At least wait until you actually hear what they're planning before you start lambasting them.

I'm sorry for those who don't agree or still suspect some ulterior motive, but all the evidence points to them being completely aboveboard volunteers out to try and make us happy. Yes, they plan to eventually make money off of it - hardly an evil motive considering they're family people just like us who are investing not only their time but their savings (or their credit) to get this off the ground. 8000 people on at once adds up to many thousands of $ in bandwidth and server expenses; one of the reasons Disney shut down VMK. I know many of you have no concept of the expense of such an undertaking, but I can guarantee that Disney was paying literally millions of dollars a year for VMK's operation. It's not as simple as some people seem to think.

I'm sorry if anyone feels like this is a flame or a rant, but I'm getting really tired of all the angry posts I've been reading when there's nothing to be angry about. I imagine some of it is just misdirected from the pain we all feel at the loss of VMK, and I know safety of kids is a pretty major hot button. But if you look at what has actually happened so far, VFK has not done anything to make kids unsafe; most of what people are upset about is entirely based on wild guesses as to what the future might hold, or assigning ulteriour motives due to lack of knowledge. Let's just bring some objectivity to the discussion, okay?

well said!! BTW hey!!

 

[.beartraker.]

Hey I'm Just Glad it's Up And Running Just Want The Mini-games Up And Running

 

[IliketheTitanic]

This reminds me of the old saying, "Rome was not built in one day"

 

[cyre]

woot so my friend list started working tonight and everyone (i think) i'd added in the last few days was still there!! Yay!!

 

[JulyGirl]

I've stopped playing this game until it truly seems operational. Their biggest mistake is allowing too many people to register and log in. Look back at the VMK Beta pics. There were usually 600-700 people logged in at a time and they still had technical issues. When this game was first announced, I was under the impression that Beta 1 was different than Beta 5. It appeared that they would open with Beta 1 people and gradually allow the next tier to register. Well, that obviously did not happen. I signed up the first day they announced it. My friend signed up on May 19 (which was referred to as Beta 5). We both were able to register and log in on May 22. That simply makes no sense to me.

 

[TinkPinkPoem]

I for one am not happy about the ability to losen up the chat. What is it that us parents are worried about anyway? It not that our kids find a friend their own age thousands of miles away and tell them how to contact them on their instant messanger. Really what we are worried about is the predators out there, that we know for sure, are out there lurking about in these games trying to lure our kids into harms way.

Also we are trying to promote a ideal of personal information is not to be shared at any cost, between anyone at anytime by our kids. If kids see people with the freedom to do this they will want this for themselves and then, poof, there goes the ideal situation out the window.

For me the perfect situation would be a seperate space or place where adults only were allowed. Where we could sit at our machines and chat with other adults and have a drink and talk about adult things. In the game however all chat should be limited to kid appropriate conversations period. IMHO

I am in no way a supporter of the ability to losen up the chat.

I think that was clear in my post, guess not, so I repeat it.

I was just trying to understand how they could make it work the way they want to.

 

[DaffyPluto]

I am in no way a supporter of the ability to losen up the chat.

I think that was clear in my post, guess not, so I repeat it.

I was just trying to understand how they could make it work the way they want to.

Oh I posted that basically agreeing with you Tink. Unless they can make sure kids cant see the adult vocab at all i dont think it should be available, that is all i was getting

 

[TinkPinkPoem]

Oh I posted that basically agreeing with you Tink. Unless they can make sure kids cant see the adult vocab at all i dont think it should be available, that is all i was getting

Oh it was a confusion then!

We agree