Non-Disney Online Games Virtual Family Kingdom Thread

[Amber_Kait]

Am i the only one who has a friends list but wehn i add people i CANT send them a message and i CANT go to them?

lol it does this for me too

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Anyone want to try to meet up in the backyard?

 

[redshoe]

heh, to be honest, I am very concerned with the amount of time people are spending on a place that doesnt really do anything.

I think people are in denial or choosing not to deal with the fact that vmk closed

What we have here, lets face it, are people capitalizing on a community that feels abandoned. This game is being developed to make money not to help us, you do understand that right? I am not saying these are bad people by any means.

I do understand that. And I agree that it is far from being a full-fledged community. But I also think they're going way above and beyond what should be expected of them to get it into some semblance of working order, and I appreciate it greatly. I hope they do make money, because in the process they certainly are helping us, and the monetary success of VFK would enable it to stay open. It's a win-win. I also see them learning from the mistakes of VMK - most markedly in the area of communication. Sadly, with how they're getting pummeled for bringing things out later than they anticipated, I think that might go away, but they are trying.

I don't know about being in denial, really. I suppose there is some of that, but I think even you said that there's a certain fascination in watching something like this develop from the ground up. I have spent a lot of time on VFK in the last few days, mostly looking for the people that I know and then visiting with them when I find them...come to think of it, that's exactly how I spent my last weeks on VMK. But I wouldn't say I'm in denial about VMK closing. On the contrary, I'm trying to move on to something new and promising, which has the very compelling attraction of offering me what meant the most on VMK...a very large number of my friends.

I do see your points, and I think they are valid. But I think there are many sides to this. The definition of "controversy" is "topic with no pat and easy answers."

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Am i the only one who has a friends list but wehn i add people i CANT send them a message and i CANT go to them?

Same here, no messages, and no Go to.

 

[swimmingneno]

Anyone want to try to meet up in the backyard?

ill try to find you!

 

[aengus]

I do understand that. And I agree that it is far from being a full-fledged community. But I also think they're going way above and beyond what should be expected of them to get it into some semblance of working order, and I appreciate it greatly. I hope they do make money, because in the process they certainly are helping us, and the monetary success of VFK would enable it to stay open. It's a win-win. I also see them learning from the mistakes of VMK - most markedly in the area of communication. Sadly, with how they're getting pummeled for bringing things out later than they anticipated, I think that might go away, but they are trying.

I don't know about being in denial, really. I suppose there is some of that, but I think even you said that there's a certain fascination in watching something like this develop from the ground up. I have spent a lot of time on VFK in the last few days, mostly looking for the people that I know and then visiting with them when I find them. But I wouldn't say I'm in denial about VMK closing. On the contrary, I'm trying to move on to something new and promising, which has the very compelling attraction of offering me what meant the most on VMK...a very large number of my friends.

I do see your points, and I think they are valid. But I think there are many sides to this. The definition of "controversy" is "topic with no pat and easy answers."

alpha testers normally get paid but I will admit its fun to see it, who didnt want to be a QA_ or see behind the scenes right.

I didnt target you on the concern part really, more of a general statement as there are some I see posting all day / night.

as far as keeping in touch, the adults have options, I am in touch with almost all my peeps now I am being vague to not encourage the kids to break the vmk values or the vfk constitution but there are options available to get over missing our friends for those of us that dont need to ask our parents

 

[Amber_Kait]

ill try to find you!

i'll try as well.

 

[AmberDaze]

heh, to be honest, I am very concerned with the amount of time people are spending on a place that doesnt really do anything.

Well, since we're hanging around right now, I am finding it fun to IM with friends and my DD Monkey and I are amusing ourselves by trying to meet up with each other and our friends in various games, including VFK. Heh, but thanks so much -- love all the concern.

 

[aengus]

Well, since we're hanging around right now, I am finding it fun to IM with friends and my DD Monkey and I are amusing ourselves by trying to meet up with each other and our friends in various games, including VFK. Heh, but thanks so much -- love all the concern.

I am posting from my boat ROFL. Love my helio

 

[Vary]

Honestly? I think everyone's reading way too much into the whole staff transfer thing and Fin's name change.

Reading too much how, exactly? Fin's name change is not by any means the biggest problem with the game's claims that most of the VMK staff is working at VSK now. It quite simply does not make sense. How exactly does a game that has no business model claim to be paying so many full time employees? And what's the point of having them all there when they have nothing to do, since this game that claims to be a safe place for young people to interact has no reporting system? And if this is 'above and beyond', what would be the bare minimum for a game that claims to be in beta? Because in this case, I would call ensuring a safe environment the bare minimum, and that is just not happening.

 

[redshoe]

alpha testers normally get paid but I will admit its fun to see it, who didnt want to be a QA_ or see behind the scenes right.

I didnt target you on the concern part really, more of a general statement as there are some I see posting all day / night.

as far as keeping in touch, the adults have options, I am in touch with almost all my peeps now I am being vague to not encourage the kids to break the vmk values or the vfk constitution but there are options available to get over missing our friends for those of us that dont need to ask our parents

Do alpha testers normally get paid? I mean, in something other than pink couches?

It is true, the adults have options. But I also like the online community venue. I want to be able to see what kind of outlandish rooms people are building, and what bizarre hats they're wearing today.

As for the children, yes...I agree that's a concern. I will say that I very carefully weaned my son off of VMK, and while there were tears, he mostly dealt far better with its demise than I did. I'm now directing his attention toward other stuff, because while I believe VFK is a legitimate effort, it isn't yet ready for him, and he isn't ready for it. His patience and attention span are nowhere near the capacity they need to be for beta *coughcoughalphacough* testing. So far, he has logged on one time for five minutes or so, on the first day, and currently he's about 10 feet away from me reading a book. Which is exactly where I want him to be at the moment.

 

[Bugdozer]

Hi,

OK I finally found ink. I asked him he got a box pop saying bugdozer is asking to be come your friend. He accepted. It showed pending for a few minutes then it showed us online to each other. We did some testing. We were able to follow each other. it is not always working. I followed him into a public room then I was able to follow him into his house. I think it is slowly getting features to work.

Bug

 

[Dreamytime]

Hi,

OK I finally found ink. I asked him he got a box pop saying bugdozer is asking to be come your friend. He accepted. It showed pending for a few minutes then it showed us online to each other. We did some testing. We were able to follow each other. it is not always working. I followed him into a public room then I was able to follow him into his house. I think it is slowly getting features to work.

Bug

Woot yay...
So promising.

 

[Panda]

Ok I just asked someone to be a friend and on my list next to their name it says pending what does that mean?

 

[SharkMeal]

Ok I just asked someone to be a friend and on my list next to their name it says pending what does that mean?

It either means it's loading the person to your list or he/she hasn't accepted
nor denied yet.

 

[WDWTigger72]

Do alpha testers normally get paid? I mean, in something other than pink couches?

Sorry folks, I haven't followed the entire thread around this discussion but thought I could provide some insight to this question. To a certain extent alpha testers are paid, and it really depends on how you look at alpha testers, typically alpha testers actually work for the company that is developing the product. I have never seen someone open alpha testing to the general public which doesn't mean it has never happened but its not a typical approach within the development lifecycle. So, If your job is to support a certain environment for Company A then this same company may send around a message internally to see if people want to join up with their alpha testing. They also usually have some guidelines for alpha testing and a way you could provide feedback for bugs, features, etc. Its pretty in-depth testing that usually occurs at this level so its not the every day casual computer user. I use to receive requests all the time for testing alpha products within the financial services company I worked for, and enjoyed doing quality assurance testing on their alpha products.

I worked within the technology field for 10 years, so it was fairly easy to become an alpha tester for new products rolling out. Also, One other thing I wanted to mention is that it really depends on the size of the company on how they handle Alpha/Beta testing. For example, The company I worked for had over 45,000 employees and typically only technical users (developers, engineers and support professionals) would become alpha testers. After this alpha testing was completed then beta would move forward and it would open up to more individuals within our company only (non-technical users who are good testers but are not technical). Since it was a large company we had the flexibility to do alpha with technical employees, and beta with technical/non-technical employees. The company that we are dealing with around Virtual Family Kingdom probably isn't large enough to keep both alpha and beta testing internally, and it pretty much looks like they skipped alpha testing all together.

 

[Panda]

It either means it's loading the person to your list or he/she hasn't accepted
nor denied yet.

Thanks and hugs

 

[aliceblue]

heh, to be honest, I am very concerned with the amount of time people are spending on a place that doesnt really do anything.

I think people are in denial or choosing not to deal with the fact that vmk closed

What we have here, lets face it, are people capitalizing on a community that feels abandoned. This game is being developed to make money not to help us, you do understand that right? I am not saying these are bad people by any means.

Having said that, I think everyone should enjoy it, but really pay attention to how much time your spending. I see people for hours doing this

I can talk
I cant talk
I cant see anyone
I can talk
I cant saw someone
I am on the roof
I cant talk

Just want everyone to do a self check is all

Very concerned with the kids more than anything.

This game is MONTHS if not a years from being developed

Good points, Aengus.

I joined out of curiosity and have been completely underwhelmed so far. This was definitely not ready to be released in beta yet.

Not that I've seen any of them, but the whole thing about VMK staff being there bothers me, as there's no way to really verify anyone's identity. I hope this is not simply a ruse to draw members.

If people were starting out fresh to choose a multiplayer game, I highly doubt this would be it.

How sad that there doesn't seem to be a safe, broad-spectrum-appeal game of good quality out there. Although everyone is certainly anxious to reconnect with their friends "virtually", it might be wise to wait it out and see what other games get developed in the coming months. Talented, experienced game designers would be crazy not to take advantage of the demand for a game with a similar model to VMK's.

 

[redshoe]

Sorry folks, I haven't followed the entire thread around this discussion but thought I could provide some insight to this question. To a certain extent alpha testers are paid, and it really depends on how you look at alpha testers, typically alpha testers actually work for the company that is developing the product. I have never seen someone open alpha testing to the general public which doesn't mean it has never happened but its not a typical approach within the development lifecycle. So, If your job is to support a certain environment for Company A then this same company may send around a message internally to see if people want to join up with their alpha testing. They also usually have some guidelines for alpha testing and a way you could provide feedback for bugs, features, etc. Its pretty in-depth testing that usually occurs at this level so its not the every day casual computer user. I use to receive requests all the time for testing alpha products within the financial services company I worked for, and enjoyed doing quality assurance testing on their alpha products.

I worked within the technology field for 10 years, so it was fairly easy to become an alpha tester for new products rolling out. Also, One other thing I wanted to mention is that it really depends on the size of the company on how they handle Alpha/Beta testing. For example, The company I worked for had over 45,000 employees and typically only technical users (developers, engineers and support professionals) would become alpha testers. After this alpha testing was completed then beta would move forward and it would open up to more individuals within our company only (non-technical users who are good testers but are not technical). Since it was a large company we had the flexibility to do alpha with technical employees, and beta with technical/non-technical employees. The company that we are dealing with around Virtual Family Kingdom probably isn't large enough to keep both alpha and beta testing internally, and it pretty much looks like they skipped alpha testing all together.

Interesting! I'll be curious to see how it pans out. I am rooting for them, though!

 

[JulyGirl]

I'm pretty sure word would get around to Phinny that she was being impersonated on VFK. If it wasn't truly her, she would surely find a way to let us know.