VMK Is A Community, Not A Promotion

[thesupersmartguy]

Yavn says VMK was meant to be a promotion. Now he wants us to move on to their Pay-To-Play Games such as Toontown and Pirates Online. The problem is we have all invested time into VMK, building friendships, credits and rooms and above all a bond between Disney lovers. Are they just going to drop the new games as they did VMK with the stroke of a corporate pen?

VMK has been more than a game, it has been a community, a safe and fun place to play. These others however, tie you to objectives on their terms and give the players tasks to complete to progress in the game leaving no time to socialize. It is the same as if you stuck a CD in the drive and played alone.

We are a community, not a promotion.

In high hopes we can save VMK,

thesupersmartguy

 

[mir4mad]

Yavn says VMK was meant to be a promotion. Now he wants us to move on to their Pay-To-Play Games such as Toontown and Pirates Online.

VMK has been more than a game, it has been a community, a safe and fun place to play. These others however, tie you to objectives on their terms and give the players tasks to complete to progress in the game leaving no time to socialize. It is the same as if you stuck a CD in the drive and played alone.

We are a community, not a promotion.

In high hopes we can save VMK,

thesupersmartguy

YES- I AGREE!!!!
The other games also promote fighting, destroying, killing and gambling.
Isn't there enough war in the real world?
Disney has lost sight of what's important in life. It's not about physical items -those are just things. We are rich only with the love and relationships we make with family and friends. Spread God's message disney!

 

[VMK_Mouse]

YES- I AGREE!!!!
The other games also promote fighting, destroying, killing and gambling.
Isn't there enough war in the real world?
Disney has lost sight of what's important in life. It's not about physical items -those are just things. We are rich only with the love and relationships we make with family and friends. Spread God's message disney!

I love your post!! I am on with princess now and I am so sorry that she is so heartbroken. I wish Disney would go pay to play for this game. The graphics for potc stink and we are much prettier in VMK. Game Kingdom or whatever is it is too childish for many of us and Penguin is just dumb.

 

[Sillyup2]

I threw up when Yavn told us we and our avatars and our rooms and our friends were just a "promotion". Since when is making friends just a promotion?

 

[thesupersmartguy]

I threw up when Yavn told us we and our avatars and our rooms and our friends were just a "promotion". Since when is making friends just a promotion?

Precisely.

 

[MissAriel]

VMK is a little community just for us Disney fans. It's something that's special in all our hearts
VMK will always stay in my heart. It's more like me second home. Hehe.

 

[RaggedyAnnPrincess]

I love your post!! I am on with princess now and I am so sorry that she is so heartbroken. I wish Disney would go pay to play for this game. The graphics for potc stink and we are much prettier in VMK. Game Kingdom or whatever is it is too childish for many of us and Penguin is just dumb.

I do agree that VMK is NOT a promotion, it's a community, I mean SERIOUSLY. But I have to disagree on 2 things:
1. The potc graphics are actually pretty good, must have cost a lot of money though!
2. Club Penguin rules! Not better than VMK, but I still like it
Anyway, it makes me annoyed that Disney is treating it like VMK is just a "promotion" when it is so much more than that! It used to mean a lot to me, and it kinda still does, but it probably means a lot more to some people, which is why they just can't close it THIS soon, at least wait another year....

 

[Antonius]

I have to say, I find it VERY odd that just last week Yavyn posted about how VMK was FREE. Now he's suggesting we play the pay games.

There is NO other game like VMK. I've met some amazing people in the game. I cant stand the idea that someone gets to tell me it's over. I used to look forward to helping friends build rides, rooms, and quests. This was as close as it's going to get for many of us to being Imagineers. I've seen some amazing ideas come out of people using the limited and crazy items provided to us by VMK staff. Now all that's being tossed out.

I never thought I could be angry over a game, but WOW!! I'm so angry I could kick a certain mouse! This is REALLY upsetting. I'm glad I've spent all those hours meeting friends and making new family to have it all disappear. It's like watching a time bomb tick away in slow motion. Thanks for the memories, I'm watching them flash before me.

 

[MissAriel]

I have to say, I find it VERY odd that just last week Yavyn posted about how VMK was FREE. Now he's suggesting we play the pay games.

There is NO other game like VMK. I've met some amazing people in the game. I cant stand the idea that someone gets to tell me it's over. I used to look forward to helping friends build rides, rooms, and quests. This was as close as it's going to get for many of us to being Imagineers. I've seen some amazing ideas come out of people using the limited and crazy items provided to us by VMK staff. Now all that's being tossed out.

I never thought I could be angry over a game, but WOW!! I'm so angry I could kick a certain mouse! This is REALLY upsetting. I'm glad I've spent all those hours meeting friends and making new family to have it all disappear. It's like watching a time bomb tick away in slow motion. Thanks for the memories, I'm watching them flash before me.

It sickens me too. They just expect us to move on and pay to play all these so called "better" Disney games and think we'll just enjoy them. I've never actually cared for POTC so I have no intrest for the game. Toontown, well you have to pay to get the whole game. Club Penguin is good, but there is no trading or all of that and it just isn't the same being a penguin rather than a real person as a character. Nothing can replace VMK

 

[Disney Dreams]

thesupersmartguy, your first post is exactly the type of thing that should be posted here: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/disneys-virtual.html?cid=110136444#comment-110136444 for eyes to see.

I hope you do so.

 

[xominnieox2]

"Promotion"? -sigh- I actually care about my friends on VMK. We are like a little family. I'm quite enraged with Yavn. They expect us to just move on, to me, that seems almost impossible to up and walk away from this magnificent place...

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I understand they had a right to close the game, but I think they should have made it perfectly clear in any promotion that VMK was for a LIMITED TIME ONLY.

We became involved as a family after getting hat codes during our disney trip last June. Since then we have bought many pins and videos for items. I also will admit to buying some items for my kids on eBay.

VMK was making money for Disney. Yes, the pins, trips, and movies are tangible profits, but the main benefit for VMK was it's promotion of the parks and all things Disney. Yes, we didn't pay, but we read all about POC online, or HSM or other Disney specials. They were reaching their desired demographic, I can't understand how they didn't see the profit in that.

 

[xominnieox2]

I understand they had a right to close the game, but I think they should have made it perfectly clear in any promotion that VMK was for a LIMITED TIME ONLY.

We became involved as a family after getting hat codes during our Disney trip last June. Since then we have bought many pins and videos for items. I also will admit to buying some items for my kids on eBay.

VMK was making money for Disney. Yes, the pins, trips, and movies are tangible profits, but the main benefit for VMK was it's promotion of the parks and all things Disney. Yes, we didn't pay, but we read all about POC online, or HSM or other Disney specials. They were reaching their desired demographic, I can't understand how they didn't see the profit in that.

I agree... They advertised everything new to Disney, and all that jazz. But, what do I know?

 

[Scodaddy]

Any promotion I've ever seen stated the time-frame up front.
Sure, VMK was introduced as part of the 50th celebration, but did that mean it was for a limited time?

And what if it was?

Small World and the Mr. Lincoln attraction were planned to be temporary exhibits when they were created. And someone had the gray matter to see that they were worth preserving.

So even if 'they' decided that it was a 'promotion' when it was originally rolled out (and I must say, I have my doubts..) they should look at the value they have now - forget the 'expected value from then', and realize it's worth keeping.

Everyone 'in charge' has openly stated that VMK had been more popular than ever expected - it exceeded all expectations.

Wow - how did they miss the value in that. We've been successful beyond our wildest hopes. Let's kill it now.

The 'Disney' way (as in WALT) would be to look for corporate sponsorship (VMK - brought to you by HP or Oracle or Apple) and partner with someone to subsidize the operating costs.

Apple spends a fortune to get machines into schools so that kids grow up 'thinking Apple'.
Wouldn't this be a great way for a sponsor to get the mind-share of the family oriented Disney fan base?

MagicShell and I were drumming up ideas for a dozen ways Disney could partner with companies THEY ALREADY WORK WITH (can you say 'single use turn into ______ <- insert character from latest Disney movie release> pin' in your next happy meal?

As a professional adult I'd be eating two happy meals a day for lunch 3 times a week.

Somebody out there is asleep at the wheel.

Let's all honk - maybe we can wake them up

Dr-Jones out

 

[CelebrationNM]

You can try to deny it, but the fact is that VMK is a promotion. As somebody posted on another thread, the first press releases said something like "...the company will begin its eighteen month global campaign on May 5th, with a free online multiplayer game called Virtual Magic Kingdom, which will include virtual versions of Disney’s five global resorts and eleven theme parks." (See: Disney Plans 'Virtual Magic Kingdom' Online Promotion)

Now, that doesn't mean that you personally haven't developed some kind of emotional connection to the promotion, but it doesn't change what it is or what it was intended to be.

When contacting Disney, I think it's a great idea to use some emotion to show them how much the game means to you. I don't think it is necessary to tell them how successful the game was or how they could possibly make it work. These are the people that build theme parks around the world: if they wanted this game to continue, they would find a way to make that happen.

 

[redshoe]

When contacting Disney, I think it's a great idea to use some emotion to show them how much the game means to you. I don't think it is necessary to tell them how successful the game was or how they could possibly make it work. These are the people that build theme parks around the world: if they wanted this game to continue, they would find a way to make that happen.

On the other hand, it certainly can't hurt to point out how many are willing to pay for VMK. It's possible that they underestimated this number.

Why does it even matter what VMK was intended to be, though? Isn't it more relevant to consider what it's evolved into? If I were in charge of a business, I should hope that I would be more concerned with what something actually is now and whether it was possible to grow it into something even bigger and better, than I would be with what it was originally intended as 3 years ago. Not very forward-thinking at all, especially for a company that's famous for its innovation.

 

[Belle1997]

From my letter I am sending

I hope we can save VMK but if not I hope someone will see what I think Disney missed. They create a niche, that no one had done successfully. It could really have been so much more. From what the original vision was. A great marketing tool. Unfortunately our little mini mes are not papers of advertising that can me thrown out, commercials we can skip over. This 50th Anniversary of DRL site grew in to a wonderful journey of people in many continents of different faiths, color, age and race. "Our own version of a Small World" Sharing the Disney magic each day of the week. I have more friends around the world than I ever had.

I may be just a virtual character in a game to Disney. But this virtual character is crying real tears. I never thought the word Disney could bring so much heart ache to thousands of people mostly kids that need this place.

When I see them in VMK pleading to save their virtual world how can I not be brought to tears.

I do not think Disney fully understood what they created when they built VMK, I do not think they realized the great need they were filling when they decided to close the door to VMK. I think to them it is just another Video game. Maybe this was not an easy decison. Maybe they took the time to learned what VMK really meant to thousands. Maybe they just looked at the bottom line.

Some of the greatest inventions were created by mistake. Maybe this is just the case A promotional tool that truly made a difference is so many lifes.

And maybe thousands of people is just not enough.

To me VMK is a diamond in the rough, a place were dreams really do come true. A place if disney does not change its decision will be a place where it broke too many kids and families dreams. For a year of a million dreams in one push of a button thousands of dream will have been crushed.

 

[delicious]

Long live the VMK community!!!!

 

[onlypixiejoy]

Yay super.. u put into words just the way i feel.. going to miss u dude.. thanks for all your trading help

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Bump