VMK RANT! (long) Contact information removed by request from Disney

[Bellboy]

Nicely put. This banning is tainting the Disney Spirit! My kids and I are PLAYING IN FEAR, waiting for our ban. That is no way to experience DISNEY.

I have written VMK about this many many times, and they stopped responding after a week. Heck when they did respond it was useless anyway.

Stop Tainting the Disney Spirit!!!

 

[Peacefully]

Last night in Host Hula's room someone complained that the costume was so difficult to get and she said "that's part of the fun". Then when I complained that I got a warning for partaking in this "fun" she didn't say anything.
It's absolutely ridiculous, and I wasn't even using the short cut at the time, VMK had been down and I had collected codes while it was offline. I was copying them, by hand, from a text document. But then I got a warning for using an outside program, which I would never do. In fact, I was trying to pace myself and not type too quickly. Now I'm scared to use my main account at all. It's just absurd.

I'll email them too.

 

[judimouse]

Kelsie, great post.

Do you really think the black hole cares about us on this side of the computer? I rather doubt it.

I plan on talking to a "suit" at Disneyland this weekend and find the place to lodge a complain at the corporate level in Burbank.

This morning I had a child in my room and they told me their computer would not let them play the game. So what do I do, I give her a pirate item. I have more fun gifting people than playing the games.

But those of us that type too fast are ban for trying to do good things on VMK. I now enter my codes with one finger. Hopefully that will be slow enough for them.

 

[Loves Disney]

That was a very well written post/letter. It sums everything up and speaks so much of the truth. Excellent job!

What I do is play the game several times (okay, more than just several lol) and write the codes down. This way, I don't have to play, dc and log back in for one code and repeat. Once I have all the codes written down I go into vmk and start typing them all in to see if I won that ever exclusive Jack Sparrow costume.

I would like to appologize to vmk for my typing. I am sorry if my fast fingers become a third party. I will try and lower my abilities and take a half and hour to an hour typing in the codes even though I could get them in faster, manually.

I am ALWAYS typing on my computer (writing) as that is what I love to spend my time doing. I have been typing since I was in first grade and for the last several years I have not only memorized the keyboard but also hit the keys at a faster rate. I also have been playing the piano for well over 11 years now. My fingers are exposed to fast movement.

But whenever fast tpying becomes a benefit to vmk, it becomes "illegal" and unacceptable. I finally have something beneficial in the game (as I never get into a host event, ever, and cannot win over 280,000 points in a fireworks game, and cannot catch even over 40 ghosts without pulling my hair out.) I can finally win stuff and yet, I cannot use any of it because I am too afraid I will start typing fast and get banned. It is a habit now, to type fast. I wish I didn't have fear banishment because of it.

 

[DarthJordan]

I agree, I sent "Mr. Paul" a little greeting LOL.

I really hope they do something about this stuff, because it is like some of you have said, ruining the Disney Experience!!

 

[DaraAllen]

Kelsie, excellent post. I sent it along with some words of my own to Yavn's boss. Since Mal wanted to know what others felt, I thought I would add my own information here.

I've only been playing since April of this year. In that time, I have broken one mouse and damaged another, I've uttered strings of expletives that would make a sailor blush (in three languages), I've typed in God knows how many nonsensical codes trying to get that one elusive creature, I've had to negotiate with my husband on who's game is more important when there are quests on the weekends, I've ignored my housework (OK, so that one's not too much of a stretch for me), and at times my family.

Each week, it gets more and more frustrating to "play" this "game". VMK has become so un-Disney-like that I must believe Walt is turning over in his grave.

We get banned for typing fast? Um, I don't know who decided that, but I've been touch typing since I was eight years old when my mother put me on a manual Underwood with the leters comvered up. I type 120 wpm. No, that's not a typo. I basically have to type with one finger on my left hand while holding the piece of paper with the codes on it upside down in order to slow down enough to avoid a ban.

The Narnia transporters drove us crazy, the Kellogg's stuff drove us crazy, and now, instead of learning from mistakes, as has always been the Disney way, they are compounding them.

My poor nine-year old daughter. I've amassed a lot of stuff for her "yet to be created because I don't want her in tears" character. I truly wonder if she'll ever get to see it.

 

[Shaymojack]

I'm amazed that I never got a warning, I used ShortKeys to enter codes, but then I learned it was against their rules. I'm oddly using myself for an example with this: They punish the inoccent but let the guilty go free.

 

[Pirate Speedy]

Thanks for the letter. My kids will not play any of the host game or the quest because they are to hard for them...which leaves dad to play for 3 people because of course they want to new items. I have since got them to understand that there are alot of great things to do without having to deal with all these problems. There is little chance to get one none the less 3 of anything. We share so many things I have lost track of where stuff is The game no longer seem like it is for kids and as I think about it there might have been a switch in the marketing because there are so many adults playing and we are the ones making the decision to go and are the ones really spending the money at the parks!! I have sent in comments before but have never heard back from anyone.

 

[acefunrules]

bravo!!! also they created this virtual world and put nothing but day cares in it tell them that lol

 

[BriarRosie]

Shaymojack, you better consider yourself lucky. Stop using ShortKeys
for the codes. THAT is what the warnings are about. VMK staff have
accused people of using ShortKeys (when they type fast) and ban them.

I admit that I use ShortKeys in VMK, but ONLY when I have to run my games.
The repetition of the game rules will slow me down if I have to type it each
time. In the past, that usage was acceptable, so I'll continue doing so
until I get a warning. But I will NEVER use ShortKeys for codes because it
will get me banned.

I really appreciated Kelsie's letter. I too feel that the "VMK Values" that
are being established are less about having fun and more about creating
a consumer marketplace online. People are turning into mini-moguls,
which would be great if that's what the game was about, but sad when
you think what the game SHOULD be about. Thank you Kelsie, for
discussing how it's fostering snobbery among players.

And it fosters lying and distrust, too. Yes, I find that I don't trust many
people in the game, either. I'm telling my niece to trust nobody, and that's
pretty sad. Last night, I encountered a girl who claimed she was playing
the game for two years when some of us mentioned we'd been playing for a
year. Why would she lie like that? Because it probably made her feel
important. No badge from Day 1? "Oh, that's on my other character."
I really would hate to deal with this brat in real life.

There is a lack of respect all around, but I think I'd find that in real world
situations just as often as I find it in VMK.

 

[BriarRosie]

Now I get no response to any of my corrispondence not even a form letter.

Does anyone find it strange that if you send a response as a Parent, you get a form letter saying to go through the Player Side, cause they can't do anything to help. However, when you send a message through the Player side you don't get anything. I don't understand how Disney can be so full of "magic" but the people who work this side can't respond to a simple email? I'm really at a loss. I want to play, but I want to quit as well and my OCD's will not let me.

Are you using AOL for email? I've heard that VMK has issues getting
correspondence past the spam filters there sometimes.

 

[peasy]

an astounding amen and a hear hear or an aye aye - whichever you prefer. I have really struggled with how VMK is set up and who it is supposed to be geared towards. I understand the Stitch hat - quest prizes, those are hard to get and it's for a reason. They are not simply attained by sitting at your computer. However, the quest prizes & game prizes, like Narnia teleporters and pirate costumes - dangling them in front of our childrens faces and then making them nearly impossible to get and threatening to ban them for trying, is unfair. Perhaps, instead of banning or warning people after the fact about entering codes too quickly - it might be a wiser proposition to state exactly what is "too much". A simple rule, something like - you may only enter 5 codes per day. Make it simple. Right now it's like handing a kid a sack of quarters in a video arcade and then kicking them out if they use too many.

 

[Adventurejimbob]

I first have to really give a high five to WebmasterKelsie on this one. It was very well written and submits the point that many young VMK'ers feel (including me).

Now, I will tell you that I have the personality of a Firework. When I first heard yesterday that they were banning players for entering codes too fast.. BOOM! I type at around 90-100 GWAM and very fast on the numeric keypad. I was very afraid that they would ban me because of my typing skills. Is VMK's goal to tick people off so much that they don't want to come back to Disney ever again? The way the staff handles their games and the games that gives codes to me utterly defines their way of doing everything.. Lazy.
All the games have glitches, good and bad.. and with this Pirate bug it seems as though someone released it without checking to make sure that there were no problems. Yavn and Disney hired these people for two reasons: To protect the VMK community and to provide fun games for the players. To me, it seems as though all the staff have failed in both these areas. Here they are banning people for typing too fast instead of getting rid of the players who do some very bad things on VMK such as bay be, taken and taking that to extremes. The games are all just to tick the VMK community off moreso. If anything, the items should be one per person not be able to hoard twenty of them in your inventory. There was another post where someone was complaining that they couldn't get more than one Predictometer from the same Host game. (Note: I have two Predictometers, but my mom got me one without telling me and I won one the next day on my other account.)

Anyways, the way the Staff handles the game is outrageous. They ban the people who are our great people but not the rude, inappropriate guests who don't belong in VMK. I cannot wait for CptJackSpearow's VFT to come out. I am going to be one of the staff. I know I will do a much better job than the VMK staff does, and I will not be even getting paid! So, I still ponder the question: Why did Yavn and Paul Yanover pick some of the most inattentive, lazy people in the world for the Staff on the greatest game in the world..

With better Staff and servers, VMK would be a happy place. But, in a society like this with the wrong people who make bad desicions, VMK will never be that happy place we all dreamed of when it was in its beta days.

EDIT: They made you remove the contact information? I know why! Because they are too lazy to reply to all those emails and don't want to actually take the time to read what is being said. Knowing VMK, they probably didn't even read this thread. My VMK Patience Meter is draining out very quickly.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Part of the coments in this thread touch upon the addictive nature of vmk which is a topic to itself, but I do believe that vmk teaches the opposite of what I would want a child to learn. Children in vmk are fully aware that:
- The more stuff you have the cooler you are and that the richer you are, the "better" you are.

I too was in Host Hula's party room yesterday. When people asked about the costume she had an excellent life lesson as a reply: Must everything be yours immediately? and Patience is a good thing to learn.

While I agree 100% with these comments, I think that the creators (note: NOT the hosts) of VMK need to remember the Human Element within this game.

I have been playing vmk for about three months. There was no surprise to me that within a few hours of the new game being introduced that vmk had to shut down. If there is one gallon of water somewhere in the desert, people are not going to dig one hole to find it and then stop when not successful. Human nature is the exact opposite. People will tear the desert apart to find that coveted gallon of water. And then share it with no one. vmk's game creator's HAD to know this would happen and foresee the troubles. The game is played by people.

I would like to state the quest that I believe was run perfectly as an example of what I feel worked well - while still providing a challenge and teaching patience, as well as the concept that not everything must be obtained immediately. The car quest.

Almost everyone who plays vmk is capable of getting a car. Now, I for one, will never have a Green Car and I barely got a Yellow Car. However, I DO have a car. I think this was well done. Players of every level (and within their own control) were capable of getting at least one car. Then, providing the more talented players with different additional cars provides a challenge and appropriate reward. Although I will never have a green car, I DO have a car. And THAT is a great life lesson. If I really want that green car I will have to work very hard to get it and have patience with my goal, but in the spirit of vmk, I can cruise around in my little blue car and still have fun. THAT was well done.

Create a pirate costume that everyone can get, in the spirit of fun. Then, if you really want to - create the "wow" costume that takes some work to get. But to think that players will not "tear apart the entire desert" to find that elusive costume is to simply ignore human instinct. And then to punish them for using the shovel that was provided is simply wrong.

 

[Dragonlord11_7]

Oh wow, what great replies to the subject. I type fast, extremely fast compared to anyone in my grade, and as LovesDisney said, I've memorized the piano's keyboard too. I have NEVER received a warning even though I type in codes at about a rate of 10-15 seconds. VMK staff are becoming more of hypocrites because they don't allow ShortKeys and other programs while they THEMSELVES do. If they force us to work harder. why not join us in our suffering. I've heard that many people are being banned because of the slight possibility of ShortKeys or outside programs. Well, maybe if they took the time to learn how to type faster then they could understand how easy it is to. Call me crazy, but Disney isn't quite the child's company they claim to be.

 

[macntosh]

Are you using AOL for email? I've heard that VMK has issues getting
correspondence past the spam filters there sometimes.

No I am using a hotmail account for my response address. The other day I was getting an auto response that my letter was recieved and then an actual email from VMK_Shorty three to five minutes later. However after a few emails and getting no where. They stopped replying. It's like they quite reading my emails and just sent a canned response.

They asked me for some more information and when I sent it back they responded with an exact replica of my first letter, but still signed by the same person.

 

[Dashzap]

I would like to state the quest that I believe was run perfectly as an example of what I feel worked well - while still providing a challenge and teaching patience, as well as the concept that not everything must be obtained immediately. The car quest.

Almost everyone who plays vmk is capable of getting a car. Now, I for one, will never have a Green Car and I barely got a Yellow Car. However, I DO have a car. I think this was well done. Players of every level (and within their own control) were capable of getting at least one car. Then, providing the more talented players with different additional cars provides a challenge and appropriate reward. Although I will never have a green car, I DO have a car. And THAT is a great life lesson. If I really want that green car I will have to work very hard to get it and have patience with my goal, but in the spirit of vmk, I can cruise around in my little blue car and still have fun. THAT was well done.

Create a pirate costume that everyone can get, in the spirit of fun. Then, if you really want to - create the "wow" costume that takes some work to get.

That would be perfect. I have the blue, pink, and yellow car pins. I work on the green car quest occasionally for the challenge (oh, those pesky atoms!), but I am not obsessed with getting a green car. It is existential questing. It is entertaining, because each level of the car quest is similar but not exactly the same. I played the pirate game for hours and hours yesterday (maybe 6?) in the hopes of getting a costume. I would much rather do a quest (quests are fun to play) rather than do a boring, repetitive routine to get codes!! It's not playing a game, it's just harvesting codes.

 

[Maleficent2]

Hi everyone I am back and all fired up


These are the major issues as I see them with VMK.

Elitism has always been a very big concern of mine when it comes to VMK. The producers seem to really get off on it, they have over the last six months gotten alot better though with not always recognizing the same group of players with awards, which is a Great improvement from the past.

The give "special" players in the game items that no one can get because they have not been released yet. These players walk around with these items taunting the kids with them with the "in your face"attitude.

Case in point, the stitch hat, was given to a player who in turn had to go around promoting the book a DLR vacation and get a Stitch VMK collection.

There have been other cases but that one really stands out.

VMK makes it very difficult at best for the ave. player to accquire items in the game because of the credit earned to credit costs ratio. Most players would have to play months before they could kit out a room with the measly credits that can be earned by visiting the NPC each day, playing and remixing your song and nedding. Which is all some players can do given that not all children have a top rate computer with a high speed connection to play VMK on.

My solution to this problem make the NPC visit worth more-say 50 credits each, go back to giving 50 credits for remixing and playing you songs every 30 minutes, make the jungle cruise worth 50 credits a ride not the mere 20 it is now. Go back to giving 150 credits a win for pirates, again not everyone can play fireworks or haunted mansion because of connection and computer performance issues.

Then above all else lower the cost of items to a more reasonable amount. Not saying to give stuff away but make the game fun and enjoyable to play for the majority of players not just a few who can amass large amount of credits in a very short time.

I know they want to promote trading but in park quest items do that! in spades.

So add more in park Quests and or in park quest items.



Next stop making the quests so darn hard that they take alot of players all day to complete them.

A quest to be fun and rewarding should be short and not so difficult to complete....not a cake walk but not 280,000 on fireworks which only a few can do or 50,000 on HM. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!

Back to the cost of things again the Quest machine at 20,000 was too much for some and what does VMK do up the price to 30,000 and they are not tradeable.

I think Kelsie covered the bannings to a tee so no need to rehash that.

VMK needs a focus group made up of PLAYERS both Adult and children if they want this game to succeed.

One of the first things they need to address is why has so many quit playing a game that has the potential to be a Magical Disney Expierence and get people to the parks to spend that almighty dollar.

I would sign up for that group right now. And I would do it for Free!

I truly do love this game so please do not take my critique of VMK as all negative it really is a postitive way to try and help Disney see the light and

Unleash the MAGIC!!!!

all it takes is a little trust, understanding and alittle Pixie Dust!

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”-Walt Disney



Mal

 

[Kelsie]

I just have to add that I hope Disney listens and is not too caught up on the way the information was received. These are valid issues and concerns from VMK players. Yes, the players may change in the coming months but the issues will remain unless Disney truly does listen.

 

[Nanoer]

well vmk was the first disney thing i was interested in... I heard everyone talking about how nice disney is but i think we can all agree that vmk is not showing the "disney spirit" so GO MAL AND KELSIE!!! WOOT !