Why do people have mules?

[rwgjr71]

I never speak to anyone when I enter a room unless they say something before I get to the quest machine. I head right for the quest machine and up pops the quest. I wouldn't know if they were talking to me or not.

If you want to stop mules from overrunning your quest then make sure that your good prizes are not in the top ten or so spots. Then they will not have any idea where there ranking is at and at the same time you will be helping those who are not good at quest or have a hard time with their computer. This will help those to have a better chance.

Another thing to do would be to make your quest longer time wise. If your scared of someone playing ten players and your quest takes a half a hour or more to do, do you really think they will stick around and keep playing all there mules through it.

 

[rwgjr71]

if you want to get an idea about the amount of mules being used, then look through this post.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1085204

 

[purplehusky]

One other reason for mules is another way to dictionary dance LOL

I have my army of woots, inspired by martydogs wootness!

its the only way to say "someone get me a wootologist, my wootness is off the wootometer"

LOL. I like how aengus puts it. I am friends with wootness, and that is like my favorite word. No more woot, but wootness!! Man, I really need to be friends with wootometer and wootologist!!!!

I use mules for the same reason as the above quote, and also because of quests. If you keep a quest item long enough, then yeah, you can trade it for good stuff. For example, we all know that the green santa ears are gonna be highly wanted and that willl be a perfect time to trade them off.

 

[Adventuredaz]

if you want to get an idea about the amount of mules being used, then look through this post.

That does not really give hardly any idea of the mules used. Very few people advertise there alternate characters titles. Some there closest friends know other may not ever tell them. On that list there are 3 people listed under me but they are real family members, none of my alternate characters are or will be listed.

I agree in most cases that player quests are not a place where mules should be used. Ido however have many valid uses for them ranging from savings accounts storage accounts trading accounts (people such as myself have so much on our characters we have a dificult time with trades.) places to be in solitude, getting extra quest items, getting items limited to new players, generally just playing the game. I would not encourage most people to have and maintain more then 5 characters because they are not easy to maintain in large numbers. Myself at the time it was announced they did not want people haveing large quantities of mules I reduced the number I maintain by a substaintial amount. Many of them used to keep much of that they collected and credits were used for gifts and or special purchases, I now have only a few main alternate characters that store items on.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Or you're like me and you accidentally create 2 extra characters upon your return from WDW because you're absolutely convinced you registered with a certain email address (if not that email, another one) and it just didn't work because the VMK Central computers were acting up badly. I figured it didn't work after all, hence why the "Create a Character" screen showed up when I got home. So I created my character again, sadly hoping maybe my new In Park character things might show up anyway on the account. They did not. Tried again with the other email and same thing happened. In actuality, when I created a character in Magic Kingdom, I had registered with an email address I haven't used in 6 years, and the other 2 email addresses logged me in because I had DisneyShopping and the resort reservation system accounts with them. My In Park character had turned out just fine though; it only took me awhile to figure out the email I registered under!


Anyhow, I don't see anything wrong with extra characters for Q button quests, playing in solitude, playing with a different title, storage, gifting, and so forth. Running mule after mule through the Host games annoys me though, unless it's fellow family members/house guests's characters in line the same time as you or you're doing it to get the prizes for said family members. Ditto to running mule after mule through player quests. Of course, running 2 or more characters at once has never been an option for me. My computer doesn't allow VMK to be open in 2 windows at once; it just automatically logs off the first character, even when one window is in IE and the other is in AOL (which are the only browser options I have). Stinks because on the rare times I can play a Host game, now only myself or my mom can play; not both of us.

 

[MizBubble]

I just want to say thank you to cteddiesgirl for her point about those who live far from parks. When I was younger, we used to go to Disney World every year. Now as a parent myself, those days are long gone. It's difficult to travel with two kids under the age of three so our likelihood of going to the parks is practically none. It makes me sad because I would love to get some of those items. But unless my fiancee and I spend a ton on airfare, hotel, and park passes just to get VMK items and watch the kids scream at meeting characters who terrify them to death, its probably not going to happen. Seems to me that's pretty unfair too. And I agree with Mal. I give all my mules different personalities, even the boy ones! They're great for the Host quests But I would never use them to take advantage of another player's quest! People work really hard on those, and players need to respect that!

 

[kindomind]

And with that said, I also wanted to point out that just because a player comes in, doesn't say anything, and completes the quest in record time doesn't mean they're a mule who had sent other characters before him to test it out. I've been able to complete player quests in record time without saying so much as "hi" to anyone and it was the ONLY time I played it.

I didn't say they all were mules, merely that it's highly suspicious . This is how I'm postive I've been overrun with mules: I know how long it takes to complete my quest without reading the task clues (my test time). So I have a pretty good idea what the fastest possible times could be (plus or minus 20 or so seconds depending on load time and computer speed). When I say "record time" I mean the players who beat my time to complete my own quest. Which I know is impossible.....unless you know the quest already and don't need to read the clues or look through the answers. I have a few repeat questers who like to come by when it's open fairly regularly. Players I've gotten to know and have befriended on VMK. Even they can't beat the mule times because of the little tweaks and changes I like to add...and they are very familiar with my quest. Whattacanoworms though!

Ooh, just had an idea for another post..maybe something a little less serious about mules?
"Top 10 Signs You're Dealing With a Mule" ala David Letterman, lol What do you think?

Oh, and, poohluv2u, yes.... mules are duplicate characters, lol. As you might have read, there are many good and many evil uses for them. If you choose to play more than one account...plz don't go to the dark side! Don't exploit other players or use them for any evil. Also, I suggest using VMK Pal if you choose to create more than one player. It can store multiple accounts (name login and password), store reusable codes and enable you to have more than one vmk player running simultaneously (so you can trade items back and forth) amongst other things. And please, please, please always feel free to ask as many questions as you like! I'm pretty sure that's one thing these forums are here for All of us are newbies at some point! As someone smarter than me once said "There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers" or my other fav "He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever" Just be sure to pass on the knowledge when you're able to too! also

 

[PirateBell]

I agree with Teddie... there are alot of people who do live away form the parks and can't get to them.. But i do my best to share my park quest with friends or just a new person! I rememebr back when i was new and wanted things. Yes we do live close to DLR..and go often...and that is a plus for us... but then then i don't trade them all either or you see me with alot more trades up for them! And yes..it is good that people can trade them..or gift them to people as that is how alot fo them get in the game.

Yes I do remember that Pirate quest Emery!I was really hard! We (DH) had only been on vmk almost a month! And had it not been for my son Goofy_Bob helping us thur the games..we would never had gotten our one Pirate hat! No way could we get that high on fireworks or Ghost either! Oh how I wish we had know about mules back then!

I have never played any of my mules on any players games. Only host quest and so far only JC! In fact as I said earlier I just recently started getting them credits and creating a new person and making friends and not taking their stuff! Now they all have their own personality!

 

[StrikeKing]

First let me say that I am truly sorry that your quest was taken
advantage of.
I personally would never use my mules to scam or exploit a fellow vmk'er.

Being an avid online gamer, I am naturally always suspect as to the integrity of a site (mainly how much are they going to bother you with email or will they share your email). We all hate junk email, so with my first "experimental" vmk ID, I used my "free" online email account. After playing on vmk for a short time, and realizing that I wasn't going to get bombarded by daily emails from the site (or other affiliates), I decided to create my "real" account. So, my mule was actually my first ID.

As others have mentioned earlier in this thread, I use my mules mainly for host quests. I do not live anywhere near a Disney park, so the only way I was going to obtain any of the in-park quest items was through trade, and what could I trade??? Well, I simply have to get the things that I can from within vmk. And what items are most coveted by others and best for trading? Host quest items (like the pirate hat), host game prizes (like host pins) and the more pricey/seasonal/holiday/costume/magic items that go on sale from time to time (which requires lots of credits - thank goodness I am pretty good at all the vmk games).

Without my mules (and I am tame by comparison to others as I have only 3 mules), my guest rooms would be empty and I would certainly not be "the envy of the kingdom" nor would I be able to enjoy vmk to the extent that I do.

As far as the long lines to get into host games: Mules or no mules, the lines into the host games will always be looooooooooong. Vmk has grown so much since I first joined (which was regrettably not long after the beta period) that now, except for the early morning and just before closing, I think u can generally expect to see on average at least 3500 or more players on vmk at any given time in the day. Especially given the "vmk pass" (thank goodness for that), you can expect that lines will always be long. The only thing I can suggest is pay attention to the time and get into line as quickly as possible. As far as second chances go - they have host games daily, sometimes two different games per day, and these games go on all month. How many second chances do u need?

Besides, in case you hadn't noticed, vmk is a very economically driven place to be. Play games to get credits - use credits to buy things - trade things you have for things you don't have . . . all to be (and I hate to quote vmk again - but I will) "the envy of the kingdom"!

Take what has happened to you as a vmk learning experience, we've all had them. Nobody wants to be scammed, we all just want to enjoy ourselves, our friends and our time together on vmk!

Can I get a wootness!

 

[cat_herder]

Mules Rule. I got mine on every day. Thanks for the pirate tip. Gotta try that one. If you are using vmk pal you can open as many vmk pla windows as your computer can handle, but you can only log in one in at a time. If you try to log in two at the same time you will loose your connection. So you must wait until one is logged in and then log in the next one. Remember to keep them moving every once in a while or they disconnect.

One more benifet on having mules is the ability to store your items that you have been collecting. I don't know about anyone else but my player has so much stuff that I can't even do a trade with anyone anymore because it take so long. It got so bad that I couldn't even go to some of the areas in vmk, like the new rides. I started selling stuff back. That was dumb. I just let the mules hold it and then when I need something I just trade it back to the main player.

I think vmk could solve this by putting one picture in you inventory and then just tell you that you have 1000 crates instead of showing you 1000 pictures of crates.

I agree with using mules as storage. I never keep much stuff in my inventory I put more of it in storage rooms.

I have so many pins that it was really hard to find the one I wanted in trade windows and the other person never has any patients and would keep asking me "are you there" while I was searching for the pin or would close out the trade on me because they thought I was taking too long.

My dearest wish would be for vmk to create a way to store pins in a room. I've thought about it a lot and my best suggestion is:
have the pin turn to a poster when you "place" it in a room so you can display on the wall and then when you "remove" it from the wall, it will turn back to a pin in your inventory. That way you don't need mules to hold your pins. The pins will not be taking up space in your inventory and you can show people the pins you have for trade before you open a trade window. ta-da

 

[cat_herder]

Ditto.

And I only use my mules for HOST QUESTS. Just clarifying...

Now, in the long run, mules for Host Quests are actually beneficial. Might I point to Article 1: The In-Game Pirate Quest Hat.

If you all remember this quest, it was a BEAST. It was rather hard, and they asked for nearly superb Fireworks skills to finish the quest. Combine that required score with the fact that everyone is trying to beat the quest, and you have yourself a very hard quest to finish in one weekend. Especially since it is such a popular item. If the people that were not able to beat that Fireworks score did not use mules, there would be no hope of many Pirate Hats going around. We didn't "take advantage of VMK," we helped VMK. We helped to spread these cool items so that there are enough in the community that new players might have a chance of winning one of these hats.

I hated that quest so much because of the fireworks. My fireworks sucks on the best of day, but that quest bought me to tears. I played it for hours - many many many hours. **I** never completed it. My husband took pity on me and played the fireworks part for me, and later someone gifted me a pirate hat.

 

[cat_herder]

But isn't that the exact reason host room queues get so incredibly long? And as far as "helping" distribute these cool rare items, I'm not sure I agree. I think of all the people with only 1 account who never make it in because a "mule" took their place. And it seems like the people who have multiple account would get more prizes, especially with the teleporter host rooms. Once you know the porter...all your mules do to. I don't see how this is fair or helping the other players. It only puts more of the "wealth" into fewer players hands. Come on. This doesn't sound right..

But it sounds like real life.

 

[cat_herder]

Not if the people who live near the parks have Premium AP's. Usually, the In Park Quests are coveted more than the In Game Quests, so the Premium-AP-ers make out with railroad robbery every couple months.

Yes, so I have the choice of going out and buy $60 worth of movies to get a Theater Pack to get cooler stuff that someone didn't have to pay for (they got to go to DLR/WDW, AND it is cheaper since they've basically paid for the hefty price for every "free" visit they go.

I bought $90 worth of pins when I was in DLR last month, and I traded all of the virtual items for a Jack Sparrow Costume.

People that don't have money/can't get to the parks, don't have a chance. I was lucky because I just came out of my 18th Birthday (18th Birthday translates roughly to $$$ in the Dollarian language).


Mules on Host Q Quests give folks that chance. ANYONE can do it and it increases the amount of items into the populace. I fail to see what is wrong with this.

But there IS something wrong with mules and quests, and it happened to you. I'm truly sorry that you got ripped off for trying to give people a fun experience, and I understand your frustration with respect to mules. I know I'd feel the same way...

But over-generalizing with regards to how people use Mules isn't wise. Trust me: I've done my fair share of over-generalizing over the past couple days, and I hurt a couple people's feelings because of it.

How did he get ripped off in his quest?
He spent "x" amount of credits to buy "x" amount of prizes.
All of the prizes were won (I assume or he wouldn't be complaining).
Whether the prizes were won by the same person over and over or won by totally differnet people he still spend the same amount of credits.

 

[rwgjr71]

I agree with using mules as storage. I never keep much stuff in my inventory I put more of it in storage rooms.

I have so many pins that it was really hard to find the one I wanted in trade windows and the other person never has any patients and would keep asking me "are you there" while I was searching for the pin or would close out the trade on me because they thought I was taking too long.

My dearest wish would be for vmk to create a way to store pins in a room. I've thought about it a lot and my best suggestion is:
have the pin turn to a poster when you "place" it in a room so you can display on the wall and then when you "remove" it from the wall, it will turn back to a pin in your inventory. That way you don't need mules to hold your pins. The pins will not be taking up space in your inventory and you can show people the pins you have for trade before you open a trade window. ta-da

I think there should be a pin showcase cabinet you could put into your room, and then you could mark your pins if they are hidden, for display, for trade, and of course a empty spot for the one you are looking for. Also a wardrobe closet with the same idea.

 

[aengus]

How did he get ripped off in his quest?
He spent "x" amount of credits to buy "x" amount of prizes.
All of the prizes were won (I assume or he wouldn't be complaining).
Whether the prizes were won by the same person over and over or won by totally differnet people he still spend the same amount of credits.

It's a good point cat, it doesnt change the cost. But when you see the army of mules coming you still do feel ripped off.

 

[Adventuredaz]

It's a good point cat, it doesnt change the cost. But when you see the army of mules coming you still do feel ripped off.

I agree, I always felt there should be a break point the author can add to prevent being over run set a time that if it is beat the quest automaticly ends and distributes prizes. I would note I don't do many player quests but with the few I have done I have observed things that appeared fishy - possibly owners running a mule through or sending a friend through that has the answers to bump eople with good times and or get the good prize to a friend. I am not acusing a specific person and again proof would be dificult but it has been an observation. With that said there are many people that put a lot of work and a lot of time and credit into providing quests for others so they deserve thanks for that...how far has this thread strayed.

Anyway, as you can tell alot of people have strong feelings on both sides of the mule issue. I think they can be a good thing and i think they could be used in bad ways, some not even mentioned here. Each person has to decide on their own - do they want a mule, do they need one, how will they use it. If you have no need then you don't need to bother. Once you make one you need to use it. If you make it specificly to get an item that you can't otherwise get only to abandon it then you may not need it. I have only done this one time when my dd6 was about to be scammed into trading a lot for a rare Babydoll dress, you know what i did. I put i fast end to the trade made a character and gave her the dress. That was an extream case but I am sure it happens a lot.

 

[BriarRosie]

I'm not sure you understand When I first made a quest, I was ignorant of "mules". So I was surprised how quickly some players finished it (even better than my own time, and I know the task answers). That's when I learned about "mules" and was greatly dissapointed because I wanted "honest" players to win and not someone using a second or third account who wanted the good prizes. Now, I don't normally host timed quests because "mules" always win. As soon as someone sees there's a good prize, the room fills up their with "mules". Since they already know the quest, they always get the best time. An "honest" player doesn't stand a chance. Now, I try to award the best prizes randomly as best I can. But I don't see how I can "force people to use mules". What did I do to cause this?

I understood perfect what you meant, as I've run my quests and found that
I'd attract what I call Greedy Mule Syndrome. Here's what I learned about
making sure honest players had a chance to win the better prizes:

1. I once started out with prizes awarded as the players finished. The mules
were waiting for others to finish if the "good" prizes were to be awarded two
or three players later. Timed quests eliminated that problem.

2. In the timed quests, I would not put my best prizes in the first five spots.
In timed quests, you can only see the first five fastest times. If I put good
prizes below that, mules can't figure out how fast or slow they need to be.

I angers me that greedy players will mule other player created quests.
Those of us who create quests put our own hard earned items into it,
spending our own credits.

There are times I want to boot players I suspect are mules, but I'm afraid
that they could very well be newer players who don't have much.

 

[twyla]

from mal:

I also do not believe that anyone can play 10 accts at one time and especially do not believe that you can play pirates against yourself since you have to move every few seconds or get kicked out of the game.


I have logged on 8 accounts at once. You must have a hot machine for this, and you may end up with extra lag. You could not fully "play" that many accounts at once, but you could run them through a line, or ride the fantasy dark rides.

You can play pirates against yourself, but four is the max and likely to time at least one player out. Playing 2 against each other with AI partner is easier because you do have to switch back and forth. But this is so much work that it isn't fun at all. Interesting as experiment but if someone does it a lot, then they are really working for those credits.

 

[kindomind]

How did he get ripped off in his quest?
He spent "x" amount of credits to buy "x" amount of prizes.
All of the prizes were won (I assume or he wouldn't be complaining).
Whether the prizes were won by the same person over and over or won by totally differnet people he still spend the same amount of credits.

I don't think he meant ripped off in the sense of losing credits. Maybe exploited is a better word. If I wanted all the prizes to go a few players, I would trade or gift them instead. When I open a quest, I hope to provide an opportunity for all players to win these itmes. If you only get one chance, like VMK permits, that's fair. But, when players use mules to replay a quest, it becomes unfair. VMK allows players only one chance at completing a player quest. Then you have to wait for it to reopen to try again. This is for a reason. Using the mules to replay a player quest is cheating and that's were the feeling of being ripped off comes from.