Yavn speaks!(It's in the newsletter didn't make it up)

[Nanoer]

Yavn Speaks

Welcome again to this week's Newsletter!
In additional to general questions about VMK, players also ask me about things that bug me. So this week I follow up last week's Q&A session with a feature I like to call: What Bugs Yavn?

1. Hacking Tools and Cheating
Nothing, and I do mean nothing upsets me more than a cheater or person who uses a tool to cheat or exploit VMK. Hacking and cheating unbalances the game and gives cheaters unfair advantages. You have them to thank for more non tradable items. If you're one of the people using a cheat or hack to take advantage of the game, watch out, we will find you and ban you. Plus, just because you find a bug in something does not make it OK to take advantage of it. I have to also call out players who cheat other players out of rare items. I can't tell you how many incidents we've reviewed about Magic Pins that were less powerful than advertised. We're about to update the trading system so it will show the power of all magic pins, but until then beware of these cheaters and follow our guidelines for safe trades.

2. Posting Quest Answers
Sometimes it takes us weeks to research, build and test a Quest. There is nothing worse than watching all of this hard work go down the drain when the Quest answers are posted online just a few minutes after the Quest has gone live. It's fine to offer hints, but many players instead take the easy way out and just look them up before they even try to perform the Quest. You can thank all posters that reveal Quest answers for forcing us to add minimum score requirements to Quests. Sure, it would be easier for us to just sell the items but I believe many people enjoy the feeling and satisfaction that comes from completing a Quest.

3. Mules
A Mule is an account that is created and used just once or twice to gain items or credits. While it's OK to have a few different accounts/characters to play with, there are some players who have hundreds of characters, and rarely use them. If you are a player that has lots of Mules (more than 50) beware, we're now cracking down on these players and will start banning accounts.

4. Not Informing Staff of Player Issues
I've seen too many players (and even some CL's) who are aware of something they don't inform staff about. One example that comes to mind is seeing a player back in the game that was previously banned. If you see a player who was banned but is back under a new name, please inform the staff immediately. Players are banned for a reason and we don't want them back. Another issue is knowing about a cheat or exploit and not saying anything -- even if you personally don't take advantage of the cheat. To those players that DO INFORM US of these issues, I say thank you.

5. Players Not Helping Others
As VMK grows, we have more and more new players that are unfamiliar with the game. New players don't know exactly what to do and sometimes ask lots of questions. Please, do me a favor, help them out. Because by doing so, you make VMK a better place. Wrapping Up...
There's nothing worse than to have our hard work or your game experience spoiled by cheaters or people who don't care about the VMK community. You CAN make a difference. With that in mind I can tell you about a new program we're getting ready to roll out that rewards good deeds in the game. That's right, if we see a player do something special or out of the ordinary to make the community better you may just win a VMK Gold Star. I've asked all the hosts and mods to keep an eye out for players that go above and beyond the call of duty, the Gold Star award is our little way of saying thank you.

Now onward and upward! We have some major changes coming just around the corner, and as I mentioned before, improved trading is just one of them. You want to know more? Sorry, you'll have to wait till next week, but I will say this... how about being able to wear more pins? Would say, 15 make you happy? VMK Happenings As for Tron Month, that awesome MCP Poster is on sale now and the next Tron pin will be released this Friday. I have to get back to work and finish that Halloween Quest -- you should continue reading the Newsletter, be sure to check out the new sections too, like Push's Trash Trivia and Dear Yeti! OK, until next week... See you in VMK, Yavn

So there's the answer to most of our problems!

 

[Hank's R&R]

Thats right, those are just the highlights of todays newsletter.

15 pins
New Halloween Quest
New Trading System (includes # of magic stars)
New Gold Star system for rewarding helpful players
Yavn's reaction to mules

 

[LuNaReVe]

LOL thats kewl!

 

[darkacre]

Yavn Speaks
...
4. Not Informing Staff of Player Issues
I've seen too many players (and even some CL's) who are aware of something they don't inform staff about. One example that comes to mind is seeing a player back in the game that was previously banned. If you see a player who was banned but is back under a new name, please inform the staff immediately. Players are banned for a reason and we don't want them back. Another issue is knowing about a cheat or exploit and not saying anything -- even if you personally don't take advantage of the cheat. To those players that DO INFORM US of these issues, I say thank you.

Uh oh, Nanoer, I mean Nanocloneon. Yavn wants me to rat you out!

 

[jmdude]

in the newsletter it said no posting quests how will most of us on dis find the answer plz post quests

 

[Melp]

Well actually he said that they did not like that the answers were coming out right after the quest is posted. They would not mind if there were hints posted maybe, but would like more people to try to figure out the answers more.

I know I can understand his point because I have found myself relying on these answers that are posted a bit more than I should instead of trying to figure the answers out myself. Though without the spoiler post it would have taken me forever to get the tron quest done lol.

 

[milkabum]

4. Not Informing Staff of Player Issues
I've seen too many players (and even some CL's) who are aware of something they don't inform staff about. One example that comes to mind is seeing a player back in the game that was previously banned. If you see a player who was banned but is back under a new name, please inform the staff immediately. Players are banned for a reason and we don't want them back. Another issue is knowing about a cheat or exploit and not saying anything -- even if you personally don't take advantage of the cheat. To those players that DO INFORM US of these issues, I say thank you.

This goes for you Nano. A few of us are upset that you have been able to walka round the ban while people like DisniPlaya cannot.

 

[TheElfofSeasons]

Hmm, here is a question I know concerns some of those that may have created mules back in the day when credits were hard to come by . . .

Does that newsletter mean STOP with the mules and freely use the ones that have already been made ( like my season giving self) OR

To those that have already created oh so many mules " watch out your number is up!" you are going to get banned!?!

 

[Mnementh]

It just sounded like he was saying that those people who had 50 or more mules should be careful.

 

[bopper]

To me part of the problem with some of the quests is that it relies on specific knowledge of a movie that I do not have. I also do not really have the time to watch all of the movies to get the answers. Or maybe I don't really know how tall a ride in Typhoon Lagoon is. I have been to Typhoon Lagoon, I have ridden the rides, but there is only so much time I am going to spend on investigating specific ride statistics. For other quests, I try to do them without any help.

 

[Adventuredaz]

Hmm, here is a question I know concerns some of those that may have created mules back in the day when credits were hard to come by . . .

Does that newsletter mean STOP with the mules and freely use the ones that have already been made ( like my season giving self) OR

To those that have already created oh so many mules " watch out your number is up!" your going to get band!?!

I am going to take a stab at this one. As with so many things it was a little vague for the serious warning of impending doom that it is.

I think much of this will depend on how they intend to implement this and what criteria they use to make there determinations. I think he is saying if you have 50 some of your people may fall into the category, since many accounts would be inactive 30+ days. Many web account based services/activities use inactivity to determine if they will cancel your account.

This would be their best method because it would give an opportunity to reinstate if you have proper information on the account and a legitimate e-mail attached. I can’t say however this is how they would work it. Who knows with them? They could also look at number per account or IP or trade history. I don’t believe they are saying you will be banned for having multiple accounts; only some of those accounts will be banned to eliminate clutter I am guessing

There still really no specific violation of the TOS or VMK values by using “mules” but VMK has the right to ban an account for whatever they decide at whatever time – it is their “house”. I firmly believe that there are many legitimate usages of multiple accounts, and that other then the free codes offered out there (only like 1500 credits maybe?) Credits and items are for the most part still earned and bought.

Many of the Dis folk obtained a ton of mules during a time you could buy Spider Web room dividers with the free credit and resell them for decent return. Other have them for secret friends others have an extra to get gender specific items others to hide. Least we forget actual family members and made in park characters that I think they encourage. The only case I see a mule actually violating any terms is if it is to work around a ban. I will most likely collect my belongings on a few I have hanging out there and delete the accounts but it requires time so they may get zapped first, again who knows?

 

[TheElfofSeasons]

So should my owner delete all unused accounts?
I know she/he has about 30 mules that he/she uses regularly either as storage, to hide from others( LOL) , to gift without being known, etc, etc.

BUT and i mean a HUGE however, he/she has had over the course of the start of vmk made, as you mentioned during halloween and christmas and various trips to DLR, at least over one hundred mules no longer in use.

What concerns me is that he/she will be banned because of actions taking before a formal warning was announced. This is what concerns me.

 

[Goofy05]

What concerns me is that he/she will be banned because of actions taking before a formal warning was announced. This is what concerns me.

I have to agree! There was never any doubt that Yavn knew about the mules. He also stated he disagreed with them, but mules did not break any of the VMK Values. They still don't. This concerns me. Yavn stated that those players who have over 50 other accounts could be banned. He cites "fairness" in his message. Okay. Fair would be to start watching for massive amounts of NEW mule accounts, starting today. Not yesterday, not last week, not last year. In a sense of "fairness" to everyone, this should be an addition to the VMK Values and anyone with previous mules should be left with a clean slate.
Delete the old, unused accounts to free up storage space. But to ban the player who created them? Not quite fair.
Just my two cents, of course.

I do agree with him on the posting of spoilers. Too many players post even the easiest of answers. A bit extreme, as most quests are easy enough to do without any help whatsoever. I do think though, that some of the tasks on the special pins and rooms are a bit too hard for a lot of players. Let's face it, I stink at the new pirates game and fireworks. When I see a quest that involves a high fireworks score, it can take me the entire weekend to do that one quest. How many of us have that kind of time?

Gold stars. Hmm..I'm not too sure about showing this kind of favoritism, either. There are a lot of players who may never be recognized for being helpful. For those players to see a gold star on others may cause more problems.

Reporting known banned players. Well, there really is no way most of us will ever know if a player was previously banned, so I find this a bit odd. I know for myself I rarely know if someone was banned or for how long or for what reason.

I like the idea of the 15 pin lanyard, but would really like a board or album that I can place all my pin sets on to display. I don't have 15 magic pins. LOL

Nice to see a better trade window, too. I hear too many stories of people getting ripped off by trading for more than 1* magic pins. Sad. We should really be able to separate the magic pins. Then they would have to be traded as 1*, eliminating any doubt.

Okay, flame away. I'm sure there are many who will disagree with my opinions.

 

[Adventuredaz]

Gold stars. Hmm..I'm not too sure about showing this kind of favoritism, either. There are a lot of players who may never be recognized for being helpful. For those players to see a gold star on others may cause more problems.

There are a few under lying questions with this. 1st, will vmk have to pay royalties to Dr. Suess and 2nd, will Sneetches be added to the dictionary.

Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches
Had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches
Had none upon thars.

 

[Pirate-Emery]

in the newsletter it said no posting quests how will most of us on dis find the answer plz post quests

Here is what I posted in the other Yavn Speaks thread:

2. The Quest Walkthroughs: These go hand in hand also. It is a never ending cycle. (a). The players make walkthroughs for the Quests. (b). VMK has to make harder mini-game requirements. (c). The players have to depend on walkthroughs in order answer questions right (as opposed to having to beat that Fireworks score again if they miss the answer). (d). Rinse and Repeat.

 

[Disneyfan_77]

Yavn Speaks

Welcome again to this week's Newsletter! . . .

Sure, it would be easier for us to just sell the items but I believe many people enjoy the feeling and satisfaction that comes from completing a Quest.

I don't know about you, but I remember quest free days being more fun! Playing the fireworks or pirates games endlessly hoping to be able to buy at least 10 bat magics! THAT to me was more satisfying then playing a quest I can only do once!

 

[BriarRosie]

Okay, flame away. I'm sure there are many who will disagree with my opinions.

Oh no, I agree with what you said. I'm thrilled that the trades will start
to show combined magic pins, eliminating scams from that quarter.

And 15-pin lanyards? Woot!
Well, it's a good start for us pin collectors.

As for gold stars, how many people read that and had the visual of the
gold star on our foreheads? (C'mon, it can't just be my warped sense of
the absurd!) It's a nice incentive, but many people are helpful without
rewards. I think it does open up resentment for the players (I'm guessing
the younger kids) who really would be disappointed by not getting the gold
star.

And reporting players we know have been banned. Well, I am guilty of sitting
back and watching players who have been permanently banned post here
flaunting getting around the ban. I just expected that since VMK staff
reads these boards, they would see the blatant nose-thumbing and take
action without our reporting these players.

I really agree with your stance on putting a Grandfather Clause on people
with more than 50 mules. At least where bans on their main characters are
concerned. I have friends in the game who have WAY more than 50, but
they haven't created new mules in ages. (In case anyone wondered, I
have more than 10, less than 20 myself.) Many of them were made in the
park so I could give black ears to friends.

If there was a way to BUY the black ears at VMK Central in the parks, I'd
willing do so if it meant avoiding creating new mules.

Yavn did bring up a lot of valid complaints on the VMK point of view.
I'm not a big fan of quest spoilers for the easy quests, but I have found
the movie spoilers helpful. I have not seen High School Musical and wouldn't
know how to find the answers without seeing it at the time. Some of the
quests cover really obscure things. General Disney trivia I can handle.
Specific knowledge of "Air Bud"....not so much. Uh, not at ALL.

Ok, my ramble is done.

 

[Adventurejimbob]

Looks like he has been listening. 15-pin Lanyard!! Awesome, because I can never show all the pins I want to. This new trading is really going to be cool because I will finally be able to trade my combined pins with the other person's trust

However, there is one problem with the Gold Star Award thing.. and that would be bringing in a mule in front of Staff and faking it. They are really going to have to check that the people aren't from the same I.P. address. Otherwise, this is awesome, I can't wait for next week!

 

[laxplaya1346]

Well no more mules for me, not taking the risk anymore. As I have over 50

 

[JulyGirl]

Well no more mules for me, not taking the risk anymore. As I have over 50

When I first started, it was impossible to buy anything without creating mules. The games paid NOTHING. When those Spalsh Mountain tracks came out, I had to resort to mules if I wanted any. Now, games pay much better and I rarely use the mules I'd hate to get banned over a practice that was NEVER mentioned in the VMK values. Does not seem fair to me.