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{{Infobox video game | |||
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|title = Virtual Magic Kingdom | |||
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|caption = ''Virtual Magic Kingdom'' official logo | ||
|developer = ]<br />] | |||
|image= ] | |||
|publisher = Walt Disney Parks and Resorts | |||
|caption= | |||
|designer = Fiona Romeo,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/02/organizing-a-museum-can-take-a-lesson-from-design-and-digital-media/|title=Organizing a museum can take a lesson from design and digital media|publisher=]|author=Cornish, David|date=February 24, 2013|access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> Seth Mendelsohn, Jeremy Malillin | |||
|developer= ]<br />] | |||
|engine = ] | |||
|publisher= Walt Disney Parks and Resorts | |||
|released = May 23, 2005 | |||
|distributor= | |||
|genre = ] | |||
|designer= | |||
|modes = ] | |||
|series= | |||
|platforms = ], ] | |||
|engine= | |||
|version= | |||
|released= {{flagicon|USA}} ], ] | |||
|genre= ] | |||
|modes= ] | |||
|ratings= | |||
|platforms= ] | |||
|media= | |||
|requirements= ] with ] Player plugin | |||
|input= ], ] | |||
}} | }} | ||
] | |||
Disney's '''Virtual Magic Kingdom''', also known simply as '''VMK''', is a free ] run by ] Online. It is a ] representation of the ] and ] ], and it contains areas and games which are based on real park attractions and scenery. According to one of the newsletters, VMK was launched also in celebration of the Happiest Celebration on Earth. | |||
'''''Virtual Magic Kingdom''''', also known as '''''VMK''''', was a ] developed by ] and ] and published by ]. It was a ] representation of the ]-style ], containing areas and minigames which were based on real park scenery and attractions. The ] opened publicly on May 23, 2005, with new lands opening up through 2007. | |||
A VMK player can chat with other players; customize the appearance of his character; explore the areas in each virtual "land"; visit other players' guest rooms and decorate his own; purchase and collect virtual pins, shirts, posters, and furniture and trade them with other players make and play quests; play minigames (see '']'' below); and search for "]" (see '']'' below). Items in the game have no "real-world" significance, and are purchased with in-game "credits" which have no connection to real money. The game's rules and staff make an effort to keep the game safe for children by preventing players from learning each other's real-life identities. | |||
''VMK'' initially launched as part of the ] promotional campaign, commemorating Disneyland's 50th anniversary. Despite no long-term intentions, it gained popularity and eventually became a long-term venture on its own. The ] of the game was children between the ages of 8 and 14, although ''VMK'' was designed to be enjoyed by guests of all ages. Due to the young age of the game's target users, it was patrolled by paid staff who watched out for inappropriate behavior and language. Because of the need for human monitors, the time that the game was open had to be limited; it was open to the public daily between 7:00am–10:00pm ] (10:00am–1:00am ], 3:00pm–6:00am ]). | |||
The game is in operation daily between 10:00am and 1:00am ] (7:00am-10:00pm ], 2:00pm-5:00am ]). | |||
''Virtual Magic Kingdom'' was closed by Disney on May 21, 2008. Many fans asked Disney if ''VMK'' was going to reopen. This prompted Disney to post a message on the ''VMK'' homepage that the game was a promotion, and was closed, and that there were "no plans" to reopen ''VMK'' in any form. The ''VMK'' homepage now redirects to the main Disney games site. An unofficial fan recreation named MyVMK was launched in 2013. | |||
The ] opened publicly on ], ] with ], ], and ] available to players. The "beta" designation was removed on ]. The ] game area was made available on ], and ] opened on ]. The rest of Tomorrowland opened on ], ]. On ], ], ] was added. | |||
== History == | |||
The ] uses ]. Virtual Magic Kingdom was created by The ], the company that also created the online multiplayer game ], and it bears a few similarities to that game. | |||
=== Early history (1995–2004) === | |||
In 1995, ] greenlit a pitch from ] art director Terry Dobson to create a CD-ROM adventure game set at a Disney theme park. In this iteration, which was the first to be called ''Virtual Magic Kingdom'', a stylized park would be overrun by villains during a special after-hours visit. The project was overseen by ].<ref>{{Cite podcast|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Izz76S5UKg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/2Izz76S5UKg |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Interview with Roger Holzberg, Senior Producer for the EPCOT "MILLENNIUM CELEBRATION"|website=The Tiara Talk Show|last=Tuckey|first=Tammy|date=2018-08-25|access-date=2021-10-23}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The game was developed from 1996 to 1998, but was ultimately cancelled. The work on the Fantasyland portion was repurposed into the 1999 game '']''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Salas|first=Jacob|date=2021-10-21|title=One Name, Two Games: Virtual Magic Kingdom|url=https://pophistory.club/feature/virtual-magic-kingdom/|website=Pop History}}</ref> | |||
Holzberg and Dobson reunited at Imagineering, then were recruited separately for a new Parks and Resorts Online unit around 2003. After being introduced to Sulake, who were attempting to expand beyond their breakout service ''Habbo Hotel'' (now '']''), they collaborated on a pitch demo set in Adventureland. According to Holzberg, the new pitch leaned heavily on its value to sell tickets to Disney parks.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
A new player begins by registering an account at "http://www.vmk.com". The player then sets up a character (an ]) and selects the character's gender and appearance (shirt, shoes, pants, hair, hat, face, and colors for skin and hair). The player will type in a name, but until the VMK staff approve the name they requested, their name will be Guest, followed by the number of player that they are (E.x. Guest7402548). If the name is not approved the VMK staff would let them create another name. The player also selects a "guest room", his or her own themed area which can be decorated with furniture, posters, a boat canal, train tracks, game items, or other material. One room is provided for free, and additional rooms can be purchased later with in-game credits. The player can enter a few lines of text, known as a "(signature)", which will be displayed in the character's publicly-visible profile. The character is then given a few tradeable items (mostly ]s), and is placed in the game. | |||
=== Launch (2005–2008) === | |||
A player can also choose from a list of randomly-selected adjective-adjective-noun names presented to him or her; if he chooses one of these names, it does not need to be approved. | |||
The ] opened publicly on May 23, 2005, with three virtual lands to explore: ], ], and ]. This "beta" designation was removed on June 27. The ] game area was made available on October 5, and ] opened on December 12. The rest of Tomorrowland opened on April 4, 2006, and ], the final land added, opened on January 8, 2007. | |||
On June 24, 2005, the Parks and Resorts Online team filed a patent for their integration of real-life and virtual theme park rewards in ''VMK''.<ref>{{Cite patent|number=US7396281B2|title=Participant interaction with entertainment in real and virtual environments|gdate=2008-07-08|invent1=Mendelsohn|invent2=Dobson|invent3=Holzberg|invent4=Voris|inventor1-first=Seth|inventor2-first=Terry M.|inventor3-first=Roger S.|inventor4-first=Jeff|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US7396281B2/en}}</ref> | |||
A visitor to the Magic Kingdom (in Florida) can create a character at a special VMK kiosk. A character created in a park will start with additional credits and items, and its profile has a special "Born in the Park" icon in it. A park visitor can go on "Quests" in these two theme parks to win trading cards with codes on them which award in-game items. The purchase of certain items, such as a gold mouse ears (no longer available) hat or a collectible pin, will grant a collectible card with a code to obtain an item in the game. | |||
===Closure=== | |||
These Quests were only supposed to be temporary and were dragged out longer than expected. Now The VMK-Disney Park partnership is closed, meaning in-park guests can not go on any more quests in neither the ] nor ]. However, some VMK cards are still available to guests that purchase objects from certain stores inside parks. | |||
Disney closed VMK on May 21, 2008, at 1:00 AM EST. Immediately after the press release, changes were made to prevent the creation of any new accounts. | |||
Online petitions were created to attempt to change Disney's decision, and some players attempted to arrange a protest outside of the entrance to Disneyland, and approximately a dozen people showed up. On Thanksgiving weekend of 2008, suspicion arose when emails from VMK's server were sent out saying they were testing the player's account. These emails were proved to be false.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522125148/http://ocresort.freedomblogging.com/2008/05/10/fans-protest-end-of-virtual-disney-site-in-front-of-disneyland/|date=May 22, 2008}}</ref> Ultimately, these actions had no effect, and VMK was shut down as scheduled. The VMK website was updated with information to quell repeated rumors that the game would be resurrected (and at one point, provided promotional subscriptions for other Disney Online games), but was taken down entirely in November; the VMK URL currently directs users to the "Games" section of Disney.com instead of the VMK homepage. | |||
The game's rules are posted on the VMK web site as "VMK Values" which are intended to help the game to become "a safe, non-threatening environment" because many players are between the ages of eight and fourteen. The rules prohibit sexual or racist language, harassment, divulging personal information, and attempts to ] the system. Violations can result in a permanent ban, which prevent users from using VMK in the computer the violation occurred in. Despite this, attempted violations are quite common, and people attempt to get around the edited speech by formulating single words out of multiple words (ie: saying "I'm Tree Years Old"). Online dating also occurs, which is against the VMK values as well. | |||
Holzberg claimed in 2021 that ''VMK'' was "cannibalizing" the activity of '']'' and other Disney-related online services.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
==Environment== | |||
A fan-made recreation of the game launched in 2013 as ''MyVMK'' has amassed a community of former players and is still presently operating. It has no affiliation with the Walt Disney Company.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.myvmk.com |title=MyVMK}}</ref> | |||
The Virtual Magic Kingdom consists of "Disney Land", each depicted in ], and each with a distinct theme. Each room has at least one exit which leads to another room. | |||
No more than 15 characters can occupy a room at any one time. If a player tries to enter someone's guest room which already contains fifteen characters, he will be put into a queue to wait to enter. (A player can request a free "VMK pass" if there are more than five people in the queue; this allows him or her to walk around freely in other rooms until it is his turn to enter.) The public rooms all have multiple "instances", named after compass directions (such as the "North-East-East" instance), and each instance can have up to fifteen characters in it. When moving around the public rooms, a character will be randomly placed in an instance of a room unless the player checks the "Advanced Mode" box, in which they can select an instance for his or her character to enter. | |||
During October, all the rooms along Main Street are decorated for Halloween. In 2005, the decorations were left up until December; in 2006 and 2007, Christmas décor appeared immediately after Halloween. | |||
==Gameplay== | |||
=='''Guest Rooms'''== | |||
] | |||
When a player first creates their character in the game, they are given one free "guest room", which they can name and decorate with items. If the player is creating their character in a park, then they are given another room (one of each available choice), as a bonus. Several other kinds of rooms are also available; a player can purchase/get them in the game. | |||
The ''Virtual Magic Kingdom'' consisted of "Disney Lands", each depicted in ], and each with a distinct theme. | |||
No more than 15 characters could occupy a room at any time. If a player tried to enter a guest room which already contained fifteen characters, they would be put into a queue to wait to enter. A player could request a free "VMK pass" if there were more than five people in the queue for a room; this allowed them to walk around freely in other rooms until it was their turn to enter. The public rooms all had multiple "instances", named after compass directions (such as the "North-East-East" instance), and each instance could have up to fifteen characters in it. When moving around the public rooms, a character would be randomly placed in an instance of a room unless the player checked the "Advanced Mode" box, in which they could select a specific instance for their character to enter. | |||
The shops sell a wide variety of items, such as posters, couches, water fountains, and rugs, which can be used to decorate guest rooms. Some of these items are only sold for a limited time, and some can only be obtained as quest prizes. Pictures taken with the in-game camera can be hung on guest room walls, or put into a photo book for public view. | |||
During October, all the rooms along Main Street were decorated for ]. In 2005, the decorations were left up until December; in 2006 and 2007, ] décor appeared immediately after Halloween. | |||
Players can also create games in their rooms (making sure to follow VMK guidelines of appropriateness), and award some of their own items to players. Among the most popular of these are, "Cute or Boot", best described as a beauty pageant, "Falling Chairs", a game where the owner of the room drops chairs while the players race to them, and the last one standing loses, and "Don't Hit the Floor!" in which a maximum of 6 contestants stand on boxes, a roulette displays a number, "Dress Like Me!", a game where you dress like the owner, "Where that hat!", where you wear the same hat as the owner, and "Design a Room!", where the owner has a couple of rooms that are filled with items that you can move and the object is to design the best room. | |||
Players whose characters met in the same room at the same time could become "friends": one issued an invitation to the other, and if the other accepted, then each player would always be able to see when the other was online and in what game location, and would be able to jump instantly to the other character's location (unless blocked by a 'friends only' flag on the room, the presence of the friend's character within a game, or a 'special entrance' room). Either player could remove someone from their friends list at any time. | |||
Guest room owners have the ability to boot players from their room, if they are causing problems. This is done by opening the players' profile, and then selecting the red "boot" button. Players that are booted must wait a while before they can return to the room. | |||
==Guest rooms and awards== | |||
VMK Staff have also announced that along with the new ] land, there is an exclusive room based on the VIP Exclusive Disney Club, located in the real New Orleans Square, "Club 33". This room is used for some staff events and for some guests who have earned the privilege. The only way someone can rent a Club 33 room, is if they win the best guest room award. | |||
When a player first created their character in the game, they were given one free "guest room", which they could name and decorate with items. If the player was creating their character in a real-life park, then they were given another room (one of each available choice), as a bonus. Several other kinds of rooms were also available; a player could purchase/get them in the game. Players could set some of their items to be movable by their guests, a feature added sometime in late 2007 or early 2008. | |||
In-game shops sold a wide variety of items, such as posters, couches, water fountains, and rugs, which could be used to decorate guest rooms. Some of these items were sold only for a limited time, and some could only be obtained as prizes for completed quests. Pictures taken with the in-game camera could be hung on guest room walls, or put into a photo book for public view. | |||
Every week VMK staff award a Best Guest Room Award, Best Game Room Award, and a Best Quest Award pin to the owner of a guest room chosen to be superlative in originality and creativity. Winners of Best Guest Room not only get the Best Guest Room Award, but they also get to "rent" Club 33 for a party, which a VMK host will help the winner organize. Recently, several players have earned the Best Guest Room, Best Game Room, or Best Quest award more than once; the VMK staff now awards the VIP pin to these outstanding players. | |||
Players could also create games in their rooms (as long as the games followed VMK guidelines of appropriateness), and award some of their own items to players. Among the most popular of these were "Cute or Boot", best described as a beauty pageant/fashion contest, "Falling Chairs", a game where the owner of the room dropped chairs while other players raced to them, and "Don't Hit the Floor!" in which a maximum of six contestants stood on boxes. Two variations of "Cute or Boot" were "Dress Like Me!", a game where players tried to dress like the game's owner, and "Wear that hat!", where players wore the same hat as the owner. Another popular game was "Design a Room!", where the owner filled rooms with items that could be moved, and the object was for players to design the best room. A less popular one was "Survivor", where the owner asked a question and the first person to answer it correctly wins a point. | |||
A player can set his/her guest rooms so that only people on his or her friends list may enter. On ], ], "tickets" were added; a room owner is now able to sell (for 10 credits), or trade tickets to allow entry to his rooms. The tickets appear as single-use pins. | |||
Guest room owners had the ability to remove ("boot") a player from their room if the player was causing problems. Players that were "booted" had to wait set period of time before returning to the room. | |||
As of ], ] players could set some of their items to be movable by their guests by clicking on an item, followed by clicking "Item Info", and checking "Let Guests Move this Item". At the same time as above, players could also clear their room of items completely, by hitting the "i" button on the tool bar, and then selecting "Clear Room". | |||
If a character was in their own room, then they could be found by the Guest Rooms "search" button (which searched on the names of room owners as well as the names of rooms). Other than this, there was no way within the game to find out whether a particular other character not on a player's friends list was online or where they were located. | |||
As of March 2007, VMK Staff have begun "Room Makeovers", where VMK staff will randomly go into guest rooms, or ones submitted for one when the VMK player is online and in the room, and give their room a makeover if in need of one. Before and after pictures of the players' room are then posted each week on the VMK Newsletter. This concept is similar to Extreme Makeover Home Edition. If a player would like to have a room makeover, they are discouraged to make a room named anything along the lines of "I need a room makeover." | |||
In the ] land, there was an exclusive room based on the VIP Exclusive Disney Club, located in the real New Orleans Square, ]. This room was used for staff events and open to some guests who had won the best guest room award. | |||
During the Month of ], VMK ] Awarded a 'Best Pirate Room' award because April was 'Pirate Month.' The Prizes were ] ] ], ] ] and the seat that goes with it. A ] ] ] and other stuff. | |||
Each week, VMK staff awarded a Best Guest Room Award, Best Game Room Award, and a Best Quest Award pin to the owners of guest rooms chosen to be superlative in originality and creativity. Winners of Best Guest Room not only got the Best Guest Room Award, but they also were allowed to "rent" Club 33 for a party, which a VMK host helped the winner organize. Several players earned the Best Guest Room, Best Game Room, or Best Quest award more than once; the VMK staff awarded the VIP pin to these outstanding players. | |||
Some rooms are available in the Virtual Magic Kingdom from the shop button, others are available from quests, and some are no longer available at all. Players are encouraged to get guest rooms when quests come out, because that could be the only time they will ever be available. For example, the Tron Guest Room was from a quest that is no longer available, so players who did not finish the quest by a certain date, never received the Tron Guest Room. There are also codes for certain guest rooms. | |||
A player could set their guest rooms so that only people on their friends list could enter. On January 8, 2007, "tickets" were added; a room owner was then able to sell (for 10 credits) or trade tickets to allow entry to their rooms. The tickets appeared as single-use pins. | |||
As of June 2007, "pay-to-play" guest/game rooms are not allowed because it is considered scamming, though games like "Pirates of the Caribbean" are still allowed to ask for the minimum 21 credits. | |||
In March 2007, VMK Staff began "Room Makeovers", where VMK staff would go into randomly selected guest rooms, or guest rooms submitted by online players, and give the room a makeover if it was in need of one. Before and after pictures of the players' room were then posted each week on the VMK Newsletter. | |||
In January 2008, three new guest rooms were added to Main Street: Main Street Magic Shop in Central Plaza, Main Street Magic Shop Checkers (a new game at the Magic Shop), and the Penny Arcade on Main Street. | |||
During the month of April, VMK staff awarded a 'Best Pirate Room' award because April was 'Pirate Month'. Prizes included a "Seagull Nest Hat", a "Crow Barstool" and the seat that went with it, and a "Flaming Ransacked Window". | |||
==Games== | |||
The following ]s are available to play throughout the lands in the Virtual Magic Kingdom: | |||
Some rooms were available in the ''Virtual Magic Kingdom'' from the shop button, others were available from quests, and some had limited availability built-in. Players were encouraged to get guest rooms when quests came out, because that could be the only time they would ever be available. For example, the Tron Guest Room was from a quest that was available only for a time, so players who did not finish the quest by a certain date, never received the Tron Guest Room. There were also codes for certain guest rooms. | |||
* Magic Checkers: As of January 2008 a new game was revealed to the VMK public. This game is basically the same thing as ] and is only playable by two players at a time per room. This game like most other games in VMK offers a reward of credits and items. The amount of credits received by this game increases depending on the amounts won. | |||
*]: Two to four player on two teams, must be equal on both teams, either play a game of "Ship Battle" where one team must sink the other or a game of "Capture the Flag" where one team must bring the opposing team's flag to their base before the other team. Once the game is over, both teams get rewards in credits for their efforts. After every three wins on one level, a player receive a treasure chest magic key that will open a chest corresponding to the level of which the player won the key for. The prizes the player are awarded are from a list randomly chosen pirate related prizes that correspond to the level the key was awarded in. | |||
*Castle ]: Fireworks are launched into the sky and the player must click on each one with the correct symbol to detonate it. Pins and credits are awarded based on a player's performance. | |||
*] Photo Safari: The player pilots a safari boat and takes photos of animals while avoiding obstacles. 20 credits are awarded per game, not depending on score. | |||
*Street Party Music Game/Monorail Music Game: A player can ] ]s into a song for characters to dance to. Credits are awarded for editing songs and for playing them. | |||
*] Game: The Purple team and the Green team, with up to four players each, compete to capture ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. Best two out of three wins. | |||
*The VMK ]: The basic version of the VMK Trading Card Game ] was released ], ]. In this version, the player begins with a random deck of cards and play a computer opponent in a sort of ] type of game. Later versions including Power Play and an online versus mode are to be released later on in the year, along with customizable decks and winable rewards. | |||
In June 2007, "pay-to-play" guest/game rooms were disallowed because it was considered scamming, though games like "Pirates of the Caribbean" were still allowed to ask for the minimum 21 credits. | |||
There are also several places in Tomorrowland where credits can be earned. In Natilus Grotto and Shipwreck Graveyard, a player can collect shells that randomly pop up under water and receive one credit for every pearl they find. This game requires the Diving Suit magic pin, which can be obtained from an in-game quest. Another place to earn credits is the Autopia Space Race and the Mars race tracks. In this game, a player will drive over trophies to collect them, while also driving over gas cans to keep from running out of gas. For every trophy collected, each player will receive one credit. This game requires one of the four available Autopia car magic pins, which can be obtained from an in-game quest. It also requires an Autopia Driver's License. | |||
In January 2008, three new guest rooms were added to Main Street: Main Street Magic Shop in Central Plaza, Main Street Magic Shop Checkers (a new game at the Magic Shop), and the Penny Arcade on Main Street. | |||
The following minigames were available to play in the Tomorrowland Arcade until waterpark overlay: | |||
==Mini-games== | |||
*Airlock Escape: A ] with some similarity to ]; successful completion of all fifteen levels will award the player with Deep Sea Diving Boots, Deep Sea Diving Jacket, and Deep Sea Diving Trousers (Deep Sea Diving Helmet may be purchased in the Inner-Space store). | |||
The following ]s were available to play throughout the lands in the ''Virtual Magic Kingdom'': | |||
*Blast in Space: An ] similar to ]; the player pilots a spaceship to shoot rocks, and then receives awards for passing all sixteen levels. | |||
* Magic Checkers: Revealed to the VMK public in January 2008, this game was essentially ] and was playable by two players at a time per room. Like most other games in VMK, Magic Checkers offered a reward of credits and items. The amount of credits awarded by this game increased depending on the amounts won. The players were able to buy single use Magic Pins for this game to get an advantage over the other players. | |||
*Hyperspace Mountain: An action game where the player collects six "modules" throughout nine sectors. Obtaining all six modules wins rewards. | |||
* ]: Two to eight players, on two teams, either played a game of "Ship Battle" where one team must sink the other, or a game of "Capture the Flag" where one team must bring the opposing team's flag to their base before the other team. Once the game was over, both teams were rewarded with credits for their efforts. After every three wins on one level, a player received a treasure chest magic key that would open a chest corresponding to the level on which the player won the key. The prizes the player was awarded were from a list of randomly chosen pirate-related prizes that corresponded to the level the key was awarded in. | |||
* Castle Fireworks Remixed: Fireworks were launched into the sky and the player had to click on each one with the correct symbol to detonate it. Pins and credits were awarded based on a player's performance. | |||
* ] Photo Safari: The player piloted a safari boat and took photos of animals while avoiding obstacles. After the first time playing the game, 20 credits are awarded per game, no matter what the player's score. | |||
* Street Party Music Game/Monorail Music Game: A player could ] ]s into a song for characters to dance to. Credits were awarded for editing songs and for playing them. | |||
* ] Game: The Purple team and the Green team, with up to four players each, competed to capture ghosts in the mansion. | |||
* The VMK ]: The basic version of the VMK Trading Card Game was released on August 17, 2007. In this version, the player began with a random deck of cards and played a computer opponent in a sort of ] game. Other versions, along with customizable decks and rewards for winning, were released later as time went on. The game was never fully released due to technical issues and the game closing. | |||
There were also several places in Tomorrowland where credits could be earned. In Nautilus Grotto and Shipwreck Graveyard, a player could collect shells that randomly popped up under water and receive one credit for every pearl they found. This game required the Diving Suit magic pin, which could be obtained from an in-game quest. Another place to earn credits was the Autopia Space Race and the Mars race tracks. In this game, a player drove over trophies to collect them, while also driving over gas cans to keep from running out of gas. For every trophy collected, a player received one credit. This game required one of the four available Autopia car magic pins, which could be obtained from an in-game quest. It also required an Autopia Driver's License. | |||
==Events== | |||
''']''' opened on ], ] as Disney's first online ]. ] had began with a selection of furniture that was only released during the beta period. '''] ] ]''' is first awarded on ], during the Parade Special Event. | |||
Beta testing ended. Day One badges were awarded to all players who joined during the beta period and to those who joined on the week of ]. | |||
The following minigames were available to play in the Tomorrowland Arcade until waterpark overlay: | |||
The Virtual Magic Kingdom occasionally holds special events at which prizes are given out, this includes: | |||
* Airlock Escape: A ] with some similarity to '']''; successful completion of all fifteen levels rewarded the player with Deep Sea Diving Boots, Deep Sea Diving Jacket, and Deep Sea Diving Trousers (Deep Sea Diving Helmet could be purchased in the Inner-Space store). | |||
* Blast in Space: An ] similar to '']''; the player piloted a spaceship to shoot rocks, and then received awards for passing all sixteen levels. | |||
* Hyperspace Mountain: An action game where the player collected six "modules" throughout nine sectors and received the awards. | |||
==Events== | |||
''Parade and Scavenger Hunt'': During VMK's public beta testing phase, an event was held where players were told to gather on Main Street and "parade" along its length. Some parade "leaders" were awarded the Dancing Inferno magic pin, now considered rare to other players. Then a few staff members "hid" themselves in some rooms in the game, and the first people to find each of them were awarded prizes. | |||
''Virtual Magic Kingdom'' occasionally held special events at which prizes were given out. Special events included: | |||
* '''Parade and Scavenger Hunt (beta period)''': Players were told to gather on Main Street and "parade" along its length. Some parade "leaders" were awarded the ''Dancing Inferno Magic'' pin, later considered rare to other players. Then a few staff members "hid" themselves in some rooms in the game, and the first people to find each of them were awarded prizes. | |||
* '''Room Decorating Event''': Players were told to decorate their rooms to be judged for prizes. For a Celebration theme, players commemorated Disneyland's 50th anniversary. For a Space theme, players offered an interpretation of what "space" meant to them. Prizes were also given for answering trivia questions. | |||
* '''Dreams Month (September 2007)''': Hosts would be randomly walking around the park including guest rooms and handing out prizes. Some of these prizes included the Dreams room, which looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle, dream ears, dream pin, dream furniture, and many other items. Hosts would randomly walk around and players waiting in one room all day had difficulty finding them, therefore, players were encouraged to play VMK as they would normally to possibly win a prize. | |||
* '''Haunted Maze Event (October 2005)''': An easy maze, a medium maze, and a difficult maze were available for players to find their way through. Successfully completing the maze would award a prize. However, the event was plagued by server problems, resulting in queues of half an hour or more to get into the mazes, and some players were not able to enter the mazes at all or were bumped offline in the middle of them. | |||
* '''Gift-Giving Event (December 2005)''': A player could spend 500 credits to purchase a mystery gift which was given (in the game) to someone of their choosing on December 24. The gift turned out to be a green holiday wreath. | |||
* '''Yeti Quest (February 2006)''': Players could visit designated rooms to find photos; by stringing together the first letter of each pictured item, a player could spell the location where the Yeti was hiding, and submit the location for prizes. The answer was "Injun Joe's Cave", and everyone who sent in a correct answer won a snow carpet. | |||
* '''Ride-A-Thons''': VMK staff occasionally hosted "Ride-A-Thons", in which they prepared rides for players to enjoy. When a player reached the end of a ride, he was given a ride piece with which to create their own ride. Several rides usually ran at the same time to handle capacity. The more a player rode, the more of a single prize a player would receive, depending on the event. | |||
* '''Make-A-Room''': VMK staff occasionally hosted "Make A Ride Rooms", which allowed players to go into a certain teleporter and design a room. The player with the best design got a prize, and soon many other players started the same game. A blue flag would be placed in the room once the ride was judged. | |||
* '''Gingerbread Room Competition (December 2007)''': Players constructed a room using furniture items released during the month of December. The rooms were judged and the winners were given prizes that included a new shirt and hat that are different on boys than on girls. | |||
* '''Captain Blackheart's Treasure Hunt Quest (March 29 - April 1, 2008)''': The biggest VMK quest ever. The quest consisted of 75 different tasks, and required the player to navigate VMK, answer Disney Pirates of the Caribbean-related questions, and play games. The prize awarded was 75,000 credits and some items that were not immediately obtainable. There was also a smaller version of the quest, called ''Captain Blackheart's Mini Treasure Hunt Quest''. The smaller quest awarded 1000 credits. Captain Blackheart, as he is called, also hosted a small quest, but still quite large with the prize of 56,000 credits and many valuable items. | |||
==Quests== | |||
''Room Decorating Event'': Players were told to decorate their rooms to be judged for prizes. For a Celebration theme, players commemorated Disneyland's 50th anniversary. For a Space theme, players offered an interpretation of what "space" meant to them. Prizes were also given for answering trivia questions. | |||
===In-game=== | |||
In-game quests involved a series of tasks for a player, such as finding a specific room or an item in the room, changing one's outfit, saying a specific word, or winning a certain number of points in a minigame. There were two types of in-game quests: 'Q Button' quests, which players could start from anywhere in the game by pressing a button marked 'Q' on the game's taskbar; and kiosk quests, which were linked to a 'quest kiosk' item owned by a particular player or staff member. Successful completion of a quest usually awarded a prize. Each character could only complete each quest once. The Quests were timed and whoever completed the quest fastest would win a prize. | |||
===In-park=== | |||
''Dreams Month'': During September 2007 there was a dreams event. Hosts would be randomly walking around the parks including guest room and handing out prizes. Some of these prizes included the Dreams room, which looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle, dream ears, dream pin, and many other items. Hosts would randomly walk around and players waiting in one room all day had difficulty finding, therefore, players were encouraged to play vmk as they would normally to possibly win a prize. | |||
For the first two years of the game, there was an in-park quest program which permitted players to earn special in-game prizes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts. These quests were mostly eliminated in mid-2007, with the exception of an activity sheet and quest which was handed out to guests waiting in line at the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland until around January 2008. | |||
===Hidden Mickeys=== | |||
''Haunted Maze Event'': During October 2005, an easy maze, a medium maze, and a difficult maze were available for players to find their way through. Successfully completing the maze would award a prize. However, the event was plagued by server problems, resulting in queues of half an hour or more to get into the mazes, and some players were not able to enter the mazes at all or were bumped offline in the middle of them. | |||
There were fifty ] in the game, appearing as mouse-eared logos embossed onto scenery in rooms. Hunting for Hidden Mickeys could be a difficult task, as they were faint and rather difficult to see, and it could take time to earn enough credits to buy film to photograph the hidden Mickeys in-game. Almost every room had at least one, and some contained two. | |||
Credits and pins were awarded after finding certain numbers of Hidden Mickeys (a Bronze Mickey pin for finding ten, a Silver Mortimer pin for finding thirty, and a Gold Oswald pin and 500 credits for finding all fifty). Completing this hunt originally awarded a printable PDF coupon with a code for the Gold Design set of items, which could be obtained by redeeming the coupon at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom. | |||
''Gift-Giving Event'': In December 2005, a player could spend 500 credits to purchase a mystery gift which was given (in the game) to someone of his or her choosing on ]. The gift turned out to be a green holiday wreath. | |||
The locations of the Hidden Mickeys were changed on December 12, 2005. The new hunt was called "Hidden Mickey Quest Part II", and the new prize pins had "Part II" appended to their names. | |||
''Yeti Quest'': In February 2006, players could visit designated rooms to find photos; by stringing together the first letter of each pictured item, a player could spell the location where the Yeti was hiding, and submit his answer for prizes. The answer was "Injun Joe's Cave", and everyone who sent in a correct answer won a snow carpet. | |||
==Character profiles== | |||
''Ride-A-Thons'': VMK staff occasionally hosts "Ride-A-Thons", in which they prepare rides for players to enjoy. When a player reaches the end of a ride, he is given a ride piece with which to create his own ride. Several rides are usually running at the same time to handle capacity. The more a player rides the more of a single prize a player will receive, depending on the event. | |||
A new player began by registering an account at . The player then set up a character (an ]) and selected the character's gender and appearance (shirt, shoes, pants, hair, hat, face, and colors for skin and hair). The player chose a name for the avatar, but until the VMK staff approved the name they requested, their name was "Guest" followed by the number of player that they are (e.g. Guest7402548). If the name was not approved, the VMK staff would let the player create another name. The player also selected a "guest room", their own themed area which could be decorated with furniture, posters, a boat canal, train tracks, game items, or other material. One room was provided for free, and additional rooms could be purchased later with in-game credits. The player could enter a few lines of text, known as a "signature", which were displayed in the character's publicly visible profile. The character was then given a few tradeable items (mostly ]s), and was placed in the game. | |||
A player could also choose from a list of randomly selected "adjective-adjective-noun" names presented to them; if they chose one of these names, it did not need undergo staff approval. | |||
''Make-A-Room'':VMK staff occasionally host "Make A Ride Rooms", which allow players to go into a certain teleporter and design a room. The player with the best design will get a prize, and soon many other players started the same game. Note: this happened on April 2007, when the players were now allowed to move furniture if the person goes to the "Item Info" button in the furniture toolbar and if he goes to item info, he must check the option that says let guests move this item | |||
==Items== | |||
''Gingerbread Room Competition'': In December 2007 VMK launched the gingerbread room competition in which players constructed a room using furniture items released during the month of December. The rooms were judged and the winners were handed out prizes that include a new shirt and hat that are different on boys than on girls. | |||
There were many in-game items which were buyable. Other could be won or gained from the parks. These items included furniture, clothing, and pins. Most were tradeable, some were not. | |||
'' Captain Blackheart's Treasure Hunt Quest'' In March 2008, VMK created their biggest quest ever. The quest consisted of 63 questions, and required the player to navigate VMK, answer Disney Pirate's of the Caribbean-related questions, and play games. The prize awarded was 75,000 credits. Their was also a smaller version of the quest, called ''Captain Blackheart's Mini Treasure Hunt Quest''. The smaller quest awarded 1000 credits. Both quest started on March 29th, and ended on April 1st. | |||
==In-game quests== | |||
In-game quests involve a series of tasks for a player, such as finding a specific room or an item in the room, changing one's outfit, saying a specific word, or winning a certain number of points in a minigame. There are two types of in-game quests. 'Q Button' quests, which players can start from anywhere in the game by pressing a button marked 'Q' on the game's taskbar, and kiosk quests, which are linked to a 'quest kiosk' item owned by a particular player or staff member. Successful completion of a quest will usually award a prize. Each character can only complete each quest once. | |||
==In-park quests== | |||
For the first two years of the game, there was an in-park quest program which permitted players to earn special in-game prizes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts. These quests were mostly eliminated in mid-2007, with the exception of an activity sheet and quest which is handed out to guests waiting in line at the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland. As of January 2008 the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Quest is not being handed out any longer, making the In-Park Quest a thing of the past. | |||
==Items== | |||
===Badges=== | ===Badges=== | ||
Badges |
Badges were icons that appeared at the top of a player's information window and were visible to other players. Badges could not be traded: | ||
* Born In Park: given to a character created at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom. This was a green badge with a cutout silhouette of the Disneyland castle (this was also the symbol of VMK). | |||
* VIP: given via a prize card's code; the card was given after completing the in-park quests to become eligible for the special park tour. This badge was sometimes received by winning a mini-game or Host event. Note that this is different from the VIP pin, which was given the second time a player won a Best Guest Room or Best Game Room award. The badge was purple with white VIP lettering in the middle. | |||
*Born In Park: given to a character created at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom. | |||
* Here from Day 1: given to a character created during the "beta" stage (prior to June 27, 2005). This was a gold badge with a prominent "1" displayed in the middle. | |||
*VIP: given via a prize card's code; the card is given after completing the in-park quests to become eligible for the special park tour. (Note that this is different from the VIP pin, which is given the second time a player wins a Best Guest Room or Best Game Room award.) | |||
* VMK Staff: paid employees who helped safeguard players and/or hosted VMK games and events. This badge was the quintessential smiling Mickey Mouse face as seen at the start of the old cartoons. | |||
*Here from Day 1: given to a character created during the "beta" stage (prior to ], ]). | |||
* Testers: VMK staff that tested out items, and were seen around with their name as "QA_". Testers also held the VMK Staff badge. | |||
*VMK Staff: paid employees who help safeguard players and/or host VMK games and events; see '']'' above. | |||
* Community Leader: volunteers who helped with the game; their names began with "CL_" (discontinued on October 24, 2007). This badge was a blue badge with Mickey's sorcerer hat. After it was discontinued, former community leaders did not have the badge or the CL_ at the beginning of their title. | |||
*Testers: VMK staff that test out items, and seen around with their name "QA_". Testers also hold the VMK Staff badge. | |||
*Producers: These players hold the VMK Staff badge but they have no special prefix before their in game "title". For example, Yavn, one of the most common producers is not known as QA_Yavn nor VMK_Yavn. | |||
*Community Leader: volunteers who help with the game; their names begin with "CL_" (Discontinued on ], ]). | |||
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===Pins=== | ===Pins=== | ||
A character |
A character could "wear" up to fifteen pins so that other players could see them in their profile. Some pins could be purchased from shops in the game; others could only be obtained by completing in-park or in-game quests, by winning host games, or from a Non-Playable Character (NPC) such as Esmeralda. | ||
Usually a new pin |
Usually a new pin was released on weekends of a certain month in the Emporium for a limited time. These pins usually cost 500 credits and were often a part of a set. For example, during October 2006 a set of Halloween themed pins came out, and a new pin was released every weekend. However, by Monday the pin was no longer available, making it high in value. The next weekend however, a new pin in the set was released and it started all over again. | ||
"Magic pins" |
"Magic pins" could also be worn. When activated (from the magic wand icon at the bottom of the screen, or by typing the pin's magic word), they displayed a visual effect, such as the character driving a car or turning into a snowman. Each effect had a duration of only a few seconds and had to be allowed to "recharge" for a minute or so before another use. If a player had two or more of the same kind of magic pin, they could be combined for a longer effect and shorter delay between uses. There were also single-use magic pins which disappeared after being used once (or after a specific "expiration date"). Some magic pins were very expensive and only available for a short period of time; for example, the "Turn Into Bat Magic Pin" (only available in October) was priced at 10,000 credits. | ||
Some pins |
Some pins were not tradeable and could only be obtained through quests or host events. These pins included all single-use magic pins and all Tomorrowland quest pins. Any award pin, such as the best guest room award or the VIP pin, was also not tradeable. A player could check if a pin was tradeable by clicking the pin on a player's profile, which not only revealed whether a certain pin is available for trade or not, but also revealed who owned the pin and what effects (if any) the pin might have. | ||
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===Clothing=== | ===Clothing=== | ||
When a player |
When a player joined the kingdom, they received a pack of clothing along with a room and some furniture. Players that signed up at a Disney park sometimes received extra rewards. | ||
Occasionally, the VMK shops |
Occasionally, the VMK shops sold special clothing items (or entire costumes). Some of these were seasonal, and some could only be purchased during a specific weekend. These items were usually expensive; due to this and their limited availability, they soon became valuable items in trading. | ||
Some clothing items |
Some clothing items were only available to one gender. For example, boys could not have princess outfits (excluding the Princess Minnie hat), and girls could not have the Wildcats outfit. | ||
Full costumes |
Full costumes included spacesuits, princess outfits,(came in blue, yellow, pink) ] dress clothes, an ] hiking outfit, baseball uniforms, and football uniforms. | ||
Costume items |
Costume items included Mickey ears, and a variety of caps including ] and a Sorcerer Mickey hat and more. | ||
== |
==Credits== | ||
A player could earn credits, purchase them in one of Disney's Parks (the game's currency) also by visiting the Disney Characters or by playing minigames. | |||
There are fifty ] in the game, appearing as mouse-eared logos embossed onto scenery in rooms. Hunting for Hidden Mickeys can be a difficult task, as they are faint and rather difficult to see, and it can take time to earn enough credits to buy film. Almost every room has at least one, and some contain two. | |||
Another popular way to amass credits was called "Nedding". It consisted of playing the Shrunken Ned's Jungle Cruise game but trying to end the game as quickly as possible by crashing repeatedly and running out of fuel. Each time the game was played it awards 20 credits, so the credits that could be gotten from this game were limited only by the length of time someone wanted to put into it. | |||
Credits and pins are awarded after finding certain numbers of Hidden Mickeys (a Bronze Mickey pin for finding ten, a Silver Mortimer pin for finding thirty, and a Gold Oswald pin and 500 credits for finding all fifty). Completing this hunt used to award a printable PDF coupon with a code for the Gold Design set of items, which could be obtained by redeeming the coupon at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom. | |||
Accounts used specifically for getting credits and items, known in other games as ]s, were called "mules" (sometimes called "]"). Since the game let a player create new accounts freely, players created mules (named after the ]) to enter multi-use codes and collect credits by visiting Disney Characters. Players could buy items with a mule's credits, and then trade these items from the mules to their main characters. Players who used mules were said to be "muling", and in the game mules were called "done keys" (donkeys) due to the limited vocabulary. | |||
The locations of the Hidden Mickeys were changed on ], ]. The new hunt is called "Hidden Mickey Quest Part II", and the new prize pins have "Part II" appended to their names. | |||
Purchased items could be "sold back" for 20% of their purchase price, but some items were not able to be sold. For example, a quest kiosk could not be sold back or traded. | |||
==Disney Characters== | |||
A player is given 40 credits and a pin upon first visiting each of these ]s (NPCs) by double-clicking on him or her. Another 20 credits are given each time the player revisits the same Disney Character, as long as at least twelve hours have passed since the last payout. | |||
==Trading== | |||
NPC's that give out one pin on first visit: (NPC's called "Characters" in the game) | |||
Players could trade various items. Each player could put a maximum of fifteen items into a trade. | |||
*Captain Blackheart (in Pirate Treehouse) | |||
*Esmeralda the Fortuneteller (in Emporium) | |||
*Maleficent the Dragon (in Dungeon) | |||
*Shrunken Ned (in Shrunken Ned's Shop) | |||
*The Yeti (in Matterhorn) | |||
NPC's that do not give out pins: | |||
*Phineas the Hitchhiking Ghost (in Haunted Mansion Stretching Room) | |||
*Ezra the Hitchhiking Ghost (in Haunted Mansion Ballroom) | |||
*Gus the Hitchhiking Ghost (in Haunted Mansion Attic) | |||
*Gator Waiter (in The Blue Bayou) | |||
Clothing items that were only available for boys or girls could not be traded to the other gender. For example, a girl could not trade her princess outfit to a boy. | |||
As a result of having "won" the Voting Poll event (see '']'' above), the Dragon gave out 100 credits per visit from ] through 27, 2005, instead of the usual 20 credits. During the Yeti Quest event, the characters each gave higher credit awards than usual. | |||
Some players tried to take advantage of the trading window to scam other players, but most of the trading window scams were short-circuited by game developers adding confirmation notices. VMK stated that if a person agreed to all of these notices, any issues a player might have with the trade were due to their own negligence. | |||
]'s shoes can be seen beneath the curtain in the Golden Horseshoe Mercantile, and ] occasionally walks past a window above the Main Street Central Plaza, but no award is given for finding them. | |||
A player could report a scammer with the "Report" button in the game, or by using the "Contact Us" link on the web site. | |||
] | |||
"Push the Trashcan" sometimes appears in the game. Based on the roving, wisecracking ] seen in Disney theme parks (and named after the word PUSH on its trash door), Push visits guest rooms and interacts with players. Push was recently seen in Summer of 2007 in various guest rooms, in one case, the room he visited won the best guest room award. | |||
==Safety== | |||
==Acquiring credits== | |||
The game's rules were posted on the VMK web site as "VMK Values", which were intended to help the game stay "a safe, non-threatening environment" for the many players between the ages of eight and fourteen. The rules prohibited sexual or racist language, harassment, divulging personal information, and attempts to ] the system. Violations could result in a permanent ban, which prevented users from using VMK from the ISP the violation occurred on. Despite this, attempted violations were quite common, and people attempted to get around the edited speech by formulating single words out of multiple words (e.g.: saying "I'm Tree Ears Hold"). | |||
A player can earn credits by visiting the Disney Characters (see ''Disney Characters'' above), by playing the Castle Fireworks Remixed, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Haunted Mansion games, and by remixing and playing songs in the Street Party Music Game, or in the newer Monorail Mix Game. | |||
Every player had a report button on their profile. If one player thought of something that another player did as against the VMK values, that player could report them. The report was immediately sent to the VMK staff for review, and any necessary actions were taken against that player's account. Players could also send "emergency" messages to staff without clicking the report button on another player. The main reason for this was if something was wrong with the game (e.g.: "I logged in the morning, and all my credits were gone"). Action would be taken against a player's account for sending false or unnecessary reports. These were usually made in an attempt to bring a VMK staff member to their room, or in an effort for revenge. | |||
Another popular way to amass credits is called "Nedding". It consists of playing the Shrunken Ned's Jungle Cruise game but trying to end the game as quickly as possible by crashing repeatedly and running out of fuel. Each time the game is played it awards 20 credits, so the credits that can be gotten from this game are limited only by the length of time someone wants to put into it. | |||
Disney prohibited sharing personal information in the game (and its limited dictionary also added a technical obstacle to this). Disney's stated intent was to protect the safety and privacy of its members, but this also prevented members from having a legitimate way of reaching each other outside the game. Members of some Disney internet discussion forums got around this by indicating in their in-game signature a discussion board through which they could be reached. | |||
There are also several places in Tomorrowland where credits can be earned. In Nautilus Grotto and Shipwreck Graveyard, players can collect shells that randomly pop up under water and receive one credit for every pearl they find. This game also requires the Diving Suit magic pin, which can be obtained from an in-game quest. Another place to earn credits, is the Autopia Space Race and the Mars race tracks. In this game, each player will drive over trophies and collect them for one credit a piece, while also driving over gas cans to keep from running out of it. This game requires one of the four available Autopia car magic pins, which can be obtained from an in-game quest and may also require an Autopia driver's license. | |||
==In popular culture== | |||
Accounts used specifically for getting credits and items, known in other games as ]s, are called "mules". Since the game lets a player create new accounts freely, players create mules (named after the ]) to enter multi-use codes and collect credits by visiting Disney Characters. Players can buy items with a mule's credits, and then trade these items from the mules to their main characters. Players who use mules are said to be "muling", and in the game mules are called "done keys" (donkeys) due to the limited vocabulary. On the VMK web site, Yavn has expressed his dislike of mules and his intention to ban accounts of people with an "unbelievable" number of accounts (such as fifty for a single household) which could be mistaken as being mules. Some players use mules to take control of easy tasks, as finishing a quest and getting a Magic Pin, then trading it via another computer, to get an advantage in the game. Unfortunately, players use other quests like the Pirate Quests, where players can win a Treasure Detector Magic Pin, in which players walk around a certain area, and win some type of prize. The rarest prize of this event is the Dancing Inferno Pin. | |||
VMK has been a frequently used ] in '']'' series, written by ]. It serves as a ] point for the main characters, as well as a communication device as the kids venture through the Disney parks. After VMK closed down in real life, Pearson incorporated the closing into the books. | |||
==References== | |||
Purchased items can be "sold back" for 20% of their purchase price, but some items are not able to be sold. For example, a quest kiosk cannot be sold back or traded. (see trading) | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
==Community== | |||
Players whose characters meet in the same room at the same time can become "friends": one issues an invitation to the other, and if the other accepts, then each player will always be able to see if the other is online and in what game location, and will be able to jump instantly to the other character's location (unless blocked by a 'friends only' flag on the room or if the friend's character is within a game, or if it is a 'special entrance' room such as the exit from the Typhoon Lagoon to Waterpark Pool). Either player can remove someone from his friends list at any time. | |||
From January 2007, the owners of rooms can now buy special tickets which will allow the entrance only to those with tickets given by the owner. Due to the fact that long queues exist in VMK because of the limit of about 15 guest per room, VMK has a feature that became available in 2007 that allows a player to receive VMK Pass. A VMK Pass is pass that allows a player to wait in line for a certain room in the park while being able to explore other places as well. When the player is allowed to enter room, they have 20 seconds to enter the room or the player is forced out of the queue. | |||
If a character is in his own room, then he can be found by the Guest Rooms "search" button (because it searches on the names of room owners as well as the names of rooms). Other than this, there is no way within the game to find out whether a particular other character not on a players friends list is online or the place they are located. | |||
Disney prohibits sharing personal information in the game (and its limited dictionary also adds a technical obstacle to this). Disney's stated intent is to protect the safety and privacy of its members, but this also prevents members from having a legitimate way of reaching each other outside the game. Members of some Disney internet discussion forums get around this by putting certain phrases in their public signatures, a short bit of text which is visible to any other player who clicks on the character, to indicate a discussion board through which they can be reached. | |||
==Trading and scamming== | |||
<!-- Do Not Put Every Single Scam Issue or Trading Issue You Have Had! Thanks! --> | |||
Players can trade various items. Each player can put a maximum of fifteen items into a trade. | |||
Clothing items that are only available for boys or girls cannot be traded to the other gender. For example, a girl can not trade her princess outfit to a boy. | |||
Some players try to take advantage of the trading window to scam other players. Most of the trading window scams no longer work since the trading window now has several confirmation notices. VMK has stated that if a person agrees to all of these notices, any issues a player may have with the trade are due to their own fault. | |||
A player can report a scammer with the "Report" button in the game, or by using the "Contact Us" link on the web site. | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
* | * at | ||
* website | |||
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] | |||
] | ] | ||
] | ] | ||
] | ] | ||
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Latest revision as of 22:08, 15 January 2024
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Virtual Magic Kingdom | |
---|---|
Virtual Magic Kingdom official logo | |
Developer(s) | Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Sulake Corporation |
Publisher(s) | Walt Disney Parks and Resorts |
Designer(s) | Fiona Romeo, Seth Mendelsohn, Jeremy Malillin |
Engine | Adobe Shockwave |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
Release | May 23, 2005 |
Genre(s) | Massively multiplayer online game |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Virtual Magic Kingdom, also known as VMK, was a massively multiplayer online game developed by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Sulake and published by The Walt Disney Company. It was a virtual representation of the Disneyland-style theme parks, containing areas and minigames which were based on real park scenery and attractions. The beta version opened publicly on May 23, 2005, with new lands opening up through 2007.
VMK initially launched as part of the Happiest Celebration on Earth promotional campaign, commemorating Disneyland's 50th anniversary. Despite no long-term intentions, it gained popularity and eventually became a long-term venture on its own. The target audience of the game was children between the ages of 8 and 14, although VMK was designed to be enjoyed by guests of all ages. Due to the young age of the game's target users, it was patrolled by paid staff who watched out for inappropriate behavior and language. Because of the need for human monitors, the time that the game was open had to be limited; it was open to the public daily between 7:00am–10:00pm PST (10:00am–1:00am EST, 3:00pm–6:00am UTC).
Virtual Magic Kingdom was closed by Disney on May 21, 2008. Many fans asked Disney if VMK was going to reopen. This prompted Disney to post a message on the VMK homepage that the game was a promotion, and was closed, and that there were "no plans" to reopen VMK in any form. The VMK homepage now redirects to the main Disney games site. An unofficial fan recreation named MyVMK was launched in 2013.
History
Early history (1995–2004)
In 1995, Disney Interactive greenlit a pitch from Imagineering art director Terry Dobson to create a CD-ROM adventure game set at a Disney theme park. In this iteration, which was the first to be called Virtual Magic Kingdom, a stylized park would be overrun by villains during a special after-hours visit. The project was overseen by Roger Holzberg. The game was developed from 1996 to 1998, but was ultimately cancelled. The work on the Fantasyland portion was repurposed into the 1999 game Disney's Villains' Revenge.
Holzberg and Dobson reunited at Imagineering, then were recruited separately for a new Parks and Resorts Online unit around 2003. After being introduced to Sulake, who were attempting to expand beyond their breakout service Habbo Hotel (now Habbo), they collaborated on a pitch demo set in Adventureland. According to Holzberg, the new pitch leaned heavily on its value to sell tickets to Disney parks.
Launch (2005–2008)
The beta version opened publicly on May 23, 2005, with three virtual lands to explore: Main Street, U.S.A., Fantasyland, and Adventureland. This "beta" designation was removed on June 27. The Tomorrowland game area was made available on October 5, and Frontierland opened on December 12. The rest of Tomorrowland opened on April 4, 2006, and New Orleans Square, the final land added, opened on January 8, 2007.
On June 24, 2005, the Parks and Resorts Online team filed a patent for their integration of real-life and virtual theme park rewards in VMK.
Closure
Disney closed VMK on May 21, 2008, at 1:00 AM EST. Immediately after the press release, changes were made to prevent the creation of any new accounts.
Online petitions were created to attempt to change Disney's decision, and some players attempted to arrange a protest outside of the entrance to Disneyland, and approximately a dozen people showed up. On Thanksgiving weekend of 2008, suspicion arose when emails from VMK's server were sent out saying they were testing the player's account. These emails were proved to be false. Ultimately, these actions had no effect, and VMK was shut down as scheduled. The VMK website was updated with information to quell repeated rumors that the game would be resurrected (and at one point, provided promotional subscriptions for other Disney Online games), but was taken down entirely in November; the VMK URL currently directs users to the "Games" section of Disney.com instead of the VMK homepage.
Holzberg claimed in 2021 that VMK was "cannibalizing" the activity of Toontown Online and other Disney-related online services.
A fan-made recreation of the game launched in 2013 as MyVMK has amassed a community of former players and is still presently operating. It has no affiliation with the Walt Disney Company.
Gameplay
The Virtual Magic Kingdom consisted of "Disney Lands", each depicted in isometric projection, and each with a distinct theme.
No more than 15 characters could occupy a room at any time. If a player tried to enter a guest room which already contained fifteen characters, they would be put into a queue to wait to enter. A player could request a free "VMK pass" if there were more than five people in the queue for a room; this allowed them to walk around freely in other rooms until it was their turn to enter. The public rooms all had multiple "instances", named after compass directions (such as the "North-East-East" instance), and each instance could have up to fifteen characters in it. When moving around the public rooms, a character would be randomly placed in an instance of a room unless the player checked the "Advanced Mode" box, in which they could select a specific instance for their character to enter.
During October, all the rooms along Main Street were decorated for Halloween. In 2005, the decorations were left up until December; in 2006 and 2007, Christmas décor appeared immediately after Halloween.
Players whose characters met in the same room at the same time could become "friends": one issued an invitation to the other, and if the other accepted, then each player would always be able to see when the other was online and in what game location, and would be able to jump instantly to the other character's location (unless blocked by a 'friends only' flag on the room, the presence of the friend's character within a game, or a 'special entrance' room). Either player could remove someone from their friends list at any time.
Guest rooms and awards
When a player first created their character in the game, they were given one free "guest room", which they could name and decorate with items. If the player was creating their character in a real-life park, then they were given another room (one of each available choice), as a bonus. Several other kinds of rooms were also available; a player could purchase/get them in the game. Players could set some of their items to be movable by their guests, a feature added sometime in late 2007 or early 2008.
In-game shops sold a wide variety of items, such as posters, couches, water fountains, and rugs, which could be used to decorate guest rooms. Some of these items were sold only for a limited time, and some could only be obtained as prizes for completed quests. Pictures taken with the in-game camera could be hung on guest room walls, or put into a photo book for public view.
Players could also create games in their rooms (as long as the games followed VMK guidelines of appropriateness), and award some of their own items to players. Among the most popular of these were "Cute or Boot", best described as a beauty pageant/fashion contest, "Falling Chairs", a game where the owner of the room dropped chairs while other players raced to them, and "Don't Hit the Floor!" in which a maximum of six contestants stood on boxes. Two variations of "Cute or Boot" were "Dress Like Me!", a game where players tried to dress like the game's owner, and "Wear that hat!", where players wore the same hat as the owner. Another popular game was "Design a Room!", where the owner filled rooms with items that could be moved, and the object was for players to design the best room. A less popular one was "Survivor", where the owner asked a question and the first person to answer it correctly wins a point.
Guest room owners had the ability to remove ("boot") a player from their room if the player was causing problems. Players that were "booted" had to wait set period of time before returning to the room.
If a character was in their own room, then they could be found by the Guest Rooms "search" button (which searched on the names of room owners as well as the names of rooms). Other than this, there was no way within the game to find out whether a particular other character not on a player's friends list was online or where they were located.
In the New Orleans Square land, there was an exclusive room based on the VIP Exclusive Disney Club, located in the real New Orleans Square, Club 33. This room was used for staff events and open to some guests who had won the best guest room award.
Each week, VMK staff awarded a Best Guest Room Award, Best Game Room Award, and a Best Quest Award pin to the owners of guest rooms chosen to be superlative in originality and creativity. Winners of Best Guest Room not only got the Best Guest Room Award, but they also were allowed to "rent" Club 33 for a party, which a VMK host helped the winner organize. Several players earned the Best Guest Room, Best Game Room, or Best Quest award more than once; the VMK staff awarded the VIP pin to these outstanding players.
A player could set their guest rooms so that only people on their friends list could enter. On January 8, 2007, "tickets" were added; a room owner was then able to sell (for 10 credits) or trade tickets to allow entry to their rooms. The tickets appeared as single-use pins.
In March 2007, VMK Staff began "Room Makeovers", where VMK staff would go into randomly selected guest rooms, or guest rooms submitted by online players, and give the room a makeover if it was in need of one. Before and after pictures of the players' room were then posted each week on the VMK Newsletter.
During the month of April, VMK staff awarded a 'Best Pirate Room' award because April was 'Pirate Month'. Prizes included a "Seagull Nest Hat", a "Crow Barstool" and the seat that went with it, and a "Flaming Ransacked Window".
Some rooms were available in the Virtual Magic Kingdom from the shop button, others were available from quests, and some had limited availability built-in. Players were encouraged to get guest rooms when quests came out, because that could be the only time they would ever be available. For example, the Tron Guest Room was from a quest that was available only for a time, so players who did not finish the quest by a certain date, never received the Tron Guest Room. There were also codes for certain guest rooms.
In June 2007, "pay-to-play" guest/game rooms were disallowed because it was considered scamming, though games like "Pirates of the Caribbean" were still allowed to ask for the minimum 21 credits.
In January 2008, three new guest rooms were added to Main Street: Main Street Magic Shop in Central Plaza, Main Street Magic Shop Checkers (a new game at the Magic Shop), and the Penny Arcade on Main Street.
Mini-games
The following minigames were available to play throughout the lands in the Virtual Magic Kingdom:
- Magic Checkers: Revealed to the VMK public in January 2008, this game was essentially checkers and was playable by two players at a time per room. Like most other games in VMK, Magic Checkers offered a reward of credits and items. The amount of credits awarded by this game increased depending on the amounts won. The players were able to buy single use Magic Pins for this game to get an advantage over the other players.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Two to eight players, on two teams, either played a game of "Ship Battle" where one team must sink the other, or a game of "Capture the Flag" where one team must bring the opposing team's flag to their base before the other team. Once the game was over, both teams were rewarded with credits for their efforts. After every three wins on one level, a player received a treasure chest magic key that would open a chest corresponding to the level on which the player won the key. The prizes the player was awarded were from a list of randomly chosen pirate-related prizes that corresponded to the level the key was awarded in.
- Castle Fireworks Remixed: Fireworks were launched into the sky and the player had to click on each one with the correct symbol to detonate it. Pins and credits were awarded based on a player's performance.
- Jungle Cruise Photo Safari: The player piloted a safari boat and took photos of animals while avoiding obstacles. After the first time playing the game, 20 credits are awarded per game, no matter what the player's score.
- Street Party Music Game/Monorail Music Game: A player could sequence music loops into a song for characters to dance to. Credits were awarded for editing songs and for playing them.
- The Haunted Mansion Game: The Purple team and the Green team, with up to four players each, competed to capture ghosts in the mansion.
- The VMK Trading Card Game: The basic version of the VMK Trading Card Game was released on August 17, 2007. In this version, the player began with a random deck of cards and played a computer opponent in a sort of Rock, Paper, Scissors game. Other versions, along with customizable decks and rewards for winning, were released later as time went on. The game was never fully released due to technical issues and the game closing.
There were also several places in Tomorrowland where credits could be earned. In Nautilus Grotto and Shipwreck Graveyard, a player could collect shells that randomly popped up under water and receive one credit for every pearl they found. This game required the Diving Suit magic pin, which could be obtained from an in-game quest. Another place to earn credits was the Autopia Space Race and the Mars race tracks. In this game, a player drove over trophies to collect them, while also driving over gas cans to keep from running out of gas. For every trophy collected, a player received one credit. This game required one of the four available Autopia car magic pins, which could be obtained from an in-game quest. It also required an Autopia Driver's License.
The following minigames were available to play in the Tomorrowland Arcade until waterpark overlay:
- Airlock Escape: A puzzle game with some similarity to ChuChu Rocket!; successful completion of all fifteen levels rewarded the player with Deep Sea Diving Boots, Deep Sea Diving Jacket, and Deep Sea Diving Trousers (Deep Sea Diving Helmet could be purchased in the Inner-Space store).
- Blast in Space: An action game similar to Asteroids; the player piloted a spaceship to shoot rocks, and then received awards for passing all sixteen levels.
- Hyperspace Mountain: An action game where the player collected six "modules" throughout nine sectors and received the awards.
Events
Virtual Magic Kingdom occasionally held special events at which prizes were given out. Special events included:
- Parade and Scavenger Hunt (beta period): Players were told to gather on Main Street and "parade" along its length. Some parade "leaders" were awarded the Dancing Inferno Magic pin, later considered rare to other players. Then a few staff members "hid" themselves in some rooms in the game, and the first people to find each of them were awarded prizes.
- Room Decorating Event: Players were told to decorate their rooms to be judged for prizes. For a Celebration theme, players commemorated Disneyland's 50th anniversary. For a Space theme, players offered an interpretation of what "space" meant to them. Prizes were also given for answering trivia questions.
- Dreams Month (September 2007): Hosts would be randomly walking around the park including guest rooms and handing out prizes. Some of these prizes included the Dreams room, which looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle, dream ears, dream pin, dream furniture, and many other items. Hosts would randomly walk around and players waiting in one room all day had difficulty finding them, therefore, players were encouraged to play VMK as they would normally to possibly win a prize.
- Haunted Maze Event (October 2005): An easy maze, a medium maze, and a difficult maze were available for players to find their way through. Successfully completing the maze would award a prize. However, the event was plagued by server problems, resulting in queues of half an hour or more to get into the mazes, and some players were not able to enter the mazes at all or were bumped offline in the middle of them.
- Gift-Giving Event (December 2005): A player could spend 500 credits to purchase a mystery gift which was given (in the game) to someone of their choosing on December 24. The gift turned out to be a green holiday wreath.
- Yeti Quest (February 2006): Players could visit designated rooms to find photos; by stringing together the first letter of each pictured item, a player could spell the location where the Yeti was hiding, and submit the location for prizes. The answer was "Injun Joe's Cave", and everyone who sent in a correct answer won a snow carpet.
- Ride-A-Thons: VMK staff occasionally hosted "Ride-A-Thons", in which they prepared rides for players to enjoy. When a player reached the end of a ride, he was given a ride piece with which to create their own ride. Several rides usually ran at the same time to handle capacity. The more a player rode, the more of a single prize a player would receive, depending on the event.
- Make-A-Room: VMK staff occasionally hosted "Make A Ride Rooms", which allowed players to go into a certain teleporter and design a room. The player with the best design got a prize, and soon many other players started the same game. A blue flag would be placed in the room once the ride was judged.
- Gingerbread Room Competition (December 2007): Players constructed a room using furniture items released during the month of December. The rooms were judged and the winners were given prizes that included a new shirt and hat that are different on boys than on girls.
- Captain Blackheart's Treasure Hunt Quest (March 29 - April 1, 2008): The biggest VMK quest ever. The quest consisted of 75 different tasks, and required the player to navigate VMK, answer Disney Pirates of the Caribbean-related questions, and play games. The prize awarded was 75,000 credits and some items that were not immediately obtainable. There was also a smaller version of the quest, called Captain Blackheart's Mini Treasure Hunt Quest. The smaller quest awarded 1000 credits. Captain Blackheart, as he is called, also hosted a small quest, but still quite large with the prize of 56,000 credits and many valuable items.
Quests
In-game
In-game quests involved a series of tasks for a player, such as finding a specific room or an item in the room, changing one's outfit, saying a specific word, or winning a certain number of points in a minigame. There were two types of in-game quests: 'Q Button' quests, which players could start from anywhere in the game by pressing a button marked 'Q' on the game's taskbar; and kiosk quests, which were linked to a 'quest kiosk' item owned by a particular player or staff member. Successful completion of a quest usually awarded a prize. Each character could only complete each quest once. The Quests were timed and whoever completed the quest fastest would win a prize.
In-park
For the first two years of the game, there was an in-park quest program which permitted players to earn special in-game prizes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts. These quests were mostly eliminated in mid-2007, with the exception of an activity sheet and quest which was handed out to guests waiting in line at the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland until around January 2008.
Hidden Mickeys
There were fifty Hidden Mickeys in the game, appearing as mouse-eared logos embossed onto scenery in rooms. Hunting for Hidden Mickeys could be a difficult task, as they were faint and rather difficult to see, and it could take time to earn enough credits to buy film to photograph the hidden Mickeys in-game. Almost every room had at least one, and some contained two.
Credits and pins were awarded after finding certain numbers of Hidden Mickeys (a Bronze Mickey pin for finding ten, a Silver Mortimer pin for finding thirty, and a Gold Oswald pin and 500 credits for finding all fifty). Completing this hunt originally awarded a printable PDF coupon with a code for the Gold Design set of items, which could be obtained by redeeming the coupon at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom.
The locations of the Hidden Mickeys were changed on December 12, 2005. The new hunt was called "Hidden Mickey Quest Part II", and the new prize pins had "Part II" appended to their names.
Character profiles
A new player began by registering an account at the VMK website. The player then set up a character (an avatar) and selected the character's gender and appearance (shirt, shoes, pants, hair, hat, face, and colors for skin and hair). The player chose a name for the avatar, but until the VMK staff approved the name they requested, their name was "Guest" followed by the number of player that they are (e.g. Guest7402548). If the name was not approved, the VMK staff would let the player create another name. The player also selected a "guest room", their own themed area which could be decorated with furniture, posters, a boat canal, train tracks, game items, or other material. One room was provided for free, and additional rooms could be purchased later with in-game credits. The player could enter a few lines of text, known as a "signature", which were displayed in the character's publicly visible profile. The character was then given a few tradeable items (mostly T-shirts), and was placed in the game.
A player could also choose from a list of randomly selected "adjective-adjective-noun" names presented to them; if they chose one of these names, it did not need undergo staff approval.
Items
There were many in-game items which were buyable. Other could be won or gained from the parks. These items included furniture, clothing, and pins. Most were tradeable, some were not.
Badges
Badges were icons that appeared at the top of a player's information window and were visible to other players. Badges could not be traded:
- Born In Park: given to a character created at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom. This was a green badge with a cutout silhouette of the Disneyland castle (this was also the symbol of VMK).
- VIP: given via a prize card's code; the card was given after completing the in-park quests to become eligible for the special park tour. This badge was sometimes received by winning a mini-game or Host event. Note that this is different from the VIP pin, which was given the second time a player won a Best Guest Room or Best Game Room award. The badge was purple with white VIP lettering in the middle.
- Here from Day 1: given to a character created during the "beta" stage (prior to June 27, 2005). This was a gold badge with a prominent "1" displayed in the middle.
- VMK Staff: paid employees who helped safeguard players and/or hosted VMK games and events. This badge was the quintessential smiling Mickey Mouse face as seen at the start of the old cartoons.
- Testers: VMK staff that tested out items, and were seen around with their name as "QA_". Testers also held the VMK Staff badge.
- Community Leader: volunteers who helped with the game; their names began with "CL_" (discontinued on October 24, 2007). This badge was a blue badge with Mickey's sorcerer hat. After it was discontinued, former community leaders did not have the badge or the CL_ at the beginning of their title.
Pins
A character could "wear" up to fifteen pins so that other players could see them in their profile. Some pins could be purchased from shops in the game; others could only be obtained by completing in-park or in-game quests, by winning host games, or from a Non-Playable Character (NPC) such as Esmeralda.
Usually a new pin was released on weekends of a certain month in the Emporium for a limited time. These pins usually cost 500 credits and were often a part of a set. For example, during October 2006 a set of Halloween themed pins came out, and a new pin was released every weekend. However, by Monday the pin was no longer available, making it high in value. The next weekend however, a new pin in the set was released and it started all over again.
"Magic pins" could also be worn. When activated (from the magic wand icon at the bottom of the screen, or by typing the pin's magic word), they displayed a visual effect, such as the character driving a car or turning into a snowman. Each effect had a duration of only a few seconds and had to be allowed to "recharge" for a minute or so before another use. If a player had two or more of the same kind of magic pin, they could be combined for a longer effect and shorter delay between uses. There were also single-use magic pins which disappeared after being used once (or after a specific "expiration date"). Some magic pins were very expensive and only available for a short period of time; for example, the "Turn Into Bat Magic Pin" (only available in October) was priced at 10,000 credits.
Some pins were not tradeable and could only be obtained through quests or host events. These pins included all single-use magic pins and all Tomorrowland quest pins. Any award pin, such as the best guest room award or the VIP pin, was also not tradeable. A player could check if a pin was tradeable by clicking the pin on a player's profile, which not only revealed whether a certain pin is available for trade or not, but also revealed who owned the pin and what effects (if any) the pin might have.
Clothing
When a player joined the kingdom, they received a pack of clothing along with a room and some furniture. Players that signed up at a Disney park sometimes received extra rewards.
Occasionally, the VMK shops sold special clothing items (or entire costumes). Some of these were seasonal, and some could only be purchased during a specific weekend. These items were usually expensive; due to this and their limited availability, they soon became valuable items in trading.
Some clothing items were only available to one gender. For example, boys could not have princess outfits (excluding the Princess Minnie hat), and girls could not have the Wildcats outfit.
Full costumes included spacesuits, princess outfits,(came in blue, yellow, pink) Haunted Mansion dress clothes, an Expedition Everest hiking outfit, baseball uniforms, and football uniforms.
Costume items included Mickey ears, and a variety of caps including baseball caps and a Sorcerer Mickey hat and more.
Credits
A player could earn credits, purchase them in one of Disney's Parks (the game's currency) also by visiting the Disney Characters or by playing minigames.
Another popular way to amass credits was called "Nedding". It consisted of playing the Shrunken Ned's Jungle Cruise game but trying to end the game as quickly as possible by crashing repeatedly and running out of fuel. Each time the game was played it awards 20 credits, so the credits that could be gotten from this game were limited only by the length of time someone wanted to put into it.
Accounts used specifically for getting credits and items, known in other games as multis, were called "mules" (sometimes called "clones"). Since the game let a player create new accounts freely, players created mules (named after the beast of burden) to enter multi-use codes and collect credits by visiting Disney Characters. Players could buy items with a mule's credits, and then trade these items from the mules to their main characters. Players who used mules were said to be "muling", and in the game mules were called "done keys" (donkeys) due to the limited vocabulary.
Purchased items could be "sold back" for 20% of their purchase price, but some items were not able to be sold. For example, a quest kiosk could not be sold back or traded.
Trading
Players could trade various items. Each player could put a maximum of fifteen items into a trade.
Clothing items that were only available for boys or girls could not be traded to the other gender. For example, a girl could not trade her princess outfit to a boy.
Some players tried to take advantage of the trading window to scam other players, but most of the trading window scams were short-circuited by game developers adding confirmation notices. VMK stated that if a person agreed to all of these notices, any issues a player might have with the trade were due to their own negligence.
A player could report a scammer with the "Report" button in the game, or by using the "Contact Us" link on the web site.
Safety
The game's rules were posted on the VMK web site as "VMK Values", which were intended to help the game stay "a safe, non-threatening environment" for the many players between the ages of eight and fourteen. The rules prohibited sexual or racist language, harassment, divulging personal information, and attempts to hack the system. Violations could result in a permanent ban, which prevented users from using VMK from the ISP the violation occurred on. Despite this, attempted violations were quite common, and people attempted to get around the edited speech by formulating single words out of multiple words (e.g.: saying "I'm Tree Ears Hold").
Every player had a report button on their profile. If one player thought of something that another player did as against the VMK values, that player could report them. The report was immediately sent to the VMK staff for review, and any necessary actions were taken against that player's account. Players could also send "emergency" messages to staff without clicking the report button on another player. The main reason for this was if something was wrong with the game (e.g.: "I logged in the morning, and all my credits were gone"). Action would be taken against a player's account for sending false or unnecessary reports. These were usually made in an attempt to bring a VMK staff member to their room, or in an effort for revenge.
Disney prohibited sharing personal information in the game (and its limited dictionary also added a technical obstacle to this). Disney's stated intent was to protect the safety and privacy of its members, but this also prevented members from having a legitimate way of reaching each other outside the game. Members of some Disney internet discussion forums got around this by indicating in their in-game signature a discussion board through which they could be reached.
In popular culture
VMK has been a frequently used device in The Kingdom Keepers series, written by Ridley Pearson. It serves as a rendezvous point for the main characters, as well as a communication device as the kids venture through the Disney parks. After VMK closed down in real life, Pearson incorporated the closing into the books.
References
- Cornish, David (February 24, 2013). "Organizing a museum can take a lesson from design and digital media". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- Tuckey, Tammy (2018-08-25). "Interview with Roger Holzberg, Senior Producer for the EPCOT "MILLENNIUM CELEBRATION"". The Tiara Talk Show (Podcast). Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
- ^ Salas, Jacob (2021-10-21). "One Name, Two Games: Virtual Magic Kingdom". Pop History.
- US7396281B2, Mendelsohn, Seth; Dobson, Terry M. & Holzberg, Roger S. et al., "Participant interaction with entertainment in real and virtual environments", issued 2008-07-08
- Protesters Archived May 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- "MyVMK".
External links
- VMK at Disney's Online Worlds Wiki
- MyVMK website
- 2005 video games
- Massively multiplayer online games
- Video games developed in Finland
- Video games set in Orlando, Florida
- Defunct websites
- Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
- Walt Disney World in fiction
- Video games based on Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions
- Inactive massively multiplayer online games
- Video games set in amusement parks