Disney is shuttering Virtual Magic Kingdom. Nobody knows how many active users it has these days, and Disney is of course moving aggressively into more virtual worlds, encouraging users to switch to Toontown, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and Club Penguin. But as longtime virtual worlders know, that’s not acceptable to the current community, who not only have a lengthy thread on the discussion boards, but have also started threads even on the new coverage elsewhere begging for their world to remain open.
Generally, a virtual world with any momentum at all will not die unless it is actively killed. And the result is always heartrending posts like this one:
If nothing above moves you to feel that this human interest story is anything more than the closing of yet another online game, allow me to leave you with a direct quote of an entry from the online journal of an 11 year old VMK player has Spinal Muscular Atrophy which controls voluntary movements, such as crawling, walking, swallowing and breathing:
“My favorite web site, Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) is closing May 21st. I’m sad and MAD! I can’t live without my friends on VMK. PLEASE sign my guestbook like a petition to SAVE VMK for me and my friends. Pass my site on to everyone you know so they can help too. I love VMK cause I can WALK, TALK, EAT, DANCE, SHOP and play checkers all by myself.
PLEASE HELP ME!
Love,
Madison
p.s. VMK is GERM FREE too!
p.s.s. and no one stares at me there.”
Ouch.
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Raph’s Website »Disney decides to close VMK
other virtual worlds like Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean Online — and after having shelled out hundreds of millions for virtual world Club Penguin — Disney clearly would rather funnel its VMK users to these properties. But serious VMK usersare not happy.
other virtual worlds like Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean Online � and after having shelled out hundreds of millions for virtual world Club Penguin � Disney clearly would rather funnel its VMK users to these properties. But serious VMK usersare not happy
freaked out. When I first read the comments on the Worlds In Motion post, I was sure the posts were made in jest � such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable?Raph Koster’s blogpicked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and reminds us that developers and operators need to think carefully about their exit strategies). Legions of fans have mobilized and trotted out gut-wrenching
freaked out. When I first read the comments on the Worlds In Motion post, I was sure the posts were made in jest � such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable?Raph Koster’s blogpicked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and reminds us that developers and operators need to think carefully about their exit strategies). Legions of fans have mobilized and trotted out gut-wrenching
this particular virtual world and people freaked out. When I first read the comments on the Worlds In Motion post, I was sure the posts were made in jest � such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable?Raph Koster’s blogpicked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and reminds us that developers and operators need to think carefully about their exit strategies). Legions of fans have mobilized and trotted out gut-wrenching
freaked out. When I first read the comments on the Worlds In Motion post, I was sure the posts were made in jest � such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable?Raph Koster’s blogpicked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and reminds us that developers and operators need to think carefully about their exit strategies). Legions of fans have mobilized and trotted out gut-wrenching
[…] Website : Disney decides to close VMK Author : Raph Posted : April 10 2008 […]
[…] 10th, 2008 at 5:24 AM ralph_kosterhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/RaphsWebsite/~3/267480741/https://www.raphkoster.com/2008/04/09/disney-decides-to-close-vmk/Disney is shuttering Virtual Magic Kingdom. Nobody knows how many active users it has these days, […]
Every change has an impact on people. Stories like these show how real ‘virtual’ can be.
“Remembering the Forgettables”
We’ve all seen them. Perhaps they were running around dath in newbie cloths, going overt with just master marksman because, well, they don’t know any better. This is for all the people we’ve met that maybe didn’t understand the game as well as we did, who had never heard of the forums, but would have been too scared to try. For those that never knew what legendary mind poisons were, who skilled up as far as they could running missions without armor and only using newbie weapons, who never begged or asked for help, because they weren’t trying to be uber or leet, they just wanted to have fun. This is for the forgettable.
My story begins in theed cantina:
She was definitely forgettable. A hundred people may pass right in front of her, and none would notice. Her cloths so poorly matched that she was almost painful to look at. I still remember that yellow jacket *shudders*. She was an entertainer, working on dancer and musician, although she was not what you would call… entertaining. Silently tooting on her slitherhorn, seemingly oblivious to the world around her. Most would assume she was AFK.
She wasn’t.
I sent her a few tells, she never replied, but something was different about this one… so I approached her and greeted her in spatial. At last she responded. I asked her some questions, and it became readily apparent that she was most likely very young. Her words were simple, it seemed if she didn’t see your chat bubble, she would miss what you said, perhaps she didn’t know to look in the chat box at the bottom. I asked her how long she had played, she replied about a month. I asked her what skills she had, she was almost novice dancer and musician… and she still used the slitherhorn. I quickly got her some more level appropriate instruments and asked her to trade so I could give them to her. She didn’t know how. What followed was an hour and a half of walking her through precicely how to use the trade window, making sure I spoke in spatial because that’s all she saw, giving her exact steps, making sure she was looking at the exact right thing before telling her to click it. It took quite a few attempts, but she finally got it, and now she could play the proper instrument.
Lermar had learned how to trade.
A few days passed of her being in the cantina and us talking, getting her a few new cloths and such, then one day I came into theed, she was online, but nowhere to be seen… after a few hours of frantic searching she showed back up in theed, quite black bar’d from fighting, I guess she wanted to learn to hunt. So I helped her get a set of hunting gear, including armor, and some better weapons, and traded them to her. Some of you must be thinking “oh great, trading again, that must have taken forEVER” but that was the great thing about Lermar.
She may have been slow, but she wasn’t stupid.
I never once had to teach her to do the same thing twice. Sure the first time took forever, but once she got it, she got it. Speaking of taking forever, after the hunting incident I decided to get her to put me on her friends list, so I could /FindFriend her as needed, that took a while, but again, when it came time to add more people to her list later, she did it with ease.
I finally decided it was time she learned how to use tells. I decided some secluded area would be the best place to do this, so people wouldn’t see me so simply laying out how to use something like tells and think badly of her and perhaps tease her (we all know people like that were around in far too large a number). In the park in Coronet was where she finally figured out the chat box and tells. Yeah it took a while again, but I was finally able to go out of spatial range, and I could talk to her, and she could respond to me. She also learned how to use group chat and e-mail that day!
Now it was time for lermar to get a house. I bought her a small round naboo and walked her through placing it, by this point she was starting to pickup new ideas more easily, each time it took less time to teach her. I gave her a modest amount of furniture and showed her how to drop things and move them around. At this point she had a supprise for me! She brought me to the other, empty room and began emptying her inventory on the ground. Seems in her hunting expeditions she had learned how to loot, and had quite a bit of it. (for a while she had a bad habbit of attacking “secs” which were the CorSec troopers wandering around c-net. Needless to say at her combat ability this was not the best of ideas, so I quickly introduced her to meatlumps) After she dropped everything on the floor she told me that “the goodie are for u”, so there’s a new term for you, it’s not loot, it’s goodies. Sure most of it was junk, but she did have a Glass Top Table Adhesive in there, which I promplty took and… made her a glass top table! From then on she would put whatever goodies she got in her house, send me an e-mail and tell me to come by and pick them up. I’d sort through it, junk the junk, and give back anything usable for her.
Shortly after this, Lermar decided it was time to come clean with me. She asked me to follow her one day, and led me to a quiet part of Theed where she told me a bit more about herself. In the past when we had asked her age, at first she had said 7, then later she told another friend of ours she was 4. She was a 50+ year old mother of 2, living in the suburbs of london, working in a factory that makes lawn care tools. The game was actually one of her sons, whom she was living with. He was at first not overly supportive of her playing the game, likely he thought she couldn’t handle it. I never was told what her handicap was, if she had one, but I’m fairly sure she was at least mildly mentally retarded, and from the description she gave of her job, it sounded like one suited for the handicapped.
If you’ve read this far, you’re likely wondering why the heck I did all this. I had nothing to gain, all she did was cost me money and a LOT of time teaching her the simplest of things. The reason I did all this was because when you saw her play, when you saw her finally figure something out and get it, while she may have been 50, it was kinda like watching a child learn to walk. She had an enthusiasm about her and about the game that you just don’t see every day. Yeah the game was hard for her, but she put in the effort she had to in order to have fun with it. And she truely did have fun, she told me quite often.
When I met her she did not have JTL, and I had decided against recommending it, as I thought it would be a bit complex for her.
She got it anyway.
One day I log on and there she is, asking me to show her how to fly. Now you’d think with all the other troubles she had, that JTL would be even more. You’d be wrong. This girl was born to fly. After I showed her how to take off and land, and where to go to get her pilot missions, she was off! Her house started having less and less land goodies, and more and more space goodies. One day she logged on and took off into space. While she was flying around up there, she sent me an e-mail that was something like: “i love to fly in my ship -lermar”. A few minutes later I saw her go offline… I knew something had happened. She logged on a few minutes later, at which point I recieved this: “my ship is broke, it won’t go, plz help” and I knew what had happened, she had lost connection while dog fighting, and her ship had been destroyed, and by the time she came back, the game had auto landed her, she didn’t have a chance to repair in space. I tried walking her through using repair kits, no good, since her skill had gone up quite a bit, she was ready for a new ship anyway, so I went out and got her a new chassis and parts to make a new ship, but she just couldn’t figure out how to get them loaded. Finally she logged off in frustration, and came back the next day, where I continued trying to show her how to load. I was trying to show her how to load her booster, walking her thru step by step, I told her “tell me if you get it loaded” then for minutes… silence. I asked her “is everything ok lermar?” then all of a sudden she wasn’t there any more, her location: Naboo Space Sector. Seems in her excitement in figuring it out, she forgot to tell me she got it. Once again she was flying around in hog heaven up there, her new ship so much better than her old one, she was loving life again.
Lermar kept on going and learning. She experienced a lot of things. She got a pet gurrcat, she got a few droids, combat and entertainer, she learned how to use them all. She got a bigger house and decorated it quite intricately, she learned how to move things around and up and rotate them slightly using the /move and /rotate commands. She had candles on her tables, posters on her walls, I’m being honest when I say, if you saw her house, you’d be impressed at the detail. Eventually her house got too full to keep her goodies there, so she got a second house, Lermar’s goodie, where she would store stuff for me when I wasn’t around. She would farm ship parts for me, which I’d go sell for her and give her 80% of the money, and keep 20% for me. I’d have given her 100%, but I knew she appreciated that now she could help me in return for all the help I gave her.
Lermar loved the game, but unfortunately, the game did not love her… You see, Lermar was pre-CU, and when the CU hit, she didn’t take it too well…
They claimed that the CU was supposed to be easier to use, more “accessable”. They never bothered to ask Lermar what she thought. A 50 year old handicapped woman thought that the original SWG was great, but the first time she logged on after the CU was the last… I tried to show her how to respec, unfortunately this was a hurdle she could not overcome….
I don’t know what she did, maybe she was on the skill screen, maybe she pushed a wrong button, I don’t know, but I do know I watched her “level” drop from 14 to 1 before I could say “STOP!”
And so many months of hard work were gone. Lermar stood there, skillless and broken hearted. She logged off. I petitioned the CSR’s on her behalf to restore her skills to what they were before the upgrade, so she could try again, and supprisingly enough, they said they would. I say they said they would, not they did, because I never got a chance to find out. A few days later I noticed her houses were gone, I checked my guild roster, there was no Lermar, and I never got a member left guild message. Only one thing doesn’t give you the member left guild message… deletion.
Lermar is gone.
I must say I do miss her sometimes. Yeah she could be a pain, and there were a few times I’d see her log on and cringe, but her whole hearted enthusasm about the game, hearing her tell me how much she enjoyed it, watching her do things that we both probably thought she’d never do gave a fresh outlook on things that you just can’t find every day. I can honestly say I believe that when she played, she tried harder than any of us that will be reading these words. It was difficult for her, she had to give herself 100% to playing because she likely didn’t have everything going for her that those of us here can claim. She was a true joy to watch grow and develop.
I miss you Lermar…
Some of you may think that I’m writing this as a form of brag, to say “look what I did, see how great I am!” and if you think that, you’re totally missing the point. For over 6 months I’ve kept this to myself, and I only write this now because of one thing… What was that old saying? Oh yeah…
It takes two to tango
You see for however hard I worked, Lermar worked 10 times harder. At least. She was the one who made everything of herself, I just pointed her in the right direction. If anybody deserves praise it is her.
Every toon has thier story, thier own face behind the character. Even the forgettables…
Maybe ouch, but the issue shouldn’t be that shutting down a game is a tragedy. The tragedy is elsewhere (general accessability of computer software, the society at large etc). One have to question how healthy it is to base your happiness on a single fickle and relatively shallow platform.
It’s not shutting down the game that’s the tragedy, it’s shutting down the community that lives there (and clearly supports your product) that’s the crime. They should have been more flexible, like Mattel and Barbie Girls, and switched business models when they discovered unexpected success. It’s really going to feel to some people like Disney broke up their family.
[…] — Disney clearly would rather funnel its VMK users to these properties. But serious VMK users are not happy. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Roundup: VentureBeat site update, Microsoft’s new map […]
[…] what i found: http://72.32.125.226/2008/04/11/roun…jams-and-more/ (scroll towards the bottom) https://www.raphkoster.com/2008/04/09…-to-close-vmk/ Let’s all keep up the great work!!! __________________ Feel the love at the […]
Hi Raph! I am the original author of the letter you have quoted. Thanks for addressing this issue on your site.
“Ouch” is right. Disney seems to be failing to see just how much the friendships and support circles formed through their virtual world mean to real life people behind the game avatars, as well as what these people would do to keep their true friendships (if only given the option). While Disney offers a pay-to-play option for other on-line games, VMK players were never offered this option.
Sadly, with the end of VMK comes the end of these unique and wonderful friendships. Why? Due to Disney’s fantastic rules that protect a players true identity in the interest of child safety, players cannot offer their contact information to friends in-game as it is a very strict policy in VMK to never give out personal information. Therefore, on May 21st when Disney pulls the plug on VMK, they also pull the plug on thousands of friendships worldwide.
Before one questions the “tragedy” factor related to basic happiness coming from a “game,” you might be interested to know that several children (as well as adults) that are active VMK players have either recently conquered or are still fighting cancer and other life-threatening ailments. These amazing kids find support, courage, and much-needed camaraderie not only from peers in their “real” world, but from literally countless VMK players and in-game staff who surround them with friendship and encouragement as they literally fight for their lives.
Without such connections made through VMK, these kids would not have the incredible benefit of a support circle that truly is worldwide… a support circle that indubitably helps them with their daily fight. This is just one example of the wonderful ties that have formed through the virtual world.
By shutting down VMK, Disney is not merely closing a game, they are shutting down an incredibly unique and truly amazing community that formed unexpectedly in their Virtual Funville. THAT is the real tragedy.
Please take the time to Visit Madison’s page. I love to be on VMK, not only for my piece of the magic daily but to see what the magic brings to so many kids just like Madison. Help us to Save VMK. Visit SaveVMKToday.
[…] the comments below as well. We are gaining support from people not connected to VMK. That’s great! https://www.raphkoster.com/2008/04/09…-to-close-vmk/ __________________ All titles removed to protect the guilty, I mean, the innocent, yeah that’s […]
Dear Mr. Iger,
I am writing to tell you about a magical place. A place where young and old can gather to play, learn and enjoy the Disney Magic. A place envisioned by an amazing man who dreamed of places where families could gather and have fun leaving behind the real world when they entered. A place that only the magic and creativity of Disney could build.
Where is this place you may ask? It sounds magical and fun. The first thought you may have of course is that it is Disneyland- but this is not the place I speak of. It is a form of Disneyland in a different technological age. The place I speak of is Virtual Magic Kingdom.
VMK started out as what Disney thought would be a promotion for the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. So they built this amazing virtual world to replicate Walt’s amazing Disneyland.
They threw open the gates and invited us in. We came slowly at first but once word spread we grew. VMK did not become an online park where we entered for a while then left. It became a community built by its players. A community of young and old, sick and well, and people of all races from near to far off distant countries. Here we found a place that evoked the Disney spirit in all of us. We played, danced, built rooms and formed friendships in the spirit of the man himself Walt Disney.
VMK was growing and becoming more popular so that when the promotion ended the gates were left open and our community flourished. There is no place like it on the Web where children and adults can play in a safe controlled atmosphere. I personally found a place where I and my 13 year old son could be together. We shared in this wonderful kingdom built only as Disney can do-amazing graphics, fun games, a sense of being part of the parks and much pixie dust.
They created our characters to look lifelike, like little people. We named them, dressed them, and formed their personalities. They became part of us. We look forward and enjoy seeing our little people everyday.
Suddenly on April 7th we were hit with an unbelievable devastating blow. On May 21, 2008 our kingdom, our community will cease to exist. The shock that took over was beyond belief. I felt numb, weak, and sick to my stomach, like I had been hit by a bat. How can this happen? How can a company as compassionate as Disney allow the doors of our Kingdom to close?
The news crushed my 15 year old son (slinkyman). VMK has become part of his life, part of his daily routine. A day is not complete without seeing his little person who he created to look like himself. After a few moments the shock and reality sank in and the tears started to flow. WE hugged and just cried asking how, why, how can they?
You see VMK is not just a mere game to us. Six months after slinkyman started playing VMK he was diagnosed with cancer. A shocking blow to any family made worst it being a child. I found my strength to get him through this, and then an amazing thing happened. Thanks to the spirit of Disney he took refuge in his Kingdom. In VMK he was not sick. He was a normal kid that still had hair and he had many friends. He had a support team in this community that was not available elsewhere. Cancer scares many people and our family pulled back-offering no support or visits. Here in VMK slinkyman and I have a community of amazing friends. They talked, listened, comforted us, prayed for us and sent mountains of pixie dust our way.
Through out his treatment whenever we were at the hospital slinkyman would take along the laptop with him. During these painful and scary days of treatment he would play VMK as the poisons to kill the cancer were pumped into his body. Doctors and nurses would ask him what he was playing and he would passionately tell them of a place only envisioned in dreams. VMK became an instrumental tool in his recovery. We have made life long friends and have wonderful support thanks to the magic of Disney. So to us it is so much more then a mere game. It is in our soul.
I had a friend tell me the other day the VMK is in slinkyman’s DNA- they could not be more right. I was able to save my son from cancer but I fear I will not be able to save little “slinkyman” from the darkness that is about to be bestowed upon us.
Please I beg you to reconsider this decision. Please hear the cries of young and old and let our little people live. I can not imagine a day without seeing the face of my little person. I like may others are then willing to pay to keep this community of ours alive. Please consider this option. Please show compassion and Disney spirit and show the children you care. After all in VMK the minds of our young a being filled with Disney and they will grow into adults that spend much money on anything and everything Disney.
In this Year of a Million Dreams I ask you to please dry a Million tears and let our dreams come true.
Sincerely,
Bugdozer
From a Mother’s Heart…
It’s about 4am now on April 8…3 hours after VMK closed for the night. I just checked in on my daughter (MonkeyRulz on VMK) who was still awake. She was crying…crying because we just found out that VMK was going to close. The thought of her losing all of her VMK friends was just too much for her to bear. No one thinks that children have much stress in their lives, but they do. Last summer she had surgery to remove a soft tissue mass on her thumb. Through the tears and the pain, she still was able to type to friends far and near in her virtual Magic Kingdom. This is what saved both of our sanities during this time. Her VMK friends was who she counted on while she was lying on the couch only able to use one hand to type. Her VMK friends was what made her forget her pain.
My daughter was recently diagnosed with a form of arthritis, which has has helped to explain many of her health issues over the past few years. She currently has a lot of inflammation in her thumb, which causes numbness and pain. Medication has not yet been successful to heal it. She is a very strong person but when she accidentally hits her thumb, the tears fall like there is no tomorrow. She turns to her VMK friends for support all the time. When she is with them, all I hear is laughter. If VMK closes, it would be like her closest friends just left her. No more cheering up, no more support, no more enjoying each other’s company, no more forgetting about that big test coming up tomorrow, no more goodnight hugs and waves with friends across the miles…
For almost 3 years I knew my VMK friends would always be there for me…they were there when I had my gallbladder (gold.blot.her) taken out last summer. What real friends would have stayed with me when all I was able to do is lie around in bed for weeks? My VMK friends…that’s who. These friends have become very much a part of my everyday life and I treasure them. I want VMK to continue as it always has…I had no idea it was not supposed to last this long. But I also didn’t know that my little virtual self would wander around and make friends who have become near and dear to my heart. I don’t think any of us really knew that when we first started.
My daughter and I joined VMK before Frontierland was added. Since that time, we have both met wonderful people from all over the world…some of them have become a part of our real day to day lives. To those friends I have met in person…I thank you for your friendship. I am so grateful that we have met, and even moreso that you will continue to be a part of my life. To those friends inside the game who I have not had the pleasure of meeting: I thank you too, for your friendship and all the wonderful times we have had. I am indeed the luckiest girl in the world to have friends like you.
Monkey and I never realized how greatly we would feel this loss…the majority of VMK players feel the same way. We do not want to lose our friends, nor the Disney magic, and we are willing to pay to keep it going. How can wanting to continue the magic be a wrong thing? In the true spirit of Disney hearts, friends and family would not suffer a loss as great as this. What started out as a small virtual game, has indeed grown into something so much more. This little “game” has grown into a huge community of friends, families and true Disney lovers. In the midst of A Year of a Million Dreams, it’s hard to believe that friends and families will just go away.
Sure we tried playing other games over the past few years…but it was never the same. We always went back to VMK. No other game brings Disney magic right into our home inbetween trips to the real parks. No other game. If you can think of another game that makes me yell out “flawless,” or “awesome,” while watching real Disney’s fireworks light up the sky, please tell me. There just isn’t a replacement. You may not have created this game for us to grow an extension of ourselves in the virtual world, but that’s what happened. Everything in the Disney parks make us think of VMK as well…it always will. When VMK closes, I will have suffered a great loss…just how do you say goodbye to so many friends who you still treasure so much?
We are not alone in our feelings…there are so many families and friends who play VMK and enjoy Disney magic together…families who cannot be together in their real lives, such as mothers and fathers who are in the military and cannot visit their children. Without VMK, they would not have this opportunity to share Disney magic whenever they can. There are children who cannot see their moms or dads because of a divorce; and families who just live too far away to physically be there for each other. These families depend greatly on Disney’s VMK. Then there are those who are of ill health, who depend on VMK to forget about their health issues. I have a treasured friend who needs to use a wheelchair, but in VMK she can stand taller than her husband, who also plays VMK with their two children. I can’t even begin to count the numerous autistic children I have come across who have reached out in VMK and finally made a connection…children who have had no direction have been found to blossom and become outspoken because of this “game.” I have a wonderful friend (Smackeralchick on VMK) who has twin girls…one of them has autism and is experiencing great sadness over the news. Her other daughter, Dlandchick, has been battling cancer for more than a year now. In the darkest days of her treatments, she knows she can login to VMK and find loving and caring friends and family who support her from across the miles. There are many more adults and children who have cancer, or another serious illness who depend on VMK as their magical “getaway.” VMK is for everyone wanting just a little piece of Disney magic. We know we can login, and share our good days and our bad…with friends and families we have grown to treasure.
Whatever you’d like to call VMK — whether it be a “game,” an “application,” a “promotion…” things have changed tremendously since its opening. It has grown into a real life community with living and breathing souls behind those cute little characters. Disney does not destroy dreams, it creates them. Please don’t take our dreams away.
AmberDaze on VMK
[…] The VentureBeat site today: So what happened was… We switched to a new web host, and due to a number of technical issues, the changeover was not especially smooth. In fact, if you were either trying to read our site or our RSS feeds, you probably didn’t see any of the many posts we were publishing throughout the day. The good news is that everything is in order now. So we’ll see you tomorrow, same time, same place. Thanks for bearing with us. Microsoft launches a promising service to help you avoid traffic jams — The company’s online and mobile mapping service, maps.live.com, is launching a new feature that doesn’t just show you traffic problems on highways and major streets (which Dash Navigation and other companies can already do). The service also shows you what’s happening on side streets, meaning that you can see if your plan to take an obscure shortcut around highway traffic is actually worth the effort. It uses software algorithms that model traffic behavior on all-sized streets in cities around the country. It can calculate the traffic generated on side streets by other highway drivers trying to find shortcuts, as well as other factors, like weather, time of day, and major local events. More here. Brazilian government pressures Google to police its users — Google’s social network, Orkut, has been a hit in Brazil. So much so, that some users have been using the site to distribute child porn, hate-speech and other inflammatory material. The Brazilian government has been trying to get Google to crack down on its wayward users. Google at first resisted, citing the free speech laws that protect it in the US. But now, Google says that it will introduce specialized filters to identify abuses, and track users for up to six months — and turn lawbreakers into the Brazilian government. The FCC begins program to send text message disaster alerts to citizens — Since so many people carry cell phones and send text messages to each other, this is welcome news — as long as ill-doers don’t hack the system and send out false alerts. Blockbuster working on set-top box for streaming movies to TV sets — The product, which the company hasn’t confirmed, would be connected to Movielink, according to The Hollywood reporter. Movielink lets you watch licensed films on your computer, and was purchased by Blockbuster last year. Report: Google forced DoubleClick employees to sign non-compete clauses, then fired them — The agreement stipulated that DoubleClickers must not work with any competitor for a year, meaning those who were fired now have to look for work outside of the ad industry. Valleywag has a copy of the clause’s text, here. Three years on, Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom turns out to just be a “promotion,” after all — The site was originally launched in 2005 to help promote the company’s 50th anniversary. It proved popular enough that it was kept running. Until now. After having started other virtual worlds like Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean Online — and after having shelled out hundreds of millions for virtual world Club Penguin — Disney clearly would rather funnel its VMK users to these properties. But serious VMK users are not happy. […]
[…] I fire up the computer to start catching up on things, and find this on Raph’s blog: Disney is shuttering Virtual Magic Kingdom. Nobody knows how many active […]
Hey Folks! I just read these posts and it makes my story look lpale by comparison.
I do not have health issues, mental or physical. But I DO have friends that I made on VMK that I have had to break the rules to let know where we can go to stay in touch.
How can Disney do this? How can they trample the magic in this way? I am an otherwise normal [relatively! LOL!] man in my mid-forties who lives 20 miles from Disneyland. I have spent money at the parks just to enhance my and my best-friend’s 6 year old daughter’s experience on VMK.
I don’t think it’s fair to charge for playing. I bet if they could, they’d see that VMK HAS generated revenues from players visiting the parks, etc.
Disney is taking quite a hit in credibility here. I’ll never join another online project they introduce (and I LOVE “Cars”), nor am I much motivated to visit the parks.
What else will they dangle in front of us for 3 years then withdraw?
Ron
TowerElevatorOp
Try doing some googles for Madison and VMK it seems this is all part of some big internet campaign and this story is getting around a lot especially with stories of kids with cancer, aspergers or the disease Madison has. On this girls blog “she” directly referenced the comments on another gaming blog (RPS)saying how much it hurt her feelings which then prompted RPS to close comments. The prolifity of this story’s spread is concerning as well in the way that “they” are using the stories of the poor children who played it as a means to lever disney and make them look bad. Additionally the original blog and some of the sites have donator options so this could also be a way to generate more money (which isnt a bad thing per se but if its underhanded it is). When any child is this obsessed with a computer game it is worrying regardless of their physical or mental problems and preventing the immediate closure of this game will only mask the problem instead of dealing with it. Im not sure who is behind this but im beginning to doubt that its one single 11 year old.
otakusama,
I wanted to clarify for you a few things based on your reply:
– Yes, thousands of dedicated VMK players have rallied together in a campaign to save our on-line community. VMK is more than a game to 1,000s of adults and children. It is a network of friends, many of whom can never connect with each other outside of VMK due to the extremely strict anonymity policies that Disney has in place in the name of child safety (making VMK a safe place for kids to play online).
– You reference Madison in quotation marks, almost questioning her existence. She is indeed 1 of VMK’s loyal members. She is afflicted with aspergers. Due to the nature of her ailments, VMK is a place that allows her to connect with other kids in a way she has not found elsewhere. Additionally, she has found a circle of support far-reaching due to the fact that VMK has 100,000s of players worldwide. Madison’s story is that of just 1 person who would like to see VMK stay. There are literally countless others (including myself – a health, 30-something, business owner) with their own reasons to fight to VMK’s survival.
– You are correct in your last point. An 11 year old girl is NOT behind this campaign to keep VMK alive. She is 1 of 1,000s who have pulled together to have our voices heard in an effort to save a little place on-line that has brought together so many people in pretty incredible ways.
I hope that you have to honor of someday discovering a place with such a close-knit network of friends that you feel compelled to fight for the ability to keep those friendships, should their sole means of survival ever be threatened.
Thank you for posting, Jegrezo. Everyone here has read something online that made us sad that later turned out not to be true so I hope you’ll forgive the quote marks that are used when something is repeated. The Carring Bridge website is what convinced me that this time we are dealing with a true story. I dearly hope Disney does something to stop breaking up the community they created.
There could be a happy medium for Disney and its player community. Spinning out a chat client so they can shut down the virtual environment and all of the backend database that comes with it saves Disney money and allows the community to stay in contact while they make their transitions elsewhere. So put a 6-12 month life on a chat client, at least its a gesture of thanks to your community.
Jegrezo
Doesnt Madison actually have a motorneurone disease? Many of the posts have been emphasising the fact that many children with disabilities played this game and I find it disgraceful that it is being used to gain leverage on this issue and against Disney.
I have not doubted Madison’s existence per se but the direct attack on the comments of the RPS website and the comments lead me to think that it is not Madison herself who is at the center of all of this. I may be wrong but there seems to be literally hundreds of comments left all over the place about this and many penned under the name madison. Please understand that I do agree that closing a server like this is bad but id rather see constructive arguments and responsibility in the coverage of this story rather than emotional blackmail.
[…] — such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable? Raph Koster’s blog picked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and […]
Dear God. Is there *any* way Disney could migrate the userlist to another world or at least to a board or MUD so these kids could stay in touch with each other. Even being reduced to IM is going to be far better than simply losing each other, and throwing up a pure text-based solution is low overhead. I don’t have the resources to do this, but if anyone does, might Disney consider it?
Another option might be to allow parents to stand in for the kids and contact other parents. This gets you around the child safety issue. Parents could network on behalf of their kids by exchanging emails and could set themselves up as a parents’ community, say for example in Second Life. At least this way the kids could stay in touch with each other through a secure channel – the parents.
I certainly hope Disney will consider these or other suggestions to allow the community to persist even if the world is shut down.
I can be reached at brenda_archer_1 at yah oo com or in Second Life as Brenda Archer (IM may be capped, if I don’t reply, try again).
[…] — such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable? Raph Koster’s blog picked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and […]
[…] — such a visceral outpouring of emotion for one Disney virtual world out of a whole stable? Raph Koster’s blog picked up on it, and Steve at PlayNoEvil speculates that it’s an end-of-contract thing (and […]
[…] Captured before closure: “My favorite web site, Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) is closing May 21st. I’m sad and MAD! I can’t live without my friends on VMK. PLEASE sign my guestbook like a petition to SAVE VMK for me and my friends. Pass my site on to everyone you know so they can help too. I love VMK cause I can WALK, TALK, EAT, DANCE, SHOP and play checkers all by myself. […]
[…] Disney decides to close VMK April 9th, 2008 (Visited 3556 times) Tags: club penguin, disney, pirates of the caribbean, toontown, virtual magic kingdom […]
[…] has been a bit of controversy over Disney’s decision to shut down its Virtual Magic Kingdom (see Raph Koster’s blog and elsewhere). A key, but perhaps forgotten, fact in all of this is that the Virtual Magic Kingdom […]
[…] ne l’y regarde bizarrement,” est en particulier reprise par Next Generation ou Raph Koster. Partout, on pointe Disney du doigt : en quelques jours, Mickey l’ami de tous s’est […]