VMK news!
Last Updated on Tuesday, 8 April 2008 03:59 Written by lorie Tuesday, 8 April 2008 03:59
VMK is closing!
My kids are so upset! Their favorite online pastime is coming to an end. We don’t allow them to spend too much time online — and we limit the places they can go when they are online. However, for the past two years VMK (Virtual Magic Kingdom) has been the place they have decided to spend their precious computer time and now it’s closing…. just like that … Disney left an announcement today for all kids to read. Here’s part of that announcement:
- Eventually though, all promotions must come to an end, so I’m announcing today that on May 21, 2008, VMK will open our virtual gates for the last time. You read that right: VMK was never intended to last forever – we’ll close the game for good at the end of day on May 21st, 2008.
What is a bit upsetting about this is the way Disney has gone about this. The game will be shutting down in slightly over a month. I thought their letter to members was kinda cavalier — in their letter they said the game was never meant to last forever — and that all things come to an end — and that even in the Disney theme parks attractions come and go, yada yada yada…..
To a kid … that’s harsh! I know a lot of kids in the under 10 years old crowd that play this game all the time. It’s a cute game — and seemed to me as a Mom a safe place for kids online. Maybe they could have prepared members a bit more …. my kids (and me) had no idea this was a temporary thing just for the 50th anniversary celebration of Disneyland. Who knew?
Well … I guess the Virtual world is not much unlike the real world — my kids just got their pink slips and are headed for bigger and better things. After the shock of the closing of VMK they seemed to get really ticked about the whole thing — I have a feeling they won’t be spending much time on VMK over the next month that it remains open. For them, the closure announcement ended all the fun almost immediately — what’s the point in playing any longer? So sad! Bad Disney!
For any fans who are still interested and still care here’s a link to a petition by fans to save the game … my kids looked at it and went out to play basketball.
lorie…what would you rather VMK tell the kids? the business reasons? stuff they won’t understand? decisions in corporations are made every single day on a high level by executive management. those reasons are almost never disclosed to the public…and for good reason. in many cases there are partnerships and confidentiality issues. im sure disney has their reasons for shutting down VMK. a company like disney just doesnt go and shut down an immensely popular game for no reason.
True …. I’m not sure what I expected … it is true all things come to an end. I guess I was thinking of a few years back when American Girl had a similar online ‘club’ for girls. When AG decided to close it down they sent an email to parents first to explain the reason. At least parents had a chance to explain to the kids what was happening in terms they could understand. I just think Disney leaving an announcement on the VMK sign-in was shocking for a lot of kids — it could have been handled differently and I’m surprised at the way it was handled.
good points made.
I’ve stood back and watched all this now pretty much from the beginning, yes from a mothers point of view. My son has been involved in this game for over 2 years. I wont use the term “played” because its more than just a game. Maybe its high time disney gets that thru their heads. These are thousands of ppl , all ages, all religions, and ethnic backgrounds from all over the world. They’ve made friends, close bonding friendships and support groups. Without going in to personal details, my son was headed for disaster because of things out of his control in our home. I was at wits end with him, when one day I sat him down at the vmk screen and begged him plz just give it a try. He did and I cant tell you what that has done for him. He laughs again, and yes he cries over situations that happen in his circle of friends but my point is, my son is among the living again, functioning without the use of chemicals. So I dont much care what the big business part of disney has to say thats their problem. Ive seen them perform miracles of sorts many many times. They have thousands of ppl crying out to be heard, needing their vmk family and support groups, and if Disney cant see that then they are not the Disney we read about. We’ve canceled our trip this year to the parks. I urge other concerned mothers to get involved and add their voices to their childs to be heard.
Signed
a Concerned Mother
Giving children the ability to create friendships for 3 years and then instantaneously pulling the plug at the stroke of a clock is not only insensitive, but irresponsible. The safety features of this game were to be saluted. Children are safe in this virtual environment and can communicate but are not permitted to share personal information (where they live, phone, email, IM info etc). Perfect! Until the announcement of the game closing occurred. These very real friendships will be shut off along with the power switch of those computer systems. When you want to be a deity and create a virtual world, but have real people in your environment, you owe them an exit strategy during the creative process. Not just an end to a promotion.
I agree with several points here. This is Disney we’re talking about. If they wanted to keep VMK open, they could find a way to do it. Certainly, they could create VMK 2.0 or some permutation of it, and make an announcement to that effect. It would almost certainly be profitable if handled correctly, and it would ease the heartbreak of so many children and families. That’s a win-win, if I ever heard one.
If Disney closes VMK and does not follow it up with the announcement of a similar, virtual-park venue (NOT Penguins, ToonTown, Pirates, Fairies or Cars), I will only be able to conclude that they don’t care about their customers and fans. There would be no reason not to, except that they simply did not want to be bothered with it. If they went the VMK sequel route, the right thing to do would be to allow VMK players a sort of pre-registration in order to reserve their original VMK name.
The course of action that Disney seems to have chosen is only one of many that they could have taken. And they chose one of the most irresponsible routes they could…the only way it could have been worse was to give no announcement whatsoever. Way to go, Disney.
I would think Disney needs to explain the closing of VMK. Just to state that it is a promotion that needed to end, is to me hiding something. I guess to my kids and I an excuse like that does not cut it. There is obviously more to it. Cannot be that money was not made from the game just the money that was made from the game was possibly not tied to the bottom line. Shame on them for poor accounting.
In addition, the game is still being advertised on Disney Trips (like on the Magic Express back to the airport.) So you have people who want to continue the magic at home only to find out they cannot create a character because the magic has ended. Wow, yet another corporate failure here. It is true even a big company like Disney works in silo’s and does not communicate properly to each business that is connected to this product.
So now who gets to suffer? Yes, my kids and I play the game. It is just not an online game. It is a community. There are kids here who this helps them to be social. These children are ill cannot be out in public because any little germ could risk their life. Some cannot walk, talk, therefore can be real in the Virtual Magic Kingdom. These are things that we take advantage of. It breaks my heart that Disney did not take a deep dive and look at the community it created then determine the next steps. I guess now they see what we are, it’s just a shame they did not see it earlier. Thanks Disney.
The sad thing is so many software/education companies keep trying to find a way to make computer games interactive instead of just passive reaction to a game interface. With VMK, Disney acheived just that. Interactive with the game system as well as other online players. There are a number of games where players can decorate a “home” or “room”. But in VMK, the very furniture pieces lent themselves to building things far different than a simple chair or table (anyone see a black cat made out of crates and a couple of witch’s cauldrons). This drives creativity as well as interaction. What a waste. What a sad shameful waste.
With Vmk it was good because you could talk to ppl from all around the world and free chat i tried Toontown it does not let you free chat you have to pay for that!
Vmk nothing will replace it:(
The reason VMK was such a great game was because it had a creativity element to it that is absent in other games. There were so many wacky costume parts and furniture items that could be mixed and matched that there were endless possibilities for outfits and Guest Rooms. The games were completely original and devoid of violence, something that I can safely assume you do not want your children to confront in the slightest bit when they play on the computer. VMK was the perfect video game and it’s gone: that’s not something to shrug off, because now your kids are that much closer to playing games like World of Warcraft and Runescape.
Have a nice day!
aye i agree my kids were left playing town town and wow they were upset that they could not say we are from vmk anyone else here from vmk!
I had to pay in the end
[...] been a few weeks since the closing of VMK was announced. I wrote a post about that here. As far as I know there hasn’t been any change of plans on Disney’s [...]
i know it sucks im so sad i joined vmk about a year ago and loved playing it and chatting with friends and having stuff and hanging out you can play it if your board…. and now their closing it hell no but their coming out with a new game that is almost the same thing called vfk ( vuitual faimly kingdom) it opens a day after the beloved vmk closses i cant wait to see how this one works out mabe disney will let this one stay or if not i will just play pirates online or stuff like that
You have excellent analysis. thanks for writting
For all you moms that posted, especially “Concerned Mother”, you all have wonderful replies and good reasons. Even though I am not a mother myself, I agree that VMK was totally awesome! When I was on maybe a week before VMK closed, someone told me that VMK was closing, but I didn’t beleive them. They also said it was in the forums or whatever it was called. SO I went there and, yep, there it was. I was totally shocked!Talk about so dissapointing. They are hiding something…
VMK come back! It was my ultamit past time…
I agree with Katie. VMK was my best past time that I went onto for like ever. I was disappointed when a girl (and many others) on VMK framed me in a trading room for stealing her items when I really didn’t accept her trade, and I got booted and later on banned. That’s not the point right now. I’m just upset that to this day VMK is closed and I can never return to it, even after my ban. I mean, sure, there is Toon Town, but you have to pay for it and that’s no fun. Let’s hope VMK will come back; I know I hope it does.
cool pics