New VMK Rumor

[WDWfanatic742]

Just so I am adding it here, there is a rumor going around saying that VMK will open until Halloween for registered members. However, this seems highly unlikely for several reasons:

• Some staff members have moved onto VFK
• Disney has stopped advertising VMK
• What's the point of closing and then opening, then closing

Again, I can't say this enough, this is just a RUMOR. However, I figure that we can at least discuss this and anyone that has more info can post here.

[TinkRocks]

I heard this rumor too - but find it highly unlikely.

IF it did happen, Disney would most likely wait 6 months and a day so that everyone's accounts would be deleted and everyone would start new again.

On one hand - it gives everyone a fair / level playing field.

On the other hand - it took many of us 3 years to achieve / obtain what we did (not to mention countless trips to Disney parks, complete quests, purchase pins, etc.).

[WDWfanatic742]

Plus, if they somehow did find a way to lure the staff to think about coming back, who would go back after they know that the game will close in four months? Especially when they could have gone to VFK.

[chrisb26]

This rumor comes from Ridely Pearson who wrote Kingdom Keepers he wrote it in his blog today. Saying

There are rumors circulating about VMK possibly being extended (for long time users) for a few months longer. I can't confirm anything at this time, but keep your fingers crossed.

I find this highly unlikely for the simple fact that all of the staff of VMK are now gone.

Other then that I can't see many people wanting to come back and get into the game just to have it close on us again. The first time was bad enough. I don't know that people would want to go though it again.

Now if the game were to come back and stay open with out plans to close it that would be good but I don't know that I would want it to come back to only close on us again.

[JPL]

Ok here is how this rumour makes sense. It would take about 3-4 months to work on a VMK pay to play scenario Disney sees 50,000 players most if not all from VMK sign up for VFK. Let's do the math here once again. If they can figure out a way to make VMK Pay to Play and charge $10 a Month that's $6 Million a year. They don't want these players established and playing another game if they plan to bring it back for fear nobody would want to leave the new game. I'm sure most staff would jump back to VMK if they had the chance especially with promises of jobs at another Disney Game if VMK does close again.

[Randypandy]

Disney could bring it back but they won't. It will turn out to be just another promotional idea for them so they can break our hearts and dreams like they always do. I'm just hoping they don't do the same with potco. If they do i'll sign off of that in a heartbeat and play something else. If it's just a rumor like you say don't worry about it. rumors are just rumors

[mickeynuts]

Given the rumors going around about a pay to play second version of vmk coming in the fall, it would make sense for them to hang on to the customers they have until then instead of letting us float off in different directions and find something else to play, but it seems like they would have left it open if that were the case.
Sadly this rumor is probably nonsense, but we can dream.
Laura

[WDWfanatic742]

Well, the pirates game is still giving out VMK codes. It has to be connected to the VMK server in order to give out codes. The game is actually still working because if you use a link, the game loads up and everything up to the final screen before you get to the map screen. Since the game is up still, you would think that they are doing something with it...

[chrisb26]

That is interesting I would have thought they would be taking it all the way off line.

[WDWfanatic742]

Ridely Pearson's "top insider" now says that it was just a rumor and not true...

[jjramsey]

If it were not a rumor and they decided to bring it online to keep players until the pay version were released, I would hate to be the person/s that decided to shut it down this last time and run off the players!

...oops...

[chrisb26]

After thinking about it I believe his rumor could have made sense. If the game is coming out as pay to play in the fall or early winter like many people have heard. It would as others have said make sense for them to keep the free version open until then.

Disney has to see that basically ever person that played VMK is now over at VFK. The problem is if VFK takes off and people really like that game people will be less likely to return to Disney and pay to play VMK when they can stay at VFK for free.

So really it would probably be in Disney's best interest to keep VMK open and keep its audience until the game was ready to reopen as a pay version.

[Tiggerdog]

The problem is if VFK takes off and people really like that game people will be less likely to return to Disney and pay to play VMK when they can stay at VFK for free.

VFK is free for now. In the ToS they do state that it will become a pay-to-play game. Many VMK players were weary of this at first because when we checked VFK out the first time, a lot of us thought it would be p-t-p right away.

hint - when VFK becomes p-t-p or VMK comes back p-t-p, purchase a VISA gift card to make your payments with. This way your real CC are safe.

[Patricia]

As we've pointed out, all of VFK won't be free if their Terms of Services are up to date.

I wish VFK would stop insisting it is free and tell members what the monthly fee will be for unlimited access. If free only includes chat and messaging, I'm sure some people would like to know what to expect before getting involved.

[SparkleMeTink]

I agree 100% patti. Tell us now the purchase price, so we don't get too involved and then find out that we can't afford the montly fee.

[laughingplace<3]

If the rumor is true, they better open VMK again really soon. People have already moved on in other directions.

They should have thought about the pay to play before they completely shut VMK down. However, someone made a good point- if the game is still running like it is, it isn't completely gone. It seems like to me VMK is still running, just not to the public.

[JPL]

They basically have about 3 weeks to relaunch VMK before suffering the loss of players and interest.

[jjramsey]

They basically have about 3 weeks to relaunch VMK before suffering the loss of players and interest.

You are right! I think though that the way the closing was announced and what transpired over the last month of VMK operation was quite damaging to their 'base' of users.

The best transfer scenario would have been:

- An announcement a few months ahead of the new system.

- An offer that said that there would be a database transfer of all inventory, rooms with furniture arranged (the way you had it before) into the new system when it is ready, so players that continue with them would keep inventory.

- A prepayment plan offer with discount for players that are in VMK when the switchover happened, as well as a package of unreleased (and not to be released again), virtual items for people who pre-pay in the next 30 days.

- A family payment plan (would allow for large families or players that wanted additional characters).

- Start an advertising campaign to bring more players into VMK.

- Add more server resources to reduce lag and 'show' the improvement in the game to demonstrate the better gaming environment that would be available in the pay-to-play edition.

----------------------

I think with the right plan, they could have kept staff and players happy and then had a relative uneventful switchover. Even if they had to have a different 'shell' to allow the pay-to-play login, the same basic game would have been there.

[WDWfanatic742]

Here is the thing that stumps me. If they were to open it back up at the end of the year, why lost all of the players that think that the game won't come back? If it will be in October or November, then by then people will have moved onto VFK or one of the other online games.

[mickeynuts]

Pure speculation here, but what if their contract with Sulake was up on the year mark, and Sulake suddenly decided 6 weeks ago not to renew? Disney can't continue the game without them because they designed it, and they can't have a new version ready in that time period. It would explain why it ended so out of the blue and on the year mark and why so many new items had been designed for the future. Maybe that's when they idea came to create a new vmk without Sulake but since they didn't have a solid time table for it, they have decided to not tell us about it until they have more information. No point in telling us the game will be back if they don't know when and if we will have to start over from scratch anyway.
Could that be possibly what's going on here?
Laura