Virtual Magic Kingdom

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Virtual Magic Kingdom
Developer(s)	Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Sulake Corporation
Publisher(s)	Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Release date(s)	May 23, 2005
Genre(s)	Massively multiplayer online game
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Platform(s)	Cross-platform
System requirements	Web browser with Macromedia Shockwave Player plugin
Input	Keyboard, Mouse

Players chatting in the Main Street Central Plaza. There are two Hidden Mickeys to photograph in this scene: one on the top of the lower-left bush, the other at the bottom of the brick part of the upper-right wall.

Castle Forecourt, decorated for Halloween.

Central Plaza, decorated for Christmas.

Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom, also known simply as VMK, is a free massively multiplayer online game run by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online. It is a virtual representation of the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks, and it contains areas and games which are based on real park attractions.^[1]

A VMK player can chat with other players (though the vocabulary is restricted—see Dictionary below); 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 Games below); and search for "Hidden Mickeys" (see Hidden Mickeys 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, but there are fan web sites which allow players to make contact with each other.^[2]

The game is in operation daily between 10:00am and 1:00am EST (7:00am-10:00pm PST, 2:00pm-5:00am UTC). However, on December 31, 2006, the game is operating till 4:00am EST (1:00am PST), to celebrate the new year.^[3]

The beta version opened publicly on May 23, 2005 with Main Street, Fantasyland, and Adventureland available to players. The "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. On January 8, 2007 the new land was announced and opened as New Orleans Square along with many other new VMK features. New Orleans Square was opened with the VMK Gallery, a room where game programmers show off new objects or upcoming additions to VMK, Blue Bayou, a restaurant based off the one in Disneyland's New Orleans Square complete with a waiter named "Gator Waiter" who takes orders from VMK guests when they wave their hands, and a view of the swamp area from the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland. Also The Haunted Mansion game on VMK has been moved from Frontierland but Pirates of the Caribbean has not as it is also based in New Orleans Square at Disneyland in Anaheim.

The game engine uses Macromedia Shockwave. Virtual Magic Kingdom was created by The Sulake Corporation, the company that also created the online multiplayer game Habbo Hotel, and it bears several similarities to said game.

[edit] In-Park quests

Several in-park "quests" are currently available at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. (The specific questions in the quests are different in each park.)

The front and back of a Frontierland Cactus Armchair card. Note: this code has already been used.

A location at the Magic Kingdom (on Main Street, U.S.A.) or at Disneyland (in Tomorrowland at Innoventions) provides quest handouts containing multiple-choice questions for the Adventureland, Fantasyland, and Frontierland quests. A player explores the park to find answers, then returns to his starting point so his answers can be checked and prizes can be awarded. The questions require the player to spot details in the park, such as counting the number of keys on the keyring being held by the dog in Pirates of the Caribbean. Upon completing these quests, the player is awarded prize cards (with codes for in-game items) depending on what answers he or she got right, as well as a glow-in-the-dark wristband for getting all correct answers in any one quest. Each prize card has one single-use code printed on it; entering this code into the game will grant the designated prize to the player.

A Tomorrowland quest is available online to print out and bring to a park, and is still being accepted despite stating that it is only valid through December 31, 2005. A holiday quest for each park was available during the 2006 holiday season, and ended on January 2, 2006. From April through September 2006 a 50th Celebration quest was available at Disneyland. And from April 2006- A Thrill Seekers Quest is available at the Magic Kingdom if you print it out from home, note that the quest requires you to vistit Disney's Animal kingdom park as well, A High School Musical quest, based on the made-for-TV movie, was made available on May 23, 2006. [1]

Until December 2005, a player who completed quests successfully were eligible to go on the VMK Insider Tour, which included the Haunted Mansion quest, the Pirates of the Caribbean quest, and the opportunity to win more prizes. Since March 2006, however, a new prize is being given at Disneyland to guests completing all four quests. Now guests completing the quests may receive a FastPass for two different attractions.

Now being offered to park visitors, is the Animation Quest. This new quest does not require any searching for answers. This quest is retrieved at the park itself. The goal of this new quest design was to have something to do while you're taking a break at your hotel or are waiting in line according to a "Yavn Speaks!" article in the VMK Newsletter.

A player must wait ninety days before being awarded any particular prize (including the wristband) again.

The front and back of a Golden Mickey Ears card. "Congratulations! Your purchase of a real hat entitles you to an exclusive virtual hat in the Virtual Magic Kingdom."

Merchandise cards are given with the purchase of various items around the theme parks. The locations are different for Disneyland than they are for the Magic Kingdom. One of the six cards cannot be obtained from Disneyland; another cannot be obtained from the Magic Kingdom.

[edit] VMK Quests

There are a few public quests in the game itself, as well as quests created by players. These 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. Successful completion of a VMK Quest will usually award a prize. Each character can only win each VMK Quest once.

[edit] Items that can belong to a character

Players can customize their characters' appearance and rooms.

A few of the game's testers and developers are active in the game; they often show off pins, clothing, and rooms that are not yet publicly available.

[edit] Badges and Titles

Badges are icons that appear at the top of a player's information window visible to other players. Badges cannot be traded.

• Born In Park: given to a character created at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom.
• VIP: given via a prize card's code; the card is given after completing the in-park quests (see Quests above) 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.)
• Here from Day 1: given to a character created during the "beta" stage (prior to June 27, 2005).
• VMK Staff: paid employees who help safeguard players and/or host VMK games and events; see Staff above.
• Testers: VMK staff that test out items, and seen around with their name "QA_".
• Community Leader: volunteers who help with the game; their names begin with "CL_".

A staff member's profile, showing some of the pins owned. Up to fifteen pins can be "worn" at a time and visible to other players. Three of the worn pins in this photo are magic pins, with stars denoting their strengths.

[edit] Pins

A character can "wear" up to fifteen pins so that other players can see them in his profile.

"Magic pins" can 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 display a visual effect. Each effect has a duration of only a few seconds and must be allowed to "recharge" for a minute or so before another use. If a player has two or more of the same kind of magic pin, they can be combined for a longer effect and shorter delay between uses. There are also single-use magic pins which will disappear after being used once (or after a specific "expiration date").

Some of the more common magic pins are:

• Buried In Treasure ("BlingBling!"): makes the character appear to become buried in gold coins. Can be obtainable through either treasure detector magic, or through the promotion of Kelloggs.
• Cursed Storm ("BoomCrash!"): makes the character spin around in a cyclone.
• Pirate Costume ("YohoYoho!"): makes the character appear to be dressed as a pirate.
• Fireworks magic ("Rocket!"): makes fireworks shower over the character's head.
• Teleportation magic ("Jump!"): relocates the character elsewhere in the room. The player may select any destination that's reachable by walking.
• Snowman Magic ("Frosty!") makes the character turn into a snowman. Was Available in the emporium in December 05, and 06. Also had a single use pin sold.
• Bat Magic ("Dracula!") makes the character turn into a bat and is able to fly around the room. Was avaible in emporium in February and October 06. Also had a single use pin sold.
• Invisibility Magic ("Spooky!") makes the character turn nearly invisible.

• The Dancing Inferno ("Inferno!") magic pin (which makes the character appear to dance in a ring of fire) is among the rarest and most coveted items in the game; only occasionally awarded in host games, many large trades of rare items involve this pin.

• The Treasure Detector ("Gold!") magic pin was available by eBay promotions, or when hosts were giving them out on New Years Eve to random guest rooms. It was also given out during the 3rd week of the " Epcot Quest " in the month of March 2007.

• Treasure Chest Bronze Key ("YoHoBronze!") opens the bronze chest in the pirates game. won every 3 wins of Pirates Ship battle level 1 or win capture the flag 3 times in level 1.

• Treasure Chest Silver Key ("YoHoSilver!") opens the silver chest in the pirates game. won every 3 wins of Pirates Ship battle level 2 or win capture the flag 3 times in level 2.

• Treasure Chest Gold Key ("YoHoGold!") opens the gold chest in the pirates game. won every 3 wins of Pirates Ship battle level 3 or win capture the flag 3 times in level 3.

• Turn Into Coral Magic ("Ahoy!") is a single use magic pin won from a Level 3 chest. it is given out at random every time a prize chest is opened up. Turns your character into coral.

• Diver Suit magic pin ("Dive!") allows you to enter a diving tank. is similar to the regular diving suit but has a blue helmet and is a darker green.

• Driving magic ("Drive!") is the only way to enter the Race tracks, along with a drivers license. a table of the types of cars shown below

• Inner-Space suit blue ("Space!") magic pin is the only way to reach the inner space shrinker ray, which is used to enter the inner-space shop. is like a yellow or red space suit but is blue and allows you to enter the things mentioned above

• Magic Carpet ("Whoosh!") has only been seen as a pin by yavn and other testers. it is an Aladdin type carpet. It is similar to the driving magic, but you are floating. if it is being released is unknown. Note; you were previously able to test this magic out in the Spell Room, Fantasyland, inside the game until the Spell room was removed

The costume items can be mixed-and-matched. This character is wearing the Mission Space vest, pants, and shoes with the Native American headdress.

[edit] Clothing

Occasionally, the VMK shops sell special clothing items (or entire costumes). Some of these are seasonal, and some can only be purchased during a specific weekend. These items are usually expensive; due to this and their limited availability, they soon become valuable items in trading.

Some clothing is restricted based on the gender of the character. Princess dresses and cheerleader outfits can not be purchased by male characters, except for princess hats. So far, the only types of clothing not available to female characters have been a blue baseball uniform and the Wildcats sweatsuit.

Full costumes have included spacesuits, princess dresses with accompanying tiara or Princess Minnie Hat, Haunted Mansion suits with tophat, an Expedition Everest hiking outfit with snowshoes, and baseball and football uniforms.

Costume items have included Mickey ears, and a variety of caps including baseball caps and a Sorcerer Mickey hat.

[edit] Guest rooms

When a player first creates his character in the game, he is given one free "guest room" which he can name and decorate with items. He is allowed to select the style of his free room from four available choices. If the player is creating his character in a park, then he is given another four rooms (one of each available choice) as a bonus. Several other kinds of rooms are available; a player can purchase them in the game, obtain them from quest cards, or win them from minigames.

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. 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. VMK staff award a Best Guest Room Award or Best Game Room Award pin to the owner of a guest room chosen to be superlative in originality and creativity. Recently, several players have earned the Best Guest Room or Best Game Room award more than once; the VMK staff now awards the VIP pin to these outstanding players.

VMK Staff have also announced that along with the new New Orleans Square land, there will be an exclusive room based off of the VIP Exclusive Disney Club located in the real New Orleans Square called "Club 33". This room has been said it will be used for some Staff events and for some guests who have earned the privilege to "rent" the room for their own public or private events. As of February 26, 2007, host quests using the quest kiosk has Club33 room ticket prizes in some of the boxes

A player can set his/her guest rooms so that only people on his or her friends list may enter. On January 8, 2007, "tickets" were added; a room owner is now able to sell tickets to allow entry to his rooms. The tickets appear as "single-use pins" on your character and can be traded to others. List Of Guest Rooms

Also, 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 player's room are then posted each week on the VMK Newsletter. This concept is similar to Extreme Makeover Home Edition. There is also a new room called Epcot Entrance. To get the Epcot room all you need to do is a quest. You only need to answer ten questions.

[edit] Hidden Mickeys

There are fifty Hidden Mickeys 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.

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 awards a printable PDF coupon with a code for the Gold Design set of items, which can 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 is called "Hidden Mickey Quest Part II", and the new prize pins have "Part II" appended to their names.

[edit] Disney Characters

A player is given 40 credits and a pin upon first visiting each of these non-player characters (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.

NPC's that give out ONE pin on first visit: (NPC's called "Characters" in the game)

• 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 give out NO pin:

• 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)

As a result of having "won" the Voting Poll event (see Events above), the Dragon gave out 100 credits per visit from November 14 through 27, 2005, instead of the usual 20 credits. During the Yeti Quest event, the characters each gave higher credit awards than usual.

Mickey Mouse's shoes can be seen beneath the curtain in the Golden Horseshoe Mercantile, and Donald Duck occasionally walks past a window above the Main Street Central Plaza, but no award is given for finding them.

Push The Trashcan

"Push the Trashcan" sometimes appears in the game. Based on the roving, wisecracking trash can seen in Disney theme parks (and named after the word PUSH on its trash door), Push visits guest rooms and interacts with players.

[edit] Codes

A player can enter codes to obtain items and credits. Each code consists of sixteen letters and/or numbers. They are provided on cards and wristbands given as prizes for quests at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom and in certain issues of Disney Adventure Magazine. They were also previously available in specially-marked boxes of Kellogg's cereal (Apple Jacks, Cinnamon Krunchers, Froot Loops, and Rice Krispies).

There are two kinds of codes. Single-use codes are unique and are only valid for one use by a single player; these are given on prize cards. Multi-use codes are good for one use by any player; the same code is provided in each cereal box, for example. However, the magics acquired from the Kellogg's are no longer available and now only give 1 credit

There is a Kellogg's "Conquer the Sea" game online [2] which will dispense one single-use code to a player. This code will award a few pirate-themed prizes including the Skull Rock room.

An online "Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue" game [3], no longer available, awarded codes for a pair of pink Monsters, Inc. teleporter doors.

"Yeti Vision: The Everest Quest" [4] awards prizes based on Expedition Everest.

"The Adventure of Narnia" [5] awards prizes based on the 2005 Disney film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" [6] awards prizes based on the 2006 Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Magic pins acquired through codes may not be traded to other characters, presumably to avoid letting players create new characters for the sole purpose of amassing magic pins.

[edit] Acquiring credits

A player can earn credits by visiting the Disney Characters (see Disney Characters above), by playing the Fireworks, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Haunted Mansion games, or by remixing and playing songs in Music Mix.

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.

Accounts used specifically for getting credits and items, known in other games as multis, are called "mules". Since the game lets a player create new accounts freely, players create mules (named after the beast of burden) 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 not be mistaken as being mules.^[4]

Purchased items can be "sold back" for 20% of their purchase price.

[edit] 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. Also, since there are long queue to enter rooms (the limit appears to be 15 guests per room), now you can get a "waiting number" (Referred to as the VMK Pass.) and go to other places until your number is called to enter the room.

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 your friends list is online or in what room.

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.

[edit] Trading and scamming

Players can trade pins and room furnishings. One player clicks on someone's character to show an info window, then clicks 'Trade'. The other player will be asked if he wants to trade, and if he does, both players will see a trading window. Each player can double-click on his items to place them in the "offer" area, and once both players are satisfied, they each click an "accept" checkbox and that completes the trade. (Any change to either person's offer will clear both "accept" checkboxes and require both players to accept again.)

Some clothing items are only available for boys or girls, and 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 you will know because these players will try to trick you. What usually happens is that a scammer will offer a valuable item for trade, he will ask someone else to put lots of good items into the offer area, and then he will quickly withdraw his valuable item and replace it with a cheap item and click "accept", hoping the other person won't notice the switch. A scammer can be reported by clicking the "Help" button at the bottom of the VMK window then clicking the "Call for Help" tab, but VMK staff does not appear to be often successful at returning lost items. As of October 5, trading was altered slightly so that after both users accept, they are shown an unchangeable summary of the items to be traded and they are asked to accept again, to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Another scamming trick is to ask to "try on" an item of clothing. After the victim has accepted the trade the character who has tried it on exits the room, taking the item with them. The victim has no hope of finding the scammer in the whole of vmk.

Each player can put a maximum of fifteen items into a trade. A scammer will sometimes offer to give a rare item in return for more than fifteen items, necessitating two separate trades where the scammer promises to put the rare item into the second trade, but instead once the victim has given him fifteen items in the first trade the scammer will flee.

Another scam involves teleporters; a scammer will trade a pair of teleporters which appear to be identical but are not "matched" and therefore won't work together (using either might send a character someplace unintended, or might not function at all). This scam has become less common since the game was changed to highlight both teleporters in a matched set when one is selected, so that a person can see if a pair is not matched.

Some scammers offer to provide codes in return for items. Since codes cannot be traded or communicated in the game, these scammers will usually disappear (without providing any codes) after being given the items for which they asked, or else they'll communicate with their target outside the game and provide codes which have already been used and can no longer be redeemed.

Scammers often beg players to let them "try on" rare pins or costume items; once the items are given to them, they disappear and drop the donor from their friends list so that the donor can no longer find the scammer. The staff mostly tell these players then should be careful next time and when they trade next time to receive something from their trade. Players think this as lazyness of VMK staff stop playing VMK.

A player can report a scammer with a "Report" button on his profile in the game, or by using the "Contact Us" link on the web site.

[edit] Criticisms

Staff sometimes show no interest in some issues such as scams and problems with host games; they tell players to use the web site to send feedback. The "Contact Us" link on the VMK web site has been nicknamed "the black hole". Responses are sometimes form letters irrelevant to the issues to which they're responding. Players who apply to become community leaders might receive an automated reply telling them that applications are no longer being accepted, or they might not receive any response to their questionnaires for weeks, months, if at all.

[edit] External links

• Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom
• Disney Online Worlds' VMK Guide