I was reading the advice given by Disney Master 500 and I decided to contact a important Disney figure and I would like for all concerned player on VMK to tell me if this was the right way to phrase this to try another attempt at getting VMK to stay open:

Sir,

I am here to bring to your attention that many children are devastated on what Disney Company is doing to a very popular online game, VMK. VMK is supposedly closing and we at VMK Forums are trying to prevent this dreadful thing from happening. We would like for all the wonderful people at Disney to reconsider the closing of this precious game. Children and even adults have made friends, and memories on this game that most will never forget. If you would, try and get this game to stay open! This would be greatly appreciated by me and MANY other people!

Taylor,
A concerned player.

I wouldn't use the "If you would, try and get this game to stay open" sentence. Maybe reword it, but I'm exactly sure how.


~ Bird

Hmm..in my opinion, you should change the "MANY" to "COUNTLESS"

it sounds more strong.

Ok Thanks For The Advice Guys! :) But Other Than The Misused Words How Id It?

Here is my edit:

Sir,

I am writing to you today, on behalf of the numerous children that are devastated on what the Walt Disney Company is doing to a very popular online game, the Virtual Magic Kingdom, otherwise known as VMK. VMK is scheduled to close on May 21, 2008 and we at the VMK Forums are trying to prevent this dreadful event from happening. Our wishes are that all the wonderful people at the Disney Corporation; please reconsider the closing of this precious game. Children and even adults have made friends and memories from this game that most will never forget. If you would, please support us in our quest to keep VMK alive. Any action upon your part would be greatly appreciated by myself and MANY other devoted VMK players! Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Taylor,
A concerned VMK player

Thank You So Much

This is my letter that I have emailed and sent by snail mail.
I am trying to get across that although this is a free game, my playing has caused Disney to get money from me, in addition to my loving the game.

Please Save Disney's On-Line Game Virtual Magic Kingdom


I would like to bring to your attention a situation that you may have some impact on.

I am a faithful player of Disney's online game, Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK). I heard about it back in May of 2005, and started playing. I have recently been informed that VMK is being cancelled.

I have to tell you that this broke my heart. Why?

I have been playing this game almost every day for 3 years. In all on-line role playing games, you have the same goals: To acquire virtual "stuff" and to acquire your in-game friends. Can you imagine playing a game and building your virtual rides and rooms and all of taken away? For example, in Club Penguin, imagine you started playing and then after awhile they just said "Thanks, that's all now. All those games you played to get in-game credits? Too bad." And all your friends? We are told that we are not to contact our VMK players outside of VMK. Good online safety. But now you are telling us you are taking away all our virtual friends?

VMK also keeps me immersed in "all things Disney." We love the family-friendly aspect of it...in fact my husband, me, and my 11 year old and 14 year old all played the game. But now it will be gone.

On the VMK home page, it says that VMK was only supposed to be a promotion and that is why they are closing it down. Well why didn't you tell us? Why not say this game will only last for a year so don't get too invested? Why have new virtual items for sale and new games and quests continuously if it was just going to stop?

You might ask, "It's a free game, what do you want us to do?"
But as you said, it was to promote Disney. I can tell you all the money I spent on Disney products as a result of VMK.

1) Trips to Walt Disney World. I remember in 2005 when my husband I were talking about where to go on vacation, I immediately suggested Disneyworld as I wanted to do some of the in-park quests that allowed you to get park-specific virtual items for VMK.

2) Stays in the Disneyland hotels. My husband had some business trips to the L.A. area, and he went early and stayed in a Disneyland Hotel just to get the virtual "Stitch" items for VMK. They are still very rare in the VMK economy.

3) Disney Movie Rewards. I feel stupid now, but we bought a few more DVDs than we would have to get Disney Movie Rewards to get exclusive items for VMK.

4) Pins: I feel really really really stupid now, but just on Monday April 7th 2008, I went to Epcot as I was in town for a business trip. I bought some of the real-life VMK pin sets for both the pins and the virtual codes to get more VMK items.

5) In park merchandise. With purchase of real items, you get some virtual items. I have a set of gold ears. I also have a set of virtual gold ears! I have some pins, and virtual “Penny Press” that I got with the purchase. I have a Splash Mountain Photo, and the virtual “Wanted Poster”. I have some magic tricks, and a “Magic Mirror.” Would I have bought all that without the VMK bonus? No, I wouldn’t have. Those magic tricks are sitting in a closet.

Can I have my money back please? I spent money on Disney items to get VMK items as well as the physical items. But I no longer get the benefit of the VMK codes related to those items. I feel that you have reneged on your implied contract with us.

Now you say, hey, why don't you play one of our Pay to Play games? So you want me to abandon all that I have worked for in VMK, all the items and rooms and clothing I have worked hard for, even paid for with my real life purchase, and now pay for the privilege to start all over? No thanks.

Why would I pay money if you can close down the games at any time? Clearly you are in control and we never know when you will close down an online game.

And truly, I cannot imagine Walt Disney shutting down a family friendly virtual Disney Experience with hardly any notice and causing such bad feelings about Disney.

WWWD? What would Walt Do?

You may say that VMK costs money. You never gave us the opportunity to pay for VMK. I would say that I already paid for it with what I bought from Disney. Even so, I would pay to keep what I have acquired in VMK. All the items, all the friends. All the Disney fun. But you say, throw it way. Who cares. Too bad. Not our problem. Your fault for getting invested in a Disney online experience. Wasn’t supposed to last anyway.
Just a promotion. Didn’t you know?

Now you say that Walt Disney said: "We keep moving forward, opening new doors,
and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading
us down new paths."

Walt never closed down a park. You have new rides at the park, but never have you closed an entire park. You are closing my virtual park.

Please, we beg you, let VMK stay, even if we have to pay.

bopper----
You put in words EXACTLY what i have been rehearsing in my mind to write Disney myself. GREAT LETTER!!!!



I WANT MY VMK!!!!!

mikki

i agree, bopper that was a really great letter. i keep fixing the one i want to send snail mail. i was just bombarding mail boxes with generic mail boxes with letters. but really want a heart felt letter for snail mail and fax and that is a great letter! you should fax one a day. :)

great letters everybody.

GREAT! Hopefully That Will Get Em Lol

Sorry Guys VMK Is Officially Closing Nothing We Can Do..... I Got A Reply From My Letter Which Said......:


Thank you for contacting The Walt Disney Company and VMK.

We have received an outpouring of feedback regarding our decision to
close VMK. We are overwhelmed by the responses and enthusiasm of our
guests, but unfortunately our decision to eventually close VMK is set.
We have explored many different options, including a pay to play model
but have decided to focus more of our time on our new virtual worlds
coming soon, which we are sure that you will love as much as VMK.

Deciding to close VMK was a very difficult decision for us because we
loved creating VMK just as much as you loved playing it. But in a
company that encourages innovation and creativity we have decided to
"keep moving forward" and exploring where the future takes as, because
in the words of Walt Disney, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors,
and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading
us down new paths."

Thank you for being part of this journey with us, and we hope we
continue to see you at Disney.com enjoying what we imagine next!

Sincerely,


Your friends at VMK

Seems like this is the only response they are giving.

Ye :( Which Stinks

this is the same response everyone is getting - check the news section of the forums. it's ok though. just one step to our fight to get vmk back. i expected this response from Disney. don't worry though. this just means that they heard us and are hoping we just back down. but don't. keep up the work. we still have a month before it is official. :)

i just hit reply and resent my initial email and sent it AGAIN to everyone on our contact list.

Yea, but one point they are missing.

Just because they are moving forward, means they have to shut off the past? They are still releasing the old Disney Movies from the Disney Vault, they are still keeping Disney Attractions open from the Disney Parks, so why not keep VMK? Just because you are going forward doesn't mean you should shut off the past.

This Does Not Seem Like An Auto Response Though Know What I Mean, But People Are Getting Things Sounding Similar Like My Friend Did Too

I keep hearing people say that Disney is "getting greedy" by taking away VMK and suggesting we all play POTCO or Toontown. If Disney was truly "getting greedy", they would have started charging for us to play VMK long ago. I get the whole "Disney is closing VMK because it doesn't make any money" angle, but think about it...they've always said VMK will NEVER be a pay-to-play game. I think they made a mistake by saying that...because since they said it, they have to follow through with it. So...think about this for a second...They can't make it a pay-to-play, and the company can't just put money into a game that has no measurable impact on the number of Guests entering the real parks. Yeah, you could say that the number of quests redeemed gives them a count, but realisticly that can't possibly be many when compared to the 30,000+ people that go into a park each day.

Just playing "devils advocate"...I think it is a terrible thing to close VMK like all of you...but would prefer to choose a different path than taking the "angry mob" approach.