Virtual Magic Kingdom
Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) was a free, online MMO game developed by Disney in 2005 as part of the 50th-annivesary for Disney Parks. The game mimicked real-life features of the Disney parks in Florida and California, including Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street. VMK players used a avatar to explore, chat, play mini-games, and ultimately earn in-game credits to purchase items and clothing for their avatar. VMK was shut down in 2008, three years after the promotion began.
Gameplay
Players used a customizable avatar represented with a username to navigate the game. Gender, skin color, hair color, hair style, and clothing were all customizable attributes.
Monitoring and Safety
Due to the game’s young target audience, specific restrictions were placed on gameplay. Swear words, names and locations were outright banned, as well as other words, such as “hot.” However, many players developed in-game slang to work around these limitations (e.g., substituting words, using acronymns to spell names). To support the monitoring, the game was only open between the hours of 7am–10pm PST.
Closure
VMK shut down at 10pm on May 21, 2008. Before it officially closed, a small group of fans protested its closure at Disneyland’s entrance, claiming that the closure marked the end of an online community. Other fans on forums started a petition to keep the game open, ultimately gathering 20,000 signatures.[1] Disney spokesperson John Spelich claimed that VMK was only supposed to remain open for 18 months after its original opening in 2005, however unexpected popular demand delayed the inevitable closure. Spelich also claimed that Disney views VMK as a great success, with over one million avatars created. However, other projects that Disney was investing in at the time, such as Club Penguin, surpassed VMK in popularity.
Although Disney’s official statement claimed that the closure marked the end of the anniversary promotion, some fans speculated there were other reasons, including a failure to properly monitor the chat feature.
Fan Reboot
Much of the reboot effort is from former players who played VMK during their childhood and cite nostalgia as their motivation. There are two popular attempts to bring back the game in various forms, VMK Revisited and MyVMK. Neither are affiliated with Disney or the original VMK.
VMK Revisited
VMK Revisisted is a website aimed at fans of the original VMK game. According to the site’s FAQ page, the goal of the site is to bring the “VMK magic back to life.”[2] This site is not a game, but rather a collection of stills, animations, and sounds from the original VMK. A forum on the site allows fans to converse about the original VMK.
