This article is worth an entire read...
Parents with children VMK'ers...read the last question entitled "What do you suggest VMK people do when VMK ends? Why?"
Excerpt:
"Why do you think Walt Disney Co. is ending VMK? Do you agree that the site should end or do you think Disney should keep it going?
I believe VMK is being closed for a variety of reasons, although this is my professional conjecture. VMK represented an early entrant into virtual social worlds. Technology has advanced, as have business models, user expectations and “mainstream” acceptance. Disney is in the process of launching several new worlds in which they can capitalize on these new market conditions and realities.
VMK seems to have had about 15,000 people as active daily users at the time of its closing. With constant quests and activities, this represents a cost which is likely unsustainable at that level of use - especially since there is dedicated staff (cast members) who are in world at all times it is open for users.
Also, because VMK was originally conceived as a 50th anniversary promotion, there was likely no long-term strategy in place beyond an early “experiment” in these kinds of multi-user environments.
Disney’s decision to close VMK was a business decision - so it is difficult for me to assign a “should” factor to it. However, I do think it is enormously - enormously - unfortunate that Disney has provided such little support for this hugely engaged community in the closing. Disney has a perfect opportunity here to have strategically communicated with this community, helping them transition into one of the new Disney world perhaps or providing some way to somehow archive some of the personal artifacts - not the least of which are the avatars, assets and personal environments which users have spent untold hours building - maybe that would be simply a digital VMK memory scrapbook - something that communicated Disney was tuned into the angst of the community being disbanded.
I do think any organization that actively builds a community has some responsibility to manage the dismantling of that community if it should be necessary. But, in the long view, any company that builds a community should be doing so as a long term commitment and ought to be considering at the outset what the “exit strategy” is..."
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Source: Orange County Register
If truth be told there's more than one glitch. 
"Way back in 2005, Disney (DIS) opened a free online game/virtual world called Virtual Magic Kingdom. The site, released primarily to celebrate Disneyland's 50th anniversary, took off, and within a year Disney announced that users had created 1 million avatars for the virtual playland.
Closing a Disney Community: Church of the Customer Blog
"Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom is a virtual representation of the real-life Disneyland theme park. It's also an online community for evangelists of Disneyland.
More than a million avatars have been created at VMK. By almost any standard, it's a popular site.
But Disney plans to shutter VMK tomorrow night, and that's caused consternation in paradise. Petitions have been signed, protest sites have been created. VMK citizens wonder why Disney would want to close something that solidifies and extends their loyalty.
Here's one reason: Disney envisioned VMK as an 18-month promotion, not a long-term loyalty effort.
The closing of VMK illustrates a schism prevalent today at many companies, especially larger ones: the battle between short-term campaigns vs. long-term evangelism..."
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Source: Church of the Customer Blog
May 20, 2008 in Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)