New update on Gingerbread Winnings- Honorable Mention and prizes!

[gshawen]

I am surprised that VMK did not give a T-Shirt to all 2000 of the Gingerbread Contest participants that said: "I entered the VMK Gingerbread House and Holiday Room Competition, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt."

Your suppose to write something like that on the gift card and display it in your room for all to see.

" I entered the Gingerbread House Contest and all I got was this lousy present to send to myself."

 

[jazstar87]

After reading the whole thread, closely and carefully, I am getting convinced that VMK is embarrassed by their mistakes. Like, "maybe if we don't say anything, everything will go away". VMK, I really don't care if you make a mistake, goodness I have made tons over these past years, but the whole purpose of a mistake is to learn from it. I do have a tendency to have very high expectations on things, and I have to keep reminding myself not to. My whole problem with this situation, it doesn't matter what size of a company you are, you have to recognize the mistakes and do something about them or you are going to lose customers. I am very great full that Disney is paying for vmk out from their own pockets so their guests don't having, and trying to keep it up-to-date. Even though VMK is free, it is still part of the company. Yea, the old saying "you get what you pay for" could describe this, but we spent our time and effort for this competition, Doesn't that mean anything? I use VMK as an escape from my life (trust me, it's pretty much insane), but how can I de-stress, when the escape itself is stressful sometimes?

regardless of how you feel about the way VMK went about it, giving your present back, while also an act of futility, is kind of silly, I mean, only 2000 of them were awarded, so they will be a commodity at some point. And they are tradeable, so you can get something for them. So, anyone who wants to give them back to VMK, dont, trade them to me. Yes, I am serious.

Doesn't it seem a bit greedy? It will be a commodity to only those who weren't effected by this. The reason I am going to give it back, because i am saying it as a statement that it is about time VMK start fixing up their messes, or they are going to fall flat on their faces. Maybe that is the original intention? Who knows? When the people don't accept things from someone, wouldn't that be an alarm "oh crap, we screwed up badly, and this could effect us because word of mouth"? This is the internet! Things go through faster than speed of light, literally. These competition type events could be very fun, but they just need to organize it better, and learn from past competitions.

 

[threeboysmom]

I guess I'm a little confused on the whole dropping off the gift thing....

What's the point of it?? You're still going to continue playing VMK...that's all they care about.

And what are the hosts supposed to do with these gifts?? They can't exactly drop off virtual boxes on the desks of corporate management.... Really not sure anyone will be aware that the gifts were returned except you and that particular host...

Not attacking anyone. I just don't see the logic of it.

I plan on swapping my gift still with KrazyPete and putting some "annoying" message in there that he'll never be able to erase...

 

[qruthie]

I guess I'm a little confused on the whole dropping off the gift thing....

What's the point of it?? You're still going to continue playing VMK...that's all they care about.

And what are the hosts supposed to do with these gifts?? They can't exactly drop off virtual boxes on the desks of corporate management.... Really not sure anyone will be aware that the gifts were returned except you and that particular host...

Not attacking anyone. I just don't see the logic of it.

I plan on swapping my gift still with KrazyPete and putting some "annoying" message in there that he'll never be able to erase...

My point in returning the "token" prize was not to accept it. That's the only way I have to say, "No, thank you." If I could have dropped the "token" off in VMK Central, I would have. My goal wasn't to attract the attention of corporate management, I'd write a letter if I wanted to do that. My goal was to return a gift I didn't want as a way to protest the way the prizes were announced. Fin said she would let "them" know, I'm guessing "them" is someone involved with determining the prizes. I will write to VMK through contact us to let them know I returned their "token".

Sure, I could have tucked the "token" in the back of one of my store rooms to be ignored or given the "token" to another person or just sold it back to VMK for 10 credits. But all of those would require me to accept the "token" which to me is the same as condoning the announcement process or lack thereof.

I guess it's a lot like voting. My individual vote rarely matters but I come away from the polls feeling like I did everything I could to make my voice heard. FYI, my vote really doesn't matter, most of my ballot is votes for the write-in option of, "None of the above".

I have no problem with people who choose to accept the gifts, it's just not something I could do in good conscience.

 

[qruthie]

regardless of how you feel about the way VMK went about it, giving your present back, while also an act of futility, is kind of silly, I mean, only 2000 of them were awarded, so they will be a commodity at some point. And they are tradeable, so you can get something for them. So, anyone who wants to give them back to VMK, dont, trade them to me. Yes, I am serious.

I'm not into VMK commodities, anyone who knows me at all is well aware of that. For those who are into VMK commodities, I just made your VMK commodity a bit more rare.

Yes, giving the "token" back is an act of futility but it is the only way I have to refuse to accept the "token" and have it possibly be noticed. I intend to write a follow up message to VMK through contact us to let them know I returned their "token", yet another act of futility.

 

[aengus]

Another alternative rather than making hosts deal with it would be to sell it if you did want to send a message. I am keeping mine, Just thought I might put out a more host friendly solution to those who did want to make a statement.

 

[qruthie]

Another alternative rather than making hosts deal with it would be to sell it if you did want to send a message. I am keeping mine, Just thought I might put out a more host friendly solution to those who did want to make a statement.

Aengus, that is a good option and I would have done that but what happens when you sell an item back? My guess has always been that it just disappears from your inventory and the game. Does VMK even keep track of items that have been sold back? If not, then you're not sending a message at all by selling the item back.

That's why I opted to leave my gift in a host room. I'm hoping they have some sort of staff meeting where game issues are discussed. Although the hosts may not have the power to change the way prizes are announced, past experience seems to have shown the hosts do have some method of getting feedback to the game developers and newsletter writers.

 

[Adventuredaz]

Aengus, that is a good option and I would have done that but what happens when you sell an item back? My guess has always been that it just disappears from your inventory and the game. Does VMK even keep track of items that have been sold back? If not, then you're not sending a message at all by selling the item back.

That's why I opted to leave my gift in a host room. I'm hoping they have some sort of staff meeting where game issues are discussed. Although the hosts may not have the power to change the way prizes are announced, past experience seems to have shown the hosts do have some method of getting feedback to the game developers and newsletter writers.

I believe they do get numbers on what is sold, bought, redeemed awarded, and traded. probably they can get a srpead sheet on the top movers. I think this is partly how they are allerted when people are buying and selling lareg numbers of spider web walls or redeeming 100's of Narnia teleporters or random items and just reselling them for credit. This is when we see them make items non-tradeable or worth 5 credits or reduced in value to normal level. Of course they have gone to starting items at strange settings now but I am sure they can see. I would liken being on their end to playing a SIM, they want to see how their doing so they look at the results. Obviously they are playing a very complicated Sim with real players for participants in the thing. Maybe we should each have happiness settings for various aspects of the game we could change to give them immediate feedback. or we could walk around with over our head and they could click us and see what was wrong LOL

 

[aengus]

they definitely learned when we sold game or ride athon items for too much ROFL they changed the prices of them ROFL.

 

[AmberDaze]

Maybe we should each have happiness settings for various aspects of the game we could change to give them immediate feedback. or we could walk around with over our head and they could click us and see what was wrong LOL

Adventure, this makes me think of "Rollercoaster Tycoon" and other similar games. We get to see characters' moods (good and bad), and as developers, have to find a way to make them all happy. Hmm...let's see what all the peeps' moods are today... lol

 

[aliceblue]

Isn't the simplest and most effective way to make your voice heard to leave (respectfully worded) feedback under the drop-down menu on Contact Us?

If everybody did this, VMK couldn't help but notice the sheer volume of emails on the subject, even if they never read them all. And they do send a reply indicating that your email has been received:

Thank you for contacting VMK.

We appreciate your feedback and will forward it to the appropriate area
for review.

Regards,


--
VMK_Shorty
VMK Player Support
http://www.vmk.com

 

[steamboatpete]

I do not think the 5 star confetti magic and 30,000 credits for grand winner is cheap at all. That is the biggest prize ever more than generous I would say.
Can't wait to get my donald present as a nice reminder of the lack of disney difference in VMK.

I think that the prize for winning should be something elite, like the red space suit, that no one else gets, because you earned it by winning. The 5 star confetti and 30,000 credits is less than I saved by not entering the competition (of course, I don't have a 100,000 credit valued room, but....)

 

[Goofy05]

Isn't the simplest and most effective way to make your voice heard to leave (respectfully worded) feedback under the drop-down menu on Contact Us?

If everybody did this, VMK couldn't help but notice the sheer volume of emails on the subject, even if they never read them all. And they do send a reply indicating that your email has been received:

Glad you hear back from the "Black Hole", my friend. I have only received three non-canned responses from them. The first was in regards to being a CL, the second was to tell me my matter had been closed with regards to my disappearing inventory that has never been returned, and the third in response to telling me my entry onto the Gingerbread House contest was received, although I obviously never participated in that...heh!
So, although some players do receive replies, many of us do not, or if we do they are auto-generated. Has nothing whatsoever to do with our emails, as you know I use Yahoo email for anything related to VMK.

 

[aliceblue]

Glad you hear back from the "Black Hole", my friend. I have only received three non-canned responses from them. The first was in regards to being a CL, the second was to tell me my matter had been closed with regards to my disappearing inventory that has never been returned, and the third in response to telling me my entry onto the Gingerbread House contest was received, although I obviously never participated in that...heh!
So, although some players do receive replies, many of us do not, or if we do they are auto-generated. Has nothing whatsoever to do with our emails, as you know I use Yahoo email for anything related to VMK.

I didn't mean to imply that I got a non-automated reply from them; simply that the auto-response shows they received it. I thought the "feedback" area is simply for that purpose; to leave feedback without expecting a reply. If we're trying to get a personal response we have to wind our way through the drop-downs until we get past the ones that redirect us to the FAQs. Not that that guarantees a human being will read it, of course!

 

[mtlhddoc2]

Doesn't it seem a bit greedy?

How is it greedy? I am offering to trade for it, not take it for free. One man's junk.... that is how ebay really made its start. People are throwing them away, so I say, "dont throw it away, I will give you (figuratively) two bucks for it."

 

[Goofy05]

I didn't mean to imply that I got a non-automated reply from them; simply that the auto-response shows they received it. I thought the "feedback" area is simply for that purpose; to leave feedback without expecting a reply. If we're trying to get a personal response we have to wind our way through the drop-downs until we get past the ones that redirect us to the FAQs. Not that that guarantees a human being will read it, of course!

Heya! I didn't receive ANY reply! LOL Not even auto-generated... Getting used to, though. LOL I never expect a personal response, so I'm never disappointed. haha!

 

[steamboatpete]

On another board I'm on, everyone is happy about the Donald boxes and the flags, and they are mostly congratulating the winners. There seems to be a lot of groupthink going on here. When the prizes were first announced, we all knew it didn't sound right, especially b/c of the top ten pin, but this was the typical reaction.

I'm reading that the participation prizes go to everyone. It lists the indiviual prizes for both the winners and the runners-up. Then it lists that they also will get those participation prizes.
But, however they give out the prizes, I never expected anything more than the flag sitting in my room now.
So I'll be happy if we get something else, but I won't be disappointed if we don't.

Then, when we turned out to be right, suddenly the group turned, with this also being a typical reaction.

When using the word participant, that means everyone who took part in the event.
They clearly used the words participant prizes in the list.
No one here is upset that the winners and runners up get those prizes.
But, people are upset that they were led to believe that as a participant in the competition, they were to get what was listed as participant prizes and finally finding out that they don't.
Say you found an ad in the paper advertising that you would get an 80 GB Ipod for free just by showing up to a certain store. Then after you get there, they say you won't get it but you will get 1 GB Ipod Shuffle.
Sorry, that's false advertising. And that's basically what VMK just did.

Why the difference? Because negativity is contagious. VMK didn't communicate well, but people are not reacting well to this. The Donald box is awesome. I wish everyone in our familyhad been able to get into the competition so we could have a box and a flag and a shot at better prizes, but we didn't even get that far, for reasons that we thought were pretty unfair. But this isn't exactly the biggest injustice you'll read about in the world today.

 

[GoofyGeggy]

I don't necessarily think all of this is contageous negativity, though.

I, for one, am a very optimistic person who typically defends most of the actions taken by the VMK Team. I have come to have very low expectations with the game and the way it's run, but I have still defended most of what goes on in this virtual realm. I have fun with most of what I do in the game, but I definitely don't ever expect anyone's high expectations to be met - given vmk history.

However, even though I didn't expect much in the case of participation prizes - especially with the wording on the webpage earlier this week (just check out my posts regarding that and you'll see what I mean) - once the "token" prize was announced I was very disappointed.

I didn't expect to get an untradable outfit. I didn't expect to get orange gum drop chairs. I definitely didn't expect to get a Top Ten Pin! When the decision makers decided to give us participants a prize that, by definition, is supposed to be given away...after all of the prizes had been already listed, then I couldn't help but feel let down. It was as if they realized they forgot about us or accidentally misled us, and then off-handedly decided what prize to give us for participating. A virtual grab-bag comes to mind...



Talk of the flag being a prize has always made me chuckle. Number one, it's title is, "Room Judging Flag [Color]." When the Waterslide Competition was over, we all expected those flags to disappear from everyone's inventory. Because they didn't, we expected to keep them after the Space Race and the Gingerbread Competitions, but all they have ever been advertised to be is a marker so the judges know that room has been judged. They Hosts, themselves, have said as much... it's not a prize, it's a reminder to other judges so they don't work more than they already have to. The purple flag is going to do what my other flag is going to do... collect virtual dust.


Anyway, just my 2 cents...

 

[cteddiesgirl]

On another board I'm on, everyone is happy about the Donald boxes and the flags, and they are mostly congratulating the winners. There seems to be a lot of groupthink going on here. When the prizes were first announced, we all knew it didn't sound right, especially b/c of the top ten pin, but this was the typical reaction.



Then, when we turned out to be right, suddenly the group turned, with this also being a typical reaction.



Why the difference? Because negativity is contagious. VMK didn't communicate well, but people are not reacting well to this. The Donald box is awesome. I wish everyone in our familyhad been able to get into the competition so we could have a box and a flag and a shot at better prizes, but we didn't even get that far, for reasons that we thought were pretty unfair. But this isn't exactly the biggest injustice you'll read about in the world today.

I'm not all that upset. I was just stating a fact of what happened. I did no turn-around. I'm happy for my flag and happy for my Donald box. Yes, I would have been happier with receiving what they originally announced.
But, all I did was state what VMK did.
Is there anything in my posts that actually sounds angry?

 

[qruthie]

On another board I'm on, everyone is happy about the Donald boxes and the flags, and they are mostly congratulating the winners. There seems to be a lot of groupthink going on here. When the prizes were first announced, we all knew it didn't sound right, especially b/c of the top ten pin, but this was the typical reaction.



Then, when we turned out to be right, suddenly the group turned, with this also being a typical reaction.



Why the difference? Because negativity is contagious. VMK didn't communicate well, but people are not reacting well to this. The Donald box is awesome. I wish everyone in our familyhad been able to get into the competition so we could have a box and a flag and a shot at better prizes, but we didn't even get that far, for reasons that we thought were pretty unfair. But this isn't exactly the biggest injustice you'll read about in the world today.

Just to try to make something clear, I'm not unhappy with the prizes I did or didn't receive. I'm content to have just my flag. I don't even like the winner prizes other than the red hat which I wouldn't have received even if I had won because my character is a girl. The "token" Donald gift is nice. I am unhappy with the way the prizes were announced. I am disgusted with the way the VMK team has chosen to deal with their miscommunication. The announcement has been edited many times yet it still is full of inconsistencies. That is why I returned Donald to VMK. I want the VMK team to know I don't condone their inept handling of the prize announcement.

The original announcement should have been carefully written, reviewed by the VMK team for any technical inaccuracies, edited as needed then reviewed by an editor before it was published. If the prizes had been properly announced I believe most of us would be quite content with whatever we received. Instead, many feel disappointed because the wording of the original announcement was ambiguous and misleading. This was compounded by the precedent set in prior contests where they announced the prizes using the same format and participation prizes were labeled as participation prizes and were given to everyone who entered. Yes, I did read the original notice as saying we would be receiving the clothing and such. I thought the top ten pin was an error and would be moved up to the winners and runners up categories but I believed all participants would be receiving the other prizes. Why? because the winners and runners up prizes were very nice and looked like an awesome addition to what I thought were the participation prizes. Yes I was disappointed to receive a Donald gift instead of what was originally announced but that's not what I'm upset about.

The VMK team had at least two options for handling the prizes. They could disappoint 1967 people by not awarding them the prizes as originally announced or they could have made 2000 people quite happy by awarding the prizes as originally announced. VMK chose the former, I would have chosen the latter. I probably would have tossed in the Donald Gift too just for the fun of it.