Difference between revisions of "VMK Myths and Rumors"

Revision as of 02:47, 20 October 2007

Here you will read stories that have been going around in rooms since beta, to ones that started last Monday. We hope that this page will help clear things up.

(Originally based on work by Garfieldo, Teyla and Poseidon, the VMK Mythbusters.)

Thems the Rules

Rules are Rules. Aren't they?

• Claim: You can be banned for talking about the VMK Fan Site or other forums
  • Status: True
  • People have talked about getting warnings from staff members when they mentioned a fan site, although we have heard of a confirmed case that a ban was just because you mentioned it. Still, it is against the VMK Rules and Values to mention something that could identify you in the real world - so it is best to not talk about it.

• Claim: People can report you for booting them from your room, refusing to trade with them, or being mean.
  • Status: True, but...
  • Yes, people can report you for any reason whatsoever. People can report you for smiling at them or for wearing clothes they don't like. That doesn't mean you've done anything wrong or that you're going to be banned because of it, however. VMK Staff investigate all reports of problems, and only take action if there is a real problem.

• Claim: Booting people from your room can get you in trouble.
  • Status: False
  • You are allowed to boot anyone you want from your room for any reason. It is your room and your right.

• Claim: Standing on a quest object isn't allowed.
  • Status: True
  • VMK Staff have indicated that you should move off a quest object as soon as you can. Standing on the object and not allowing others access to it can lead to you being banned.

• Claim: You aren't allowed to trade for credits.
  • Status: False, but...
  • VMK Staff stated in the 11 April 2006 newsletter "VMK would prefer that Players only use the Quest Kiosks as they were intended: for creation of Quests and rewarding of prizes." Keep in mind that the VMK Rules and Values do forbid you from stealing someone's credits, which you might do through a generator. Trading for credits is not allowed in the VMKF trade forums.

• Claim: You will be banned for creating over 50 mules.
  • Status: False
  • For a while, people were fearing being banned for mules they had made in the past, after a certain statement from Yavn. Fortunately, he later explained that he will not be banning the players, but the mules themselves. If an IP has 50 characters used on it, they will start banning or deleting the extra accounts that are not used regularly, meaning the ones you go on every day will stay intact.

• Claim: A 10 year ban always lasts 10 years.
  • Status: Unknown
  • Apparently, 10 year bans have been lifted in a matter of months in the past, although nobody is exactly sure why. Some people believe that there is no such thing as a ten year ban, and they just say that to scare you, and make you grateful when the ban is over early. Others think the ban can only be lifted if you send Contact Us a detailed message explaining why you should be unbanned. But, whatever the reason is, people HAVE in fact been unbanned early. However, most remain for good. Nobody but the VMK staff is really sure about the truth on this matter.

• Claim: VMK Staff cannot wear anything except for their new uniforms.
  

  Host_Phinny wearing the new referee costume.
  • Status: False
  • While they have always kept their red ears, staff have worn different clothes in the past. But, only when the
    

    Hula wearing the YOAMD shirt.
    clothes haven't been seen by anyone else. So, QA's aren't the only ones who get to show off new clothes!

In the picture on the right, HOST_Phinny wears the referee costume while sitting in a dreidel chair, in Fin's Tailgate Party, November (Space Month) 24th, 2006.

In the picture on the left, HOST_Hula shows off the Year of a Million Dreams T-shirt. Up until this point, no-one had seen what this shirt looks like.

• Claim: There's a bug on VMK that changes your character from a boy to girl, and taking advantage of this bug (i.e. freaking out your friends) can result in a lengthy ban.
  • Status: Hoax
  • "If you're in a room that already has some bugs in it, and you're wearing the proper clothes and have the right face, your character will switch genders. But I don't advise doing it, since staff you can be banned for taking advantage of it."
    

    A message received by players who used the multi-use well codes.

That's the story some people have heard on VMK fan sites. But (thank goodness), this bug does not exist. I talked to CL_MsBehave, since someone had informed me that the bug had happened to her. Apparently, it's not a bug, but a prank. Here's Behave's response, word for word:

"If a girl wants to look like a boy, she would need to wear the Indian hat, with pigtails for her hair. then, a boyish face, none of those cute little girl faces we have. then, she would put on clothes boys own and BAM! she is a boy =] only with that one hat though.."

• Side myth: The whole "You'll get banned if you take advantage of it" part of the myth probably came from the incident in which some pirate well and fortress room codes were accidentally made multi-use.
  

  Here's a picture of "MrBehave". You can tell that it's really a girl because of the princess dress. Had she been wearing any other pants, you would think she was a boy.
  Players made mules to get dozens of well chairs, and others scammed countless number of characters. Many players lost items that day through scams, since the wells they traded for were taken away by VMK staff. Supposedly, you could get in trouble for taking advantage of the bug, although (as far as I know) the only people who were banned were the ones who intentionally scammed other players.
  

Beta

Once upon a time...

• Claim: Beta was great! There was not all the problems with other players we have now and everything was peaceful.
  • Status: False
  • People like to talk about how great the beta period was, but the reality was far different. Many of the problem players were there almost from the beginning, and other behaviors were also as common then as now. The biggest difference is that now we have a lot more people, so you might see more of these problems. In addition, there were lots and lots of game problems that were constant irritants - photos that wouldn't stay on walls, photos that couldn't be removed from walls, and people who would lose their arms are just a few examples.

• Claim: Be careful when trading for any Beta Furniture, since it will all come back someday.
  • Status: Probably True
  • Although many items were released at the beginning, and later taken away, several of these items have returned over time. It seems likely that other items will also eventually be released again.

CL Stories

Do you think you know what's true and what's not about Community Leaders? We'll see...

• Claim: CLs don't have to play games to get credits.
  • Status: False
  • Sometimes we think CLs have it better than normal players in every possible way. From that, stories have been started about CLs getting free stuff, free credits, etc. None of this is true. But it IS partially true that they don't have to play games to get credits. They can also visit NPCs and sell furniture, just like everyone else.

• Claim: CLs know everything about the game.
  • Status: False
  • While CLs do know much about the game, they do NOT know things like the release of certain pins (Unless this information has been revealed already), when new lands are coming out, and many other release dates.

• Claim: CLs have booting powers in all rooms.
  • Status: False
  • Many believe this is true, even though it isn't talked about much. That's because most people think that since CLs are leaders in the game and keep the peace, they can boot players out of a room if they're bad. This is not true. They can only boot players out of their own room, like normal players.

• Claim: CLs are staff members.
  • Status: False
  • CLs are just normal people at home/parks that love VMK and are on often. They do not work for Disney in real life, even though they have something in the front of their name. Though this is very common belief, it is not true.

• Claim: CLs give out free stuff.
  • Status: Sometimes
  • CLs are not required to give anything to anybody, but every now and then a CL or a normal player will give a new player or friend something free to welcome them to VMK. But, you should NOT ask for free stuff from anyone. It is annoying, and people don't like to be nagged for their stuff, especially rare and quest items.

• Claim: CLs have supernatural powers.
  • Status: There's no way to know.
  • While most don't, no one has never proven stuff like ESP, ghosts, ancient slime creatures from outer space, etc. to be false (Or true for that matter), we'll probably never know.

(Side Note: This is in real life of course. People on VMK have no supernatural powers.)

• Claim: CLs will make you popular.
  • Status: False
  • There are a lot of community leaders out there, around a hundred, so if you know one, it's not like you're going to be famous just for knowing them. Just like if you were friends with a cast member, it's not like you're going to be the most famous CL ever. I mean, do you know the names of even half the people on a staff member's list? Didn't think so.

• Claim: CLs help with events.
  • Status: True
  • Many community leaders help around with the events. The first event in which this was featured was the Halloween Maze events, where CL's had rooms involved, and CL_Poseidon, CL_Nedakh, and CL_Enderz and many others worked endlessly for people. Since then, CLs have been involved and been able to help with almost every event thereafter.

Item Tales

We all want to have the rarest clothes and pins, or that new recently released quest item, so it's easy for us to fall for lies about new items or free stuff. But can you tell the fact from the fiction?

• Claim: Dancing Inferno Magic Pin is now retired and will not be handed out at any future Host events
  • Status: Partially True
  • Many players have heard Hosts say that you will not expect to see Dancing Inferno Magic again being given out in events. This only means that for the time being VMK does not plan to release it again anytime soon.

• Claim: The VIP Badge gives you special rights.
  • Status: False
  • The VIP Badge gives no special rights. It doesn't give you the right to skip the lines of rooms, go to special events, see staff, etc. This badge does nothing, it just stays on you. Badges do nothing special when worn.

• Claim: Green beta items will be out St. Patrick's day 2006.
  • Status: True
  • Before St. Patty's day, many people believe that, since the holiday is famous for the tradition of everyone wearing green, vmk would re-release green beta items for a limited time around the day.

• Claim: Fill up all the seats in the drive-in and you'll win a free Dancing Inferno Magic Pin!
  • Status: False
  • This is a very strange, but well-known rumor. It's odd to think that this is true, since inferno is so rare. The reason that so many people try this is because, since inferno is something people automatically want, they still hope that this just might possibly be true. It's not. Also, why would they make such a rare magic pin the reward? There aren't even all that many seats!

• Claim: Fill up all the chairs in VMK central and get something free!
  • Status: False
  • This story is much more believable than the inferno from the drive story. Sadly, this one is also made-up. You do not get anything from filling up all the chairs. In fact, I don't think it's even possible to fill them all up. . . Perhaps that's the reason someone created it in the first place.

• Claim: If everyone dances in the music game, you get free Dancing Inferno Magic.
  • Status: False
  • This story may seem real at first. Seems kind of possible that you would get Dancing Inferno by dancing, doesn't it? This is just yet another story that has no truth in it.

• Claim: If you go to the emporium when VMK closes and you say "Inferno!" you get a Dancing Inferno Magic Pin.
  • Status: False
  • This story was probably originally created just to see how many people do it. Though this story is a bit out there, some might believe it since "Inferno!" is a one-word command with an exclamation point, just like the commands for magic pins.

• Claim: If you meet Push and ask him to dance he might give out Inferno.
  • Status: False
  • This story is rather new and originates around the fact Push the trashcan walks, talks, and will dance if you ask. Since he is not a NPC and does not give out credits people think he might give out inferno. However he has no items, cannot accept friends since you cannot click on him, or trade. He can talk through trade but has no items, and he must ask first, the conversation is usually about your quest.

• Claim: If you give something to VMK Staff, they will give you green flips.
  • Status: False
  • Staff giving you green flips is like them giving you green ears. They were suppose to be staff only, but they were for sale during most of Beta. Also, if you gave them something like, say, a Lumiere lamp, do you really think that they'd give you something as rare as green flips?

• Claim: If you don't move around while using Treasure Detector magic, you will get nothing.
  • Status: True.
  • Unfortunately, it's true. In order to get a small prize, you need to walk around until gold flies out from the ground under you, and your character stops walking. Although, some people have thought that you get the prize automatically after using the magic, since the map the character is holding resembles a treasure chest if viewed from certain angles.

Claim: During the month previous to Baseball Month, Hong Kong Disneyland shirts were released, but had a bug which caused it to look like a baseball shirt when the character is facing forward. Status: True Because the real baseball shirts had not yet been seen, people thought that these were baseball shirts, when in fact, they're Hong Kong Disneyland shirts, which have a bug that causes them to look strange when viewed from the front. And, during that same day, for only an hour, a red Hong Kong Disneyland shirt was available.

This is what the original Jack Sparrow costume looked like. The Davey Jones costume later became TICMP (Turn Into Coral Magic Pin).

Claim: There was a glitch that allowed you to create a new character that was wearing a Davey Jones (really coral magic) costume, and a different Jack Sparrow costume. Jolber wearing a Davey Jones hat. Status: True The day is April 25, 2006. You log into VMK, only to see an amazing number of guests wearing Davey Jones and Jack Sparrow costumes. It turns out that VMK staff had somehow accidentaly made these costumes available by creating new characters. The items couldn't be traded, so the people who made new characters couldn't get them to their main accounts. The items disappeared when they were taken off. And to make sure that each and every one was gone, staff confronted those who still had them, and asked them to sell them or hand them over. The bug was fixed later that day. Note: This happened the same day the HKDL shirts were released.

• Claim: You can go into debt with credits.
  • Status: True
  • After the 2005 and 2006 Give-a-Gifts were given out, many players gave too many gifts for their credit amounts. The gifts, costing 500 credits each, were given to players from other players, and then the credits deducted from the "person who sent the gifts" account. If the player did not have the amount of credits and did send a gift anyway, their credit amount was put into the negative amount.

• 

  The gold heart chair in a Host room.
  Claim: There are four different types of heart chairs; red, pink, cyan, and gold.
  • Status: Partially True
  • The red and pink chairs were released February 13, 2006 and were rereleased February 2, 2007. The cyan heart chair was released February 14, 2007. The gold has yet to be released. However, the gold heart chair has been spotted. It is still unknown whether or not the gold heart chair will be released.

• 

  Stitch Space Vehicle Magic
  Claim: Stitch Space Vehicle Magic was released from the VMK Trading Card Game.
  • Status Undetermined
  • Many people believe it's an edit due to it's shape of a Waterpark Pin, and the words being cut off. The status of the VMK TCG prizes is still unknown because the full version has not been released.

VMK Pal

VMK Pal is a handy gadget that is used by many VMKers, but is there any truth to the stories surrounding it?

• Claim: VMK_Opal got fired for using VMK Pal.
  • Status: 99% sure it's false.
  • Well, it's not a matter of if Cast Members are allowed to use VMK Pal or not which makes this story so unlikely, but the fact that there isn't a VMK_Opal (That we know of). And, if Opal was new, wouldn't you think they'd give him/her a warning before firing him/her?

• Claim: Host_Hula got hacked because she used VMK Pal.
  • Status: Highly unlikely.
  • For one thing, staff have told people in the past that VMK Pal is a third party program, and is "Dangerous" (when in fact it isn't). Also, even if she DID use it, there would be as much of a chance she'd get hacked using it as there would if she didn't. And Carioca couldn't hack because the information you store in VMK Pal is saved on your computer, rather than being sent somewhere to be saved.

• Claim: Because VMK Pal stores your username and password, it is possible to hack into it and get that information.
  • Status: False
  • When first using VMK Pal, it's easy to assume this is correct. But there's a major problem with this claim. You see, your log-in information is not stored in the internet, but on your computer itself, similar to how you can set your computer to remember passwords. VMK Pal is just sort of a "wrapper" for Internet Explorer, it is not some kind of program that is used straight from the internet like a flash game. This is why you first need to install it on your computer: it doesn't just pop up right away like, say, a flash animation on a site would, because it's not part of the internet itself, but just a tool for accessing parts of it.

Other

Here you'll find a collection of stories that don't fit into any other category.

• Claim: The Hidden Mickeys for the Monorails can only be in Monorail 1.
  • Status: False
  • Despite popular belief, this is not true. You can find the Mickey on any Monorail.

• Claim: There's a new member of VMK named Push the Talking Trashcan!
  • Status: True
  • Guess what? It's true! Believe it or not, Push goes around VMK talking and dancing with players! He can go to guest rooms, go through teleporters, and more! But he has no profile, so you can't ask to be his friend or ask to trade. But sometimes, Push will ask to trade with you!
    

    Push
    • Side note: Push the Talking Trashcan isn't an NPC.

• Claim: If you get a room full of people to dance in "Mickey Mouse Outfits" during closing by the Walt and Mickey statue, the statue will come alive.
  • Status: False
  • There are no living statues in VMK, or any secret NPCs. Case closed.

• Claim: There is a new Host called HOST_Richer.
  • Status: False
  • On a night when HOST_Phinny was running her "Carnival" room, another room, supposedly HOST_Richer's "Carnival" room also showed up. This is shown in the picture.

HOST_Richer's room - Click to enlarge

• Later, after much debate, HOST_Hula silenced it all when Destination asked Hula about the existence of HOST_Richer. The picture shows the conversation:

Photo provided by Destination

• Claim: There is a new Host called HOST_Tony.
  • Status: False
  • On March 1st, 2007, a HOST_Tony decided to open up his guest room. This soon attracted numerous people who were already searching "HOST_" in the guest rooms list for the HOST_ game. The room filled up, but no HOST_Tony was found. After using the help button, the truth was out: another name slipped through VMK's hands. HOST_Richer was also a name that slipped by.

Ye Olde Yarns

All aged anecdotes of things to come that never came. They're still worth reading, though!

• Claim: The next ride event will be a Halloween event! Start getting your teams together now or there will be no more space.
  • Status: False
  • In early August 2006, just after the waterslide ride event finished, people started getting teams together for what they said the next event would be - a Halloween ride. Various people mentioned that they heard staff say that it was being planned, but there was no firm evidence. Yavn was quoted as saying "What Halloween Event?"
    

    Picture provided by CL_Swordsman.
    which doesn't mean there isn't one, just that they may not want to promise anything before it is final, because plans may change. So, will there be a Halloween event? We'll find out in October, won't we? But it seems pretty early to begin planning for something where we don't know the rules, or even if it will actually happen.
    • In the October 16th issue of Yavn Speaks, he indicated "we'll wrap up the Halloween Celebration with a Halloween Maze Event!", thus putting to rest any persisting rumors of another ride event.

• Claim: The New Land Being released is Toontown
  • Status: False
  • Despite the speculation that this will be the new land due to the fact that it was the most highly voted on by a poll that asked "Which land should be added to VMK?". VMK has yet to released any information except a few hints in past newsletters. Although in the picture a Staff member has expressed their opinion:

Picture provided by HeDiedxILive

• On 8 January 2007 the new land was released and it turned out to be New Orleans Square

• Claim: VMK will close on September 30th, 2006.
  • Status: False
    • On quest cards such as the Adventureland and Fantasyland quest, the cards were said to expire on September 30th 2006. Many believed this was a clue to VMKs closing, since quests were a main thing of VMK. VMK is still open and it is long past that date.

• Claim: HSM ( High School Musical ) 2 will have a quest in WDW when it releases.
  • Status False
  • When High School Musical came out, items came to VMK. This caused people to think there will be another quest when the new movie comes out. Further fuelling speculation was the pink piano in Shapay's musical number "Fabulous." But, to the great disappointment of some (and the everlasting joy of others) HSM 2 never got the recognition from VMK that its predecessor got.

• Claim: Magic Carpet is coming out Feb. 15, 2006.
  • Status: False
  • A lot of people believed this, since it had been a long wait already. Like the many similar rumors, people believe it because there's the slight, itty-bitty chance that it might be true. Unfortunately, February 15 is long past, and still no Magic Carpet Magic.