Virtual Magic Kingdom fans attempt to rebuild the Magic

Alice Hill

12 years ago

Four years ago today (On May 21^st, 2008, to be exact) Virtual Magic Kingdom was shut
down. One of Disney’s more popular tries at an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer
Online Role Playing Game. Think World of Warcraft.), the closing of VMK was met
with petitions, and a not-so-successful protest at the park. VMK was ultimately
closed, and fans to this day still lurk the unofficial VMK forums, reminiscing
about their old game. VMK was ultimately meant only to really promote other
Disney products, but attracted a devoted fanbase.

The game itself was pretty standard – Disney’s attempt at
Habbo Hotel with beautiful backgrounds and excellent music. Fans created mods
(Modifications to the game that can be installed) that improved the game, a
common staple of MMOs. But once VMK was gone, its fansites (EX: vmkpal & vmkmagic) slowly began to shut down. All except one, that is.

And that one is VMK revisited ,
a fangroup’s attempt at rebuilding the game. For legal reasons, it’s not
rebuilding the game itself, but only the scenery and familiar menus. It’s an
impressive effort. As someone who used VMK to enter into the world of MMO’s,
testing out the rebuild of VMK was happy nostalgia for me.

Although it was only around for a while, VMK had a largely
positive community (And an extremely strict word filter) and an extremely
dedicated fanbase. While it was up, VMK had the potential to be anything – Not
to the extent of Minecraft, but enough that ten year olds could make a room
into a comedy club if they wanted, or a fashion contest, or a trading room, or
whatever they desired. Fans used the doors from the Monster’s Inc. ride opening
in Disney California Adventure Park to link their rooms and create large mazes with prizes and
secrets. It allowed them to go to Disney when it was impossible to visit. To
quote an 11 year-old fan who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy:

“I love VMK cause I can WALK, TALK, EAT, DANCE,
SHOP and play checkers all by myself. p.s. VMK is GERM FREE too! p.s.s. and no one stares at me
there.”‘

So it’s understandable to see why fans would miss this game and try to rebuild it. And these fans have made a valiant effort. Whether or not you were a fan of VMK, VMKrevisited is definitely worth taking a look at.