I've Been Thunderstruck

The last response I posted to Disney elicited a response from them directing me to their Terms of Use page. Here is the email I received from them:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your feedback on adding additional information about free accounts.

We are pleased to hear from our Guests and welcome your comments regarding our products and services. We are continually balancing and updating the game as we strive to make Toontown a fun and safe place to play online.

For more information on our submission policy, please view our Terms of Use at:

http://disney.go.com/legal/conditions_of_use.html

We look forward to seeing you in Disney’s Toontown Online soon!

Thank You,

Ruth
Disney’s Toontown Online Member Services

I decided I should take a look at that link before I responded to them, so I spent some time reading what they had posted. It was a lot of the standard Terms of Use legal stuff, but they did have some information about what they consider Solicited and Unsolicited submissions. This applys to pretty much any communication with them, ranging from feedback to creative content ideas. I assume that since I made my initial contact with them via a form provided online at their site, my comments to date, and all responses, fall under the “Solicited Submission” category. So, I fired this response back to them:

Hi Ruth,

I scanned through the Terms of Use at the link you provided. I believe that my comments to WDIG via the original form on your site, and and the subsequent email exchange between WDIG and myself constitutes a “Solicited Submission.” Would you agree this to be the case?

To reiterate my “Submission,” I would like to see that, in the Trial Version of the Disney Toontown Online game, any mission that culminates in a requirement of a paid subscription to complete the mission, that requirement be clearly documented at the start of the mission. Additionally, I would like to see documentation on your site that lets users know some missions may start in the Trial Version of the game, but end in the Paid Subsription version of the game. I have looked in depth at the current documentation on the site (much closer than that average adult would, I believe), and this differentiation is not made clear anywhere.

In addition, I would like specific acknowledgement of this Submission, and not a generic response. I feel that, thus far, WDIG has not clearly nor deliberately addressed the issue this email thread started from. It should be clear that you have already lost a customer – my son – due to the unclear nature of this game. As I have been posting our exchange on my blog (http://www.thunderstruck.com/) and via my Twitter account (GoNorthWest), I have been informed by other users of WDIG that they have experienced similar issues with Toontown. I feel strongly that our concerns should be concretely addressed.

This post, as with the others, will be placed on my blog soon.

I appreciate you taking the time to work with me, as a representative of my 6 year old son, and am looking forward to a definitive resolution to this issue.

Respectfully,

Mark

Last week I wrote this post about my son’s experience in Disney Games’ Toontown online game. I got this reponse from Disney today:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your interest in Disney’s Toontown Online.

We apologize for any confusion and hurt feelings your son experienced.
Much like any other game, Toontown requires constant care and
maintenance to ensure our residents are provided with a smooth, safe and
fun experience.

In order to maintain a great game like Toontown, we employ a
highly-skilled team of full-time programmers and staff who are
constantly working to support thousands of players and make sure the
game is fun. While we offer a limited free account, we have to charge
for the extended access to the game in order to maintain the level of
service and quality our users expect.

Toontown now offers two types of accounts, free accounts and paid
memberships. Free accounts replace Trial accounts, and can play whenever
with no time limit; however the available content is limited. Paid
Membership accounts remain the same, with unlimited access to Toontown
Online. Free accounts may upgrade to a paid Membership at any time.

A Free account to Toontown Online includes the following benefits:

- Create and personalize one Toon character
- Enjoy Toontown Central and Toontastic tasks
- Battle robot Cogs with an assortment of cartoon gags
- Explore six themed neighborhoods and see Cog HQs
- Hang out at your Toon’s house
- Race karts, adopt pet Doodles, and enjoy fishing
- Play whenever you want for as long as you want — all for free!

While we offer a limited access free version of the game, we do have to
charge for Unlimited Access in order to maintain the level of service
and quality our users expect. If you would like to progress further in
the game and access more advanced content and features, we highly
encourage purchasing an Unlimited Access subscription. For a full list
of benefits with a paid Membership, please use the link below:

http://play.toontown.com/benefits

If you are interested in purchasing a subscription, you can log on to
http://play.toontown.com/faq/overview_cost.php for current pricing
options and answers to other frequently asked questions. You must be 18
years or older with a valid credit card to purchase.

We hope this helps clarify your questions regarding the Free accounts,
and look forward to seeing you in Disney’s Toontown Online soon!

Thank You,

Roberta
Disney’s Toontown Online Member Services

I sent this this reply:

Hi Roberta,

Thank you for taking the time to reply…I honestly didn’t think anybody would!

I have absolutely no problems with portions of Toontown being restricted to paid subscriptions. That’s an established business model and, as you point out, a way to “maintain the level of
service and quality our users expect.” I’m all for that, and expect it anywhere there is a free trial offered.

What I do very much object to is allowing somebody to start a task, from within the free, trial account, and not informing them the task could not be completed without obtaining a paid subscription, until they get near the end. That is clearly a “bait-and-switch” tactic, and is a terrible business practice (and probably illegal). My son embarked on that task in good faith, assuming it was part of the free, trial membership, and spent a considerable amount of time working through it. I’m sure you can imagine his, and our, utter disappointment to be one “frame” away from completion, and being told he has to cough up $4.95!

My son did end up taking five of his hard earned dollars and getting a subscription. He completed the task, and moved forward into more paid areas of the site. He came across some sort of “cog headquarters,” which has utterly freaked him out, and he now wants us to erase his account, and he plans on taking a year off from the game. This is the same boy who can handle the weirdness of games like “Lego Batman” on the Xbox 360, which is certainly more hard core than Toontown. In any event, it appears you’ve lost a customer!

Thanks,

Mark

I’m interested to see what happens next!