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

This is the latest response from Disney regarding my son’s Toontown issue. Since this is about the third time they’ve stated the same information, their either not reading my emails anymore, or they just don’t have a good answer for me…”good” being one that actually addresses the issue. So, for completeness, here is their latest response:

Dear Mark ,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, we do not have information available to use as a reference.

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.

We thank you again for your interest in the game, and hope that you can find a way to enjoy Toontown in the near future!

Nobody signed it this time…odd. Here is my response:

Hi,

OK…this is about the third time Disney has responded like this, so I can see we’re getting nowhere. It distresses me a bit that nobody can point me to documentation online that says what parts of the game are free, and what parts aren’t…even in a general way. If you are truly invested in providing your residents a “smooth, safe and fun experience,” I would suggest that a warning be added prior to the start of a mission, letting gamers (let’s be specific…kids), know that they won’t be able to finish their quest until they pay for a subscription.

Again, I have no problems with you charging for content, but I do take issues with the game letting a user go down a free path only to find it terminates in the need for a paid subscription.

You should know that I’ve been blogging this issue at my blog, http://www.thunderstruck.com/, and have been discussing it on Twitter as well (GoNorthWest).

Thank you for your time. I’m probably not done with this yet, but I need to do some research.

Thanks,

Mark

I think my next step will be to scour the Toontown web site for documentation, and see if it fulfills my need for disclosure. If it does, then I’ll let this matter rest. If not, I shall continue.

Here’s Disney’s response to my response yesterday…as well as my response to them! I’ll give them props for trying to resolve this, but so far they haven’t told me anything that I didn’t figure out the hard way. I want them to show me where they have documented what they are telling me.

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your reply.

Free accounts are limited to working Toontasks in Toontown Central up to the final frame of your first chosen Gag Track Training. Once you have completed all of these tasks (including gag training, teleport access, etc.), it is required to purchase a subscription in order to complete your Gag Track Training and continue on to tasks offered for Donald’s Dock.

We are very sorry that this information was not made clearer to your previously and hope to see you return to Disney’s Toontown Online in the future!

Thank You,

Nicole
Disney’s Toontown Online Member Services

And this is what I sent them back:

Hi Nicole,

Unfortunately, we had to figure that out the hard way. Is this documented clearly anywhere? If so, could you point me to that reference?

Thanks,

Mark

I suspect Disney feels I’m being overly difficult about this, but all I’m looking for is total disclosure about the nature of their game. If they’ve documented the restrictions that I’m now finding out about, then it’s on me for not having read the documentation before letting my son get involved. However, I would bet money that >90% of the people who sign up for the free trial don’t read any documentation at all, and many of their kids have experienced the same disappointment. I’ve been very impressed with Disney customer service, and the quality of the Disney experience at their theme park, I’d just like to see this carry over online.