ToonTown For The Family
Interviews

ToonTown a Great Game For the Family!

MMORPGÆs are becoming more and more popular within the gaming sect. I recently stumbled upon ToonTown while I was looking for a game that my son and I could play together. I surprised to find that a lot of my friends were already playing it. Not only is ToonTown less expensive than the rest of the monthly subscriptions, but theyÆve made it easily accessible through download.

Much to my sonÆs dismay, I myself had quickly taken over the game. Yeah IÆm a selfish gamer. I found this game to be really entertaining as well as engrossing. Disney really backed a winner with this one. I was lucky enough to get the chance to ask Mike Goslin, VP, Virtual Reality Studio, Walt Disney Internet Group a few questions.


MMOG Hell: What age group did you have in mind when you developed Toontown and do you feel that you successfully hit that demographic?

Mike: We designed Toontown for kids age 7 through 12, and tried also to appeal to parents of kids in that age group. We did end up getting kids in our target demographic, and were also pleased to discover that we had attracted a significant number of teenagers and adults as well.

MMOG Hell: As of right now you have the six playgrounds as well as one Cog Central. What are your plans for expansion? Can we expect a higher level of play?

Mike: The current plan is to add other Cog Headquarters over time, which will probably be at increasingly higher levels of difficulty. We also want to keep expanding the game in other ways, including new events, contests, game-play, and environments.

MMOG Hell: With all of the questions of violence in video games now, do you feel that youÆve promoted a healthy non violent environment for the gamers?

Mike: I believe we have made a contribution to the game industry by demonstrating that you can make successful games without relying on graphic violence. Although there is some cartoon violence in Toontown, we definitely created a friendlier and safer environment for our younger players.

MMOG Hell: What do you think makes this game different than all of the other MMORPGÆs on the market at this time?

Mike: I think what makes Toontown different are the things that we needed to do to attract a mass audience, such as making it easy to play for all ages, making it difficult to ôgriefö other players, designing it to be fully downloadable, and making the communication safe for kids. Also, as developers we are proud of some of the more esoteric game features that set the game apart, such as easy grouping and multiplayer turn-based combat.

MMOG Hell: I notice that you have to have a secret password in order to chat with other people in game. Was this a push on DisneyÆs part in order to protect the smaller children that play?

Mike: We decided to err on the side of caution when we designed the chat system for the game because we were very concerned about the safety of our younger players. Parents trust the Disney name because they know how important safety is for the company.


Thanks to Mike Goslin and Karen DeMarco.

For a game that caters to children from the ages of 7 to 12, they really did a fantastic job of holding an adults attention. I would say that this game is playable from the age of 5. While you do need to be able to read, with a parents help there should be no problem. The controls are very simple and the game itself intuitive. While I love my bloody knockdown drag-out games, itÆs a nice change of pace to play ToonTown where the goal is simply to have fun. I highly recommend ToonTown as a good family game.