I've been doing some more digging into the development of the game we've come to know and love called VMK. What I've come across is very interesting. As you may already know, there was a video game called Virtual Magic Kingdom being developed from Summer 1996 to Fall 1998. Disney Interactive Studios, what you now know as Disney Interactive, spent millions of dollars on the project, had over 50 people working on it, and it was canceled or so we thought. Now I'm going to move forward to the early 2000s - management at Disney Interactive Studios had it in their minds that virtual worlds were going to be very popular and an important asset for the Disney brand, so they started to develop Toontown Online. To their surprise, it was released in June 2003 with extraordinary sucess. Sometime later, the people at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, a subsidirary of Disney, were introduced to a virtual world called Habbo Hotel, created by Sulake and wanted to create a similar game to help increase relevancy of the Disney Parks brand with tweens and teens. In December 2003, a multi-million-dollar, multi-year contract was signed between Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Sulake. Sulake would provide the technology to build and operate the Virtual Magic Kingdom. They would also provide Community Support, which are the Moderators and Hosts of VMK. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts managed the game and most if not all of the artists were employees of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. While the game was operating, they were collecting metrics (analytical data) to show their bosses how well the game was performing. If you didn't notice, they were always up-to-date with the latest news from Disney Parks on the official website. Operations ceased in 2008 and became an important part of Disney history.
Moderators and Hosts of VMK had a college education with varying degrees that have something to do with business, computers, family or society.
A lot of the Moderators and Hosts of VMK moved to moderating Habbo Hotel for about a year or so, then moved onto something else.
Artists used Photoshop, Illustrator and Maya to create assets for VMK. Clothing, furniture, and NPCs were initially 3D models. Due to technical limitations, they were converted into 2D images to be used in the game. If they were rigged and animated, then an image was created for each frame of the animation.
From what I've seen, the artists, most of the moderators and hosts and even some of the programmers didn't move up the ladder. Some aren't even employeed or are freelance artists, which is sad. I thought the artists would continue to make art, but I am unable to find anything substantial. Usually artists would have a large portfolio on Behance or ArtStation.
Disney Interactive was working on a new virtual world called ImagiNation for about a year in 2011/2012, but the project was canceled.
Unfortunately, the art director for the game died in 2015. He was responsible for reviewing all art assets for quality and continuity with vision from producers and creative directors.
No, I won't provide personal information of the people that worked on the game and please don't contact them.
As you can see by the amount of virtual worlds that have been discontinued by Disney and other studios, virtual worlds are no longer relevant. With the amount of active players and/or paying subscribers for various IPs, it had gotten to a point where it became economically infeasible to operate and maintain these IPs.
I would like to create a new virtual world in 2020 or later, but I don't see a viable business model in sight - a business model that is economically feasible.