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My Pal Mickey -- Interactive Theme Park Doll
Dan Howland writes "Big Ruxpin is Watching You: Once again, The Firesign Theatre's I Think We're All Bozos on this Bus proves itself to be the science-fiction story where the most stuff came true. If you recall, a hacker named Clem traveled through the Future Fair, followed by computer generated Holy-Grams who popped up and said things like, 'Why not try [WALL OF SCIENCE], 'cause it's my favorite!' Leave it to Disney to perfect that spooky technology with My Pal Mickey, an interactive talking plush doll that knows where it is inside Walt Disney World, and tells you trivia as you move through the park. Ah ha, but even better (at least from Disney's standpoint) is that, just like the Holy-Grams, My Pal Mickey feeds the info back into the central computer system, so Doctor Memory can track people's movements through the park in realtime. (Of course, these data will be skewed because they only track people who buy the dolls...) Here is another link, with the interesting, Asimov-like sentence: 'He has a strong sense of self-preservation, and reminds you to put him some place safe when you get near water play areas, or on wet rides.'"
But just wait until it's not opt-in.
Wait until it is contingent upon entering an establishment (such as a theme park like Disney World) that you must transfix some device to your belt, or carry it at all times.
Then the people have only one recourse... to fight with their wallets and refuse to give business to places where your anonymity is removed. It's only one more step until the gov't forces this system on you.
But maybe people don't care if they're anonymous anymore... maybe they want a talking AI Mickey doll to tell them what to think... I know that I don't want that however.
MMORPG fan-boy? Prove your worth
I know this isn't precisely on topic, but with the coming of nanotechdevices, how long will it be before a park like Disney can stamp the hand of every person entering the park with an ink containing nanotransmitters, so that EVERYONE's movement is tracked?
The marketing data is likely distorted by this because after you've spent $50 for Mickey you're probably eating fast food for the rest of the day, rather than splurging in one of the nicer restaurants. (IMHO, half the fun of WDW is eating in the many fascinating restaurants there.)
Having Mickey recite the specials of the day for each restaurant passed would certainly be fun.
What I NEVER want to hear my Mickey tell me: And right here is the very spot Michael Eisner was standing on when he realized the need to throw Disney's resources behind lobbying for what became the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I wonder... if you take Mickey with you on a roller coaster that he's not tall enough to ride, will he remind you to check himself at the door?
Actually, you're on track. Since he's targeted towards kids, at the "thrill" rides, he'll remind you of height requirements, and usually say something about being nervous about going, or maybe being afraid - in a kid friendly way. Works well to placate kids who aren't tall enough to ride.
The belt clip that attaches the toy to your waist is at the height of many ride restraints, so sometimes it's best to stash the toy in a backpack to prevent losing him. Though it has been reported that the toy reports back to the park database to tell where he's going, no personally identifiable info is taken at purchase, so there's no way to match him to an owner if he's lost.
Mickey.
Mouse.
Mickey Mouse.
Disney.
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is a racket.
So sue me.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Issac Asimov's three laws for robots.
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Just think. Someone manages to reverse engineer the network being used and publishes specs that enable anyone with the desire to plug in to this network with their favorite PDA. Then someone maps out the locations of various signals one will encounter. The next step would be customized content.
Maybe it'll be a hidden Mickey guide. Or maybe a guide of more morbid fare.
What would Disney do?
I have an idea. How about we have a "slashdot day" as Diseny World. Several hundred of us all go on the same day and all get these tracking dolls. Every time you pass a fellow slashdot'r you switch dolls.
:)
I'd love to see the look on their faces when all THAT crap data gets fed into their database! Even more fun than swapping supermarket discount cards!
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
In one of the linked articles, the second in the story I think, they indicate that cast members' Pal Mickeys might be able to trigger other Pal Mickeys to say things. (The reviewer's doll asked if he knew how to say hello in French in reaction to a French cast member squeezing his doll's hand.) That makes a lot of sense to be able to have cast members trigger special events. Why should all the transmitters be stationary?
But I don't know if all Pal Mickeys have that capability or if the cast members' PMs have different innards. And I infer that these things' memories are already stuffed and guess that they may have trouble actually managing conversations, except for perhaps one telling the joke and others delivering the punchline.