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Toontown Online<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;">Image:ToontownLogo.jpg</td></tr>
Developer(s)	Walt Disney Internet Group
Release date(s)	Image:Flag of the United States.svg June 2, 2003
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>ESRB: (E) Everyone, PEGI: +3</td></tr>
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS X <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">System requirements</th><td>See System Requirements</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Input</th><td>Keyboard, Mouse</td></tr>

Toontown Online is an massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by The Walt Disney Company and billed as the first such game intended for kids and families. Indeed, while it was designed to be played by children as young as 7, the depth of the game's content often draws in older players as well. Toontown's 3D virtual world takes its theme from the colorful style and humor of classic animated cartoons, packaged into an online game experience that is designed to be social, non-violent and kid-safe. First introduced in the United States in 2003, Disney has since produced versions of Toontown for the United Kingdom (Which has a different homepage, but is on the same server), France, Spain and Japan. The Toontown game software is free to download but typically requires a subscription fee to play after a free trial period.

Contents 1 Story and gameplay 2 Toontasks 3 Playgrounds 4 Gags 5 Cogs 5.1 Cog Buildings 5.2 Cog HQs 6 Non-combat activities 7 Online safety features 8 Algorithms and formulae 9 History and Comments 10 Criticisms 11 System requirements 12 External links

[edit] Story and gameplay

In the game, each player takes the role of a Toon — a cartoon character based on an anthropomorphic animal: a dog, cat, mouse, duck, rabbit, horse, monkey, or bear. Players choose the species and customize the look of their toons when they first start the game. Toons must work together to rid the streets from the ongoing menace of the "Cogs" — robots dressed in business suits who are trying to transform the bright and cheerful Toontown into a gray, corporate world. For example, when a cog enters a building in Toontown, it changes into a "cog building" — a drab gray office tower.

To battle the cogs, toons use "gags" — silly weapons that are reflective of the slapstick humor found in classic cartoons: cream pies, seltzer bottles, banana peels, dropping anvils, squirting flowers, etc. (Perhaps just as appropriately, the cogs' names and weapons are taken from business slang: Micromanager, Spin Doctor, Red Tape, Power Tie, etc.) By defeating all the cogs found in a cog building, players restore it back into a toon building. Defeating cogs also earns experience points for the player in various gag tracks, eventually leading to new and more powerful gags. For example, earning 20 experience points in the Toon-up track opens up the level 2 Toon-up gag, a megaphone. Experience points can also make your current gags more powerful.

The game plays like other RPGs but with a simpler interface. At the beginning of the game, a "Toontorial" teaches the new player how to move, how to battle cogs, how to communicate, about gags, and how to complete the first set of required tasks. There are no commands to memorize or type — nearly everything can be accomplished using the mouse and the arrow keys on the keyboard. Battles with cogs are turn-based: the toons attack once, then the cogs counter-attack once, then toons attack again, and so on. When it's the toons' turn, the player simply clicks on the gag he/she wishes to use, then in some cases clicks on a cog to target. (Some gags will automatically target all the cogs in the battle). A successful attack will reduce the health points of its target.

Teamwork is encouraged in Toontown since even stronger toons frequently need the help of others to complete difficult challenges. For example, Toon-ups (healing gags) cannot be used by a player on his/her own character, so to be healed during battle one usually needs another player to use Toon-up. As many as four players can team up together for typical cog battles. The game has several boss battles with up to eight Toons fighting. Teaming up with others is simple -- to join a battle, just walk up to it, or go into the "elevator" of a Cog Building to enter it with others. Note that all the Toons must enter the building at the same time, and other Toons can't join a building in progress.

Strategy is also important since some gags work better when used in combination with certain other gags; for example, a "trap door" gag is useless until another toon "lures" the cog towards it. A "drop" gag (such as a falling anvil) is much more likely to hit if the cog is first "stunned" by another gag. Conversely, some gags are much less effective when combined with certain other gags; a dropped piano will always miss a cog that has been lured away from his original spot.

[edit] Toontasks

A player character will need to complete "Toontasks" to advance in the game, gain additional laff (health points), gain access to new gag tracks, earn jellybeans or earn other capabilities. Toontasks are assigned by non-player characters that are found throughout Toontown. Tasks can range from simple, such as delivering an item to a shop, to more challenging, such as defeating twenty 4+ story Cog buildings. Some tasks are required for a toon to advance in the game, while other tasks are optional. Toons earn a reward of some sort for each task completed.

As players reach the mid- to higher-level content in the game, they will also be assigned tasks related to any of the three 'Cog Headquarters' currently included in the game. These are large areas that are permanently controlled by cogs and headed by a giant-sized cog, and include: the Sellbot Cog HQ which is headed by a Vice President, or 'VP'; the Cashbot Cog HQ which is headed by a Chief Financial Officer, or 'CFO'; and the Lawbot Cog HQ which is headed by a Chief Justice, or 'CJ'.

Some tasks are designed to encourage teamwork between strong toons and weaker toons. For example, a strong toon may receive a task to help low-level toons defeat cogs or cog buildings. To further promote teamwork and helping others to complete tasks, the game allows each toon to teleport to the exact location of a friend, even if that friend is in another district (even a full one.)

[edit] Playgrounds

Playgrounds are the areas of Toontown that are permanently safe from Cogs. In the playgrounds, toons can receive new toontask assignments, turn in completed tasks, buy gags, clothing or pets, play trolley games, or go fishing. Each playground features one of Disney's classic animated characters (Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Minnie, Pluto or Goofy), and a fisherman, as a non-player character.

Toons also use the Playgrounds to heal after they have become injured in battle. Note that toons don't die if they lose a battle with cogs. Instead, they get "sad", and the sad toon is automatically teleported back to the nearest playground to heal for a few minutes and to restock their supply of gags. Playgrounds heal Toons slowly, but scattered around them are various "treasures" that speed up the process.

There is a playground in each "neighborhood" of Toontown: Toontown Central (TC), Donald's Dock (DD), Daisy Gardens (DG), Minnie's Melodyland (MM), The Brrrgh (TB), Donald's Dreamland (DDL), and Goofy Speedway (GS). Each playground and neighborhood share a unique theme. Each playground connects to two or more neighborhood streets that contain cogs and cog buildings (with the exception of Goofy Speedway).

• Toontown Central contains cog levels 1-3 on the streets and levels 1-7 in buildings.
• Donald's Dock contains cog levels 2-6 on the streets and levels 3-9 in buildings.
• Daisy Gardens contains cog levels 2-6 on the streets and levels 3-9 in buildings.
• Minnie's Melodyland contains cog levels 2-6 on the streets and levels 4-9 in buildings.
• The Brrrgh contains cog levels 5-9 on the streets and levels 5-12 in buildings.
• Donald's Dreamland contains cog levels 6-10 on the streets and levels 8-12 in buildings.

[edit] Gags

Toontown has 49 different gags for use in battling cogs. The gags are grouped into seven different "tracks": Toon-up, Trap, Lure, Sound, Throw, Squirt and Drop. Each track contains seven (7) gags, ranging in level from least powerful to most powerful.

When multiple toons are in the same battle, their gags will attack in the order listed above. (This is also the top-to-bottom order of the gag selection window.) For example, if one toon chooses Sound and another chooses Throw, the Sound gag will attack first. If multiple toons choose the same gag track, they attack at the same time. The only exception to this is Toon-up; when mutliple players choose Toon-up, they will occur in order from weakest level gag to strongest level gag. If two (or more) toons use the same Toon-up gag, then they will use them in right-to-left order.

A new toon begins the game with only two gags: the level 1 Throw (a cupcake) and the level 1 Squirt (a squirting flower). The toon can earn access to the higher level gags and to additional gag tracks as he/she progresses through the game. However, each toon can earn a maximum of 6 out of the 7 gag tracks.

Level 7 gags are different then the other levels. They always hit all cogs/toons, including Trap, Throw, Squirt, and Drop. A toon can only hold one gag, and if they use it, they need to gain 500 more experience in order to get one (or plant a gag tree.)

• Toon-up gags are so named because, instead of injuring cogs, they heal fellow toons by restoring their laff points. Toon-up gags can't be used on oneself, only on other toons who are in the same battle. Some Toon-up gags affect all other toons in the battle, while other Toon-ups can affect only one toon. The amount of laff points restored by a Toon-up varies depending on the level and experience of the gag. If a Toon-up gag is designed to affect all toons, the restored laff points are divided equally among those toons. Like most gags, Toon-ups will occasionally miss their target, restoring only one-fifth (rounded down) of their normal laff points, and resulting in no experience points for the player using it.

Note: For gags that restore laff to more than one toon, the laff restored to each toon is divided by the number of toons in the fight. For example, a Megaphone can do a maximum of 18 laff to one toon, but only 9 to two.

Accuracy: Medium

• • Level 1 - Feather, restores 8-10 laff, 0 exp required.
  • Level 2 - Megaphone, restores 15-18 laff to all toons, 20 exp required.
  • Level 3 - Lipstick, restores 25-30 laff, 200 exp required.
  • Level 4 - Bamboo Cane, restores 40-45 laff to all toons, 800 exp required.
  • Level 5 - Pixie Dust, restores 60-70 laff, 2000 exp required.
  • Level 6 - Juggling Balls, restores 90-120 laff to all toons, 6000 exp required.
  • Level 7 - High Dive, restores 100-129 laff to all toons, 10000 exp required.^{[citation needed]}

• Trap gags are items placed in front of a cog that will cause damage when the cog walks into them. Traps are the most powerful gags available; for example, a maxed level 6 Trap (TNT) does 180 points of damage - more than any other gag in the game. Traps also have perfect accuracy -- they cannot miss their intended target. However, Traps also have some notable drawbacks. First, a Trap won't do any damage nor earn any experience unless the targeted cog is subsquently lured into it. Also, only one Trap gag can be placed in front of an un-lured cog. (If two or more Traps are selected for the same cog, they will cancel each other out and disappear in a puff of smoke). Lastly, a toon is not allowed to carry as many Traps as they can carry in other gag tracks. A Trap gag will affect only one cog.

Accuracy: Perfect

• • Level 1 - Banana Peel, 10-12 damage, 0 exp required.
  • Level 2 - Rake, 18-20 damage, 20 exp required.
  • Level 3 - Marbles, 30-35 damage, 100 exp required.
  • Level 4 - Quicksand, 45-50 damage, 800 exp required.
  • Level 5 - Trapdoor, 60-70 damage, 2000 exp required.
  • Level 6 - TNT, 90-180 damage, 6000 exp required.
  • Level 7 - Train, 195 damage to all cogs, 10000 exp required.

• Lure gags can render cogs into "frozen" state (i.e. unable to attack) for two or more turns, but hitting the cog with any gag will un-Lure it. This makes Lure particularly useful when toons are outnumbered or overpowered by cogs. Lures don't inflict damage on their own, but they will activate Trap gags. Some Lure gags affect one cog, and others affect all cogs in the battle. Lower-level lures have relatively poor accuracy, but their accuracy is increased whenever a Trap is present. Lured cogs also take 50% more damage from Throw or Squirt gags, but can't be hit by Drop gags. It is also impossible to miss a Lured cog with a Throw or Squirt gag.

Accuracy: Low

• • Level 1 - $1 bill, 0 exp required. One cog frozen for 2 turns.
  • Level 2 - Small Magnet, 20 exp required. All cogs frozen for 2 turns.
  • Level 3 - $5 bill, 100 exp required. One cog frozen for 3 turns.
  • Level 4 - Large Magnet, 800 exp required. All cogs frozen for 3 turns.
  • Level 5 - $10 bill, 2000 exp required. One cog frozen for 4 turns.
  • Level 6 - Hypno-goggles, 6000 exp required. All cogs frozen for 4 turns.
  • Level 7 - Slideshow Presentation, 10000 exp required. All cogs frozen for 5 turns.

• Sound gags always affect all the cogs in the battle. They also have high accuracy -- they rarely miss. These advantages make Sound gags especially popular with group of higher-level toons because it usually allows them to complete a battle more quickly. However, Sound gags do less damage per cog than other gags of the same level. Sound also takes more experience to level-up compared with other gag tracks. Lastly, sound gags will cause all lured (frozen) cogs to "wake up" and attack, which can unnecessarily put toons in jeopardy.

Accuracy: High

• • Level 1 - Bike Horn, 3-4 damage per cog, 0 exp required.
  • Level 2 - Whistle, 5-7 damage per cog, 40 exp required.
  • Level 3 - Bugle, 9-11 damage per cog, 200 exp required.
  • Level 4 - Aoogah, 14-16 damage per cog, 1000 exp required.
  • Level 5 - Elephant, 19-21 damage per cog, 2500 exp required.
  • Level 6 - Foghorn, 25-50 damage per cog, 7500 exp required.
  • Level 7 - Opera Voice, 90 damage per cog, 10000 exp required.

• Throw gags are items thrown at a cog. Throw is one of the two starting gag tracks, and is therefore very often seen throughout the game. Throw does more damage than its counterpart, Squirt, but it is less accurate. Throw gags always affect only one cog. It's usually important for toons to build up their Throw experience early, because one Toontask in Minnie's Melodyland requires players to have earned their Level 5 Throw (Whole Cream Pie) gag.

Accuracy: Medium

• • Level 1 - Cupcake, 4-6 damage, 0 exp required.
  • Level 2 - Fruit Pie Slice, 8-10 damage, 10 exp required.
  • Level 3 - Cream Pie Slice, 14-17 damage, 50 exp required.
  • Level 4 - Fruit Pie, 24-27 damage, 400 exp required.
  • Level 5 - Cream Pie, 36-40 damage, 2000 exp required.
  • Level 6 - Birthday Cake, 48-100 damage, 6000 exp required.
  • Level 7 - Wedding Cake, 120 damage to all cogs, 10000 exp required.

• Squirt is the other of the two gag tracks given to all toons at the start of the game. Squirt does less damage than Throw, but it has a higher accuracy. Like Throw, a Squirt gag affects only one cog.

Accuracy: High

• • Level 1 - Squirting Flower, 3-4 damage, 0 exp required.
  • Level 2 - Glass of Water, 6-8 damage, 10 exp required.
  • Level 3 - Squirt Gun, 10-12 damage, 50 exp required.
  • Level 4 - Seltzer Bottle, 18-21 damage, 400 exp required.
  • Level 5 - Fire Hose, 27-30 damage, 2000 exp required.
  • Level 6 - Storm Cloud, 36-80 damage, 6000 exp required.
  • Level 7 - Geyser, 105 damage to all cogs, 10000 exp required.

• Drop gags involve the toon pushing a button, causing a heavy object to fall from the sky onto the targeted cog. Drop is the second most powerful gag track (behind Trap), but it has the disadvantage of low accuracy. The accuracy of Drop will be increased if the cog has already been damaged ("stunned") by another gag in the same round, especially if the stunning gag is Squirt. A Drop gag will affect only one cog. It will also not work if the cog is lured.

Accuracy: Low

• • Level 1 - Flower Pot, 10 damage, 0 exp required.
  • Level 2 - Sandbag, 18 damage, 20 exp required.
  • Level 3 - Anvil, 30 damage, 100 exp required.
  • Level 4 - Big Weight, 45 damage, 500 exp required.
  • Level 5 - Safe, 60 damage, 2000 exp required.
  • Level 6 - Grand Piano, 85-170 damage, 6000 exp required.
  • Level 7 - Ocean Liner, 180 damage to all cogs, 10000 exp required.

[edit] Cogs

The cogs are business-loving robots bent on forever changing Toontown into a business empire, and come in four types: Bossbot (brown suit with lighter brown stripes, symbol is a tie), Lawbot (blue-grey suit, symbol is a gavel), Cashbot (green suit with lighter green stripes, symbol is a dollar sign), and Sellbot (red suit with lighter red stripes, symbol is a bar graph with four bars in ascending order).

• Levels: Cogs come in varying strengths, ranging from the weakest "Level 1" cogs to the strongest "Level 12" cogs. The hitpoints of each Cog are: Level 1 = 6 hp, Level 2 = 12 hp, Level 3 = 20 hp, Level 4 = 30 hp, Level 5 = 42 hp, Level 6 = 56 hp, Level 7 = 72 hp, Level 8 = 90 hp, Level 9 = 110 hp, Level 10 = 132 hp, Level 11 = 156 hp, and Level 12 = 200 hp.

The two highest types of a cog are only found in buildings and HQs, unless there is an invasion. These cogs' names are italicized.

• Bossbots~Flunky - Levels 1-5, Pencil Pusher - Levels 2-6, Yesman - Levels 3-7, Micromanager - Levels 4-8, Downsizer - Levels 5-9, Head Hunter - Levels 6-10, Corporate Raider, Levels 7-11, Big Cheese - Levels 8-12

• Lawbots~Bottom Feeder - Levels 1-5, Blood Sucker - Levels 2-6, Double Talker - Levels 3-7, Ambulance Chaser - Levels 4-8, Backstabber - Levels 5-9, Spin Doctor - Levels 6-10, Legal Eagle, Levels 7-11, Big Wig - Levels 8-12

• Cashbots~Short Change - Levels 1-5, Penny Pincher - Levels 2-6, Tightwad - Levels 3-7, Bean Counter - Levels 4-8, Number Cruncher - Levels 5-9, Moneybags - Levels 6-10, Loan Shark, Levels 7-11, Robber Baron - Levels 8-12

• Sellbots~Cold Caller - Levels 1-5, Telemarketer - Levels 2-6, Name Dropper - Levels 3-7, Glad Hander - Levels 4-8, Mover & Shaker - Levels 5-9, Two-Face - Levels 6-10, The Mingler, Levels 7-11, Mr. Hollywood - Levels 8-12

[edit] Cog Buildings

Cogs sometimes enter Toon buildings to take it over. The standard Cog office building then replaces it, and the elevator doors open up. Above the elevator are several lights, which determine the number of floors the building has, up to a maximum of 5. 4 toons may enter, going through the floors defeating cogs. Once at the top floor, the toon(s) face a "boss" of the building, which is generally highest level cog in the building. After the Boss is defeated, along with any other cogs on that floor, the Cog office building is launched into the sky by the old Toon building, which replaces it. If you defeat enough cog buildings in a particular district, your toon will get either a bronze, silver, or gold star above its head.

[edit] Cog HQs

Sellbot HQ -

• Sellbot boss → VP (Vice President) Located in Sellbot HQ. The VP has taken Toon shopkeepers hostage and keeping them in cages! You need to fight the VP to rescue the shopkeepers. To fight the VP, it is required you get 10 sellbot suit parts from the Sellbot Factory. Then you must get Merits by defeating Sellbots. Once you have all your merits, you may enter Sellbot Towers and fight the VP with 7 other toons. Once you defeat the VP, you will need to get more Merits before fighting the VP again. The shopkeeper you rescued from the VP now owes you a favor. When you are in battle, click SOS and click a shopkeeper from the list. Each shopkeeper has a special ability, but you can only use each one once!

Cashbot HQ -

• Cashbot boss → CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Located at Cashbot HQ. To fight the CFO, you must get to Donald's Dreamland and complete several tasks that will give you the required suit parts as a reward. To obtain these tasks, you must have finished all non-Dreamland tasks. Once you have the parts, you must defeat Cashbots to get Cogbucks. Once you have enough, you may fight the CFO with 7 other toons. Like the VP, you will only need to get more Cogbucks after defeating the CFO to fight him again.

Lawbot HQ -

• Lawbot boss → CJ (Chief Justice) Located at Lawbot HQ. To fight the CJ, you must complete all other tasks in the game. Once they are completed, you get a task and must go to Polar Place in The Brrrgh to find the building "Precipitation Foundation". You must then complete the shopkeeper's tasks. Once you have all the parts, you need to defeat Lawbots to get enough Jury Notices to fight the CJ with 7 other toons. Like the CFO and VP before it, you will need more Jury notices after defeating the CJ to fight him again.

Bossbot HQ -

• A Bossbot HQ is in the works, and if the release pattern is followed, it will be released in May or June of 2007. Though the boss's name is not known, many speculate it to be called the CEO.

[edit] Non-combat activities

When players want to take a break from battling cogs, Toontown offers several lighter activities, including:

• Trolley games. These are short, arcade-like minigames that one can play solo or with up to 3 other toons. They are called trolley games because one must hop on a trolley car in the playground to begin playing them. They include a Pac-Man-like "Maze Game", Tug of War, Tag, "Match Minnie" and several others. Toons earn jellybeans (the in-game currency of Toontown) based on how well they score in the games.

• Fishing. There are fishing ponds in every playground, on every street of Toontown, and at every player's estate. Toons can catch fish via a simple game, then sell them for jellybeans to an NPC Pet Shop clerk. 70 different species of fish currently exist in the game, and players earn a Laff Point for each 10 new species that they catch. Several species are ultra-rare and/or can be found only in particular ponds. On Wednesdays there is a "Fishing Bingo" game. Toons on each pond share a bingo card, and fill it out by catching different fish species. When a fish is caught, the fish on the card flashes red. Click on one of the flashing squares to mark your card. A mickey mouse-shaped head will take the place of the box. When a Bingo is scored, everybody at the pond receives the Jellybean reward listed.

• Toon Estates. Each toon has a house which they can decorate and furnish with a variety of items than can be purchased from a weekly "Cattlelog". Toons can also purchase new clothing, new SpeedChat phrases, new emotes, etc from the Cattlelog. These items can also be purchased as gifts for friends. You can also garden (more below,) and play with rental cannons at your estate.

• Doodles. Short alien-looking creatures, are the pets of Toontown. Each toon can purchase the Doodle of his/her choice from a Pet Shop, name it, feed it jellybeans, and train it over time to perform tricks upon command. Once purchased, a pet resides permanently at the estate, but it can also be called during a cog battle to perform a trick. If the trick is performed successfully, every Toon in the battle, including the Doodle's owner, gets a Toon-up. Your doodle can learn new tricks, by purchasing them in Clarabell's Cattlelog, resulting in higher laff boosts in battle. Toons can take their Doodles to other player's estates. Players can easily check on their Doodle's "mood" (e.g. lonely, affectionate, excited, confused, hungry, angry) and change their mood by showing them attention. Doodles cost anywhere from 113 to 5000 jellybeans — the more expensive, the more easily trainable. Toontown Central has the cheapest Doodles, while Donald's Dreamland has the most expensive.

• Kart Racing. Toons can race against each other in Goofy Speedway, an area that consists of six different race tracks (along with their Reverse versions) plus a shop that sells cars and car accessories. Similar to Nintendo's Mario Kart games, racers can collect and use obstacles (pies, anvils, speed-boost, banana peel) on each other during the race. Racing trophies can also be earned, and every 10-of-30 trophies earned will also earn another laff point. Every Monday, the Grand Prix is held, in which Toons can win many more tickets than usual as well as special trophies.

• Beanfests. Beanfests are a common unofficial event. They are parties where 2 or more players meet and use phrases earned after battling and defeating the CFO at the Cashbot HQ. The phrase, "Toons of the World, Spend Wisely!" gives all toons within the immediate area free jellybeans. These parties are normally held in playgrounds (most often Donald's Dreamland and sometimes Sellbot HQ).

• Gardening. Gardens allow toons to receive Laff Point boosts and gag damage bonuses. Toons can plant flowers, statues, and Gag trees. Flowers are made from different combinations of Jellybeans, up to 8, which can later be picked to receive those Jellybeans back. The advantage to this, other then making the player's house look nicer, is that for every 10 new species of flowers the player picks, they receive an extra Laff Point. Statues are simply for decoration - once the player levels up their Shovel skill enough (by picking flowers,), they can put Statues near their house to make it look nicer. There are 8 mounds of dirt for Gag trees, each of which can hold one tree. If a Gag tree is planted, it increases the effect of that Gag by 10%. In order to plant a Gag tree of a high-level gag, the player must plant all the lower-level Gags of that Gag track.

[edit] Online safety features

Since this is an online world where kids and adults interact, Disney implemented several unique features in Toontown to keep children safe from inappropriate conversations or behavior. First and foremost, there is no open, uncensored chat in the game. Most players communicate with each other entirely via "SpeedChat" — a pre-defined, safe list of phrases that are accessed via a series of drop-down menus. The menus are designed to cover most communication needs (plus several silly phrases), but players can add additional SpeedChat phrases to their menu by purchasing them from the Cattlelog.

To communicate beyond the restrictions of SpeedChat, there is "Secret Friends" chat. If two or more players already know each other outside the game world (e.g. real-life friends, relatives, or online friends from another game or website), they can become Secret Friends with each other after completing a one-time process involving a six-digit secret code. Secret Friends can communicate with each other in Toontown via a free-form chat window. These messages are automatically filtered to remove vulgar language and other words that Disney has deemed inappropriate. Furthermore, these chat messages are viewable only by players who are Secret Friends with the message sender — other nearby players see these messages as gibberish animal sounds (i.e. "woof woof", "meow meow", or whatever the animal species is). Parents have the ability to restrict the Secret Friends capability of their childrens' toons via a set of Parental Controls.

Naming a toon is also controlled to prevent names that contain inappropriate language or real-life personal details (such as age and hometown). Most players use the built-in Toon name generator, which allows them to construct a name by clicking on one or more pre-approved "toony" words, e.g. "Captain Skippy Rhinoslam," "Prof. Dizzybrains," or "McPretzel." If a player chooses to submit a custom name, he/she must wait for someone at Disney to approve or reject it. Custom names that are rejected will sometimes be approved if they are tried again. Names are not unique -- multiple toons can have the same name.

In keeping with the friendly, cooperative spirit of Toontown, the game designers intentionally left out some of the less-friendly features that are sometimes found in other MMORPGs.[1] For example, Toontown contains no "player versus player" battles, and there is no opportunity for "player killing". Players are also unable to sell or trade items with other players, probably to avoid issues with potentially unfair transactions. There are, however, a few ways to grief in Toontown, usually by disrupting combat with Cogs.

[edit] Algorithms and formulae

Disney has sometimes described Toontown as "easy to play, difficult to master". Indeed, while the game is designed for children, there are in fact many algorithms running within it. An understanding of the calculations used to determine damage in cog battles can be useful, especially for the toughest battles.

As an example: a Level 10 cog with 132 HP has been targeted by one toon with a Birthday Cake which does 100 damage when maxed. Should the next toon choose a Whole Cream Pie for 40 damage, the Whole Fruit Pie for 27, the Water Hose for 30, or Lure him forward with a $5 bill (since Throw and Squirt gags usually have a 50% damage bonus with a Lure)? In long and difficult cog battles such as the VP, CFO, or CJ, toons who repeatedly "overkill" the cogs will quickly run out of their strong gags.

Other examples of formulae used within Toontown:

• Cog Health Points = (L + 1) * (L + 2), where L is the level of the Cog. An exception to this are Level 12 cogs, where the formula suggests a health of 182. While they used to have 182 health, they now actually have 200 health.

• Throw/Squirt damage when used on a Lured Cog = 1.5d, where d is the regular damage. (Occasionally, the cog will not be knocked back and the lure bonus will not be applied, but the cog will still be unlured - this is a long-outstanding bug). Lure damage is displayed in orange numbers.

• When more then one gag of the same track is used, the total damage caused by those gags are increased by 20%.

• The probability of a gag succeeding depends on the experience held by the user and the gag used. For example, a Level 1 (Cupcake) Throw starts off with a probability of 75%, which increases to 90% with a maxed-out Birthday Cake. A Level 1 Drop (Flower Pot) starts off with a probability of 25%, increasing to 75% with a maxed-out Grand Piano. Other gags have different probabilities of hitting. Note that all gags will either hit or miss, so having another Toon use a higher-level gag will increase the chance of the lower-level gag hitting.

• Lower-level Sound, Lure, Throw, Squirt, and Drop gags have a reduced chance of hitting when used against higher-level Cogs. A Level 1 Lure ($1 Bill), for example, is much more likely to draw in a Level 1 Cog than it is to attract a Level 5. Trap gags always work as long as someone is able to Lure a Cog onto them.

• Certain combos work well. A Trap gag will boost the probability of a Lure succeeding.

• Attacking a cog with a gag will increase the chance future gags on that turn will hit. This is especially important with Drop gags, which have low accuracy. Squirt is especially helpful in helping Drop gags hit.

• An organic gag (that is a gag planted on a tree) will have its damage increased by 10%.

[edit] History and Comments

Both Toontown Online and its game engine (called Panda3D) were developed by Disney's Virtual Reality Studio, a team of technologists and artists at Walt Disney Imagineering that is now managed by the Walt Disney Internet Group. The VR Studio had previously created virtual reality attractions for the DisneyQuest arcade at Walt Disney World.[2] Beta testing for Toontown occurred between 2001 and 2003, and Toontown was officially launched on June 2, 2003.[3]

Disney has continued to add new game areas and new content since launch. Major additions to the game have included Sellbot HQ (released December 19, 2003) [4], Cashbot HQ (released February 17, 2005)[5] , Goofy Speedway (released September 15, 2005), and Lawbot HQ (released April 25, 2006). Disney also sponsors a variety of Toontown game events and contests, often tied to popular holidays. There is a test server that registered players could sign-up for in 2005 and early 2006.

In Autumn 2005, a boxed version of Toontown Online (containing a software CD-ROM plus a two-month subscription) became available in retail stores.[6]

Disney does not release figures on the number of subscribers, but VR Studio's Mike Goslin stated in mid-2005 that "we have nearly 10,000 people playing simultaneously during our busiest times."[7]

Toontown Online has won several awards, including:

• Computer Gaming World, 2003 MMORPG Game of the Year
• Webby Awards, 2003 People's Voice Award, Kids Category
• Parents' Choice Foundation, 2003 Silver Honor
• Children's Software Review, 2003 All Star Software Award
• WiredKids, 2005 Safe Gaming Award
• 2005 Webby Awards "Webby Worthy Selection"

[edit] Criticisms

Despite being a popular game for players for all ages, this game has critcisms by people, mostly their players.

• Many updates are filled with glitches that have been found on the Test server. Some glitches have remained in the game, even though they have been documented in the Beta test.
• Doodles in Battle, thought to be a big update, turned out to be useless to some players. In order to have a doodle be effective, you must work with it for days, or use a macro program to automate the process overnight.
• When a new toon species wins the Toon Election, some players deem the new toon ugly, and their toon sound is considered irritating and loud.
• Another common complaint are all the timesinks in Toontown. Many toontasks late in the game require hundreds, if not thousands, of cogs.
• Some players exploit glitches in the game, which in some cases gives them an unfair advantage. For example, in Cashbot HQ Mints, players can perfom maneuvers that allow them to avoid difficult obstacles. Many friendly glitches, like holding down shift to speed up your toon, were removed by Disney, which angered many players.
• Any toon can currently go anywhere in the game. A 15 laff (the minimum) toon can go to the District Attorney's Office, one of the toughest challenges in the game. Many older toons try to avoid playing with these new toons. This leads to elevator shuffles, where toons are continually hopping on and off an elevator entrance to the battle area in order to avoid lower toons. Shuffles can generate large crowds and lead to a lot of conflict between players, not only between low toons and high toons, but between high toons who have differing opinions on what the laff requirements should be.
• In a recent update, Disney placed a limit on the number of toons allowed into a district. This has caused numerous difficulties for players. There are usually two or three districts that are always full, preventing players from entering them. These 'primary districts' have a large number of cog invasions, doubling amounts of experience for gags and special merits. Toons tend to crowd into these popular districts, making it difficult for other players who could use the invasion advatage to get into one of these districts. Many Toons, upon getting inside the district, avoid falling asleep which would eventually log them out by placing an object on the Ctrl key to make them constantly jump, but do not play in the district. Furthermore, outside these districts, are toons spread out through the rest of the districts. This makes finding a group for a cog battle difficult.
• On November 3, 2006, Disney put several players' accounts on three-day "administrative hold" because of alleged "macro use." Many of these players vehemently denied the accusation, suggesting that perhaps Toontown was confusing macro use with their having an object hold down the Control key (the "jump" button) to prevent their toon from being logged out. Players' frustration was exacerbated by Toontown Customer Support's inability to provide any specific details about their accusation.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] System requirements

Toontown Online requires a computer with:

• Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP
• 233 MHz or faster CPU
• 128MB RAM memory (256MB Recommended)
• 100MB free hard drive space
• A video card with 3D acceleration and at least 8MB of video memory (32MB/AGP card is recommended)
• An Internet connection with a speed of at least 56K (dial-up) or faster (broadband)
• Microsoft DirectX 7.0 (or newer)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer v. 5.01 (or newer)

The new Macintosh version requires:

• Intel
  • MAC OSX 10.4.6
  • 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Solo
  • 512 MB RAM

• Power PC
  • MAC OSX 10.4.6
  • G4 400 Mhz
  • 256 MB RAM
  • 32 MB Video Card

ESRB rating: E (for everyone); Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief

PEGI rating: +3

Toontown Online Technical support - Tech Support Phone - (888) 332-1626

[edit] External links

• Disney's Toontown Online (USA) - Toontown Online USA official site
• Disney's Toontown Online (UK) - Toontown Online United Kingdom official site
• Disney's Toontown Online (France) - Toontown Online France official site
• Disney's Toontown Online (Spain) - Toontown Online Spain official site
• Disney's Toontown Online (Japan) - Toontown Online Japan official site
• Disney's Toontown Online (USA) TEST Server - Toontown Online USA official TEST site
• Toontown on IMDB
• Panda3D - Engine used to create Toontown Online