Furry: 1) a anthropomorphic character. eg.: Bugs Bunny, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tony the Tiger, etc…

2) a fan of anthropomorphic characters

A person in the furry fandom is usually there because they have a interest in anthropomorphic characters. It is usually not a interest of the sexual kind, although it does happen. We just enjoy the concept of humaniod animals, whether they are cute and cartoonish or very realistic. Only a small percentage of the fandom wears a full out fursuit. And it’s not to have sex. Although there are probably people who do that, it’s not common. And it’s not why furries go to cons. We go to cons to hang out and discuss our interests in anthros. We go to meet people with similar interests.

Being a furry does not mean having a interest in beastiality… there may be some people in the fandom that do, but it’s not a part of the fandom, it’s a fetish that is separate from the fandom. Same with plushiphiles and all that icky stuff. Not part of the fandom, but there are people in the fandom that are interested in that as well. Just because someone is a furry and is also interested in something of that nature doesn’t mean all furries are the same.

I must say though, that in my opinion… there are things in the fandom that shouldn’t be there. But it’s our own fault for having a open door policy. Being open minded is great, but there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed. The fault is that we have no set rules. And we wouldn’t like it if we had rules, so it’s a bit of a problem. I think we should at least have a agreed upon definition of what furry is, and some guidelines for people in, or about to join, the fandom.

As for your dilemma… make sure you have strict rules against sexual behavior in public areas, and enforce them the best you can. And as for hating on furries… we’ve been fighting that for quite a while now, so I think most of us can handle a bit of hating. But it’s a good idea to have some rules against hating on other players. I’m sure you don’t want a full out furry vs. non-furry war on your hands… unless you wanna incorporate it into the story. :p

-Random Furry

P.S: I know this thread is old, but I couldn’t help but comment…

This, coming from a guy who plays more on his MAME cabinet than he does on next-gen consoles or the PC these days.

As to Furries, I could go the 4chan route (who could resist laughing at that subversion of 40K “suffer not the furry [mutant/alien/heretic] to live…desu?”) because I’ve read and seen some horrifying things out of that community. Folk of alternate persuasions fascinate me though, so I certainly can’t condemn them (at least not in a global sense). TOS clarity is key, for certain.

Wait… what were we talking about again? ^_~

BTW, been reading for a while - just thought to comment. Good stuff, mate; added you to my aggregator.

I like that there are no humans, and the races are all distinct from each other. Very NOT high fantasy, and that’s why I’m interested.

Not that high fantasy is inherently bad, I think WoW for example has an interesting history. But I like the chance to play an anthro-animal game.

As for people who kneejerkingly assume that anthro=sex, just make a point of stating your No Public Sex policy and the intelligent, open-minded ones will stop ranting.

We are aiming for lower-end systems and we’re developing EE on less than 1 million dollars (vs ~80 million for WoW, I believe).

It’s also playable in a browser.
–matt

Looking good. It’s not high fantasy and it’s not anime cute, so you got yourself a distinctive middle ground with lots of potential from a IP, branding, and merchandising perspective.

However, as EE is neither in the two categories it’ll be a lot of work to inform your potential audience what EE is all about.

The back history is a nice read, and yes, I also think it’s leaning a bit hardcore. But, I don’t think you should do a children’s book version. I think a comic format may be a good middle ground.

In regards to furries, I don’t think your target audience is all that aware of what that is all about. For example, I don’t know what it means and am just learning about it based on what I’m reading now. So, you might want to think about how you better informed your audience about the whole thing.

Overall, nice to see and read the progress so far.

Frank

I dunno. The artwork isn’t bad, per say, but it feels more like something from four or five years ago. I dunno if you’re just aiming for lower end systems or have financial issues, but the textures don’t seem detailed enough and the seams on the joints are not exactly going to win awards. Some additional model smoothing would probably be nice, too.
Even if you’re aiming for the RuneScape market, you have to compete with groups like Conquer Online and GunZ the Duel. Without equipment and full body shots, it’s hard to say too much, but right now the comparison just doesn’t go in your favor.

As to furries… :shrug: Some of them seem decent, some aren’t even into the sexualized stuff… but some if not most of the sexualized stuff will squick even most adults. If you have good rules against offensive content (and enforce them) you can probably keep most of the stuff that’ll squick non-furries out of the way and still attract a good crowd from both sides simply by offering a good game.

Talaen - I don’t think Furcadia really has to balance furry against non-furry interests. I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t a furry playing Furcadia frankly, though maybe I’m wrong.

–matt

On the furry vs. non-furry thing, how do VWs like Furcadia handle it? You might be able to take a look at their policies - this has almost surely come up elsewhere on the net before.

I’ve never really got the hate against furries. I think the whole “dress up in a giant plush suit to have sex” is a bit…odd, but that doesn’t make me hate them.

I mean, Cheetara in Thundercats was supposed to be sexy, and I don’t remember every seeing someone saying that the cartoon was a furrie show.