To RP is furry

[SliceOfDog]

To abide by all the RPing rules, divine.

Anyhoo, the question is; "Do members prefer RPs that have furry characters regardless of an explanation or reason behind their existence, or would it be better for the 'default' race to be human, and have furries exist when a DM can create a reason behind them (Alien race, Genetic experiments etc)"

This has come up a couple times, thankfully never escalating to an argument, but I thought I'd start this thread to make sure the issue doesn't derail any topics in the future.

This thread is not going to be a case of "More people agree with me, therefore you will do it my way from now on". Regardless of the reaction here, both forms of RPing will be welcomed, but this is just a way for members to give their opinions without complaining about a direct RP.

Things to consider before voting/replying;

This is a furry forum, and so will always attract furry members over general internet goers.
It is also a SciFi forum, and SciFi related material that is not furry is just as relevant to the forum's image and intentions.
Members may have only RPed before using furry characters, or might otherwise only be comfortable RPing furry characters.
Furry characters with no explanation (Particularly in pre-established universes, such as a game or book) can greatly hinder some member's Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

That said, let the topic commence!

[Dusty]

I like furry, I wouldn't be here if I didn't And I think its interesting seeing furry worked in original universes and Role Play stories.

That said when it comes to an established franchise, like Halo or Mass Effect, it gets tougher for me to accept it. I'm well versed in the lore of both those universes, and its a tough sale for me to imagine Anthro Creatures in them. This doesn't mean I'm adverse to the idea, just that it takes a lot more justification other then its Furry for the sake of being Furry.

A good example is another site I go to where the RP section is overran with topics like "Furry Fallout" and "Furry Dead Space". I personally think it shows a lot more care and love for a franchise to not butcher it when your trying to insert your own vain of fiction Instead try to do it as carefully as possible, and work as closely to established canon as you can.

[Daryn]

For me it depends on the context. There are universes where there may be room for Furry characters, but for me it has to be done right. I'm with Dusty on that one, if I'm familiar with the source material it's hard for me to accept a blanket insertion of furry characters. On the other hand, I wouldn't consider it impossible to successfully work Furry characters into something like Halo or Mass Effect or Dragon Age. The key is finding the right way of incorporating them. Perhaps there was another research project that led to Furry soldiers, or there may have been another planet in another galaxy where humans did not evolve to dominance. It's all in the execution for me.

[Nelle Kozera]

I'm happy with the replace of humans with furies, or having some intergeneration of furies in the past. Basically making them ascetically different but aside from that their is next to zero impact on the story line, and no need for inserting some kinda twist into the history of established works like halo, mass effect, etc etc.

As for original works, i like to see how the furries effected the universe as a whole or if they are merely humans that look different.

[Samantha Arrow]

I don't see a problem inserting them into many of those series. For one thing, in Sci-Fi ones you can always claim aliens or genetics has evolved enough(it wouldn't be that hard really)

Anyway, I won't even really play a game anymore unless I can be furry. Only if it's a uber-good game will I deviate.

No, unless their is a specific and logical reason for the existence of furry beings.

Who voted for this? It seems a bit hardcore

[Dusty]

Who voted for this? It seems a bit hardcore

It wasn't me but I understand the reasoning. Its same reason a lot of people ridicule shows like CSI. Its breaks your suspension of disbelief when they take 10 pixel off someone's iris and make an HD photo out of it. As such it breaks my suspension of disbelief when a game/lore I know very well is simply hijacked and made furry for the sake of furry being there.

My opinion is that the presence of Anthro-characters shouldn't just be an arbitrary thing that has no effect on the plot. Instead I believe a good Furry RP makes use of their presence, and helps it to deepen the experience.

[Daryn]

Heh, actually, I meant to vote for the middle choice, but ended up arrowing down to the last one.

[Dusty]

Heh, actually, I meant to vote for the middle choice, but ended up arrowing down to the last one.

What how could you do such a *bzzadminpowerszzt* I completely agree with all your points

[Daryn]

What how could you do such a *bzzadminpowerszzt* I completely agree with all your points

Heh, I wasn't trying to sway anything either way. I just made an error is all.

[Brome Teks]

I definitely prefer to go furry, but I don't let it ruin diversity or get in the way of joining a good non-furry RP. I'm just more willing than usual to suspend disbelief or contrive my own reasons for there to be furries in a given setting. (And if you've heard me rant about The Core or Armageddon, that's a bit of a stretch for me.)

[Shade Leshyr]

I'm kinda seeing a lot of this dished in my general direction (i.e., insertion of furries into Mass Effect and Halo), so I'm gonna toss in my two cents. There is a saying, "where there's a will, there's a way." Find the subtle codes and you can find a justification for anything, the problem is getting others to see it.

In Mass Effect it was easier because of one of the codex enteries regarding genetic modification, seen after completing a side mission involving a pregnant mother, her brother-in-law, and her unborn child's probability of developing a heart condition.

As for Halo, my justification stands as thus: the reason: to facilitate unit cohesion while maintaining radio silence, how: introduction of pheremone glands and other beneficial mutations in the animal kingdom based on candidate's natural abilities, side effects: transformation, crippling injury, mental disabilities, insanity, death, justification: candidates are placed in stasis while mutations take and catalysts are introduced to increase reproduction of mutated cells.

Dusty has already pointed out severe death rate, but in theory, the Spartan II project had a high deathrate. No equation can predict the "human" element. Dissect away guys and gals

[SliceOfDog]

I'm kinda seeing a lot of this dished in my general direction (i.e., insertion of furries into Mass Effect and Halo)

To be honest, that's part of the reason I started the topic. If there's a discussion about this elsewhere it shouldn't pop up within your RP threads, as everyone will already have said what they feel the need to say. I hope it will also show that both groups (That is to say, those who are fine with furry for furry's sake and those who like an explanation) have people who agree with them, and so no one needs to feel outnumbered in their opinion.

And if anyone's wondering about my opinion, I went straight down the middle. I much prefer furry artwork, but when it comes to the written medium I honestly don't have a preference either way ^_^

[Daryn]

It wasn't really directed at you specifically Shade. It just happened that this is discussion that you sort of sparked. As I said, I voted down the middle as well. For me it depends on the RP itself. I pointed out though that I'd prefer a plausible explanation for it. I used Halo and Mass Effect as the example, but it really wasn't specifically directed at you. Judging by the polls results, it looks like most people prefer Furry in their RP's.

[Dusty]

I'm kinda seeing a lot of this dished in my general direction (i.e., insertion of furries into Mass Effect and Halo), so I'm gonna toss in my two cents. There is a saying, "where there's a will, there's a way." Find the subtle codes and you can find a justification for anything, the problem is getting others to see it.

In Mass Effect it was easier because of one of the codex enteries regarding genetic modification, seen after completing a side mission involving a pregnant mother, her brother-in-law, and her unborn child's probability of developing a heart condition.

As for Halo, my justification stands as thus: the reason: to facilitate unit cohesion while maintaining radio silence, how: introduction of pheremone glands and other beneficial mutations in the animal kingdom based on candidate's natural abilities, side effects: transformation, crippling injury, mental disabilities, insanity, death, justification: candidates are placed in stasis while mutations take and catalysts are introduced to increase reproduction of mutated cells.

Dusty has already pointed out severe death rate, but in theory, the Spartan II project had a high deathrate. No equation can predict the "human" element. Dissect away guys and gals

I' didn't mean to single you out, its just your two topics provide the most readily available material to cite. After all I'm in your ME rp xD

[BIos_Reaper]

I prefer furry, my fictional universe has a fairly believable reason for their existence, at least my version of furry anyhow in that feline life-forms evolved to become the top intelligent predator on the world that eventually mastered the art of science and from there on out space travel. I agree with Dusty though, hijacking a game or movie or theme or anything for the simple desire for furry to be there sort of messes with the concept.

For instance the rp I am still fleshing out will happen with numerous species meeting for the first time and I wouldn't mind it if humans were among said number of species in order for there to be a comparison, hehe, perhaps they would be "OMG FURRIES EXIST IN SPACE" or "interesting that evolution selected a different form in this case" XD. I enjoy furry, it's part of why I joined the fandom because I can express myself more easily, either way, interesting topic.

[Kaithe]

I don't RP that much, but when I do I tend to play whatever I think would be fun. When I used to RP adventure stuff with my step-dad and older brother I was an anthro fox at one point.

[Gusto-Pastel]

I went down the middle, my interest in furry and sci fi is roughly balanced, and I wouldn't consider one more vital than the other. Furries aren't necessary to the enjoyment of science fiction, and vice versa, and furries needn't be butchered for the sake of science fiction, and again, vice versa. However in original works the opportunity is presented to merge the two, and I find applying hard sci fi sensibilities to anthropomorphics to be quite the intriguing topic.

[Völf]

I'd say as well that it depends on the context... although in a sci-fi environment, it is far easier to to feature furries, since, well, reality is lame and kinda sucks.

To branch off just slightly... I'm a writer, and I find RPing can help with stories sometimes... but still, I've heard numerous things about how all characters in stories should default to humans unless there's a purpose for them to be any other type of creature. So to a degree, the lack of rules, and for that matter, optional reason, in an RP usually leads me to tend towards using furries.

And the last answer... if anyone picked that from THIS forum, I think there would be many lulz. jus sayin'

[redtail]

Personally, I generally try to avoid playing in an RP set within the universe of a specific lore.
To put it in more arbitrary terms, I have something of an irrational distaste for HALO. No, there's no good reason for it, I just don't like it at all.
However, I at least understand what's going on there.
What tends to bother me is the overabundance of abusively non-canon information contained within these kinds of RPs. It even exceeds the already excessive marysuism usually present.

THere are certain game universes I could justify play within, but as a general rule I prefer to stick to original universes, *especially* for furry RPs.

[VisionOfInsanity]

...And if you've heard me rant about The Core...

Ahhhh, but The Core was such a great movie. If you knew absolutely nothing about how physics worked

Ok, in my mind, there are two ways to introduce furries into a sci-fi setting.

Natural Evolution- Replacing humans with furries in some setting and saying nothing else has changed. No offense, but this is the lazy way in my mind. Furries naturally evolving on a planet would not grow to have the same society as humans. Furries have a lot more clashing points than humans do. Carnivore/omnivore/herbivore, mammal/bird/reptile, Predator/Prey. Such a society would have probably been more strife with war than in real life. Just replacing humans with furries wouldn't really sit right. The other aspect of this would be aliens. Selecting different aspects of furries to divide them into being aliens with different mindsets would provide a lot of diversity.

Genetic Manipulation- I believe this is by far the best way to introduce furries for a variety of reasons. If you think of the sci-fi as the future of what is happening today, eventually some furry genetic scientist is going create a furry. There are several problems this creates of course. 500 of a species is a general rule of thumb for long term survival of a species, allowing for genetic variability. So unless they're able to breed with humans and reproduce more furries that way, you'd need to be able to create 500 of each different kind of furry @_@ Then you got societal issues to deal with, are they "people," do they have rights, yadda yadda.

So, yeah, I don't particularly mind if an established setting is used, as long as you allow for the fact that furries and humans are different, so you're going to have to change some things about the setting. Overall though, I vastly prefer original settings, which already account for the fact that we are furry.

And I'm left with a vague question of whether or not I answered the original question...

[themnax]

the way i see furry, as being just as sentient and creative as human, only , for the most part, better looking, doesn't really have THAT much to do with how a character acts, and interacts, with other characters in a story environment as far as i can see. i mean aside from not having to put on a coat to go outside, shedding if you stay inside too much, being careful not to slam doors on your tail, and the same sort of accessibility issues people from different worlds, trying to get along and interact in any same place as each other would have.

i have read stories that were better then anything i could ever figure out how to write, in which you knew right away pretty much the physical shape and form of a character, without it having to be outright described in ways not directly part of the story telling. and i can and do respect writers who can do that. but then that's pretty much a basic building block of any kind of real science fiction anyway. any that isn't totally humancentric. which is why i've always prefered s-f and some fantasy, to mainstream mundania on general principals.

i seriously prefer non-humans, to human lead characters, simply because of being overly familiar with the human form, and escape, to me, being the whole point of both story telling, in any medium, and roll play.

[SliceOfDog]

the way i see furry, as being just as sentient and creative as human, only , for the most part, better looking

XD I like that.

i seriously prefer non-humans, to human lead characters, simply because of being overly familiar with the human form, and escape, to me, being the whole point of both story telling, in any medium, and roll play.

I can completely understand that. One thing I've always admired about furry characters is their pure variety. Sure, you get a lot of fox thieves, and wolf or bear barbarians, and cat diplomats and other such cliches, but there is so much more creativity than you see in other genres. Particularly High Fantasy annoys me a lot. "Oh, what's that? You have an elf character who's an excellent archer and is best friends with a grumpy axe-wielding dwarf? How original!" When you have the possibility to create such a unique world, you shouldn't just go back to what's been tried and tested, and for the most part furry RPers do tend to be a lot more creative.

[Husk]

Usually, I tend to RP characters that are non-human, after all I am one, so what's the point in pretending to be one, right?

When I first started playing D&D, I RP'd elves, dwarves, anything that was non-human. Then 4th edition came out and I saw that you could now play as dragonborn. I was all over that.

Although, when it comes to furry RPing I tend to only RP furry characters if the species exists for a reason. It helps me create the back story for the character.

[Crusadra]

To tell the truth... as a DM and/or GM, I learned that its all in the RP. It can be based on magic (Although I sure that not going to happen here) or off of science (As in here...), its also dependent on the person who makes the character as well... me myself, I never played with too many restrictions other than something I picked up off of my other RP site, called the "Mun" or "Mundane" ruling.

It fairly well states that you must be fair in the creation of your character as to keep things on a universal standard of "even" which can be swayed on how the RP is set up. Which is something that I hope y'all here like using as well.

[Silverwind]

I have no problem with furries or humans in RPs, and no problem with mixing the two either.
However, I don't like it when people arbitrarily introduce furries into a setting with no precedent for them, and leave everything else intact - such as the examples of Halo and Mass Effect above, or something BSG with furries out of nowhere.

If the entire setting had been retconned to make the characters furs - sure, I'd go with it, but I'd find it kind of lame.
It's much more imaginative and less constraining to take something as inspiration and use it to create your own universe - which is what I do, and enjoy doing, a lot more.

[themnax]

It's much more imaginative and less constraining to take something as inspiration and use it to create your own universe - which is what I do, and enjoy doing, a lot more.

i go along with that, except i don't keep up with what's going on in corporate media nor the popular mmo conflict sims. several universes from literary f&sf interest me somewhat. completely original ones, (that are more realistic then cars and people beating each other for ever) are best of all.