Earth Eternal adds bunnies, addresses 'Furry' situation

Let's go to the map. A game that restricts you to play as a character that is some kind of an animal like these:

* Atavian (bird-person)
* Bandicoon (raccoon person)
* Badger (to be named)
* Foxicus (possibly to be renamed)
* Ursine (bear-person)
* Taurian (bull-person)
* Rabbit (to be named)
* Feline (cat-person)
* Stag/deer (to be named)
* Ram/sheep (to be named)

is a furry game. Period. Seems that Iron Realms might be coming to terms with that based on this FAQ question:

This game looks awfully 'furry.' Is it?

That depends on your point of view. We, the developers, are not developing this as a 'furry' game. None of us are furries and the game doesn't really embrace what we, at least, think are furry themes (though as we're not furries, we're not experts on this).

Having said this, we realize that our choice of anthropomorphic characters (ie humanoid animals) is likely to attract a fair number of furries. We're ok with that, and if there are enough furries, we'll consider creating a dedicated furry server. We will not, however, be ok with public sex, and won't be providing any sexual animations or content, furry or otherwise.

I'm quite sure the Furries will be providing more than enough sexual content. And by more than enough, I mean any at all. When I see two 30-yr-old guys at Blockbuster renting The Secret of Nimh and Watership Down, I can almost feel my skin crawling away.

Permalink

That depends on your point of view. We, the developers, are not developing this as a 'furry' game. None of us are furries and the game doesn't really embrace what we, at least, think are furry themes (though as we're not furries, we're not experts on this).

But we're not furries! Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I play too much EVE. I looked at that and wondered why Jerry Seinfeld was Tech 2.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Humanoid animals != furry. I don't think it's controversial to point out that Disney cartoons inhabited entirely by humanoids animals (Mickey Mouse, Goofy, the Robin Hood movie, etc) are not furry cartoons, or that Taurens in WoW (cow humanoids), or the Kerrans or Iksar in EQ 2 are not inherently 'furry' (whatever that means).

--matt

Not that the Wiki is any kind of final authority, but this is how the internet sees the issue:

Art and entertainment celebrated by furry fandom may be any fictional work that employs the concept of animal characters with human characteristics, rather than any particular type of fiction. For this reason, any work, in any medium, may be considered part of the furry genre simply by inclusion of a fantastic animal character, although such characters are most often seen in comics, cartoons, animated films, allegorical novels, and video games.

If you take a look, several of the examples you give are directly mentioned as being furry in nature, and at least one (Robin Hood) is mentioned as being part of the genesis of such.

Now there are several subcommunites within Furry fandom. Of course there's vore, yiff, baby-furs, these are the major ones who sexualize animals. There's even a hierarchy within Furs. Anyway, I re-iterate, Earth Eternal is a furry game, but just not necessarily a furry sex game, like Second Life.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I can't see I see a lot of logic in considering a kid dressed up as Mickey Mouse a 'furry.'

I understand, but there's a difference between a child, who hasn't even begun to reach the emotional or intellectual level necessary to make the association, and the adult who dresses up as Mickey Mouse because they derive satisfaction or even pleasure from it. I'm thinking that many of the people who choose to play Earth Eternal will be adults, and any children who do will need parental consent. The responsibility of those children's parents will be to make sure that their kids are informed about how to deal with individuals who are garnering sexual pleasure from the anthropomorphic aspects of the environment.