In the mode of 'Any publicity is good publicity', we have popular webcomic Diesel Sweeties throwing out the standard poke at SL involving Furry sex. Fortunately, the character who said it gets his in the end, so I feel avenged (and I've never liked that guy anyway). But it does make me wonder. I've never seen a reference to There.com or Active Worlds or Kaneva in a webcomic. So is it actually true that if you're big enough to lampoon, you've arrived? Is there a way to take that happily?Posts with tag furry
Diesel Sweeties Loves SL! Or, No, Wait ...
In the mode of 'Any publicity is good publicity', we have popular webcomic Diesel Sweeties throwing out the standard poke at SL involving Furry sex. Fortunately, the character who said it gets his in the end, so I feel avenged (and I've never liked that guy anyway). But it does make me wonder. I've never seen a reference to There.com or Active Worlds or Kaneva in a webcomic. So is it actually true that if you're big enough to lampoon, you've arrived? Is there a way to take that happily?Sophos the Killer
While the article in question doesn't go into any real detail about how Sophos is able to specifically block SL from a network, the thought alone chills my soul: What if I need to access SL to run down a breaking news story? How can I watch streaming video from SXSW or SLCC? Dammit, what if I need hot, furry-on-robot action, like, RIGHT NOW?
For those of you out there who only access SL from home, and who may be wagging your fingers at those who do a little work-time play, I merely say this: if you want complete employee compliance, make their jobs more SL-like. Give them plush poseballs to sit on! Initiate a 'Come to Work in Your Fursuit Day'! Mandate that, instead of laughing, everyone says 'LOL' instead! Believe me, you'll have happier co-workers, and no one will fling penises at you. Maybe.
(Via computeractive.co.uk)
Just Askin': How often do you change avatars?
"Their genetic structure, based on the quadruple-striated octo-helix, is so chronically unstable, that far from passing their basic shape onto their children, they will quite frequently evolve several times over lunch. But they do this with such reckless abandon that if, sitting at table, they are unable to reach a coffee spoon, they are liable without a moments consideration to mutate into something with far longer arms - but which is probably quite incapable of drinking the coffee." -- Douglas Adams, 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (Fit the Sixth)In the time I've spent in Second Life, I've known people who have had the same avatar since the moment I met them. They're always the same. Some -- free of the dictates of laundry -- retain the same clothes, week after week, month after month. Some (like myself) though they have a definitive look, will switch avatars when entering Furry, Sci-Fi, Victorian or Gorean areas, and often take a few minutes to rummage through their clothing when they are heading to an event or to a meeting or a date.
Some I have met, switch avatars with their moods -- sometimes a dozen or more times during a conversation. How often do you change or modify your avatar? Does it disconcert or confuse you when others do?Race Relations in SL
Bastion of free-thinking gamers everywhere, Joystiq has posted an article about racial harmony in MMOs, and it got me thinking. It's not just gender that residents play with in SL, is it? Unless there's a RL photo attached to someone's profile, we don't know who's driving that avatar. Sometimes not even then. It's a given that men sometimes play women and women men, but how often does someone play a different ethnicity than their own?Hamlet Au on the inimitable New World Notes once wrote a piece peripherally about this. I've heard direct, racially derogatory comments toward others in the Shelter. Let's not forget the continuing remarks Furries receive regularly. Race is still an issue, even in a world where one can look like anything one can imagine. I'd have hoped that, as a society, we'd have grown beyond this by this time, or at least have put this behind us when creating our utopias, but I've been wrong about many things.
If anyone'd like to comment on their experiences with racism, consider this your forum to do so.
(Via Joystiq)
Furry Not Like Me
What is a Furry, anyway? I frequently get called Furry, though I don't identify myself as one. We can try to nail it down a bit:A Furry:
- wears an anthropomorphic animal/human avatar
- identifies as a Furry
Is that it? I wanted to add a few things, but was unsure if they really fit the popular definition. For example, 'Furries speak in jargon: 'yiff', 'murr', etc.' Well, of course anyone can use those terms in any fashion, so that's out. What about 'Furries tend to self-narrate their lives: "Akela Talamasca sniffs the air, then curls up, nose to tail, murring." That's not strictly indicative, though it does point to a particular type of Furry, the Fur Roleplayer.
Certainly I know my fair share of residents who wear hybrid avatars who otherwise behave as common humans. So what is it about being Furry that makes one Furry?
Tailplay Magazine
You know, SL tends to be more like RL in unexpected ways. Witness: yesterday, I posted a story on Playfoxx magazine and quipped: "I haven't seen too many erotic Furry periodicals in SL. Well, okay, this is the first one." Well, no sooner had I posted that when I was contacted by nimrod Yaffle, pointing out that there was, in fact, another erotic magazine geared toward the Furry population: Tailplay!Created and run by nimrod Yaffle and Ranan Barrett, Tailplay's strength is its non-exclusivity toward species; they have models of all stripes (no pun intended): dogs, cats, elephants, horses, etc. They also feature artwork from residents, and 'Actual Yiffy Stories' (let your imagination run wild with that one -- again, no pun intended. Man, I just can't stop doing that!).
They plan on making it a monthly magazine, and are working hard on getting issue #2 out on the stands; the stands being at Rainbow Tiger, both the club and the mall. Tailplay goes for 50L, a great price for the value received. Go check it out!
Playfoxx Magazine
We haven't covered the Furry world too much so far in SLI, so here's equal time for those of you who prefer fuzziness over hairlessness! I recently caught up with etherkye Hansen, Editor of Playfoxx Magazine, an erotic publication for Furries in SL. I haven't seen too many erotic Furry periodicals in SL. Well, okay, this is the first one. But it's about time! See a niche and fill it, that's my motto... and I meant no double entendre!
The emphasis here is on the pictorials, as it should be. The shots are interesting and well-composed, with cute commentary and information about the model arranged alongside the photos. Playfoxx has 4 separate advertising spaces, available now. They're currently on their second issue, with #3 due out soon. To get yourself a copy, go visit Yongdong and pick up the latest for 199L. You can also join the fan club for 100L, which grants 25% off of each issue in perpetuity. Or, you can get a gift card and make a present of an issue to someone you love. On your mark, get set, yiff!
Globe and Mail.com
Canada's national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, has reprinted their article on SL online. It's a decent overview of SL, citing references to such diverse topics as the BBC Radio 1 event, the American Apparel opening, the Relay For Life, and Canadian griefer Plastic Duck. There are also mini-interviews with resident Anna Mandelbrot; David Fleck of Linden Lab; and Mark Wallace, also known as Walker Spaight of the Second Life Herald.There are passages that rankle me, most notably the line "Players can purchase cyber genitalia that animate with a fellow avatar's touch, or -- for those into bestiality -- animal parts and costumes, which are exceedingly popular." I haven't covered my thoughts on Furry roleplaying yet, but I'd like to mention that Furry sex is NOT bestiality. Bestiality is sexual relations between a human being and an animal. Furries are humans identifying as animal/human hybrids. The key point here is that at all times there is absolute acknowledgment of a human mind behind the avatar. As Janeane Garofalo says "You can love your pets... just don't love your pets!"
Regardless, this article is another example of the world coming to terms with this new virtual space, and its wide-ranging applications.
If you build it, they will come
Okay, let me see if I have this straight. We can build anything we want in Second Life, without the restrictions of building materials, regard to physical laws, or even the dicta of good taste. Wood never rots. A single beam can hold aloft a structure easily ten times its size. And finally, we can all fly. Why, then, do I see so many split-level ranch-style houses? Why so many office buildings? Why so many blocky, steel-and-mortar, non-opening-windowed edifices?I want to see more buildings that look like paramecia! Buildings of interlocking rings, suspended from a giant chain being held in the beak of a purple squid that's on fire! Hell, let's have an office park consisting entirely of Habitrails! C'mon, you know it'd be fun, and nearly half of SL is Furry anyway!
Seriously, kidlets, we're missing some incredible opportunities to play with dimension, color, optics, mass, and a whole lot of other terms I don't know 'cause I'm just a big white werewolf. We can build ANYTHING! So let's do it!
