VCom Blog|The life of a simple mind in a simple digital world.

Furries in Second Life™, what makes them so attractive? And I don’t mean like falling in love, but people tend to talk to them easier? What is it with furries that makes people smile, yet they would not want to dress up like them themselves? This month in my casebook; Furries, the SL phenomenon.

Furries

Furries are people, either in real life or Second Life™ that dress up like animals; i.e.: I’m a fox in Second Life™. In real life I have no real fetishes other then Second Life itself, and you would never see me in an animal-outfit. However in Second Life™ there is some kind of comfort in looking at my fox(y) avatar.

Attractive

In second life there are actually 3 animal-camps:

• The Neko’s, a growing “breed”. Neko is the Japanese word for “cat” or “feline” (cross between -usually- feline creature and a human; i.e. a boy/girl with cat like ears and a tail).
• Furries, well, “us” (full animal Avatar; either dressed and/or walking upright or not).
• The Humans, the vast majority in SL (including the robots and machine-like AV’s, since they are neither human nor animal).

Same goes for the general opinion;

• (±29%) The ones that love the Neko’s and furries (the ones that usually ARE either Neko of Furry).
• (±61%) The neutrals (respecting Neko and Furry as equal, not having a problem that they exist).
• (±10%) The opposition (fighting furries and strongly, reject the idea, seeing being Neko or Furry as practicing bestiality or similar opinions).

So what does people feel when they cross over to a furry? It could be anything, getting tired of looking to an avatar that resembles a human, felling connected to a certain animal, etc. What I did found out was that 90% of people, being asked the same questions by a human and a furry, they answered more easily to a furry…

Looking on the Internet explaining this behaviour, i stumbled upon several articles about human and animal relations (no, still no bestiality here). It seems that people tend to confide information more easily to an animal; after all we’ve all been taught that animal’s can’t talk. And there lies a problem as well, if people confide information to furries more easily, then a furry has an information advantage that he/she can abuse. But you know the good part? Furries don’t care about information advantage (exceptions tend to occur rarely), they just want to have a good time.

Why become one?

Good question, and I’ve thought about it for a while, and I must say I have a very good answer: Because you want to, or not.

Either you have a feeling for it, or you don’t. If you look at a furry and like it so much you want one, do it! If you feel indiffered, then don’t, try a neko first, see if it fits you better.

Tips to become a furry

• Look for a furry avatar that fits you, not in size, but in type. Feline, canine, mammal, bird, mythological, or whatever you think is “you”.
• If you’re not sure, ask people around you -that know you well- what kind of animal they would compare you with. Try to keep it serious though, conversations tend to go towards “elephant”, “moskito”, “fly” or even “snake”. Whenever an extremity is called, don’t value it too much.
• Look for Furries and Neko’s and ask them their experiences and if they want to help you, they might have some good LandMarks for you.
• Never buy full-prim outfits! You still want to be able to wear human clothes, so you can change around.
• Do not buy a baby-furry AV yet… Start with an adult, learn to know the community and then you can always opt for a baby-fur.
• Have L$. Although good AV’s can be found for ±L$900, you need the accesoiries as well, make sure you have a budget of around L$3000 to make the full transition to Fur.

Well, I hope to see more furry friends soon; if you need more info, feel free to go to my “contact” page and fill in the form.

-GJ-

Sources

• http://hechiceroslair.blogspot.com/2007/12/furry-or-not.html
• http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/06/post_6_neko_jor.html
• http://groups.msn.com/-nekoslaveemporium-/whatisaneko.msnw