Furcadia

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Furcadia
Furcadia.png
Subject General/multi-genre, mostly furry characters
Website
http://www.furcadia.com/
Operator(s) Felorin and Talzhemir, Emerald Flame, sanctimonious
Status Ongoing
Ran from/to 1996 - present

Furcadia, also known as Furc, is a furry graphical multiplayer online community (MMOSG) developed by Felorin (Dr. Cat) and Talzhemir ("'Manda"), with contributions from many others.[1] Furcadia has been running since 1996[2] and is possibly the largest online furry community, with over 70,000 registered characters[3] and 2,000 - 4,500 online users active at any given time.

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Overview

Furcadia is free to all users. To join Furcadia, the Client software can be downloaded and installed. This client connects to the Furcadia server, allows for character creation, and provides a graphical environment where a furre (Furcadia character) can explore dreams (player-made areas) and interact with others.

Joining Furcadia involves creating a character by selecting a name, entering a contact e-mail address to activate an account, selecting a species, choosing colors, and writing a personal description that is visible to other furres.

The following species can be selected during the character creation process: Rodent, Equine, Feline, Canine, Musteline, Lapine, Squirrel, Bovine (also known as Minotaurs), Ursine, and [Bugge]]. It is also common to use one of these base species to create another; for example, choosing the coloring on a squirrel to make it look like a skunk.

In addition to the basic species, furres can purchase various add-ons for their character using real-world money. These add-ons are known as "Digos". These include Portrait spaces (for one port each), pixel roses, five types of wings (Classic Wings, Tricolor Wings, Butterfly Wings, Bat Wings, and Prime Wings), various alternate species, including the (Dragon, Phoenix, Gryphon, Kitterwing, Unicorn, Kirin and "ferian" ("unevolved", non-biped) species, including the Wolven, Tygard, Leonen, Foxen, and Catten). Some of these avatars include abilities, such as flight and fire-breathing effects for example. Furcadia also offers Furling (child furres), Nobles (improved male and female versions of the 'default' species) and Seasonal avatars (only available during certain times of year) such as Chinchilla, Flox (a foxen with a flower on its back), Bat, Penguin and the Reindeer. All purchases help support the operation costs and development of Furcadia.

You can also have your real-world money translated in to game currency, known as "DragonScales".[4] DragonScales are only usable for spending at the DigoMarket and are often used for game-related trades. They come in three types:

  • Golden Dragonscale (GD) - Costs one American dollar.
  • Silver Dragonscale (SD) - Costs ten American cents.
  • Copper Dragonscale (CD) - Costs one American cent.

The Furcadia Client

Main article: Furcadia (software)

Release history

Main article: Furcadia (software)#Release history

History

  • 1994: DragonSpires, a predecessor of Furcadia, is created by Felorin and Talzhemir.
  • 1996: 12/16 - First release of Furcadia
  • 1998: The Circle Help Guild is chartered
  • 2000: 08/28 - Dragon update (V. 13)
  • 2001: 04/15 - Phoenix update (V. 16)
  • 2001: 11/04 - Lapine update (V. 18)
  • 2002: 03/15 - Butterflywing update (V. 19)
  • 2002: Furcadia is a finalist at the Fifth Annual Independent Games Festival
  • 2003: 01/09 - Gryffe update (V. 20)
  • 2004: 10/29 - Squirrel and Batwing update (V. 22)
  • 2006: 12/16 - Furcadia is the very first MMO to reach ten years running
  • 2007: 04/06 - Kitterwing and Bovine update (V. 23)
  • 2007: 10/28 - Lions & Tigers & Bears Update (V. 24)
  • 2008: 01/31 - Fox Update (V. 25)
  • 2008: 12/19 - Christmas Catten Update (V.26)

Community

A statue of Beekin in Naia Green

There are twelve official maps within Furcadia:

  • All ages
    • Naia Green is the central community map, where furres can get assistance, take classes and meet other furres.
    • Vinca is the nexus of Furcadia, allowing access to almost all of the other main dreams. it also is where festival dreams are uploaded during the assorted yearly festivals.
  • Age 13+
  • Age 16+
    • Hawthorn (Previously Haven and New Haven) is a map for teens and adults ages 16 and up.
    • Club Dusk 2 Dawn An area built for gothic horror roleplaying.
  • Adults Only
    • Furrabian Nights (aka "FurN") is a "Mysterious Arabia" themed map for adult roleplay and dream uploads.

Role-playing

Many different role-playing communities exist within Furcadia. As furres can create their own dreams, continuities range from Pirates on the High Seas, to Furres in Spaceships, to Elizabethan Gardens, to Medieval to Fantasy. One famous outside the Furcadia community is Lost Lake, featured in the webcomic Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures

The official continuity of Furcadia is known as Furre! and was created by Talzhemir and set in the world of Kasuria. It has a rich history and mythology.

Many non-continuity Role Playing Guilds also exist within Furcadia:

Dreams

Furcadia comes with tools allowing a furre to create their own worlds ("Dreams".) This includes DreamEd for laying out objects, floors and walls, DSEditor for writing DragonSpeak code to add interactivity, and fsheditor to draw new objects, floors, walls and portraits. There is also skinner which allows you to edit the Furcadia skin files as well as PCX editor, which define the look and feel of the client user interface, and the Kitterspeak Editor, part of the fsheditor which allows you to edit animations on objects.

Patches

Patches released for Furcadia are "mods" or "addons" to the base content included with it. This can be new player portraits (either by specific species or entire replacement packs), custom avatar sprites (to enable play as feral wolves for example), new tiles to create original-looking Dreams, snippets of DragonSpeak to aid Furcadia programmers, or even redesigns of the games UI.

Volunteer community

Furcadia has a large and active volunteer community, known as the Furcadia Beekins. There are many types of Beekins:

  • Bugge Hunters provide technical support and track down bugs
  • Dream Masons provide assistance with creating dreams and writing DragonSpeak
  • Guardians enforce rules within Furcadia. Their roles are similar to that of Wizards in other online MUDs/MUCKs
  • Helpers provide general assistance, in person and via a help channel
  • Pixels provide help with drawing and creating patches
  • Scribes maintain the Furcadia web site and moderate the Furcadia Forums
  • Welcomers welcome new furres, provide orientation tours and answer questions
  • Mentors provide assistance and guidance for furres in the Beekin program
  • Teachers provide classes for furres in the Beekins program

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Furcadia

Server hardware

Furcadia's hardware

In April 2010, Furcadia's hardware was:[5]

  • Game server: AMD Opteron Dual CPU Dual Core 8212, 16GB RAM, 2x 300GB drives in RAID-1 + small IDE hard drive
  • Pounce (IM): Intel Xeon Quad Core E5405 CPU, 2GB RAM, 500GB hard drive.
  • Web and email servers: Twin Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 E6700 CPUs, 2GB RAM, 2x 160GB HD (without RAID).

These servers were running on a shared 1GB backplane with 3TB of monthly transfer.

See also

Unofficial sites

General

Dragonspeak

Criticism

Dreams and guilds

Patching

References

  1. ↑ Furcadia's contributor page
  2. ↑ Furcadia Timeline
  3. ↑ "May 2007 Newsletter", Dragon's Eye Productions.
  4. ↑ Furcadia DragonScales Overview
  5. ↑ New Server Fundraiser! - Felorin, Furcadia forums (8 April 2010)


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Furcadia
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See also
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