I think it would be good if they took a look at my Suggestion for a semi-furry race, it's more like the anime version of a furry but with a full furry option. xD So it will please both anime fans who like the Neko/Inu/Risu/Usamimi etc. and furries who want a full furry, I would hope that would be considered since it covers a wider range of people.
Someone pointed out, which I agree with, that when creating a particular race suggestion it really shouldn't cater to a certain group of people. With your suggestion, I get the feeling that only people who like anime AND furry things like ears and tails would try the race. The races now have their own quirks but don't specifically cater to a certain group of people. Like for example: I have no idea what the hell these words mean. If a suggestion was made using them, I'm straight away going to lose interest because it seems like something only hardcore anime furry fans are going to understand and since I don't get what it means, boom, interest completely gone. I would like a race of people like that, but when the suggestion is specifically tailored to a certain group then that really isn't that good of an idea. It's alienating everyone else who doesn't like it or understand the idea in the first place.
I think it's ok if a race sort of caters, to some extent, to the interests of one group of people or another. It just must be done in a way that the race still has a broad appeal to others as well! The anthropomorphic/furry character I created is a fox, but I may play as an Apex in Starbound (I am not 100% sure. I like all the races at least a bit. Some more than others). And you don't even have to be a furry to like the Apex & Avians. But everything caters to someone, somehow. It could be said that the Apex & Avians (though probably entirely unintentionally) actually cater to an even smaller group of people than would a comparably well-designed cat, dragon, wolf, dog, or fox race. Those are some of the most popular furry character species. Bird and ape characters aren't quite as common. Avians & Apex may not specifically cater to me, but I still do like them. I can't possibly be the only one. I'm sure plenty of non-furries, as well as furries who prefer other anthro. species, will still play as the Apex and Avians! :catface2: Yet I sort of think modded (furry) races would be better. That way, people who want furry races can have them. If anyone doesn't like it, then they don't really have to play with them. My only worry is whether unofficial races would be designed well or not. There's a certain level of quality that comes from official content. User made content can have that quality too, but it may not. It just depends on how much skill and effort is put into it!
Modding a furry race would be better than having it as another race the team would have to work on really. Are they actually accepting more races atm? Like before it releases, have they mentioned they want more or something?
They're just Japanese words for animals. Someone else already said what they are. And I don't quite see how it's alienating others since anyone could enjoy it without liking anime, just because you don't know the words, if you check out my post you'd understand a lot better because I have a lore and stuff set up for them but it's your choice entirely not to care. I was just suggesting is all. Also with so many other races I doubt anyone is going to feel alienated by it's presence. In fact it's more likely that some others are alienated by the lack of this, as a Dog person the majority of the internet alienates me, or assumes by dog person I mean "Dog person" and calls me a furry. I was just suggesting it to open the Target Audience a little bit. There's no need to sound so hostile.
I doubt they're working on adding more races for release, though I wouldn't be surprised if they add a few more in a future update post-release. Right now we have 7 confirmed races. Seems like we need one more to round things out a bit. Of course there's nothing WRONG with having an odd number of playable races. Even numbers just tend to look prettier on character creation sheets and such. More on subject, it seems that the majority of the people voting on the pole either wouldn't mind or are indifferent to 'furry' races. I think the issue isn't the 'furriness' of the race and more-so just that whatever races ARE added have an interesting backstory to them and wouldn't clash with the Starbound universe.
From the Poll results: These are the only people who would feel alienated. Non-furries feel alienated because the developers would be catering to a niche fandom, and there are a lot more of these people than there are furries who would feel alienated. And why would furries feel alienated anyway? Maybe just because most fandoms end up having this bizarre us-versus-them mentality, like they have to justify their hobby. My little sister always gets upset if I dislike a particular K-pop band she likes, for example, even though I've explained many times that just because I think the music she listens to is lame it doesn't mean I think she is lame. Also, the target audience right now already includes furries. I mean, furries can play Chess, right? It's not like a game needs to specifically cater to that specific group for them to feel included. It is exactly that sense of entitlement, like the devs need to give them something special for them, that alienates other groups of people (and this isn't unique to furries, it's present in a lot of fandoms). I don't intend to come of as hostile. I just think fandoms in general should be a little less extreme.
Truth be told it'd probably not be in Chucklefish's favor to give a blatant shout out to any fandom and just keep riding the middle ground and keep a neutral voice. You favor one fandom, you will dissuade everyone else, and likely drive the game's marketing appeal into the dirt. Anyone remember the MMORPG game Earth Eternal? Probably not. It was practically forgotten as soon as it appeared. It had over 20 races consisting mostly of various animal/furry-esque species, including a few odd ones like demons and clockwork robots. It couldn't keep up a mass appeal and floundered TWICE to relaunch before being permanently shut down. It was a niche concept tied to a not-so-niche genre. A MMORPG requires some degree of mass appeal to thrive. Does Starbound risk similar bounds? Not entirely, but it does show the risk of trying to market a game without mass-appeal as the intended goal in design, especially when that mass-appeal is required to fund the game's development to begin with. That being said, an animal race of any sort is valid with the proper care and lorecrafting but it can't be attentively marketed or renown as a "furry race" by the creators of the race or Chucklefish their-self anymore than calling apex a "facist race" or hylotl the "oriental race". A number of the current races have some touchy underlying tones that should never be brought to forward attention as it's focus of appeal.
Only if the race were portrayed as a straight-up "Furry" race, If the race were as well-rounded, interesting, and complex as the current races seem to be, then furries would feel included, and unless someone deliberately points out "this race is a furry race" most non-furries would not think of the race as a furry race. Warcraft has a furry race, several furry races, the Tauren, Worgen, Pandaren are all undeniably furry races, but i'm the only one who calls people out on it, and that's as a very stupid joke. I'm the only one i've heard who makes "bear in bondage gear" jokes when I'm a Worgen Druid. (If you don't believe that hose races are furry, there is a very, very furry webcomic out there called "Druids" which has an NC-17 rating on it, and therefore I will NOT post a link here. Browse through it at your own risk.) In Starbound there are already two races that are furry races, although they are not sold as furry races, they simply are races that happen to be antromorphizations of existing animals. In this way I think "Furry race" is kind of a bad name, because furry happens to be a trait attributed to a race, and doesn't even have to be a major aspect of the race, merely a design point that will stand out more to some than to others.
I still had no idea what they meant until the person pointed that out. It was the way your post was worded that made me think that. Like you said yourself "So it will please both anime fans who like the Neko/Inu/Risu/Usamimi etc. and furries who want a full furry" but not necessarily people that don't fit into either of those. If a race is going to be added, it really should have an all-round appeal rather than having parts specifically liked by some people, but not so much others. If you are going to feel alienated by them not adding your race suggestion on release, then I do have to say that sounds a bit ridiculous. Not trying to be rude or anything, but the races so far seem specifically chosen to not cater to anyone and are interesting enough that if you tire of one you go to the next. If not adding this race is going to alienate you, then it will most likely be modded in anyway. I have nothing against furries, but I think if they are adding more races to the game that much more interesting races that don't cater to specific people would be better, and if people want races like the suggested furry ones then alright, but mod it in afterwards. I don't really see how everyone doesn't win doing it that way.
Fair enough. Yeah I guess that makes sense. I don't remember my post really, but if I am to judge from your quote it said more likely, and I suppose you're right again. Sorry.
Yeah I see that...honestly though I don't think it would be catering, since there is such a wide range of other races, catering to the people who like robots for example. Either way it's fair. I'm not saying it should have a proper furry race, I'm just saying some people might like it. Besides any furry who likes simians are obviously going to use the Apex race, so in a way they've already done it. Though I suppose the point is less to appeal to the furries and more as a reference to planet of the apes.
Including robots in a Science Fiction game is practically required, at least as much as having space ships and laser guns. Avians are probably a reference to the Chozo bird-people in Metroid, Apex are as you mentioned, and the others are meant to round out the cultures and creature types. We have humans, which I count as neutral and don't count. Besides them, we have one mammal race, one bird race, a race that I think counts as amphibian, reptile, and fish all at once, a race made of vegetable matter, a race made of mineral matter, and a race made of energy. They also have cultures that mirror human civilizations from all over the world. I made a thread about it, but basically each race serves the purpose of covering all the essentials for the theme and mechanics of the game. A race that has cat-like features is not really essential at all, and I don't think any sort of culture could change that, so I think it would be better as a mod made by furries for furries.
Why is there no option for Furry being disappointed if they added a Furry race to the game? Furries are nice and all, but would they really fit in with the direction Starbound is headed?
You've convinced me I think. Although a lot of people find the whole cat ear thing popular and the bunny thing is popular even in games not designed for those types of Audience like Soul Calibur, maybe they could at least add animal ears as a sort of vanity item for lols then. xD I should have suggested that, it might get better reception since it's not targeting anyone in particular it's just a cute little item like Aimox' Horse on a stick joke vehicle suggestion? Or not, maybe that will cause the same issues as the races...x.x I dunno, on second thought it's probably a bad idea, since it will only work on a human.
Actually, I was thinking the same thing. If you read Omni's update on their development progress, apparently there is a horsemask? Horsemask. I guess that means there will probably be masks for other animals as well, and since vanity items and armor can be painted different colors, that opens a lot of doors for people who want to role-play as whatever they fancy. It seems like a good solution to the whole issue, imo.
the horse mask thing is a sort of meme, I don't think you can assume they will add animal masks in because they showed that.
