Crush...Yiff...Destroy!

RailFoxen · Venter Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 251

On the subject of furries with too much goddamned money.

Furcadia is no graphical powerhouse. Most Furcadia fansites recommend you run a web browser at about three times the resolution Furcadia itself runs at. Experienced artists can slam out a full set of sprites for a Furc character in a day or two's spare time. So how much cash are we looking at for a new set of sprites?

Dragon: $39.95 / 1 year, $59.95 / 2 years, $249.95 / life
Phoenix: $29.95 / 1 year, $44.95 / 2 years, $149.95 / life
And if that don't grab ya:
- Bat Wings: $24.95 / 1 year, $37.95 / 2 years, $124.95 / life
- Feathered Wings: $19.95 / 1 year, $29.95 / 2 years, $99.95 / life
  
  Now during our holiday sale, you can get your lifetime Gryffe for $25 off, and we'll throw in one of each color of rose (red, yellow, white, black and purple) and a portrait space! That's $220 worth of goodies for just $149.95. Get your Gryffe for Life, and you also get the following perks: your name on the opening screen for a day, on our thank you page forever, an origami bird folded by Felorin, and a glossy, colorful certificate with artwork by Talzhemir!
  
  ORIGAMI BIRD! HOLY SHIT! Plus little sprite flowers! (Normally a $50 value, all flowers vanish after 2-4 weeks. Consumable goods for the economy.) Suggestion: give out coffee mugs. On the side, write "I wasted $200 and all I got was this stupid coffee mug." Make 'em out of origami, too. But realistically, how many people'd be stupid enough to buy this shit?
  
  BITTER, BITTER IRONY

mouse · Needs to get out more Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 1030

don't get me wrong, it is funny...

I see these furcadia references all the time, dragon wings $200 etc, But as a matter of perspective - hanging out with some people who play Ultima Online (and Everquest)... both of those games blow Furcadia out of the water in this department.

Just go on Ebay and search for Ultima Online. Last I knew 'castles' still fetched $700+ U.S.

The guild a very good of mine is in - the guildmaster has, I shit you not, made $100,000 in a year off this fucking game. He paid off his education and bought a brand new Mercury Cougar a few years ago. All these people do is powergame and sell imaginary items online that don't exist in reality. And theres a steady stream of people willing to buy.

Complete and total insanity.

Oddly, it makes perfect sense to me :)

Charisma · Venter Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 234

Whaaat? Are we talking about adding a couple of pixels to a Furcadian character here? They pay $200 for that?
I guess people buy designer labels for the same price and reason...

Everyone's crazy!

Quantum Coyote · Venter Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 221

don't get me wrong, it is funny...

I see these furcadia references all the time, dragon wings $200 etc, But as a matter of perspective - hanging out with some people who play Ultima Online (and Everquest)... both of those games blow Furcadia out of the water in this department.

Just go on Ebay and search for Ultima Online. Last I knew 'castles' still fetched $700+ U.S.

The guild a very good of mine is in - the guildmaster has, I shit you not, made $100,000 in a year off this fucking game. He paid off his education and bought a brand new Mercury Cougar a few years ago. All these people do is powergame and sell imaginary items online that don't exist in reality. And theres a steady stream of people willing to buy.

Complete and total insanity.

Oddly, it makes perfect sense to me :)

There IS a difference, sure, on UO players sell things for RL cash, castles, gold, etc.(at least back when people still played UO), but in this case Furcadia ITSELF is asking for all this cash for stupid little sprites. I've never heard of Ultima Online selling game items, tho I think this sort of happens with EQ and some others, ie. insane amounts of cash for moving characters and accounts from server to server. Furcadia is taking advantage of (as we know) a mostly deluded, obsessed, and young, crowd. fuck 'em.. I logged in there a few years ago, it was so bad, and I knew by how they had programmed it that it wasn't going to get better, and thats just the game engine, the social situation I observed as I took my obligitory stroll about was just totally immature, and, well, lame.

subversive · Prattler Joined: 30 Dec 2004 Posts: 180

I just randomly happened to notice this, but the character "Ejecter" has Butterfly wings, Classic wings, Dragon, Gryffe, Phoenix AND Triwings. That's (calculates....) US$873.75 if you give him/her the "holiday discounts" they're advertising.

Wow.

Skunkfuckers Inc. · Needs to get out more Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 980

I just randomly happened to notice this, but the character "Ejecter" has Butterfly wings, Classic wings, Dragon, Gryffe, Phoenix AND Triwings. That's (calculates....) US$873.75 if you give him/her the "holiday discounts" they're advertising.

Wow.

He hopefully isn't that crazy. I'm going to give Mr. Ejecter the benefit of the doubt and assume that he traded up while selling his old pairs to someone else for $$$ or artwork, or that he's a mod (or whatever they call themselves) there.

The whole thing is just dumb, especialy for such shitty graphics and non-existant playability/interaction. Hell, the old Shadowrun game for the SNES looked about as good and was much more entertaining.

If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go check out Ragnorok Online now.

Kadius · Vociferator Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 637

Furcadia is utter bullshit. It's shameful that a game that aweful can charge you for anything. You pay $250 for 'wings' and what do you get? A few more pixels. Of course, all of this is supposed to be 'donating' to keep their server running.

There is another side, however. Alot of artists make a little cash through furcadia. (Character pictures, portraits and 'dreamweaving') $10 to $25 isn't all that bad for a 95x95 pixel headshot picture.

Kadius · Vociferator Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 637

If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go check out Ragnarok Online now.

Ragnarok is what furcadia wishes it could be.

ZenZhu · TOP POSTER! Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 1510

As far as I know, it's become a sprite-based Tapestries, anyway.

GoManVanGogh · Vociferator Joined: 18 Nov 2003 Posts: 365

Hell, the old Shadowrun game for the SNES looked about as good and was much more entertaining.

Best... Game... EVER!

mouse · Needs to get out more Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 1030

There IS a difference, sure, on UO players sell things for RL cash, castles, gold, etc.(at least back when people still played UO), but in this case Furcadia ITSELF is asking for all this cash for stupid little sprites. I've never heard of Ultima Online selling game items, tho I think this sort of happens with EQ and some others, ie. insane amounts of cash for moving characters and accounts from server to server. Furcadia is taking advantage of (as we know) a mostly deluded, obsessed, and young, crowd. fuck 'em.. I logged in there a few years ago, it was so bad, and I knew by how they had programmed it that it wasn't going to get better, and thats just the game engine, the social situation I observed as I took my obligitory stroll about was just totally immature, and, well, lame.

Well Im leaning towards the other view. I think its more legitimate for furcadia. The prices are out of whack, but its a free game. The market in UO has nothing to do with Origin or EA or whoever runs it now. I have to hear this shit all the time thats the only reason I know this : the most expensive item you could buy in UO right now is an 'Ornament of the Magician' its $200 US. Thats an item you could accidentally drop in the game and lose it.

EQ used to be bad, but UO restructured itself and now its way worse. Its all about what items you have cuz essentially everyone has the same maxed out skill set.

Motor City online was another one.
And that other one a lot of people (and furries with cash) are getting into, "Second Life". Now, Second life is just a social game and you can apperently spend a lot of time and money on it.

There is not a single online game out there where you can't buy stuff for it with real cash on Ebay.

Neopets.
You can buy 1 million Neopoints for, on average, $67 when the auctions show up on Ebay (not as common).

This is a website where, to earn those neopoints, you sit around playing drinking games with cute cartoon charaters all over them. Cheat!, some might recognize this as the game "Bullshit!". Expectedly, all the games are just dumbed down versions of all kinds of other old video games, card games, dice and board games. hey, not that Im complaining. I confess, I like Neopets

... what?! :)

Skunkfuckers Inc. · Needs to get out more Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 980

Hell, the old Shadowrun game for the SNES looked about as good and was much more entertaining.

Best... Game... EVER!

I still like to heed the old sage advice: "never trust a dragon". Of course this was spoken to you by a talking dog, but apparently they were incarnations of God. I also liked how you could shoot random NPCs on the street and they'd stay dead.

I think the farthest I got in that game was getting the foxgirl Runner with the ears and tail to join me, and then getting stuck trying to take on Dracula and getting slaughtered (you'd think her ability to morph into a flaming fox spirit would have been more useful against the undead Prince of Darkness, but it was never enough).

THIS GAME DESERVES A REMAKE PEOPLE. GET ON IT.

RailFoxen · Venter Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 251

I'M ON IT. RPGMAKER GOOD FOR YOU?

Oh, sure, you can justify the pricing by calling them donations to keep the game running and free for everyone else (though they offer sponsorships anyway)... but at the end of the day you've still spent a year of EQ subscription money on something that is, at best, IRC/MUCK with bad pictures. At worst... for Chrissakes, this is the illustrated travel brochure.

ZenZhu · TOP POSTER! Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 1510

If some chump or chumpette wants to shell out $250 wingwangs for a set of sprites so they can look like a dragon then.. well... more power to 'em, I guess. But, c'mon.... we're talking about spending anywhere from $50 to $250 so that your character can look a little different while you sit around and chit chat or textfuck. For that matter, the times I poked around on Furcadia, there were actually places where the creator of that "dream" coded it so all characters had wings.

So, really, we're just talking about virtual fashion accessories. Granted, people pay stupid amounts of money for fashion.... but it seems to make even less sense in the virtual world. On top of this, Furcadia is only a graphical half-step away from MUCKs. You still rely on the text description of a character to tell people what it looks like. All paying for a dragon sprite would do is deplete your bank account by $250 dollars so you have a slightly fancier place holder.

I guess it all depends on how important the whole thing is to you. Hell, Everquest and Ultima Online has been the catalyst for divorces because some shmuck couldn't tear himself away from it long enough to get tender with his wife now and then. I think the worst I heard of was when some guy's girlfriend saved up $700 to take him for a weekend trip for his birthday. It was partly to be nice, and partly to get him away from the damn computer. But, he spent the $700 on some item from EQ or UO. His rationale was that if it was going to be spent on him anyway, why not let him spend it how he wanted.

Talk about someone in need of a kick in the nuts.

If Furcadia is important enough to a person for them to shell out $250 dollars for a dragon, rather than just saying "I'm a dragon" in their description.... well.... I'm stymied.. but okay... whatever. Still, if it's important enough to you to spend that kinda moolah, maybe it's time to reassess your priorities.

Presea · Coadjutor Joined: 14 Nov 2004 Posts: 71

Man, my brother used to be a crazy Ultima Online buyer. He'd be be yakking about using real money ($15 at the least) to purchase "'Mils of gold" so that he could buy some worthless crap he doesn't even care about now.
The fact that just about every serious guy playing it is locked into a certain set of stats means that equipment is all the more important.
I tried it for a bit as Silvamord, enjoying just exploring the countryside and beating up woodland critters. Then again, you can do that in countless games that aren't online and are free/one time only payment, so I wisened up. (I don't care for the MMORPG "interaction" with others, cough)

I recall first trying out Furcadia. First thing I noticed is that the graphics were basically scaled-down UO 2d ones. Ugh. Ultima's sprites look nice; Furcadia's do not. Probably a difference of funding, but it apparently hasn't been changed much as it gets further and further behind. Anyways, I bumbled around, thinking that there were some more RPG-ish things to do, finally realizing it pretty much was a chat/roleplay place.

Much later I learned of the private 'dreams' where furverts shove all the adult material in, and a ripple of disgust coursed down my spine.

For a hideous proto-Ultima looking chat room/RP, people are willing to spend 20 to hundreds of real dollars for a different avatar. Put the Something Awful forum's cost in comparison and you'll see which is a better deal. :twisted:

Kadius · Vociferator Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 637

Back in the first days of Diablo 2, there were items that sold for $350+ on ebay. And $1,000 for a bulk package of items. Some things still sell for around $75. I kid you not.

Also, keep in mind that any of these items can be dropped lost or even deleted if they're 'hacked'.

mouse · Needs to get out more Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 1030

we're talking about spending anywhere from $50 to $250 so that your character can look a little different while you sit around and chit chat or textfuck. For that matter, the times I poked around on Furcadia, there were actually places where the creator of that "dream" coded it so all characters had wings.

I just fail to see the difference between this, and paying $250 for an AMULET OF ULTIMATE POWER .. just so you can 'lol' and 'PWNED N00B' on the dude who only spent $150 (or spent a year of his life to collect up a rare item set)

Its all about vanity, and its all about fashion, always. You can have fun too, but who doesnt like seeing thier name on the top of a score list or people on server knowing who you are ?

Shmeckopolis · Vociferator Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 314

First off, allow me to give many "hoo-rays" to the peoples who remember Shadowrun.

Now, I must say I am baffled. Perplexed. Dammit, I'm boggled! I cannot wrap my brain around the logic driving one who would spend over $500 on a damn sprite! Just to add pixels on a sprite!

In UO, I kinda understand. You're actually accomplishing things in that game, you're buying things that add to the experience (i.e. castles), and it gives other players a chance to make money off doing something they like to do. Fine. But for the game itself to charge you just to add some goofy wings to your dumbass little tiger man?! No! That is just-- no!

For God's sake, there isn't even a sense of accomplishment at this place! The hell do you do all day there besides chat and angst it up about your character's rape-filled past?! It would be a lot cheaper for these dipshits to take their lack of creativity to a fucking MUCK!

I just can't understand it. But maybe that's because my brain works right (to a point)...

Quantum Coyote · Venter Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 221

First off, allow me to give many "hoo-rays" to the peoples who remember Shadowrun.

I remember the Street Samurai, and those guys who could control aircraft/vehicles remotely with their mind. I was never able to convince my friends to try it out (strictly D&D in those days), but I read the manual and the concepts and characters seemed really cool (mind you this was over ten years ago)

ZenZhu · TOP POSTER! Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 1510

I just fail to see the difference between this, and paying $250 for an AMULET OF ULTIMATE POWER .. just so you can 'lol' and 'PWNED N00B' on the dude who only spent $150 (or spent a year of his life to collect up a rare item set)

I've never played any of the online games, nor do I ever plan to. So, I don't have much of a point of reference for anything in those games, let alone paying what for what in them. I'd agree that there isn't really any difference between shelling out $250 for a dragon body on Furcadia, or $250 for a Sword of Mansex on Ultima Online or something. I can kind of understand the argument that an item that raises your stats or something is at least more useful than simply altering your appearance.... almost like buying an expansion CD. But, in the end, they're both just games.. so it seems like a waste of good money either way.

m_estrugo · Vociferator Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 353

... But, in the end, they're both just games.. so it seems like a waste of good money either way.

Yey, you can pay with Monopoly money. After all, it's a game.

mouse · Needs to get out more Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 1030

I can kind of understand the argument that an item that raises your stats or something is at least more useful than simply altering your appearance.... almost like buying an expansion CD. But, in the end, they're both just games.. so it seems like a waste of good money either way.

No thats true, and I say that only cuz I dont tend to like purely social games. But Furcadia has no stats to increase. So in the context of any individual game I just don't see one as being worse than the other.

If people like playing furcadia, and spending money on it - cool. I've never played it , and I never intend to. But I think the fact that the game is highly editable and you can make your own rooms with your own sprites is a unique feature.

I just can't be down on certain aspects of furry fandom when they are the same everywhere else. Just like the whole Eisner/furry thread on here. Its ridiculous.

Gargoyle · Vociferator Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 387

Hell, the old Shadowrun game for the SNES looked about as good and was much more entertaining.

Best... Game... EVER!

Shadowrun. I remember reading about in a German newspaper, I think in 1993 (the time when the Sindicate premiered). I remember I wanted to play it, but now on emulator I was really dissapointed... Fuck, where are my emu DVDs, anyway?

I also always wanted to play the original Shadowun back in 90s, when I was still into a non-computer role-playing (CP2020, Warhammer, Call of Cthulu, vampire/Werewolf and shit).

Dogthing · Vociferator Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 522

Furcadia is hilariously mindboggling.

It has very little mechanics, constantly faulty netcode, limited, outdated graphics, virtually no sound, and a weird map editor.

It drags in probably thousands of dollars in a month to "keep the server running" (when the server only needs to serve very little data to the client, with the exception of dream downloads, which can be cached anyways), and yet the game is more then SIX YEARS OLD and is STILL IN FUCKING ALPHA.

I DON'T GET IT

SquareMoogle · Venter Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 238

Because, they'd be ripping off the furries if they charged for the game. :wink:

Edit: And here I thought the 'wink' was a replacement for '' tags. I'm nudging at the fact that furries pay for little pixels on that shitty game.... AND YOU HAD TO GO AND RUIN IT. :cry:

Shmeckopolis · Vociferator Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 314

You can't rip off furries! They'll pay for anything! God, I could draw a stick figure that partially resembled Minerva Mink, draw an arrow pointing between its legs with "vagina" written at the bottom of the arrow, and they'd spend real, honest-to-goodness money on it.

Though, I gotta say, one could make a nice profit pretending to be a furry and selling half-assed anthro pictures.

SquareMoogle · Venter Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 238

Ragnarok Online

You rang?

REAL money, currency used to purchase goods and services being spent on FAKE items, little hex values used to represent pixels on a screen

I'm on a roll

Banrai · Vociferator Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 314

Ragnarok Online

H'mm. I play RO, but I stay on teh free servers. THey're hard to find, but hey. :/ I've never seen the point in paying for this crap. but then again, I have had it explained to me. It's like renting a videogame. 'cept instead of the $3 for every 3-5 days, you get one flat fee for the entire month.

Or something.

m_estrugo · Vociferator Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 353

Tell you what...

If I'm going to spend my money in pixels, I'll spend it in something worthwile.

And yes I do like flightsimming. :)

Kadius · Vociferator Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 637

The only thing I'd ever consider buying: http://www.d2legit.com/items.php?rid=1&icid=11&r=6522782077

Just cause they're so goddamn hard to find. (And when I say hard to find, I mean you can spend a year of hardcore gaming and find maybe one of the high end runes.) And when you trade in game, they tend to disappear. And no, I've never bought an item for that game. :?

SquareMoogle, I might get on your server one of these days and check it out. Not that I've played RO in the last five months.

Rankin · TOP POSTER! Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 1514

Well, a muck is essentially a multiuser Zork, so...

:twisted:

The New Meat · Vociferator Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Posts: 660

Well, a muck is essentially a multiuser Zork, so...

:twisted:

Want some rye??? Course ya do!

ZenZhu · TOP POSTER! Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 1510

Well, at least Furcadia is a fuzzy Ultima Online, rather than borrowing graphics from something like the early Bard's Tale.

And, as dated and lame as it is... I'll at least give a band of furries credit for having the vision of something and following through on it. I mean, it DID take planning and effort to even make the thing get to the point it's at now. Most furries would have crapped out on the idea the moment they realized it would cut into their wanking time. But, visionaries that they were, the FC crew had the dedication to follow through on something they knew would cut their trolling for bootie time in half... forgoing wanking time in the new for a bigger return on wanking time in the future.

MASTURBATORY VISIONARIES, I TELL YA! They're the Microsoft of binary poon-tang.

Repomancer · Rasophore Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Posts: 61

Well, a muck is essentially a multiuser Zork, so...

:twisted:

Want some rye??? Course ya do!

Hee! I worked on that game.

Rankin · TOP POSTER! Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 1514

Well, a muck is essentially a multiuser Zork, so...

:twisted:

Want some rye??? Course ya do!

Hee! I worked on that game.

What's worse is that I remember that shit.

Dr. Dos · Venter Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 244

Well, a muck is essentially a multiuser Zork, so...

:twisted:

you are likely to be eaten by a grue

ZenZhu · TOP POSTER! Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 1510

Hell, I remember some text-based game on the Vic-20 where you were on the moon. There was some schtick about having the Holy Grail to get water you needed for your ship.. but, of course, it was a "holey" grail, so... no water for you until you plugged it. Or how about Bard's Tale on the C64.

Wayd Wolf · Vociferator Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 588

Well, a muck is essentially a multiuser Zork, so...

:twisted:

Welcome to Zork.
This version created December 8.
West of House.
Your are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front
door.
There is a small mailbox here with a decal of a fox on it.
>GO NORTH
North of House
You are facing the north side of a white house. There is no door here,
and all the windows are barred. A sign says, "By Order of Department of Health".
>EAST
Behind House
You are behind the white house. In one corner of the house there is a
small window which is slightly ajar. A smell emenates which reeks of unwashed
underwear, human urine, and stale Cheetos.
>OPEN THE WINDOW
With great effort, you open the window far enough to allow entry. The stench
is nearly overpowering.
>GO IN
Kitchen
You are in the kitchen of the white house. A table seems to have been
used recently for the preparation of food despite also seeming to have
never been washed in its entire history. A passage leads to the west,
and a dark staircase can be seen leading upward from which further
olfactory destroying compounds are wafting. To the east is a small
window which is open where you really should be going right now if you
want to save your sanity from further offenses to nature.
On the table is an elongated brown sack, smelling of hot peppers and lubricant.
A bottle is sitting on the table.
The glass bottle contains:
A quantity of flat Jolt Cola.

(extra credit to those who know where "CLAP, HOP, SAY KWEEPA" came from.)