Choosing a persona/fursona

[Angel]

I've been wondering about this, having recently glanced at the Haunted Ballroom and wishing to RP. (God, I'm a geek...  )

Now, my handle, Black Angel, developed into a character a while after I started using the name (about three years ago, maybe) - a human hacker named Colleen "Callie" Ravonelle Black, on the run from the CIA. I don't know whether my using the name Black_angel means she is my persona now, because she and I are kinda different people. (I know that sounds weird, but it's true.)

And I never really developed a fursona. I drew myself as a rather foxlike cat for a while, but too many people use cats already and I'm not very catlike anyway. So how do I develop a fursona, and if I can't, how do I decide on a persona? (I RP with my friends a lot, so I have a wealth of characters to choose from)

[Aridas]

Some people take the easy way out and pick what they like

[Netami]

Animal + Big Boobs = Fursona.

[bill]

Damn, I thought "Black_Angel" was a VU reference. 

[Gabi]

Just pick whatever you like, it doesn't matter how many people use it. Try to make a character whose mind you can get into, one you can picture in your mind and know what s/he's like and what s/he would do under different circumstances.

Then you can start thinking of what someone with that personality would look like, what kind of clothes s/he would wear, and what past events may have led him/her to be the way s/he is now.

As for the species... I insist, just pick whatever you feel comfortable with. What matters the most in a story or an RPG is that the characters are believable.

[Reese Tora]

well, I suppose it depends on what 'furry' culture you subscribe to.

If you're one of the people who truely believes in reincarnations or spirit animals or whatever, I would do a thourough self introspection and compare your own personality traits and physical abilities to those of various animals until I found a match.  (or meditate or have a spirit quest or whatever sounds right to you)

If you're like me, I'd take the name of a stuffed animal that you own that you named by the fur color matching some candy that was on your desk at the time.

Since this appears to be a mostly for fun kind of thing, your best bet is probably to pick an animal that interests you, and that feels like it will be fun to roleplay someone with it's attributes, and go with that.

[Netami]

Or you could be one of those types that wants to be the most original person, so you stay up looking through animal encyclopedias for something, anything, that hasn't been done before. Then people can wow at how exotic and unique your character is! If that fails, you could always mix a unique animal with another type for an even more exotic fursona. A half snapping turtle, half giraffe?! Great success.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

hey, worked for me. :-)


*cough*

[Boog]

I went through like five online personas when I first discovered this wonderful internet contraption, and have reached the conclusion that I don't really need one. I'm me. Every so often I'll come up with a character for an RP, and they may or may not be based on me, but a persona's not such a big deal. If you have to have one though, just go with something you like to draw that you think makes a good representation for yourself.

[Tapewolf]

Ultimately I guess it depends what you want it for.  If it's just for an avatar, anything will do.  If you're creating a character for use in stories, a little more thought is generally a good thing since you will need to be able to get inside their head to make it work.

I went with a 'cubi character because I wanted to explore the many possibilities which they present.  I went with a wolf because I've always thought they've had something of a bad rep - that and DMFA doesn't have many.

[Arcalane]

I went through like five online personas when I first discovered this wonderful internet contraption, and have reached the conclusion that I don't really need one. I'm me. Every so often I'll come up with a character for an RP, and they may or may not be based on me, but a persona's not such a big deal. If you have to have one though, just go with something you like to draw that you think makes a good representation for yourself.

QFT.

I don't have one set persona, I tend to either make them up on the fly for RPs or recycle older concepts. I actually tend to also take down any random concepts I have and toss them into OpenOffice for further development - partially as an exercise, and partially just to get the idea out of my head. I know if I didn't, I'd still have several character concepts bouncing around in here. Can't hear myself think sometimes!

[Toric]

I read the name "Colleen" and immediately thought "Collie" as in the dog breed, but maybe it's just because it's late for me.

I always thought horses were a lesser-used animal (and that may or may not be related to Dark Pegasus giving them a bad name )

And remember, even though DMFA contains furry characters, not all the people on the forums are animals. For instance, some of us have opted for metal or cardboard over fur and flesh on our personas (personae?).

[Gabi]

Oh, I thought you wanted to create a character for an RPG. If it's just as an avatar yes... it can be anything at all, or nothing at all. Whatever you like.

[RJ]

I'd say that a good idea would be to pick up an animal encyclopedia and have a flip through it. You'll eventually stumble upon something you'll find interesting. It's how I've made a few of my characters, and you can always find something new.

[Stygian]

I would try and find whatever animal shares more behavioural/physical/symbolical traits with myself, and then just get to working that. Most people have some animal they want to be, but I expect that many of them are nothing like them in fact. Staying true to your own nature, whether you like it or not, is more important if you ask me.

[Brunhidden]

my suggestion- try and be a bit creative.

my best friend is a bug-eyed-bushbaby, hes loads of fun

Babies in the morning, babies in the evening, babies at supper time. with babies on a bagel you can have babies anytime

[Sirius Griffon]

When it comes to charries for rps, they certainly dont have to be the same as a fursna or anything. Do what you feel is best, start with a base idea and let your charrie grow from there. Sometimes charries will grow based upon roleplays, or just plain interactions with others.

Fursonas are a different breed but uhm, yes, I think tahst all been covered. All I can advise on that one with is to remember fursonas can certainly be changed at any time. They are not set in stone

[Angel]

wow. RPGs and fursonas really are different, huh? Danke schön (sp?) for the advice, everybody. I think I just gained a bit more understanding of the furry culture!

[Tapewolf]

wow. RPGs and fursonas really are different, huh?

Not necessarily, although bear in mind I am fairly new to this myself.  The lines can often blur though.

The way I see it, a 'fursona' is a character which you create to act as a sort of online identity - sometimes just for fun, or sometimes to help conceal who you are.
How far you take this depends on the environment, really - back on The Nice, it was more freeform and people would actually post as their character, using little expressions like "OTOC" (on-the-other-claw) etc.  So the lines between posting and RPing where less distinct.  This is frowned on here on CMF, although Charles/Charline appears to have some special dispensation from Amber to continue doing this.

So in a nutshell, a fursona is a furry identity of your creation - it may be closely tied to you, it may be completely different (the real Charles doesn't go around devouring souls, for instance.  I hope.).  It may start out as a furry version of you and then branch off - mine has done this, although nearly all the character development has come about as I've written stories about him or used him in an RP.

Of course you don't have to use your character in an RP, you could create another.  Paladin for instance, decided that Pal was overpowered for the Furrae Chronicles game, and created a new character called Ephrael to replace him.

And as I say, if you're just creating a furry avatar because everyone else has one, if can be whatever you like.  Doesn't even need to be furry really - see Llearch's box for example.  Before Jakob was properly formed, I used this:



Hopefully that helps clarify things...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Alondro has a dispensation to "not be an idiot" with his RP'ing, in the DMFA forum only, on grounds of he's been consistently RPing everywhere on the Nice, and he asked the mods nicely beforehand.

So far, he's not being an idiot. He's consistent, polite, well-spoken, and he spends most of his time either saying something useful with one or another of his egos, or he's STFU'ing. The latter is important, and usually where people fall down. Particularly rampant RPers, hence the ban....

[Jim Halisstrad]

No no no, Netami got it right the first time.

See you all on yiffstar *wink*

[Alondro]

(the real Charles doesn't go around devouring souls, for instance.  I hope.). 

*Charles*     Yeah... I don't really do that...    *hides his "How to Cook Souls" book*

[Aridas]

You skrood up your quotes >.>

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

*whistles innocently*

[fesworks]

for myself, I just kinda went with what I feel I have a spiritual connection with as well as I just like Canines a bit more too. A sort of wolf-dog, if you will.

The choice to make a fursona didn;t come until I made a webcomic and wanted to portray my animal self as well as my human self... and it just got complicated there for a while.

[Eibborn]

It's the internet. Be who you want to be. Emphasize your faults, your virtues, your interests, whatever. Be unique, but only if you want to be. Be silly, but only if you want to be. Be cynical, kind, sarcastic, bitter, random, upbeat, curious... Just be whatever you want.