Oh joy…. It’s beginning to seem like every third journal I write seems to be one of these very literate pseudo-rants. I’m sorry that it always seems that it has to come to this, but it does, since I hit these points…. No, wait, these ‘injustices’ that really strike a nerve… and as I said early on, I won’t write anything until I have something to say.

What’s today’s topic, you ask?

Role-player discrimination.

Yes, that seems to be a big part of a lot of my rants, but here it is again. Nothing is more welcoming, more inviting, more satisfying than to spend hours thinking up a new character concept, working out all their hopes, dreams, fears, and hidden secrets only to join a room and get greeted with, and I quote,

“Oh no, not another one of those furry things. They make me sick.”

I’m sorry? I thought that my ability to be creative and write wasn’t limited to what some rude person seems to think. And the sad thing is, this conversation went on for almost an hour! There are just some genuinely unkind people out there, I realize, but it seems a bit sad that they all hunt in packs, as if the groupthink will make up for their own prejudiced deficiencies. It just makes me angry when I get trashed out because I make an anthropomorphic character (yes, it is anthropomorphic, rather than anthromorphic) because I like to play a blend of human and animal characteristics at the same time.

No, I don’t play sex-driven nekos or scantily-clad creatures filled with lust. I enjoy playing characters with a little class and a perk or two that throws them outside the box. For example, I’ve been seen playing minotaurs (A nod here to Kazanthi for getting me started on that road) that are not fluent in Common, so it provides an excellent ground for a constant role-play complication, since others have to do more than simply say something… they have to make sure their intent is clear. She’s also more than capable of beating the living snot out of anyone that makes her angry. Excellent gladiator, yes?

I thought so too, only to log in to find similar commentary about her as well. Last time I checked, Minotaurs didn’t qualify as ‘furries’, given that they actually –are- mythical creatures in and of themselves. I last recall that the Greeks had a myth or two concerning them… try counting the number of Nekos that have that.

Granted, I’m not the most -partial- to Nekos, considering that most play into about two stereotypes, one of which should not be found in a general role-play room, though I suppose some could apply such to most anthropomorphic characters. Yet… does that mean that –all- of them need to be cursed out of the room or shunned, treated like a lecherous, leprous Plague victim? I’m sorry, but I don’t quite follow. If you don’t like something, shouldn’t you kindly keep your opinion to yourself, rather than blurting it out to the world? Or was my mother just kidding when she always told me to “treat others the way I wanted to be treated?”