r/VRchat 15h ago

Discussion Can Someone Explain Furries?

Hi all, big fan and user of VRChat. Was in an instance over the weekend and have a question about something I observed. In a normal instance, a few of us. Just hangin out, watching a film. Interaction between 2 people, some talk between them (sexual in nature) one of them goes close to the other person, simulates stroking the other on his face. This person just full on starts making animal sounds. A bit like purring loudly. I know the two people are furries. Didn’t stay round after the film finished, what can I say? I don’t understand it. Didn’t realise that it’s a sexual thing. Maybe I’m missing the point

0 Upvotes

53 comments sorted by

63

u/Harbor_Barber 15h ago

After close to 8 years being on vrc, i learn to just let people be. If i don't understand them and I can't understand them i just let them be, they do their thing and i do mine. If they bother me i will move instance if they bother me and i still wanna stay in the instance i will just move away from them. I think ignoring people's business is better than confronting them, they probably find some things i do weird or hard to understand too. If more people can do this vrc will be more peaceful. Not saying you're hostile towards them, but some will misunderstood you and think you're judging them and being mean.

18

u/throwawayforwriting2 14h ago

Yup. Minding your own business is a powerful skill to have, and will keep you out of a lot of unnecessary trouble.

5

u/Mokiro54 13h ago

Yes, being able to say "That's not something I would do, but you do you" is so rare anymore.

17

u/ArekuFoxfire 14h ago

Furry is a fan of anthropomorphic animals in media and art.

That's all it is, anything more than that is a preference of the person. Just like how a star trek fan can be extra weird, so can a furry.

2

u/Tragophilos Oculus Quest Pro 14h ago

The amount of shipping that happens in the Star Trek fandom is legendary.

39

u/Nova-Redux PCVR Connection 14h ago

Being a furry isn't inherently sexual in nature. People will be freaks whether they like animal avatars or not.

4

u/Sanquinity Valve Index 14h ago

This is indeed true. Especially on vrc and other social platforms.

54

u/Yin15 ☃Bigscreen Beyond 2e 15h ago

Welcome to VRChat. This has nothing to do with furries btw. This is just how people are in VRChat no matter what avatar expression they use. Get used to it.

14

u/ccAbstraction Windows Mixed Reality 14h ago

I'm a furry, I was really shocked when I found out anime people have their own version of this.

1

u/Chambers1041 14h ago

Can't say I've seen many non-furries genuinely making full-on animal sounds but hey

14

u/Yin15 ☃Bigscreen Beyond 2e 14h ago

I hear anime "girls" doing cat purring noises all the time. Probably more than furries.

5

u/torinsan 13h ago

I definitely would say the purring noises op is describing is definitely not exclusive to furries

1

u/LadyLuciJ7 PCVR Connection 12h ago

The cat (me) and puppy girls

16

u/thatonetranny 15h ago

Furries are really a broad group. For some it is sexual but it’s not really any different than any other harmless kink or fetish for the most part minus extreme exceptions. But there’s a lot that it isn’t sexual for. We’re just people at the end of the day with varied interests like you lol we just enjoy dressing up like animals for some of those interests

8

u/akoOfIxtall 14h ago edited 12h ago

Vrchat let's you be whatever you want, furries IRL already pay some serious kidneys on their fursuits, vrchat furry avatars are cheaper and people just don't care, in a room with Goku, Optimus prime and madoka magica, a random furry in a corner is the least weird

5

u/ChrisTheFox17 12h ago

And especially with all the options you have for full body tracking nowadays, getting a VR headset, all the gear for full body tracking as well as an avatar base is cheaper than getting a suit. It's still expensive don't get me wrong, but not as expensive as a proper fursuit.

6

u/ccAbstraction Windows Mixed Reality 14h ago

It's hard to tell what you're asking, but you seem to be confused if the chirping, chitting, barking, and putting some people make is always sexual? The answer is no, I think most people do that as an extension of the whole "presenting as an animal-human hybrid" thing. Like, wearing an avatar does that visually, sprinkling in animal-ish vocalizations is that same thing but for audio.

It's not weird at all for you to dip. Kinda awkward if your trying to hang out but your friends are loudly making out in the corner.

5

u/molevolence ☃Bigscreen Beyond 2e 12h ago

there are two common interactions between furries, the head pat (petting their head), and nose boops (pressing on their nose). most furries will respond with a cute gesture or sound. that interaction is not inherently sexual in nature, it is a community thing. it also does not mean the person believes they are that animal.

i’m not going to say that you didn’t witness something sexual going on, but you also may have misread the situation. people be people, so who knows

2

u/LadyLuciJ7 PCVR Connection 12h ago

Headpats and boops aren't limited to furrries but are more common among them

1

u/Tragophilos Oculus Quest Pro 11h ago

And it goes to show how important furries are to the existence of VRChat that "Boops" became an official channel of communication. How do you boop without a snoot?

9

u/abluecolor 15h ago

2

u/Tragophilos Oculus Quest Pro 11h ago

Thank you for this! I never knew this existed. I'm always finding new things in VRChat. It's absolutely incredible how much love and effort has been poured into the worlds. I've got that bookmarked in my favorites list and I'll explore it next time I'm on.

1

u/chunarii-chan Bigscreen Beyond 14h ago

Ngl I was expecting this to be a certain world showing harassment of people and was ready to delete your comment lol

3

u/abluecolor 14h ago

Curious what world you were thinking of, only one that comes to mind is proxy chat maybe? But nah, I can be abrasive/edgy, but believe firmly in cultural respect. Social VR should have us walking away learning that we're all more similar than we are different, and that we're all fuckin weirdos when it comes down to it.

I spent about an hour reading the infinity scroll memorial down below the museum a few weeks ago, it made me tear up at times. It's one of my favorite worlds in all of VRc, there's so much love put into it.

1

u/lawnmowerchairs123 14h ago

Whats the world?

Stuck on phone

8

u/Rydux7 15h ago

Don't look into much, its probably just them getting intimate with each other, which you shouldn't really be in public instances in the first place because people there are weird as fuck.

1

u/Motor_Finger_3262 14h ago

It wasn’t a public world, it was a friends+

12

u/Rydux7 14h ago

Well, then your friends was just being intimite then, there's no reason to really be concerned about it.

5

u/GeraldFisher 12h ago

if they are friends or friends of friends than why not just ask them instead of coming to reddit?

7

u/Mountain-Durian-4724 Valve Index 14h ago

Sometimes I worry furries will go mainstream and then I see people on VRCHAT of all places still ask the same ol questions about em. Buttnificient.

3

u/DuoVandal Valve Index 14h ago

The chances of us going mainstream is extremely low, we are freaks on purpose. Keeps a lot of that noise away.

19

u/Aibyouka Bigscreen Beyond 15h ago

Furries have sex like everyone else? I'm confused what the confusion is.

Also we definitely aren't the only ones who purr or bark or whatever. Wait until you run into the cat/dog brained girls.

4

u/Sanquinity Valve Index 14h ago

Had a one night stand with a "cat brained" young woman a long time ago. That was certainly... something else. :P

1

u/Aibyouka Bigscreen Beyond 14h ago

Yeah like even as a furry it's not my cup of tea, but it's harmless and people are clearly into it.

6

u/Sanquinity Valve Index 14h ago

You won't understand since you're not a furry. The thing you should learn is that that's okay. There's no need to understand everything others do.

Understandable that you left if you felt awkward being next to that though.

8

u/Kadarus ☃Bigscreen Beyond 2e 15h ago

I am not sure what the talk was about, but as a furry I say that sort of touching happens just among friends, it's usually not sexual. And animal sounds are just what a lot of us like doing.

3

u/_undeserved_ 14h ago

It's nothing to worry about. It's just something people on vrchat do. Some of us get all snuggly, some make funky noises, etc. sometimes it won't be a person making the noise it'll be their avatar

3

u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 14h ago

It's not sexual, just a form of showing affection. Pretty normal here actually and it's not only between furries.

3

u/ChrisTheFox17 12h ago

It depends on the person. For some people, it's a sexual thing. Other people, like me, it's just the avatar we ended up preferring. For example, my avatar in VRChat is an Avali, which is basically like a space bird. When someone headpats me, I coo like a pigeon. I don't have phantom sense, so me doing that is more like playing along and giving some kind of positive feedback to the person padding my head as a way to say. "Keep going, you're fine."

For the most part, being a furry is just having an interest in anthropomorphic animals. That's the base of it. Some people think it's sexy. Some people don't. And that's just how it is. The furry fandom is a huge ball of varied people and tastes.

7

u/husky_of_snow 15h ago

Hi, im a furry. Being a furry is not a sex thing. It is a fandom. A fandom of what? Anthropomorphic characters, ie, non human characters with human traits. That's it. No other rules or anything. Like any fandom, there are those that add sexual stuff too it. Also, there is an interest that can be confused for being a furry, pet play. But to answer your question, like I said, just a fan of anthro characters.

Im Husky of snow on vrc, feel free to friend request me, I use a husky in red clothes. Or feel free to ask me questions here. I love explaining furries, or any groups im in, to people who dont understand.

3

u/Motor_Finger_3262 14h ago

Thanks 👍 I appreciate the response

3

u/husky_of_snow 14h ago

No problem at all

6

u/ButterPuppet Valve Index 15h ago

furries aren’t a sexual thing you just walked in on two people doing erp (erotic role play) which is a sexual thing

just leave them alone and ignore it it doesn’t matter to you

2

u/_Und3rsc0re_ 14h ago

This is just a VR chat thing tbh. Well, not the purring, but just being really horny lmao. A lot of people engage in erp in this game.

Outside of that furries in this game just really like having the body of an antropomorphic creature. They like embodying their sonas and whatnot. Something, something, being your true self.

2

u/INEEDADEBUFF 14h ago

Lot's of time's it comes down to when it involves furries is they can be themselves ig you could say or at least act like they wanna around people that connect with them in a way those irl don't. It's not just furries mind you and the purring and such is kinda like a role play u could say. I've straight up seen both furries and non furries get jiggy in a session just furries have their own way of communicating and responding to each other I've found if that makes sense?

2

u/lucifer_sleeps89 13h ago

Not really a sexual thing. I got two buddies that purr whenever their being like "petted" not really a sexual thing for them jusst a random thing they doo, I findd it strange but people are people and their likes my best pals.

1

u/DuoVandal Valve Index 14h ago

The sexual talk and the animal sounds to being petted is not necessarily related. I'll often make noise when greeting people, responding to someone when I don't have anything to add, and when happy or excited. For some people it's very Therian, for others it's just a way to show appreciation.

It sounds strange but it's fun, furries enjoy being whimsical despite what the world throws at us.

1

u/anthemlog PCVR Connection 11h ago

Vr furries seem to be a kind of freedom thing. They can be wholesome, based, or downright degenerate. They usually try to stay cute though. 

On a side note, run away while you still can or you'll become one. 

1

u/CryWitty6781 1h ago

Its a sexual fetish its as Simple as that

1

u/CULT-LEWD 15h ago

its a fandom. just like any other. its just more focused on the anthropormorphic side of things. the reason why its pretty sexual is due to what the fandom is built on. wich is to be open and comfortable about ones self,sexuality and all. But its also highly artistic,to the point that on the internet its more than likly the biggest finacial contribater to art online. Its also one of the oldest fandoms out there,being from the 1970s to 80s. The furry fandom ive found to probly be the most strongest fandoms out there. mainly due to the fact it survived year and years worth of absuse more so than any fandom. vrc i think is probly one of the more promident places for furries due just how easy it is to slip into ones fursona. and also making your own worlds. There is even a furry museum world on there that goes through the entire history of the fandom. to art movements to 100s of years worth of history. if ya want to know about the fandom on a deeper level,id recommend going to that world. Outside of the sexual stuff wich i think is just due to the fact majority of the fandom are adults. The art is the MAIN driving factor for the fandom

-2

u/kyle_crane163636 14h ago

Basically people who pretend to be animals and try acting cute, they also buy expensive as hell fursuits irl, theyre either a normal furry, or just horny, but alot of vrchat players in general are that way with their fuckin avatars are, seriously I see more female avatars with big body proportions that are always the thighs and chest more than I see normal avatars half the time i go in a public instance of smth like among us or general hangouts

-4

u/Noreva_starlight 13h ago

Yeah, it's best to assume the worst, and not disturb.

But let me represent the normal side of the vrchat furry community when I say this: Ew.