What's that, Furcadia?

Yeah, I haven’t posted in a while, but that’s because I’ve been busy doing IRL things. Like working.

I do have something to tell you all about though, and it’s pretty neat.

The Scribes haven’t been idly sitting around with their thumbs in their ears, waiting for someone to kick them into action. Apparently, with Emerald Flame at the head, they’ve been developing several new pages for the Furcadia Website aimed at helping new (and old) players get more out of the game. Here’s a brief list of what they’ve been working on:

A new series of Help Pages, including instructions on how to get help.

A glossary of terms.

A press page, (for press releases, I would imagine.)

A Dragon’s Eye Productions Page. (About the company itself.)

A page about chatting in Furcadia.

A page about Roleplaying.

A page about creating new things for Furcadia, possibly including tutorials.

A page about places you can explore and possible things you might find therein.

So, I was paid to write this article by a guardian. Mredria, specifically. She gave me money so that I’d write a new article, so here goes.

Who’re the guardians, and what do they do?

We’ll start by leaving DEP staff members out of it. They get enough press coverage here. #SD

The top two guardians serving Furcadia are Kamose and Pwwka. They’re your heads. They help to take care of all the other little problems inside the guardian group. They handle lots of problems inside the Guardian Structure; schedule meetings, classes, etc.

Then you’ve got your elders. I’m not really sure what they do, except that they’ve got, you know, experience.

Then you have your boring run-of-the-mill guardian. They’ve got blue badges. We walk on them because they have no real authority.

(If you believe that, you probably shouldn’t be reading this article.)

In reality, Guardians do a lot for the community; Procyon, (I did an article on him once,) regularly clears out the spammers that harass me when I sit in Naia. They help out groups/guilds with chartered spots; they deal with the ultra-taboo words that Furcadia has, and they’re there to keep kids out of FurN.

Oh, and this article totally was written because I was paid to write it, and not because "My other self", Pwwka, is a guardian. Or because I have Guardian Friends. (Like Mredria and Shayde En’Kiar.)

Beekins are Furcadia’s volunteer group. Their (volunteer) job is to help the players of Furcadia out when they’ve got questions, bugs, or just need a helping hand.

One of the big problems with the Beekin Group, however, is that most people don’t know which group does what, and who should be handling what kinds of situations.

Even inside the Beekins it isn’t always obvious what a person should and should not do, so consider this a review of the program and a cheat-sheet.

Helpers – Generally knowledgeable about most everything on Furcadia, they can give general help to just about everyone about everything. Their downside is that a lot of them don’t know specifics. When you type, “Help <whatever>” in Furcadia, you’re sent directly to the Helpers Channel. You can also find helpers in the Naia Green Help Center; they’re the only ones allowed to help there. (I’m pretty sure you can’t actually sit there on the pillows unless you’re a helper anyway.)

Teachers – They teach our Beekins; their interaction with the public doesn’t actually extend very far, and they don’t answer questions. Generally, you need to be in another beekin group to join up with the teachers, so any time you interact with a teacher, you’re probably also interacting with another kind of Beekin.

Mentors – These beekins are all about talkin’ things over with other beekins. If you’re a beekin and you’ve got something you want to talk about, these are the guys to turn to.

Pixels – These guys do a lot of the artwork you see in festival dreams and on the Furcadia website. They’re the little fairy-furres that hang out on the Dream Channel and give out snarky comments to you if your pixel-art is shameful. Or, alternatively, they give out a helpful hand and teach you how to shade that portrait better. To be a pixel, you have to be good at art. Good to someone else’s standards, by the way, not your own. Sorry.

Masons – These guys help you out with dreams. That’s anything from patches to maps, DS to PS, anything and everything you do in a dream is their domain. (Unless they’re being cranky and claiming that their badge means they don’t have to help, which never happens in the Masons!) Anywho, if you’re lookin’ for help with somethin’ dream related, these’re the guys to go to.

Bugges – These guys make Furcadia break. A lot. That’s what they do when they’re not trying to avoid being squished. (Sometimes they do it while they’re being squished, just for giggles.) Found a bug? Think Furcadia’s broken? These are the guys to talk to. Unfortunately they can’t help you out much if you don’t give them clear instructions on what you did to make Furcadia break, so make sure you pay attention and can repeat the break that you’ve done.

Guardians – Power hungry sociopaths! No, not really. What they are is a small-ish group of volunteers who do a lot of work to resolve player-created conflicts. They’re not ‘ban happy’ as a lot of people predict, and they’re (mostly) easy-goin’ people. They do have their bad days though when pestering them and asking them to be your girlfriend will annoy them. (It’s true, it will.)

Remember, beekins are there to make your life easier, so don’t harass the hell out of them. It annoys them and makes them want to beat you across the face with a rubber mallet. (Or worse.)

Edit: Oops, I forgot the welcomers. (And believe me, I’ve been hearing about it!) Welcomers are the people who say, “Howdy!” whenever you enter Furcadia. They used to be the most popular group, (because everyone was allowed to join.) but now, that’s not the case anymore, though! However, if you need to be shown where a main map is, or shown around one, these are the furres you’ll want to talk to.

This is a Press Release from the creators/owners of WFMA-Radio station. To check out their site, click here.

Horray! The writing contest has finally begun!
Setting: The article/ poem/ story (etc) must be set in Furcadia – Or the main characters must somehow end up in this land.
= Genre: What ever you like – I’ve always liked comedy but Admins are not the judges 😉
= Length: No longer than 1000 words. (Or at least – not too much longer)
= Format: You can speak it and send it as a sound clip, You can video it and send it or you can type it and send. Any format, Basically.
Send all entries to admin@wfma-radio.com
Subject: Writing contest – (your name)
A Few pre-set and perminant rules:
– Staff of WFMA may enter material but can not win.
– There are no restictions on the number of entries
– There are no restrictions on the content unless otherwise stated in the contest description
– ‘Adult’ Material may be enterred but might not be made public – To the discression of the Admins.
– Prizes vary – you’ll be alerted of any possible changes in the contest description
– We do not accept bribes
– All judging is done by people who are not players of furcadia then finalised and discussed by Admins. this means that sucking up wont do you any favours.
– All donations made to the alt ‘WFMA Radio’ will be added to the prize of the contest that is running at that point. Otherwise it will be used for on-air contests such as Trivia contests, Caption contests, Criptic Code contests etc.
Prizes: (The part you -really- care about)
Ferian Foxen
5 GD
And an art choice:
Either 2 Digitally drawn pictures made to your specifications
or
1 highly detailed digital drawing made to your specifications.
The artist is incredibly skilled and well known and will be names when the contest ends.
The drawings will be quite large, I’m informed.
The contest is currently set to run for around one month but that time may be extended.

Seems a little delayed as of this posting, but the Sweetheart Ball might just be one of the most fun things to do this month on Furcadia.

Last year there was a dance floor that let you waltz around with another player; a swan ride through the ‘tunnel of love’, a balloon vendor, (for those that love balloons!) and parties across Furcadia. If you want to get in on the festivities, (and free guild advertising!) the time to strike is now.

There are many ways you can get people attracted to your dream; one of these includes door prizes. There’s plenty of door prize digos that you can give out to people who show up at your party and stay for the entire event, thereby making them want to come back in the future. (as opposed to prizes given out at the start, in which people show up, grab, and dash.)

You can also take this opportunity to start a new storyline in your continuity, introduce players to new ideas, or expand your world. If you’re a guild owner, this could be as important to you as Groups and Guilds day.