2.7 Roleplaying

Given the nearly universal nature of fursonas,1 which involve creating a character to represent oneself, we were interested in the extent to which furries engaged in other role- playing activities. Specifically, we asked furries to indicate, on a 7-point scale (1 = not at all to 7 = all the time) how frequently they engaged in various role-playing activities. From the table below, it’s apparent that no one activity was distinctly popular or universally engaged in. 2 That said, tabletop gaming, online RPGs, and role-playing in MUCKs and chatrooms seemed to be among the most popular roleplaying activities for furries.

Follow-up analyses conducted found that the more strongly a person identifies as being furry, the more they engaged in roleplaying activities. More strongly identified furries were also more likely to say that they were easily transported into fictional narrative. Taken together, and in conjunction with other findings,3 furries, as a group, seem to more readily and more often immerse themselves in fiction. This may be due to the regularity with which interact with others as their fursonas, although the reverse is also possible: furries may find it natural to put themselves in the mind of their fursonas because they easily immerse themselves in fictional worlds.

References

  1. See Section 3: Fursonas
  2. 2013 Fursona Survey
  3. See 9.2 Fantasy Engagement

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