A general note: none of these MUCKs are suitable for children running around unsupervised. Just as in the real world, parents will want to keep an eye on their kids and what they're up to. If you let your kid wander off into a strange neighborhood unaccompanied, you are being negligent at best and have no reason to complain about anyone but yourself when something bad happens. You Have Been Warned.
FurryMUCK is probably the oldest furry-oriented MUCK on the network. It's certainly the largest. After the last purge of idle characters and their possesions, there were over 10,000 active characters and between 30 and 40 thousand rooms on the MUCK. There are rarely fewer than a hundred users logged in at any given time, and during the MUCK's most active times there are routinely over 400 people active on it. Characters range from normal humans to toons to conventional anthropomorphic animals to science-fiction-based furries ( there are several Kilrathi and Kzin there, and I have seen at least one hani ) to the truly outre ( there is, for example, a liverwurst sandwich running around ).
The tone of the MUCK varies radically from area to area. Most of the public areas are subject to PG-13 restrictions. This isn't precisely equivalent to the PG-13 movie rating, but it's fairly close. Areas like the West Corner of the Park are pretty much social gathering points where people are, relatively speaking, out-of-character ( ie. not role-playing ) and just gabbing with each other. Of course, that's not an actual rule, just the norm. Several WCotP regulars are pretty thoroughly in-character and get along quite well there. Role-playing isn't prohibited, but it's discouraged if it disrupts things or starts to bother other people. Other areas are more oriented towards informal role-playing. The Calumny Tavern, for example, is the prototypical seedy dockside tavern, and you should be prepared to take on a role to match if you want to go there. The Coyote's Den Cantina is an in-between place, more social but not as out-of-character as WCotP. The Studio l'Artiste is a gathering spot for artists and people who appreciate art. It's primarily social, but oriented towards a specific group and general conversation on completely unrelated topics is often somewhat inappropriate.
A large portion of FM is referred as FurrySpace. It's a science-fiction setting, oriented heavily towards role-playing as opposed to out-of-character socializing. Several main spots that are active include DreamStar Station and the Oloth system. Often one may not be aware of activity, though. Major TinyPlots ( the MUCK's term for co-ordinated role-playing scenarios ) tend to take place where uninvolved parties can't stumble into them by accident. If you want to get involved, I would create a decent background for your character, then talk to the people involved in FurrySpace already and basically make my presence known. Don't be in an incredible rush, or you will be disappointed. As in real life the spacers tend to prefer to be involved with people they know a bit, as opposed to complete strangers.
Then, of course, there's the side of the MUCK that gets the headlines: TinySex. On-line sex is, I'm afraid, as old as computer communications nets. If you get in a huff about the idea, I suggest you leave the Internet completely as quickly as possible. If you like the idea, FM offers quite a bit. There's the Willing Victim's Guild and The Leash and Collar club, the daily orgies at Callahan's Bar in Port Royale, and a number of spots devoted entirely to sexual antics including ones that are physically impossible in the real world. You will need to certify in your application what your birthdate is before you'll be allowed into any of these areas, though. And to be completely honest, I think FurryMUCK's reputation as a sex-haven is vastly overblown by a relatively small number of sour-pusses with their own agendas. I have had both male and female characters there, and frankly have mostly had to go looking for sex before finding it. In the couple of cases where I hadn't gone looking, the advances were easily deflected and were no worse than what I've run into in the real world. In fact, the furs involved were more polite about it than many people I've had to turn down in real life. And unlike in the real world, in virtual reality the QUIT command always works.
Tutorials:
tknarr@silverglass.org