So I got to do a bunch of flavor propaganda for FurSquared this year, which was suuuuuper rad! We had a con-wide game again this year, and TF, through the "Proteus virus", was a part of it! Okay, it was kinda deep cut lore stuff that wasn't necessarily easy to decode, and I think really should've had a bigger piece of the con, but hey, I'm biased!

The Proteus virus from the con's story gets its name from the real-life Proteus effect, the phenomenon by which an individual's behavior in virtual worlds is changed by characteristics of their avatar. Basically, the way your character looks in a game can subconsciously shape your behavior, which is neat! And kinda spoopy!

So, in the world in which the game was set, the corporate owned dystopia owned by Con Glomerate, VR and augmented reality, and games utilizing these, were major parts of the society and world, and everyone would wear AR visors at all time. The Proteus virus was a rogue computer virus that would physically transform people into their avatars. Which, yanno, means the corporation can't control the fantasy anymore, so they weren't exactly fans!