The year was 1997 and I was eleven. I was chubby, socially awkward, and had almost no friends. One day, I discovered a vast community online that loved Sonic, just like me! I had never imagined creating my own characters in the Sonic universe, but here were thousands of individuals, some immensely talented, drawing unique characters fighting Robotnik alongside my hero. I was enthralled. I created my own characters and found myself frequenting chat room dedicated to role playing in this world. It was like stepping into Narnia or some shit.
At the time, I was completely unaware of the sexual undercurrent that ran through the community. A large portion of the people in these chat rooms were about as young as me and hadn't developed any sexuality yet. But eventually I strayed too far and joined a Sonic-themed MUD for furries. I was so excited! There were entire game systems in here dedicated to exploring the world of Sonic the Hedgehog. I simply couldn't believe my luck.
Then I /inspected the first character I ran into. A gray wolf, standing tall, with clearly described testicles and penis shaft.
I got the hell out of that game. My eleven year-old self was not ready for this.
But looking back, that community was one of the kindest and most accepting group of people I had ever interacted with. Who cares if they get off pretending to be animals!
