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[Lutra]

Nice pics. Yay EF3 was my first EF So many memories.

[Quincy the Raccoon]

oh man.... fursuits came a long way from yuch to wow! 

[Drift]

EF 40: BER (Berlin airport) will be finished... or forgotten...

[Quincy the Raccoon]

EF 40: BER (Berlin airport) will be finished... or forgotten...

When it still be in Berlin, that is... Or when they all have forgotten about the Fandom... (shudders!) I wonder how old Cheetah will be... Or even Uncle Kage?!

[Cheetah]

EF 40: BER (Berlin airport) will be finished... or forgotten...

By then, they will probably have torn down berlin, and re-built it next to a functional airport. It's just cheaper that way.

[Felfur]

I can only write this in German ;P
*grumpf* Warum haben wir 1997 nicht schon 2016 Suits gehabt... Materialtechnisch war schon alles vorhanden ;>

English: Why didn't we had 2016-type suits in 1997, we had the materials right at hand...

Well, IMHO some had... (EF8/10): see attachments

[Sam T. Housecat]

My first EF was EF4, I was part of the orga. Well, there where good things too: with 150 con goers, it was possible to know everyfur. We had cosy campfires at night. As fursuits and art were generally crappy when compared with today's standards, everyone was highly inspired to participate. Many people were sketching in those days. Whatever you made, it was at least as good as what other furs made! No jealousy. And no one every considered that drawn porn was 'bad' in some way. The 90s weren't as nearly as conservative and prudish as the current time period.

In 2017, everything is so .... professional. 

[Felfur]

I prefer: streamlined. Everything works smooth, everyone know what to do and how to do it. People start at a higher level than back then, or improve much faster.

Everyone has so much knowledge, so easy to access, so many friends who already did this and found solutions, so many people to help, so many how-to-s, so many information where to get material. It's quite easy to be a new-fur and show a mostly decent fursuit to your first con and or have not-too-crappy sketches after a short time.
We had to find out mostly everything mostly yourself, and lay the foundations for today.

On the other hand, the cosyness is gone, even at small cons, its mostly alc & techno party or sisha&metall. Seemingly most furs today expect to be entertained. Big party vs. philosophic talk about scenarios and cuddling.

Whatever, I sound old & grumpy and don't want to rant . With EF6 my first, Fandom definitely has come a long way.

[Dhary Montecore]

Big party vs. philosophic talk about scenarios and cuddling.

Actually, I think it should be possible to either keep the campfire less party and a more talkative, at least most nights thinking about it :3

[Sam T. Housecat]

Interesting questions. What will the world look like in 2034? Well, we first have to wait for 2021, the year that Trumps presidency ends. If the world is still in one piece then, I'll go for the optimistic scenario. 

To my experience, there are and there will be people for who being a furry is rooted deeply in their soul. These people can not be not a furry. Based on attendance in conferences worldwide plus the number of artists who have a career of 20, 30 years in furry fandom, I estimate that this core group is about 20.000 people worldwide at the moment. It may grow due to the fact that in some parts of the world there are furries who don't know it yet, like probably in Turkey. As furry fandom is predominantly a social phenomenon in Western countries and some parts of Asia and Latin America, roughly half of the world's population, the number of core furries may actually be 40 or 50 thousand on a world population of 7 billion.

But then there is the 'Umfeld' as the Germans call it, the close support group that surrounds it, which probably is 10 to 20 times bigger. This is the number of all people combined that have accounts on some furry platforms. 'Umfelders' may have fursonas and see furry fandom as a nice hobby instead of an existential thing, which is alright too of course. Probably there are a lot of sleeping and double accounts, but if we multiply everything, then there are potentially one million furries and regular sympathisers in the world. More than one out of 10.000 people.

Of course, this is a total guestimate, other calculations may come up with very different numbers.

My prediction is that this 1:10.000 ratio will stay solid, but that there is a possibility for a new outer ring: people who are not core furries or sympathisers who spend some time in the fandom, but more occasional 'visitors'. As fursuiting may catch on and become a regular activity, like some kind of year-round carnaval, many more people will enjoy seeing it. Of course, the techniques may improve, but I think this will be mostly invisible to the public. What I do expect is that the acting, more than the suits, will evolve in a spectacular way. Fursuiting in 2034 will be a very different type of performance. Fursuiters will be professional players and dancers with all kinds of new repertoire, and there will be endearing forms of interaction with the public that we don't know of yet. Some fursonas will be regular stars! It may replace the traditional circus as a very animal friendly alternative.

[SiranaJHelena]

My predictions are:

(...)

• The Furry Fandom will no longer exist due to something else replacing it OR we are all dead after WWIII....  
• The Furry Fandom ceases to exist due to huge public pressure against the fandom

Well, if people fight with chemical weapons or nuclear stuff in WWIII, there is a chance that accidents transform people and animals in something new, so maybe Anthros are the only survivors (or at least the majority). And cockroaches, so I suppose Anthrocon would still take place.

In a less darker version the BER might have been made to a big convention center while the airport was eventually built somewhere in Brandenburg. Visitors can stay in the new district Estrel City (located between Rudow & Lichtenrade) or in the original Estrel Hotel. For the latter guests can use the shuttle train to fly between hotel and convention center (yes, fly.)
Due to the progress in robot technology and AI there are plenty of security and con ops bots that support the real team, making their work much less stressfull, so they might have actually the chance to enjoy the con a bit.
Well, until robots take over.