By Brandon/Saber725
Originally started in 2011, GamingFurever was a community driven site for gamers of all stripes. To commemorate the site being revamped and relaunched in 2023, I had the opportunity to reach out to the people behind it. Known by their fursonas Daxel the Deer and The Valraven, the duo form the driving force behind GamingFurever as well as their Uncivil Gamers stream team over on Twitch which at present consists of 3 members including themselves and upcoming channel Mentrum_Gaming.
Known for their variety of content including shooters, horror survival games and a plethora of multiplayer experiences, you can find all three of them on Twitch under their own unique channels as well as a joint GamingFurever channel(Links to all socials will be provided at the end). Massive thanks to Daxel and Valraven for agreeing to do this! It's been a pleasure watching their gaming adventures and even participating on occasion.
Brandon: First and foremost, let me thank y’all again for doing this! When I had the idea, I thought it would be fun to do and a good way to commemorate the re-launching of GamingFurever(Officially launched Sep 30th). Quick disclaimer: I have actually never done anything like this before so please bear with me. Once again, thank you
B: Let’s start with Uncivil Gamers. What inspired y’all to start streaming and form a team?
Getting to combine the love of gaming and shared experiences with others is what has me go live when I can. I enjoy getting to feel like we’re all in the same room goofing around and laughing with each other. It’s why I like playing games with multiplayer fun and engaging stories. Both give chances to have big moments of laughing or crying, emotionally or inspirationally. Starting a team let’s people know what kind of personalities they’re in for, and a common bond that can be formed between us all and the viewers.
B: Do y’all see yourselves expanding the team(adding new members etc) as time goes on?
We certainly could! Depending on how things shake-out and what kind of participation we get (and what new games come along) we’d love to expand if it seems like a good idea.
B: What are some long-term goals y’all have concerning Twitch and streaming?
Personally, I’d really like to be able to have a consistent schedule of events every season that we and the viewers can look forward to and have people participate in. It’s one of our favorite activities and I’d just want to build a small/medium audience that gets a little slice of joy from our content consistently. I don’t necessarily endeavor to make it a life-changing career, but something that can be fun for a long time.
B: In regards to GamingFurever, how does this new version of the site compare to the old one from over a decade ago?
The new version of the site would be more streamlined than the old one, in my opinion. It’s got a good, solid set of features that I believe can be built upon for the future, and allows for easy navigation. You can go to the main pages and get all the updates you’re looking for quickly. Also, the furry game archive on this version of the site is more fleshed out and will be updated much more consistently as a goal this time around. We’ve already got a HUGE list of games we are going to add weekly to!
B: What were some of the challenges in rebooting the site? It certainly couldn’t have been easy balancing this project with things such as life and travel
You hit the nail on the head. Travel and life were the reason we went on hiatus in the first place, but it’s also the main reason we’re bringing it back. I could have brought back the old versions of the site and built straight from them, but I needed to start new. One of the problems of the old sites is I built upon each old version to make the new one, but with SO much content to pull over, some bugs or vulnerabilities always squeezed through. I aimed to eliminate that this time. Plus, Valraven and I worked together on this one! I got more than just my opinion on styles, looks, and chosen features and focuses of the new site. I didn’t want to rush it this time, and we took care to not make things too wild design-wise and feature-wise. Special thanks to our other friends who took a look behind the curtain and provided feedback as well.
B: If I may ask, what are some hopes and goals y’all have for the site?
Similar to the stream team, I’d really like to build a community of people who come to GF for friendship, information, and like-minded conversation and hangouts. Using the site as a catch-all for furry/animal related gaming news and info, whilst bringing in new gamers to our fold, is the hope I have. The decisions we’ll make will always be based on the goal of providing good info and good connections for folks that come to our site, Discord channel, or twitch streams.
B: As far as gaming in general goes, what are y’alls favorite furry games?
Daxel: Val honestly has played more furry games than I have, but I really enjoyed Undertale, Animal Crossing, Dust: An Elysian Tale, A Night in the Woods, and the few Ratchet & Clank games I’ve played. Back in the day, I really enjoyed Earth Eternal, for those who remember it! That’s actually where I chose the “Daxel” alias.
Valraven: Old School PS2 games are the best. My absolute favorite would be Jak and Daxter, but Sly Cooper, Spyro, Ratchet and Clank are all great. I also heavily enjoy Animal Crossing Series, Pokemon, Wolf Quest, Werewolf Apocalypse, and pretty much any game that lets you run around as a wolf.
B: What would y’all say is your worst experience with gaming? Buggy launch, toxic chat rooms, etc
Daxel: The most disappointing experience I’ve ever had gaming was when Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched with completely non-working online play for the first few days. For something my brother and I were so extremely excited for, it was a huge letdown. It spoiled that game for a while. I don’t think we ever went back to it as much because of it. Also, non-working co-op for the campaigns for a while.
Valraven: Toxic community is the worst for me. There are some games that have the absolute best community like Depth, and even Destiny at times is so welcoming to new players pulling together to help out. Then there are most tactical FPS games like Overwatch, Valorant, and COD. I’m glad there is a mute function.
B: Lastly, now that GamingFurever is up and running and the stream team is in gear, what are some of y’alls plans for the future?
First up, making schedules and sticking to them! As you mentioned earlier, my schedule is a rollercoaster, but luckily Valraven’s isn’t as much so, so we’ve got some work to do to make some solid plans on how to update the site and what to do when we’re streaming. Luckily, a lot of that has already been done behind the scenes. Unfortunately, we went on a month-long work trip after launching the site, but I wanted to get it up and out there live in sort of a “soft launch” fashion to fix any glaring issues with the site. We’ve got a lot of giveaways in the pocket that we can’t wait to toss out to viewers and website visitors alike!
Socials
Gaming Furever
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GamingFurever
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingfurever
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/GamingFurever
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/T4bEjMXHrb
Daxel The Deer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxelTheDeer
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/daxelthedeer
The Valraven
Twitter: https://twitter.com/The_Valraven
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_valraven
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/the_valraven
Brandon/Saber725
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrandonSaber725
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/brandonsaber725
IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandonsaber725/