(As a small precursor, this journal brings up the topic of tempvore and permavore, a profile play based variant of vore that cropped up on F-list and has been very popular over there for the last few years. It involves prey characters temporarily [or permanently] altering their profiles and icons to reflect what ended up happening from a particular RP. For example changing their icon to a ballsac if they were cockvored. Tempvore revolves around the prey being 'unavailable' for a predetermined amount of time, while permavore means that the character is dead for good. Hence 'temp'vore and 'perma'vore. Permavore should not be confused with fatal vore, where the character only dies in the instance of a scene or story.)

So, as some people probably recall, 3 years ago I ended up spiraling down a dark pit of anxiety and depression brought on by the explosive popularity of permavore, primairly on F-list. I won't go into specifics, but things happened that ended up terribly skewing my outlook on vore and most enjoyment I got out of it. Let me just say that being in a constant state of near-panic is not fun, to put it lightly.

Over those first couple of years I experienced quite a few low moments. Small panic-attacks or flashes of depression seeing a certain artist's work, or something involving someone's character, or in some instances just the mere notion that a piece of art could have the prey dying or not coming back in some fashion. I've said and done some things that I wish I hadn't, but over time I managed to get a better handle on my emotions, and work things out in my head. Luckily I only had one instance of involvement, in which someone who had 'a fetish for permavoring long-standing/well-established characters' had placed me on a "I'm watching you..." list on their profile, which was just a "I want to permavore these characters" list. There was a short, but aggressive bout of drama with them complaining that I shouldn't be upset because they were only fantasizing about permavoring my character, but they finally removed it once I mentioned getting staff involved. I later found out they got banned shortly thereafter for harassing users, along with a couple other things.

This last Christmas, I had another run-in, involving someone very close to me, primarily through a major misunderstanding (and subsequent overreaction) on my part, to the point that I got physically ill over it. Luckily I had a lot of people who were willing to put up with my outbursts and breakdowns, and help me get through it all. I was able to get a grip on my problems, and stop getting so emotionally invested with it. And shortly after that, I had a sort of breakthrough in my mind about what my problems were, which ended up helping me get over things even further.

Initially, the realization I came to was that a lot of my dislike for it was the level of 'in your face' that it always ended up having. Obviously 'profile play' means that whatever happens is going to be something that is blatantly shown, and so the concept of being forced to see instances of permavore was a major lynch-pin to my reasons for hating it so much. But, this did end up reminding me that, just as I hate seeing fatal/permavore, or unwilling vore, there are people who just as much hate the concept of willing, non-fatal/endo vore. I realized that It is a fetish, and that by itself it isn't a problem. The problems come from people abusing it.

From my perspective, vore as a whole should be looked at as a form of BDSM. It involves themes of bondage, dominance, submission, power-play, etc, and just as anything involving those, it has different levels. You have lighter, gentler kinks revolving around vore: Willing, endosoma, non-fatal/reformation after digestion, painless digestion, non-permanent absorption, etc. Then there are the darker sides: fatal vore, hard vore, graphic digestion, disposal, permanent vore, unwilling, etc. They all have their place, their people who enjoy them, and when performed well between mutuals all looking for the same end result, all of them are overall harmless.

Permavore is just one of those extreme ends on the darker side of the spectrum. It is a VERY strong play on the dominance/submission theme (In my eyes), and is a decision that should NEVER be made 'in the heat of the moment'. Being irresponsible when engaging in it leads to drama, over-inflated egos, and even emotional issues.
Sometimes people get deeply attached to a friend's character, pretty much identifying them through that character, and to suddenly one day log on and see their profile replaced with a stomach, or a cock and balls, or an oversized ass, accompanied with "Now a permanent addition to _________'s (insert body part here)" plastered across that character's profile? That can be very jarring, along the vein of waking up to the message that a relative has died. Yes, it is a fictional character, but it is still a very unsettling thing to experience.
The inflated ego is also something that can be a big problem. People who claim "I don't do it for the ego aspect of it", while their profile contains a drop-down menu of over 2 dozen permavored characters over the span of less than 2 weeks. Predators who have a temper tantrum in a public channel on F-list because they just found out someone's character had been permavored by another predator, despite the player having promised said character to them.
Emotional problems can come up with people who hate permavore. Finding out a friend absolutely loves it is a big one, and the only way to resolve such a situation is for both sides to openly discuss and figure out some form of middle-ground. The above-mentioned finding out a friend let their character get perma'd is another situation.. Yes, this is a fantasy setting, but it is still a setting that people use as a way to find some enjoyment in an otherwise stressful and unhappy real world, so running into unpleasant scenarios such as permavore can be almost as bad as dealing with a death in real life, depending on the context.


I have seen people who are very, VERY careful about the ways that they go about the aspect of permavore, or even just tempvore. These include laying their profile on f-list out in such a way that each instance of temp or permavore are contained within their own separate dropdowns, meaning that the character is still available. An alternate to this is creating a new character profile for each instance, which allows the icon for that instance to be displayed on the relevant predator's page. This is definitely better than how a lot of people tend to go about it.


Do I wish permavore had never been a thing? Hell yes I do, but at the same time I've realized that, honestly, this sort of vore has gone on for FAR longer than its recent popularity on F-list. It just was probably not portrayed as it is now due to a lack of profile layouts like F-list.

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If you've made it to this point and managed to read all of that, sorry. I ended up feeling the need to write something down after realizing how far I've managed to get in recovering from what happened to me.

Do I still get upset or bothered any time I see something involving temp or permavore? A little, but VERY little, and I'm able to shrug it off because of the changes in perspective I've had. Just as with any fetish--hyper, inflation, weight gain, scat/watersports, bondage--it takes two to tango, and trying to dance with a partner who isn't into the same music as you will always be a rough time.

I'm extremely grateful to the people who basically took care of me emotionally. So to any of them who happen to read this, Thank you very, very much. You do not need to make yourself known if you do not want to.



The goal of this journal was not to dump a bunch of hate on permavore, so don't feel entitled to 'defend' it if you're into it, but if you have thoughts on it that you'd like to comment with, my only request is that you be constructive.