Community > Commodity, and the value of WTF. Part 3 about the FurAffinity sale to IMVU.
by Patch O'Furr
A series of three articles:
- About the FurAffinity sale, and the issue of trade-offs.
- IMVU does a Q&A with me.
- Community > Commodity, and the Value of WTF. Long live furries.
The conclusion brings it all back to commercialization. I’ve reported this for a while: Measuring the Furry Economy. – Mainstream advertising: “More and more, Furries are being hinted at in marketing media!” – And the recent $11,575 record fursuit sale and $17,500 top price. Also try: Furry, not an obscure little fandom any more. I often say that the thriving growth of this subculture is built on WTF weirdness that can’t be digested by the mainstream. Will that stay true?
___________________________
3) Community > Commodity, and the value of WTF.
___________________________
You could write a whole book about a subculture’s place in the larger culture. (There’s a “Furry coffee table book” waiting to be written.) Here’s a very loose topic about it, with a point:
Commercialization makes some furries fear losing what they love. But the normals-scaring, freedom-raising, limit-pushing, WTF part of it may save the rest. The more fringe it is – the more it holds Furry back from acceptance, but keeps it strongly independent. More notice could be a win-win.