One of China’s famous furries is called Gintan (银碳). He is famed for their fursuit dancing videos.
But early August, he got backlash from the Chinese furry community.
That is because his fursona appeared as a playable game avatar on the popular Chinese mobile battle royale Game for Peace (和平精英).
Concern over piracy and community
Chinese furries mainly worried over three aspects: intellectual property, a possible “influx of troublemakers,” and the possbility that furry fandom may as a result become celebrity-centric.
Comparisons were drawn between this possibility and celebrity fan cultures domestically in China.
Furries worry Gintan’s actions will cause furry fandom to become similar to that of fan culture, during which prevailing norms in the fandom are challenged by inappropriate behaviour including fursona piracy.
【[吐槽向]银碳这事儿到底怎么看待？-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/LEyzWRv
Source in Chinese. Reference at timecode 2:21
The main argument was that Game For Peace players are, quoting Chinese furries, dominantly “young” and “immature”. With such, Gintan’s appearance may lead such players to join the fandom, causing more trouble.
Chinese furries also claimed there was a “rise” of fursona piracy and even “mass production of fursuits” ever since Gintan featured in the game.
All these factors amplified anger towards Gintan. Many called him someone who “exploits the fandom for money” and a “disappointment” to the community.
But some furries criticised the community for being excessive in their response.
One furry pointed out the trend of memes that put Gintan in repulsive situations as a way to criticise him, and disagreed with the notions passed around about him.
Many people were excessively worried. Spreading this personal worry everywhere had made furries all anxious. People like that are either stupid or bad.
No one knows where will the situation go to.
Comment by 我是瑞奇啊 on Aug 7
Under【关于银碳联动和平精英衣服实锤-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/4ZpySqm
Cautious optimism: GFTV survey
GFTV did a survey in both its China and Telegram channel, from Sept 3-8, 2023, to measure public opinion.
Both surveys have linked back to this article for context.
Notably, opinion between Chinese and Global surveyees are different – even the Chinese themselves are divided.
Some furries believe that cultural differences explains this.
Chinese culture is collectivist. People think about how their actions affect the group.
- Collectivist perspective: Gintan’s actions is selfish and are not what the group’s (Chinese furry fandom) interests wanted.
Outside of China, it is more individualist. The person themselves, not the group, are responsible for their own actions.
- Individualist perspective: Gintan deserves benefit for the attention their fursona got. It’s his business, his gain and if any, his loss.
Here, Chinese furries feel they are all responsible for their culture, including their fursonas. And Gintan, in many people’s eyes, have acted in a individualist manner. This caused tension between him and the community.
Gintan has not publicly stated his purpose of being in Game for Peace. His reasoning to be in the game, thereafter, is unknown. Only personal assumptions about him exist in the public sphere for now.
When is one too close to commercialization” for comfort?
Some people think furries should not be in games or business; they say fursonas are special and personal, not for selling.
Others say furries in games or businesses will make the public like them more.
But the debate is not new and there’s no single answer.
The community reacted as negatively toward Brasil FurFest in 2019 when one of their sponsors was Converse, and in 2021 when an Argentinian fursuit maker appeared in an Uber ad.
Each time furries debated this, the line of “comfort” between the furry community and commercialization is still not defined.
Differences in attitudes persisted; not everyone shares the same view and solution to this topic.
Fursonas should remain personal, not commercial: furries
Fursonas are uniquely personal things. A furry makes a fursona to represent or inspire oneself.
Given its prominence, fursonas are heralded as one of the things representative of the furry community’s creatives-first attitude. But above all, it’s a symbol of personal expression.
Furries believe companies should avoid making money from this personal expression, because they worry it could encourage other companies to follow suit and make the furry fandom too commercial.
From there, people wondered how much the furry fandom should be in public and business.
Some argued this more as the fandom gets more known over the years.
- Edit 17/9/2023 10:36am UTC+8: Added GFTV public opinion survey results.
游戏中兽设在中国兽圈中引发争议
中国著名的兽友之一名叫银碳（Gintan）。他以兽装舞蹈视频而闻名。
但在八月早些时候，他遭到了中国兽圈的不满。
这是因为他的兽设在中国流行的手机大逃杀射击游戏《和平精英》（Game for Peace）中作为可玩的游戏头像出现。
担忧兽设盗版、社区混乱
中国兽圈主要担心三个方面：知识产权、可能出现的 “小鬼（麻烦制造者）涌入”以及兽圈可能因此变成以偶像粉丝经济为中心的地方。
他们将这种可能性与中国国内的名人粉丝文化，即“饭圈”文化，进行了比较。
兽兽担心银碳的行为会使得原本纯净的兽圈变得“饭圈化“，会使得原本兽圈的圈规受到挑战，出现诸如盗设子的不正当违规行为。
【[吐槽向]银碳这事儿到底怎么看？-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/LEyzWRv
中文来源。参考时间码 2:21
对中国兽友们来说，《和平精英》的玩家大致“年轻人“，心理“不成熟”。因此，银碳的出现可能导致这类玩家加入兽圈，从而招惹更多麻烦。
中国兽友们还声称，自从银碳出现在游戏中后，兽设盗版、甚至“兽装量产”遇到上升趋势。
所有这些因素都放大了对银碳的愤怒。许多称他“赚圈钱”、“资本吞金”、并让社区“失望”。
但也有一些兽友批评兽圈的反应过于激烈。
一位兽友指，兽友们将银碳置于令人反感的情境中来做一个梗，当作批评他的一种方式。他也不同意现在流传的对银碳的意见。
尤其是很多人过度紧张，自己紧张就算了，还到处宣扬，引得圈内人人心惶惶，这种人就是非蠢即坏。事情到底会发展的什么谁也不知道。
于8月7日 ，我是瑞奇啊 发的评论
【关于银碳联动和平精英衣服实锤-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/4ZpySqm
兽视民意调查：谨慎乐观
2023 年 9 月 3 至 8 日为期五天，兽视在其中国和国际电报（Telegram ）频道进行了民意调查。
这两项调查都链接到了这篇文章，以助了解背景情况。
值得关注的是，中国和全球调查者的意见是不同的，甚至中国人自己也有舆论分歧。
一些兽友认为是文化差可以解释这个观点分歧。
中国文化为集体主义。人们会首要考虑自己的行为对集体的影响。
- 集体主义观点： 银碳的行为自私，不符合兽圈的利益。
而在中国以外的地区，人们更倾向于个人主义。个人，而不是群体，要对自己的行为负责。
- 个人主义观点：银碳理应因自己兽设受关注而受益。得失有什么，这是他的事。
在这里，中国兽圈认为他们都要为自己的文化，包括兽设，负责。还有多人看来，银碳的行为偏个人主义，从而造成了他与社区之间的矛盾。
与此同时，银碳也没有公开表明自己兽设上《和平精英》的目的。因此，没人懂他参加游戏的真正理由。公共领域目前只存在对他的个人猜测。
什么时候才算与商业“太贴近”？
有些人认为兽迷不应该参与游戏或商业活动。他们说，兽设是特殊的、个人的，不是用来卖的。
另一些人则认为，兽迷出现在游戏或商业活动中会让公众更喜欢他们。
这种争论并不新鲜，也没有唯一的答案。
2019 年，当巴西兽展 Brasil FurFest 的赞助商之一是匡威（Converse）时，或者在 2021 年，当阿根廷的兽装师出现在优步（Uber）的广告中时，社区的负面反应同样。
兽友每次对此都争论不休，但兽圈与商业化之间的“舒适界限”最终仍未确定。
态度上的分歧依然存在；并非每个人都对这一话题持相同的观点和解决方案。
兽圈：兽设属个人，非商业
兽设是独一无二的个人物品。兽迷制作兽设是为了代表自己或激励自己。
鉴于它的显著地位，兽设被誉为兽圈创意至上态度的代表之一，但更重要的是它是个人表达的象征。
兽迷们认为，商业应避免从这种个人表达赚钱，因为担心这会鼓励更多公司跟风，导致兽圈过于商业化。
随着这些年来兽圈越来越为人所知，一些人对此提出了更多的争论。
- 编辑 2023 年 9 月 17 日 早上 10:36 新加坡时: 补充了兽视民意调查结果
Global Furry Television 