Very true all! Russia didn't even have a cosplay community worth mentioning two years ago, and how they're producing some of the world's best cosplays and costumers, and inviting American cosplayers as con guests lol But I do wonder how long it'll be until cosplay is in mainstream media. I mean mainstream media, when Cosmode and other magazines actually pay their models for their photos, rather than cosplayers considering it an honor to do it for free. More people are entering the hobby, but the standards for what is constituted "good" are also rising.
To be frankly honest, Cosplay.com isn't radiating as much influence as it could in status quo. Most only comes from the fact that you-know-who holds a well known and easily-memorized domain name xD I do agree with Koi, Coscom and 4chan are opposite sides of the coin, both inducing very different actions and comments from people. Some claim that people are "more honest" on /cgl/ because they have no fear of reprimand or public tracing to a name, but psychologically, a board with no names attached actually stimulates people to be more rude and accusatory. Why? No repercussions, no shame, no foul. However, despite the number of visitors to 4chan, we don't really have numbers of visitors to /cgl/, further stipulated by the fact that a large portion of the cosplay community have never heard of 4chan, or else (rightly so) avoid it. I almost wonder if one day, /cgl/ could be changed from within by its own posters..?
WHOA! You'll have to give me a second to gather my thoughts on THIS one.
At this point, the discussion could head into a HUGE debate as to whether or not any "entity" is contributing enough and the same could be said about any group, even myself for that matter because my definition of "enough" may not correspond with that of another? No, I think the real issue at hand here is not that there isn't enough radiation, it's that there's no organization. And not "organization" in the corporate or political sense of structure and caste, but organization in the sense of a well defined goal or an immediate pursuit as a whole. Everyone in the community is doing "their own thing", and that's a good thing, however, I'm of the opinion that something is missing from that overall whole. (Believe me, it's a nagging son of bitch of a feeling!)
There is, in my opinion, a new philosophy emerging throughout the world. And this philosophy has aspects rooted in very....how should one say....."counter intuitive" ideals. Before, in the old mentality, one would die so that another could live and dominate. Little by little, this mentality has be subjected to de-emphasis, not just by authority figures but by everyday people like you and me. The new mentality, as far as I can understand it is one of co-existence and mutual, non-competitive support. Now I get the most amount of flak about this from people with very "business" states of mind, because by all means, it's again counter intuitive and the purpose of business is to make more money than the next guy. Of course, the way the world is progressing, businesses are going to eventually be forced to "play ball" with a "community" approach or be left behind. The people will demand nothing less. I know this seemingly has nothing to do with what you mentioned above, but I'm getting to that....
Both CosCom and 4chan are very important, because had it not been for their establishment, the community would probably have dissipated and stagnated. These two entities are essentially what have kept the community so vibrant OUTSIDE of a convention environment. (which is obviously important to anyone in this whole thing. rightly so) CosCom gives people something from column A. and 4chan from Column B. and in essence has sustained a good portion of the community by becoming psychological centers of common interests. Now don't get me wrong, there were sustained conventions WELL before either of these two entities, but the community has grown so much since those days that I have trouble seeing how it's current size could be maintained without them. Because of that, yes I agree that more can be done and am sure it WILL be done....the question is how? That I'm still trying to figure out as the numbers increase day by day.
As for things like changing /cgl/ from the inside? I don't see that happening without enormous daily efforts because realistically, you're NOT really fighting against "dramu", you're actually going up against human nature in a group setting and at it's most verbal extreme. And besides, in this day in age where EVERYONE is subjected to pressures of political correctness, it's only logical that a place like /cgl/ would defend it's forum and it's right to speak. Agree with me or not, you know I'm telling you the truth. You can go as far as shutting them down and all you'll be doing is giving them an excuse to torment you in your moment of victory....with just cause on their end because you're attempting to silence them, and NO ONE can be expected to keep silent for long under that circumstance.
Ahh....thus is life I guess? But despite that, there is ENORMOUS potential here as the good aspects FAR outweigh the bad. Some things will irritate people, others will stop them dead in their tracks, the important thing is, IT'S STILL GROWING. And that's a VERY good sign.
No, the last part I do take your word for it, it's human nature to rant in a backward basement forum when the society around you expects political correctness lol They would certainly fight to keep their subculture alive, and if moot ever shut down the site, they would just flock to another forum (...much like the Latin American drug trade, if you will xD)
What do you think would happen if businesses really got involved in the cosplay scene? I mean REALLY involved, not just the two or three like Funimation or Atlus sponsoring events or contests. It would be fascinating to see if businesses sponsored cosplayers like athletes lol
well to be honest, there are a lot of companies on the industry side, but that's mostly what they stick to...industry. The cosplay thing, for the most part is seen by them as something of a by product of all of this and are missing it's true potential. I won't go into detail here but believe me, it's TOTALLY gonna rock in 2010.
To be frankly honest, Cosplay.com isn't radiating as much influence as it could in status quo. Most only comes from the fact that you-know-who holds a well known and easily-memorized domain name xD
I do agree with Koi, Coscom and 4chan are opposite sides of the coin, both inducing very different actions and comments from people. Some claim that people are "more honest" on /cgl/ because they have no fear of reprimand or public tracing to a name, but psychologically, a board with no names attached actually stimulates people to be more rude and accusatory. Why? No repercussions, no shame, no foul.
However, despite the number of visitors to 4chan, we don't really have numbers of visitors to /cgl/, further stipulated by the fact that a large portion of the cosplay community have never heard of 4chan, or else (rightly so) avoid it. I almost wonder if one day, /cgl/ could be changed from within by its own posters..?
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thoughts on THIS one.
At this point, the discussion could head into a HUGE
debate as to whether or not any "entity" is contributing
enough and the same could be said about any group, even
myself for that matter because my definition of
"enough" may not correspond with that of another? No, I
think the real issue at hand here is not that there
isn't enough radiation, it's that there's no organization.
And not "organization" in the corporate or political
sense of structure and caste, but organization in the
sense of a well defined goal or an immediate pursuit as a whole. Everyone in the community is doing "their own thing", and that's a good thing, however, I'm of the opinion that something is missing from that overall
whole. (Believe me, it's a nagging son of bitch of a
feeling!)
There is, in my opinion, a new philosophy emerging throughout the world. And this philosophy has aspects rooted in very....how should one say....."counter intuitive" ideals. Before, in the old mentality, one would die so that another could live and dominate. Little by little, this mentality has be subjected to de-emphasis, not just by authority figures but by everyday people like you
and me. The new mentality, as far as I can understand it
is one of co-existence and mutual, non-competitive support.
Now I get the most amount of flak about this from
people with very "business" states of mind, because by
all means, it's again counter intuitive and the purpose
of business is to make more money than the next guy. Of course, the way the world is progressing, businesses are going to eventually be forced to "play ball" with a "community" approach or be left behind. The people will demand nothing less. I know this seemingly has nothing to do with what you mentioned above, but I'm getting to that....
Both CosCom and 4chan are very important, because had it
not been for their establishment, the community would
probably have dissipated and stagnated. These two entities are essentially what have kept the community so vibrant OUTSIDE of a convention environment. (which is obviously important to anyone in this whole thing. rightly so) CosCom gives people something from column A. and 4chan from Column B. and in essence has sustained a good portion of the community by becoming psychological centers of common
interests. Now don't get me wrong, there were sustained
conventions WELL before either of these two entities, but
the community has grown so much since those days that I
have trouble seeing how it's current size could be maintained without them. Because of that, yes I agree
that more can be done and am sure it WILL be done....the
question is how? That I'm still trying to figure out as
the numbers increase day by day.
As for things like changing /cgl/ from the inside? I don't see that happening without enormous daily efforts because realistically, you're NOT really fighting against "dramu", you're actually going up against human nature in a group setting and at it's most verbal extreme. And besides, in this day in age where EVERYONE is subjected to pressures of political correctness, it's only logical that a place like /cgl/ would defend it's forum and it's right to speak. Agree with me or not, you know I'm telling you the truth. You can go as far as shutting them down and all you'll be doing is giving them an excuse to torment you in your moment of victory....with just cause on their end because you're attempting to silence them, and NO ONE can be expected to keep silent for long under that circumstance.
Ahh....thus is life I guess? But despite that, there is
ENORMOUS potential here as the good aspects FAR outweigh
the bad. Some things will irritate people, others will stop them dead in their tracks, the important thing is, IT'S STILL GROWING. And that's a VERY good sign.
Reply
that's annoying.
Reply
What do you think would happen if businesses really got involved in the cosplay scene? I mean REALLY involved, not just the two or three like Funimation or Atlus sponsoring events or contests. It would be fascinating to see if businesses sponsored cosplayers like athletes lol
Reply
but that's mostly what they stick to...industry. The cosplay thing, for
the most part is seen by them as something of a by product of all of
this and are missing it's true potential. I won't go into detail here
but believe me, it's TOTALLY gonna rock in 2010.
Reply
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