FAN CULTURE

DIFFERENCE IN GAMES

Western Games tend to be based on realism or based in reality with a supernatural edge situations eg. Call of

Duty and Left4Dead.

Eastern games seem to be mostly fantasy games with different levels of maturity eg. Final Fantasy and Dark

Souls.

This is a reflection of the a cultures mythical beliefs in the past such as Pagan and Norse mythology influencing

western games like Skyrim and Shinito and Budism legends influencing eastern games like Pokemon.

CONVENTIONS

There Is 3 decent gaming conventions in the West Coast each year, running on President’s Day, Labor Day and Memorial Day. There is also several gaming conventions in San Fasico too.

These board game events include Monster war games, West Coast board gaming championships, open gaming area, Science friction/fantasy miniature games, RPG Games and RPGA games.

COSPLAY IN THE EAST

Cosplay or Kosopure started

out in 1978 at conventions

were people dressed as

characters from games and

anime and sold them to fans.

It became more popular as

people buying the photos

became interested in

cosplaying as their own

favorite characters from

their own fandoms. People

began modeling for event

photographers in costume.

Since 1998 there have been

a number of cosplay

restaurants (known as Maid

Cafes) were the staff

dressed as famous video

game characters.

Tokyo’s Akihabara and

Harajuku districts is a

popular area for informal

cosplay meet-ups as well as

having video game themed

restaurants, maid cafes that

hold fan events.

COSPLAY IN THE WEST

The popularity of cosplay has recently

passed into western culture. Like in Japan,

cosplayers meet at fan conventions to take

photos, have competitions for the best

dressed and use it as a way to meet people

with similar interests.

But some costumes that in Japan they would

use without question such as Nazi uniforms

are avoided by western cosplayers for

historical and social reasons.

PRO GAMING

In South Korea video gaming is considered a vital part of society and is a major social activity. Role-playing games, MMORPG and RTS games appear to be the

most popular, most likely to their competitive play and on-going story/development. Professional competition (e-sports) is extremely popular and has a large following. Major tournaments are broadcast on television and sport

a substantial prize pool. 

Pro gaming is a part of eastern culture and gaming to them is the equivalent to football for us. Pro gaming is taken much more seriously, has much larger

winnings, and the gamers themselves are much more dedicated. Take the 2012 League of Legends season 2 finals for example. Two Korean teams battled it out

for a $1,000,000 prize. What’s more, the winning team are known to live in a “gaming house” and practise together on a schedule every day. It could even be

considered full-time employment.  

COSPLAY

Who are the best at Cosplay?East or West

http://www.morbidoptimism.com

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