This document summarizes a research study on the Taiwan Cosplay Club in Second Life. The study used participant observation, interviews, and content analysis to understand members' motivations for cosplaying specific anime/manga characters. Two interviews found that members cosplayed for aesthetic preferences rather than roleplaying. One member cosplayed Mercury Lamp for her Gothic style; the other cosplayed Gundam RX-78-2 due to childhood memories. Both bought costumes but were learning to create their own for artistic improvement. The study also compared findings to previous research on real-life cosplay in Taiwan.

1. Semiotics of an Aesthetic Event:
Taiwan Cosplay Club Costume
in Second Life
By Kai-Hsuan Hsu

2. Introduction
My research focused on Taiwanese groups in Second
Life notably the Taiwan Cosplay Club (TCC).
Taiwan Cosplay Club (TCC) held congregation
around five o’clock in the Saturday morning (Pacific
Standard Time) in SL
(http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mena
Serena /153 /229/93)

3. Purpose
What are the motivation and background of players
in reality versus their interpretation of their virtual
self images
 What characters are they imitating?
 Why did they choose it (meaning)?
What is artful about their costume?

4. Concept
Manga-form of visual and narrative art contains a series
of printed pictures and usually not with a lot of text.
Anime -the short form for animation and any animation
are made in Japan has been recognized as Anime. A lot of
anime movies or series of episodes are adapted from
mangas
Fan culture -the active and feature in postmodern
society, people are fans of pop culture and develop and
produce a special cultural phenomenon of fan community
(Chen, 2007)

5. Concept
Cosplay –combination of costume and play (or
role-play). Fans wear detailed makeup and elaborate
costumes that copy from their favorite anime,
manga, and related video game characters, and
imitate the poses and actions of these characters

6. Concept
Four elements of cosplay- (1) anime and manga
cosplayers, (2) social settings, (3) character and role-
playing, and (4) dress

7. Methodology
Three stages of research
Date collection -participate in the congregation to collect data
by observing, note taking, photographing, and questioning the hosts of
TCC in SL
Content analysis –Code my interviews into three categories:
1.participants’ reason for participating in cosplay in SL, 2. participants’
reference to manga/anime, 3.participants’ artful opinions about cosplay
costumes in SL
Comparison analysis -Jin-shiow Chen research, a study of
fan culture: Adolescent experiences with anime/manga doujinshi and
cosplay in Taiwan (2007)

8. Context and Participants
Taiwan Cosplay Club (TCC) held congregation
around five o’clock in the Saturday morning (Pacific
Standard Time) in SL
Earlier congregation – Theme party

9. The place of TCC

10. The place of TCC-

11. Observation of Congregation

12. Content Analysis
code my interviews into three categories:
1) reason for participating in cosplay in SL
2) reference to manga/anime,
3) artful opinions about cosplay costumes in SL.

13. Major Interview Questions:
 What is your background in reality? Gender?
Age? Occupation?
 How long have you been using SL?
 Do you costume cosplay in reality?
 What characters are you imitating in SL?
 Why did you choose it (meaning)?
 How do you interpret your virtual images?
 Did you make your cosplay costume in SL by
yourself?
 What is artful about your costume?

14. Comparative Analysis of Two
Interviews:
Tyranus Faith Amuro Earthboy
Background in reality College student, didn’t provide the gender Male, 40 years old, Businessman,
How long have been using More than one year A
SL
Costume cosplay in reality No No
characters imitated Mercury Lamp( すいぎんとう ) in Rosen m
Maiden, (Manga, Doll Types)
(Wilson, 2000)

15. Tyranus Faith- Mercury Lamp, Character of Rosen Maiden
Gothic Lolita style:
•Cute young girl face
•Dress with layers of lace and Cross.
•Colors are dark
•Elegant expression with mystery and
death
Picture of Mercury Lamp Costume in SL

16. Tyranus Faith- Mercury Lamp, Character of Rosen Maiden
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeoP8GV_uX4&feature=related

17. Amuro Earthboy- Gundam model RX-78-2
Picture of Gundam RX-78-2
Costume in SL

18. Amuro Earthboy- Gundam model RX-78-2
Mobil suit Gundam, a series of weapons.
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s39oTJqgkc

19. Conclusions
 1.What are the motivation and background of
players in reality versus their interpretation of
their virtual self images?
Both of my interviews show-
 Not cosplay in reality
 wearing of the manga/anime character costume in SL was
just the appearance of the virtual avatar. They didn’t act as
the characters in SL .
 They didn’t like to share their interpretation of themselves
both in SL and reality. In the virtual world, people seemed
not like to share the information of reality

20. Conclusions
2. What characters are they imitating?
 Tyranus Faith -Mercury Lamp ( すいぎんとう ),
Character of Rosen Maiden.
 Amuro Earthboy- Mobile Suit Gundam, model RX-78-2.

21. Conclusions
3. Why did they choose it (meaning)?
 Tyranus Faith - the preference of Gothic Lolita style
 Amuro Earthboy- His precious childhood memory
(Gundam was his idol since he was a kid. Model RX-78-2 was the first
generation Gundam and also the first Gundam he saw )

22. Conclusions
4. What is artful about their costume?
 They both bought their costumes from other
players in SL. Even though the costume was
bought form others, Tyranus Faith criticized that
the costume was not delicate enough and need to
be improved. Tyranus Faith was now learning to
create the costume in SL by her/himself. The
process of creating the costume dealt with colors,
shapes, patterns/textures and so on.

23. Comparison with Jin-shiow Chen’s research
 Jin-shiow Chen research, a study of fan culture: Adolescent
experiences with anime/manga doujinshi and cosplay in
Taiwan (2007)
 Similarities:
1.most fan artist began to read manga at a very young age
2. when the fans took the cosplay serious and focused on
making the costumes of manga/anime, they developed and
improved their skills related to be a good doaplayer.
3. Some cosplayers were not into the story and they paid
more attention to the visual images of the characters, same
as Tyranus Faith.

24. Comparison with Jin-shiow Chen’s research
Difference
In order to achieve success in a cosplay in reality, it
was important to choose a character that being
similar to the cosplayers own physiques (Chen,
2007). But in SL, there was not necessary to concern
about this issue because players could always adjust
the virtual avatar to fit the characters.

25. Implications
More qualified interviews would help to find out
clear patterns of contents.
“what are the motivation and background of
players in reality versus their interpretation of
their virtual self images?” should be adjusted to
more effective.
Educators could use it as a media but the
technology problem should be first concerned and
improved. The technology requirement became the
obstacle and limitation to learners.

26. Reference:
 Chen, J. S. (2007), A study of fan culture: Adolescent experiences with anime/manga
doujinshi and cosplay in Taiwan. Visual Arts Research. Vol. 33, No.1 (pp14-24).
Champaign IL: the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
 Chen, J. S. (2003a). The comic/anime fan culture in Taiwan: with a focus on
adolescents’ experiences. Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 23,89-103.
 Manifold, M. C. (2005), Life as teacher and teacher as life: art expressions of
information-age youth. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education. Vol.23
Summer 2005 (pp1-15).
 Smith-Shank, D. (2004). Introduction. Semiotics and Visual Culture: Sights, Signs,
and Significance. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
 Stokrocki, M (2004). A postmodern semiotic view of the carnivalesque in a
masquerade parade. Semitics and Visual Culture: Sights, Signs, and Significance
(pp56-62). Reston VA: National Art Education Association.
 Winge, T. (2006), Costuming the imagination: origins of anime and manga cosplay.
Mechademia 1: Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga (pp65-77). Minneapolis MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
 Wong, W. S. (2006), Globalizing manga: from Japan to Hong Kong and beyond.
Mechademia 1: Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga (pp23-45). Minneapolis MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
 Wilson, B. (2000), Empire of signs revisited: Children's manga and the changing face
of Japan. The cultural context: comparative studies of art education and children's
drawings (pp160-178). Stockholm Institute of Education Press