Players as producers of culture

Game communities play an very important role in game cultures. The virtual communities provide players with space where they can share anything they want. Most of them are not structured by an intention of game developer, but desires of players. There are various types of game communities such as guild, game forum, machinima community, amateur developer group, translators of game and game costume. These communities are based on game and divided into the players’ different interesting and hobbies. In the book, T.L Taylor said, “games are designed and produced, and have meaning as aesthetic artifacts but transformed by players”. There is burgeoning awareness that game community isn’t just a virtual organization, but a space where players can produce their own culture.

When you go to game shows like Tokyo game show, or US game show, one thing you will definitely see will grab your attention; game Costume or Cos-play. Game costume is one of the cultures that are produced from players. Players are really into game characters when they play game. They want to see it as real one, not a virtual one in the game. The culture first started in Japan, but now it spread across the world. Most players can’t wear it alone because it would seem awkward for ordinary people. So most of communities decide where and when to meet up. Therefore, people will not be afraid of being seen as weird by other people because there are so many players out there who wear game costume as well. They enjoy their own hobbies together, and share an information about their knowledge of cos-play. Moreover, This culture is really aesthetic since It has great relationship with Animation. In Costume Festival, people often wear either Game character or Animation Character. Since the costume is clothes that game characters wear, the clothes are very different, and extraordinary. And some costume from fantasy game could be really impressive to people since they didn’t come out to clothing shop. More surprisingly, there is game costume shop in the internet, and this shows there are many players who want to do the same thing as the cos-player, and how largely the costume cultures has grown in the world.

Here are some great quality pictures of game costumes.
 (Final Fantasy 7)
(Modern Warfare 2)

(Super Mario)
(Zelda)
Here’s my question. Have you ever joined the costume community before ? If yes, what was the best experience in that community? or Do you have any characters that you want to wear like?