Based on the paucity of research on cosplay, I wanted to
learn more about cosplayers, how often they cosplay the amount of time and
money they devote to preparing for cosplaying, as well as their psychological
motivations and experiences. Additionally, because some cosplay includes masks,
helmets, and other props that disguise the face, we were curious to understand
how covering one’s face during cosplay affects the sense of self. Whereas we
had no hypotheses at the outset about the demographic of cosplayers or their
cosplay behaviour, based on previous research on mask-wearing we hypothesized
that wearing a mask while cosplaying would lead cosplayers to feel less like
themselves, as have participants in previous research that didn’t involve
cosplayers. Research Project In orders to explore shared characteristics among
cosplayers, we developed a survey of self-report items spanning demographic, behavioural,
psychological, and social questions. The final survey, included 20- 25 items
(depending on whether certain questions were answered 'yes' or 'no') and the
results described below were analysed from responses between 13 Febuary 2016
and 27 April 2016; no additional respondents went to the website and completed
the survey and so the survey was considered 'closed' at that date. The people
included gender, age of respondent, and ethnicity. Behavioural questions
included age of first cosplay, number of times cosplayed each year, number of
hours preparing costumes, and the average amount of money spent on costumes.
Psychological questions included the reasons respondent chooses to cosplay,
reasons respondent chooses a particular costume/character, and the impact of
mask-wearing on self-awareness. Finally, social questions about cosplay
included multiple-choice items querying whether respondent cosplayed alone or
with others.
Survey respondents were recruited via the internet,
including social networks (Facebook), blogs and micro-blogs (Twitter). So,
participants were considered eligible if they self-labelled as a cosplayer,
spoke English, and had access to the Internet. A total of 198 participants
responded and were included in the analysis. Sixty-five percent of the sample
identified as female. The average age of participants was 28.4 years old with
an age range of 15-50.
Table 2 ( In sketch book) According to the survey, the majority of respondents spend between
£100.00-£399.00 per costume (30% reported between £100.00-£199.00 and 24%
reported between £200.00- £399.00 per costume). Nine percent of respondents
reported spending £0-£50.00, 16% of respondents reported spending £51.00-£99.00,
and 13% of respondents reported spending over £400.00 per costume. Eighty-two
percent of respondents reported that they construct their own costumes.
The total time spent preparing costumes varied between 1 to
450 hours (based on 112 respondents). The average time spent preparing a
costume was 44.16 hours. Each respondent was asked to answer questions about
their 'most time-intensive costume'. According to responses, these types of
costumes took an average of 133.58 hours (based on 118 respondents). The most
recent time-intensive costume took 47.3 hours on average (based on 128
respondents).
Psychological Aspects of Cosplay
Respondents were asked to rank order their reasons for
cosplaying. Unfortunately, the hosting software for the survey allowed
respondents to rate more than one choice as #1. As noted in Table 3(in sketch book ), 'Fun' was
the most endorsed top reason why respondents cosplay, with 101 respondents
rating it their top choice. Next was 'Because I like the character', with 78
'top choice' endorsements, followed in popularity by 'A vehicle for creative
expression', endorsed by 73 respondents as their top choice. Additional
information can be found in Table 3( in sketch book ).
Social Aspects of Cosplay
Only 7% of
respondents had never cosplayed with other people, with the most frequently
endorsed option begin cosplaying with others 2-5 times per year (48% of
respondents, N=86; see Table 7 for additional information in book )
This study provides information on a sample of cosplayers.
For the majority of our respondents, cosplay represents a significant
commitment in time (cosplaying three or more times per year and spending an
average of 40 hours preparing each costume), and a non-trivial outlay of money
(at least £100 per costume). Although the most popular #1 motivation for
cosplaying was “fun,” the next top-ranked reason was because I liked the
character'.
Responses to the question about the reasons for the choice
of character illuminate the importance of the relationship between the
cosplayer and the character: The top three out of four reasons (see Table 4 in sketch book )
were identification with some aspect of the character: its psychological
characteristics, some aspect of the character’s history, or the character’s
physical appearance.
Maybe that is true for cosplayers and the characters they
portray: Some similarity between the cosplayer and character increases
identification, which in turn increases liking and a desire to be it
temporarily that character. First, we found that different respondents had
different experiences of themselves when masked—there was no consistent pattern
of their responses (see Table 5 in book ). One explanation for this result is that their
experience of being masked Is dependent on the specific masked costume.
In addition, whereas past research found that masked
participants felt less self-aware while masked, the majority of our respondents
felt no difference in self-awareness when masked. Also some of our respondents
felt more aware. An equal number felt less aware. This difference makes sense
in that cosplayers’ motivations for masking are different from that of
participants in earlier studies who were asked to mask as part of a laboratory
experiment. Why there is variation among cosplayers is unclear. The fact that a
subset of cosplayers felt more self-aware when masked (Table 6 in book ), and felt more
like themselves (Table 5 in book) can be explained by a ironic effect that masking may
have for some people: The anonymity that comes with masking may, ironically,
allow a subgroup of cosplayers to more feel “unmasked” and liberated from their
everyday appearance, allowing their true “inner” self to feel more prominent.