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 les/asc.html