Attitude towards cosplay practices in the gaming community of young Russian gamers

Video games are one of the most popular forms of digital leisure among Russians in general and young people in particular. Passion for video games can be accompanied not only by virtual practices, but also by participation in offl ine events of various levels: from regional “gatherings” to international festivals. Cosplay is one of the forms of activity of gamers in the offl ine space, the study of which can contribute to channeling the activity of young people into non-gaming projects. The purpose of the study is to analyze the attitude towards cosplay practices among young Russian gamers. The author's sociological research was carried out using qualitative methodology, the method of in-depth interviews. The sample consisted of 30 people, the main criteria for selecting respondents were: age (18–30 years), experience in participating in the practice of computer games (at least 3 years), the presence or absence of experience in participating in cosplay, residence in Russia. The number of respondents is due to the saturation of the coding categories (interviews with new respondents do not give researchers a new understanding to reveal the topic). The interview was conducted online using voice and video chats (TeamSpeak, Mumble, Discord). The results of an in-depth interview among the youth segment of the Russian audience of computer games are presented. The interviews were conducted among representatives of two segments of the Russian audience of online games: cosplay gamers and gamers who do not bother with cosplay. Based on the data of the study, the perception of cosplay among gamers and the experience of their participation in this offl ine practice were analyzed. The study showed that today in the community of young Russian gamers there are diff erent positions in relation to cosplay and cosplayers. Some gamers have noted a positive attitude towards this practice, however, their assessment of the quality of cosplay varies depending on their role in cosplay (cosplayer or spectator), others pointed to a lack of interest in cosplay or a lack of understanding of its meaning. The main reasons for refusal to participate in cosplay as actors among gamers who are positive about it are established: the resource-intensiveness of creating an image, lack of confi dence in one's skills and creative abilities, fear of the publicity of this activity and the possibility of replacing one's goals with someone else's, artifi cially created ones. The data obtained made it possible to identify the ambiguous attitude of gamers towards cosplay, which is important in the context of permanent monitoring of modern practices in the fi eld in order to highlight the value orientations of young people. 

Russian gaming community, cosplay, video games, participatory culture