[Last modified: October, 14 2024 01:36 AM]
On Friday 11th Oct, an online participatory observation was conducted to address week 1’s research theme It was unfolded in the form of a web ethnography, and relevant visual materials were collected. When browsing the Xiaohongshu posts under the relevant tags, it was found that the posts were mainly divided into several categories.
one category was the posts sent by consumers, which were mainly about positive or negative comments about the services of the cos commissioners, vlogs or plogs documenting the dating process,and how to find an appropriate commissioner posts.
As for the providers of cos commissioning services, I found that there are mainly these types of posts, posting their own cos photos usually with an promotional purpose, asking for help for the problem they have encountered during the commissioned dating process, and the dating experience sharing posts.
After observation, I found that cos commissions are really thriving in the context of the increasing development of B-girl games in China today, and the audience is also growing (the related posts can get more likes and views on social media). In addition, it has been observed that cos commission is a service that has been recently developed globally, such as in London, New York, etc., but it is mainly consumed and provided by the Chinese international student community. Cos-commissioned dating mainly represents an interest of Chinese young women, but it also implies the need for intimacy.
In an online chat interview with A, a female university student who had experienced once cos-commissioned dating, I learned that she had never had the opportunity to fall in love during university. After playing the B-girl games, she really fancies the characters in the games. After learning that there were cos-commissioned dating services provided by ‘fellow players’, she was very excited. And the cosplay commission was a great experience for her. The girl who provided the commission service played the role of the character during the date, which was very sweet and fitting to the character’s setting, and made her feel like she was dating the one from the game. After the date, she confessed that she went through three days of withdrawal and had a hard time getting over the great date. She said, ‘The commissioning teacher(“委托老师”in Chinese, one kind of calling of the service provider) really did a wonderful job of knowing what girls want.’