Like the Tarot Cards, everything had their good and ill-fated cause. On the good note, it's great to see female participants on conventions dressed(well for most of the times) as female fighters, if they really prefer that character whether they really play that game. But yeah, on the other hand, it somehow make us feel bad. It's not about getting attention, it's more like mocking me, you and other nerds in that specific convention that goes something like: "You lowly nerds can look but you cannot talk to us, because we're better than you. So, feast your eyes, because it's the only thing you could do. Deal with it, dorks!".

So for me, it's alright, as long as they don't look down on us, and indirectly insulting us in the face, for being, for most of us, awkward when it comes to beautiful ladies. xD

....Er, I'd like to think that most cosplayers don't dress up with contempt for others! D:

Think of things your way, but the way I see it, it's really like that. xD

Oh come one, I think you know that's not true. :P Cosplayers dress up for all kinds of reasons; most of them just like to do it, I think; it's fun!

I swear, even Ramza's Ultima will not change the fact I've showed. =P

It is more of a fashion show rather than a passion or something, especially the beautiful and the great looking ones. xD

I like to cosplay. I do it for fun because there is a character or type of character that I love, and that I think I can pull off without looking like an idiot. I have cosplayed my character in an mmo, various nekos and bunny girls, and geishas. (Inspired by another game I used to play.) Imma go out on a limb here and assert that most women that cosplay at conventions without being an employee at said convention are doing it because they love whatever game the character they are portraying is from.

There, see? One example of someone who does it for fun! :P

That's only the minority, how about the "majority"? We're talking about 90 to 95% here. Especially females, and what does a nerd like me will do? Oh, just like window shopping, you can look but you can't approach and talk about stuff, unless you're good looking, or filthy rich(talking by means of experience here). xD

Just wow. By all means let's make unilateral assertions about each other's genders based solely on our own necessarily limited personal experience. I have had multiple male gamers on mmos threaten to hunt me down irl and rape/murder me for onlining them in pvp games, a friend of mine was stalked off site by a guy from a txt based mmo we both played. Therefore, 90-95% of male gamers are socially maladjusted predators with sociopathic and homocidal tendencies. UCWATIDIDTHAR?

Disclaimer: I am in NO WAY making any such assertion about male gamers. I am married to a male gamer, I also have many close, long time male friends that I have made in ol gaming communities I have been a part of. I am merely trying to illustrate the ridiculousness of making a broad statement about the ENTIRETY of my gender based  on personal experience alone.

Maybe your problem is that you are giving off some kindof air of contemptuous superiority? "I'm sure you aren't a REAL gamer because you are a moderately attractive female. This is just some kindof fashion show for you isn't it?" I think I can safely speak for every other female gamer in existence and say that none of us would find that kindof attitude attractive. And if it is how you genuinely feel, some of that is bound to come across in your interactions with female gamers.

Yeah, I'm...not sure what else to say either. I....know for a fact that a lot of people cosplay for the fun of it, not contempt for males. Or...anyone, really. Sure, there are cosplay fashion shows/contests all the time, too, but....no, I can't pretend most people hold those, or enter them, for any similar reasons. It's just not true. I'm not saying no one does it; I...guess you might find someone who does, but honestly, I think most people do it for the fun of it. Seriously, now. :/

Oops, I didn't say such things as that. Ok, let me elaborate this further. The issue here, at least on the people I talk to, and experienced it(we're below average looking nerds, in our circle, and we usually meet online, let me make it clear). We don't have this superiority, I mean, where in the world that came from? I've always been bashed, ridiculed, and mocked for being a nerd and for being a gamer. Does that sound like superiority to you?

And I'm going to tell this too, below average nerds like me and my online friends are in no way that we will say such things. NEVER! We might not be a Robin Hood, a King Arthur, or a Genji for that matter, we don't have anything to offer on the table, but we try to be chivalrious and respectful, lads and lasses alike. Here's the thing: It's not me or my friends that is saying that, it's the other way around and it goes like this; "Oh, so you're a nerd huh? Sorry but I don't talk to lowlives like you, I mean look at you, too plain and simple looking, oh I mean below average. I bet you want to talk to me beacause I'm beautiful in this costume right? Well too bad, because the closest thing you can ever be will be your video game girls, and you, by any means would never, EVER, that I would be friendly to you, or close enough to you. Sorry, but you're nothing."

I am not making you saying or do anything, it's just we took the hammer in the humiliating fashion, and me, being in the Philippines, I don't know in other countries outside of the circle of the US and UK video game/nerd/anime culture for that matter on how they look upon cosplayers, but here, it's all about fashion, circa the "trend" begins to boom here in the Philippines.

Superiority? More like inferiority, that's what I have, that's what my friends have. That is all I can say. Don't misinterpret this, I don't want a flame war here, or any conflict for that matter.

~cough~ I'd say whip 'em out, measure, and get it over with... but somehow it's like you're arguing in the wrong direction.

~puts down the popcorn and brushes of hands~

a couple of questions and a comments from the peanut gallery. Have you ever actually had these kind of shut downs said to you? How many times have you actually ever tried to approach someone to talk?

I know I've gone all cos-play in the past, and you know what? It's kind of nice to actually have someone ask to glomp you now and then. 

What about the women that worry about the fact that they themselves are a bit too nerdy or geeky? What you're describing affects both sides of the coin my friend. 

On a parting thought though (and please don't take this as an attack so much as a curiosity and a question), Have you ever considered that part of what you describes stems from a lack of self confidence? So you don't look the way you want to and you think you're not good enough for Chung-Li over there? grab life by the balls and go compliment the costume, but don't come off as being too timid. 

People often find a lack of self confidence far more off putting than being a geek / nerd. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who gets together with friends to celebrate Pi day (March 14th) by having a pie pot luck, while chatting about geeky stuff and making math puns >.>

@HomerRPGEye: You actually posted the fashion show comment in this thread. I'm not trying to flame you. I feel bad for you if that has been your experience, but that still doesn't mean the vast majority of women are like that. Just that you have been unlucky. If you haven't even had that experience and are merely forseeing it, then it becomes something in the nature of a self fulfilling prophecy. Again I am not trying to flame you, or put you down in any way; I wouldn't do that.  I don't know about the Phillipines, but in the US there are plenty of danceclubs and other social venues where girls can dress outlandishly if all they are interested in is a "fashion show." I don't see why a woman would ever choose to cosplay a game or anime character with no love for the game or anime they are from and for the express purposes of taunting "geeky" guys. It just doesn't make sense to me.  I also have male friends (ol friends) who go to cons. I have TONS of piccies of all the cosplayers that they have chitchatted with on my computer. And I have heard nothing but good things from them about their interactions with cosplayers at cons they have attended. 

A feeling of inferiority can actually translate to others as the opposite. For example I was extreeeeemely shy in High School. I could barely speak to new people. Intellectually I knew I was attractive and intelligent, but I was never able to translate that internal knowledge into my interactions with my peers. I have since heard over and over from people I went to HS with that I have met up with what a snob I was in HS, how stuck up, that they were afraid to talk to me because they didn't want me to give them the whole, "What? Me talk to you? HaHa." response. Which I would have never done, but you can see where I'm going here. It's worth thinking about, isn't it?

@Aestolia: I think that's a good point. Sometimes women, especially when we are young, are afraid of having the geek label applied to them as for sooo long it was considered to be synonymous with unattractive. So sometimes some of us overcompensate. Be kind fellas, we are only human. I really wanted to ask that too. If he hasn't had that experience and is just projecting, he needs to think positive. Go up to that hawt Tifa and say "Hi." The worst she can do is not answer. But even if she doesn't? That doesn't mean the cute Jun Kazama in the next line won't.

http://gaming-realm.com/2011/12/dressing-up-or-not-female-fighters-capco...

  So, uh, continuing! Here's Part 3, wrapping up my look at Capcom. My overall point and conclusion, which I mentioned already, is that overall, Capcom's female fighters aren't generally dressed, or....not-dressed, too gratuitously. Yes, there are exceptions, of course, and if nothing else, Capcom does at least throw in a lot of fan service. However, I'd say most of their ladies also dress....pretty normally, most of the time. A lot of outfits aren't things you'd want to wear if you are going to be kicking someone's ass, but they're still pretty normal clothes, comparatively. One of the most normal-looking people Capcom ever put into a fighting game is Kyoko Minazuki, for example; she's...just a doctor, and she looks like one! Except for the, uh...shoulder...pads? I have...no idea what the deal with those is...

  I may take on other fighting series in the future. There's a lot of  material to work with, anyway!