Spending thousands of yuan to date a "paper man", who is creating dreams for 2D girls?

1. Who is "making dreams" for the 2D girls?

From her first attempt at commissioned cosplay in June last year to now, Xiaoqing has made appointments for thirty or forty commissions in a row. For her, a date with three-dimensional "paper people" is like "a pumpkin carriage and crystal shoes, a limited romantic fantasy."

As a veteran 2D artist, Xiaoqing would often make appointments with several cosplayers in the same group to check in on activities of her favorite paper figures before the concept of "commission" appeared.

In her opinion, commissioned cosplay gradually became an industry at the beginning of last year . The prototype was a "dream-making" activity popular in the otome game circle at that time. A player shared his one-day experience of asking a cosplayer to play the role of his boyfriend, which aroused the interest of many like-minded people and cosplayers. Then, this gameplay model began to spread and has formed a fairly mature operation model.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

From the player's perspective, their favorite paper characters come to the three-dimensional world to date them, and the ambiguous plots in the otome game are reflected in reality. It is hard for anyone not to be moved. From the cosplayer's perspective, accepting commissions can not only "make dreams come true" for otome game girls, but also allow them to collect rewards to buy better props and costumes. In a way, it is a win-win situation.

Xiaoqing told KasData that she usually makes appointments with teachers through two channels, one is the B-game enthusiasts group, and the other is Xiaohongshu . Since Xiaohongshu's circle is very vertical, it is easier to push relevant content to interested users. Many cosers have opened accounts on Xiaohongshu, such as the well-known coser @沈辞er, who has 890,000 fans on Xiaohongshu, which can be called a top-tier existence. The presence of cosers has also made the concentration of the second dimension on Xiaohongshu rise all the way.

However, if we focus on the industry of commissioned cosplay, apart from well-known big Vs, the majority of cosplayers active on Xiaohongshu are still ordinary people. Most of them enter the industry as part-time workers because of their love for otome games, hoping to fulfill the dreams of their "like-minded" friends.

On their personal homepages on Xiaohongshu, they will pin their own "commissioning list" to indicate their location coordinates, available roles, daily prices, and pre-sales and after-sales requirements, etc., to facilitate quick screening by single owners.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

In essence, commissioned cosplay is a customized love service. In this process, all expenses are borne by the owner, and the cosplayers are mainly responsible for providing emotional value and playing the role of paper boyfriend. Sticking to the character is the most important thing - in this circle, there is a commissioned teacher who bought a Porsche sports car to cosplay Xiao Yi in "Luminous Night" and said Xiao Yi's line every time he went on a date - "I'll pick you up."

At the same time, in order to ensure that the needs are met, the coser will also customize the intimacy with the host - holding hands and hugging are common actions to create romance, and more intimate ones include kissing through a mask or staggered kissing.

Since the circle is relatively concentrated, cosplayers pay great attention to maintaining their reputation to avoid a drop in orders due to the "anti-thunder posts" of the single owner. In order to increase their popularity, they usually post their cosplay looks and the sweet moments with the single owner during the commission date on Xiaohongshu. The single owner's own repo will also increase their competitiveness.

@凤梨 is a cosplayer with over 2,600 fans. Her current main roles are Xiao Yi and Xia Mingxing in "Light and Night". During a date, she and her boyfriend went to a bridal shop to try on wedding gowns. She had prepared a ring to surprise him, but he got there first and proposed to her in a wedding gown. This scene touched her deeply. After posting the story on Xiaohongshu, 凤梨's note received 11,000 likes.

When it comes to "dream-making", Xiaohongshu has no shortage of stories about cosplayers and cosplayers running towards each other. These materials will also be displayed on the cosplayers' homepages to attract more girls who want to try love commissions.

2. Create romance while clearly marking the price

Generally speaking, a successful commissioned date includes pre-sales and after-sales processes. Pre-sales refers to the commissioned teacher "getting on the scene" and chatting with the customer in advance, understanding the customer's preferences, and carefully preparing small gifts for the date; after-sales varies. Some commissions will include post-sales pictures, and after the date, they will "say goodbye" to the customer through handwritten letters or recorded videos. Some people choose to continue chatting for a day or two to help the customer get through the emotional "withdrawal period".

In order to create a perfect feeling of love during a date, cosplayers have to work hard in many aspects. Hard requirements include appearance and height. Cosplayers will note their height in their profiles, most of which are above 165cm, and will raise their height to at least 175cm on the date to ensure a boyfriend feeling.

Also important are the details of the relationship, such as a hug when meeting, protecting the single subject to the inside when crossing the road, and serving food to the other party attentively during a meal; in order to let the single subject enjoy an immersive relationship, the commissioned teacher will also change the mobile phone wallpaper and Moments background to the single subject's photo, and note for her the affectionate name for the player by the male protagonist in the game - these are the customary rules of love in the commissioned cosplay circle.

Giving each other small gifts is also an important part of it. When Xiaoqing first made an appointment with the commissioned teacher to cosplay Lu Chen, she prepared a flower-wrapped brooch, which is an important prop for Lu Chen's "wedding card" in the game. In a subsequent date, the commissioned teacher gave her a flower-wrapped ring in return and put it on her right middle finger. This scene became a romantic moment that belonged to Xiaoqing alone. Later, she repurchased this coser as many as five or six times, "It really gave me a sense of faith."

Photo provided by the interviewee

So far, Xiaoqing's best commission was a date with an internet celebrity cosplayer on her birthday. The cosplayer has more than 5 million fans online. She was attracted by him as soon as she met him. "He really has a great face, exactly like the photo."

During the date, the cosplayer cooked her a bowl of egg noodles. When they were strolling in the second dimension district, the cosplayer took her hand and asked, "Am I the most handsome Lu Chen you have ever seen? What do you think of others? Why am I not handsome enough?" These details hit her hard. Since the cosplayer no longer accepts commissions, this date has become the "white moonlight" in her heart.

However, while creating romance, this is also a "clearly priced" business. Kass observed that, except for cosplayers who commissioned for free and purely for love, the fees for most commissions ranged from 200 to 500 yuan, fluctuating depending on the region.

Hangzhou, where Xiaoqing lives, is more expensive. In recent years, Hangzhou has become a new ACG mecca. In Xiaoqing's words, "Besides tourists, there are cosplayers" by the West Lake, and most of Hangzhou's cosplayers are concentrated on the lakeside. The strong ACG atmosphere has led to the popularity of commissioned cosplay, and also led to a surge in commission fees. Here, the average price of a commission is around 600-800, and "rich ladies from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai" has even become a label in the circle.

At present, the price of the more famous cosplayers she has arranged is about 200 yuan per hour. @佛心观莲, who has over 100,000 fans on Xiaohongshu and is well-known in the circle, charges 1,800 yuan for commission, but it is still regarded as a "bargain price" by players.

Although the circle advocates "it's up to the individual to decide how much to spend", since the single owner often plans the commission as an important schedule, an immersive, high-level date - activities may include amusement parks, handicraft workshops, plus travel expenses, food and beverage expenses, and gift funds - in first- and second-tier cities, these may cost around a thousand yuan. On Xiaohongshu, there are users who have listed their own lists: commission fees of 400, oceanarium tickets of 490, plus hot pot, milk tea, and claw dolls, adding up to nearly 1,500 yuan.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Xiaoqing told Kasi that the average cost of each trip was around 1-1.5K, which was the price for food, drink and entertainment alone, and did not include the commission fee.

But sometimes, even if you have money, you may not be able to make an appointment with the teacher you want. Due to the travel expenses, most clients will choose cosplayers in the same city. After finding the teacher you like online, they often feel helpless because of "IP error". At the same time, some famous cosplayers may schedule their appointments for several months later. When the schedule is full, they will indicate "not accepting commissions for the time being" on their accounts.

In fact, what makes O-game players feel awkward is that "it's hard to entrust, and even harder to quit." After a perfect day of dating, many girls will fall into a painful withdrawal period because their beloved characters "return to the second dimension."

"It takes a whole day to accept love, learn to love, but then immediately withdraw when you are most accustomed to it. The blow entrusted to a slow-to-warm-up person is too great. How can it not be considered a painful practice?" A user expressed this on Xiaohongshu.

3. Kiss everywhere, thunder everywhere

However, although they are nominally the "Party A", the girls who muster up the courage to date the client teachers are actually gambling their luck. The seemingly dreamy one-day date actually has more "mixed reviews".

The commissioned circle created by O-game players has a unique language. For example, "stamp collecting" refers to taking photos with cosplayers in public, "upper skin" refers to "role playing", in which the commissioned teacher interacts with the single host with the personality and character of the cosplayer; in contrast, "lower skin" refers to breaking away from the character's personality.

These special languages ​​refer to the commonly accepted rules in the cosplay circle, and from this we can also get a glimpse of the many risk points of commissioned cosplay. In a large number of risk-avoidance posts on Xiaohongshu, frequently mentioned words include "stamp collecting during dating", "high P, not fitting the face", "not skinny", and "no sense of love". Sometimes, the three-dimensional emotional state of the coser can also become a risk point.

The reason is that this type of human-centered service is inherently unstable . On the one hand, since the role is played by the male protagonist in the game, this is a great test of the makeup and professional ability of the commissioning teacher, and even rises to the individual's understanding of the role; on the other hand, as the sponsor who actually spends money to buy the experience, the single owner will raise the expectations of the commissioned love. Small things that are not worth examining at ordinary times will be magnified in the context of the time, making it easier to step on the thunder points, and encountering incompetent commissions is like a nightmare.

If commissioned cosplay is a 2.5-dimensional fantasy created by otaku gamers, the emergence of those who follow the trend to make money and fish in troubled waters has somewhat "changed" this dream. Not long ago, the commissioned cosplay circle ushered in the second "shock" caused by anonymous evaluation forms, and many well-known cosplayers were involved. Because the "praise" and "thunderbolt avoidance" appeared anonymously, it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity for a while, which made the situation even more confusing.

Even so, "sincerity" is still the last layer of insistence between buyers and sellers. In order to make sure the other party is "sincere", many single owners will ask the entrusted teacher to post screenshots of the game as proof.

In order to reduce the probability of stepping on thunder, Xiaoqing has a set of logic for selecting the right entrusting teacher. "First of all, I will definitely look at her face. Secondly, I will go to her homepage to pay attention to the character's comfort zone. For example, you can't have both an adult man and a milk dog. I usually won't choose a character outside her comfort zone."

"Another thing is to read the introduction regulations. You can read the subtext of the entrusting teacher from many details," Xiaoqing gave an example, "For example, if you say you are very i in the introduction, but you will be very e when entrusting, there is a high probability that you will still be i at that time."

Even if she carefully selected, she sometimes couldn't avoid making mistakes. In one commission, her commissioning teacher showed no sense of faith throughout the whole process. The two of them seemed like a pair of play partners, and the partner was not interested in the activities she arranged. She felt very uncomfortable during that date, "I even wanted to escape and go back to work."

Because of this, in addition to the "praise posts", there are also countless "mine avoidance posts" on Xiaohongshu . Some users complained that "the entrustment industry is spoiled to the extreme. The prices are high, the experience is poor, and many of them are not up to standard. It is really difficult to find a good entrustment." Some more radical ones shouted, "The entrustment circle is equally bad." The platform even spawned a bot that specializes in mine avoidance, gathering a large number of "sufferers" who did not have a good experience.

In fact, if you really want to calculate, this business has no third-party supervision and is mostly in a gray area. As a platform, Xiaohongshu is more like an information distribution center, and the real transactions will be carried out on WeChat and QQ. This also means that even if the experience is bad due to the poor performance of the entrusted teacher, the owner can only "go to court" on Xiaohongshu and let the user seek justice for himself.

Jiang Jiang also encountered a similar situation. On the date, the other party violated the rules by "collecting stamps" and was absent-mindedly playing with his phone. The two sides argued and "went to court" on Xiaohongshu. In the end, the cosplayer returned half of the commission. There are many single owners who have similar unpleasant experiences.

When an industry begins to expand, it may be difficult to avoid the state of "good and bad" and "good and bad mixed together". At present, commissioned cosplay is limited to the circle of otome players, and there is no sign of breaking out of the circle. For the niche circle, it is not impossible to sift the content and keep the true.

After encountering a bad commission, Xiaoqing was more optimistic. "Just like when you dream, go and customize a beautiful dream. Cinderella also knows that everything will return to normal after 12 o'clock. She wants to go to the ball, so just go."

"It doesn't matter whether it's a nightmare or a sweet dream, there's always another chance to fall asleep."

Author: Zhou Li

Source: Kas Data (ID: 736105)