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On Ota-Con To me, anime and manga are an art-form and a form of story telling with traditions and roots in Japan. It was never something that was meant to be sold and presented to you in the form of a professional fashion boutique or a perfume in a perfume store. On SecondLife, it was a small hobby amongst like-minded friends, and a niche one at that. We squabble sometimes, but it is a community, we do know each other and often work together. It was never some big money spinning operation designed to be sold to everyone on the grid. We were never trying to get rich off this, but just make enough to sustain our own communities. The outfits sold at Ota-Con are primarily ones from anime's about stories of fleeting youth, think school animes etc. And yet they are depicted on the bodies of mature adults, with realistic shading. The Maitreyas and the Legacy's of the world. No self respecting anime artist would honestly draw this, and the only conclusion I can reach is that these events are not for people who care about these things, but rather people who just want to play dress-up and that's about as deep as it goes. I've long wanted to get more people into creating things in SecondLife, but the message these events send is that creating things is just an exclusive thing for the professionals of SecondLife. Nobody is seeing creators in these events, trials and tribulations, just shiny products - This isn't the realm of ordinary people engaging in a community but professionals who have a final product to sell you in a showroom. Not to mention that these normie bodies they use, are ones that creators kits are exclusive items that require the approval of the store owner to receive. That's not to say that there are no redeeming things at Ota-con, and I know that even some of my friends contributed items towards it. However, when I visit Ota-Con I do not feel that I am surrounded by like minded people, or that this event was targeted towards people like me, but rather we are an after-thought. It is somewhat alienating. Mizuki had put a poster up to advertise Ota-Con in our sim, and I had mixed feelings but having visited Ota-Con my mind has been made. I know that Mizuki and Ni had contributed towards the Gura outfit. In the end Kokoro Academy does not endorse Ota-Con in its current form and that is why I took Mizuki's poster down. I hope there are no hard feelings. It's just something I can't support.