>>15613546
It's an opportunity to play pretend. This actually isn't an inherently bad thing, as it's something that's psychologically necessary for development, which lets young people explore and try on different identities. Anime conventions aren't exactly somewhere to be grinding social skills in the first place, but that's besides the point.
Oftentimes, the convention-going adults who are into cosplay are there because they're still emotionally stunted teenagers, and are trying to chase temporary attention by being something they're not, instead of facing and developing themselves. This is all probably related to why so many of them are such drama queens. Though I don't know if this also holds true for the ones who actually get into costume design as a profession, instead of as a social thing.
>>15613570
It was like this way before 2007. Even before they were hip, video games and anime had a boom in the 90s that has never really stopped.