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The Booth Babe Policy
Robert Khoo
Registered User, ClubPA staff
Registered User, ClubPA staff
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edit: would have preferred the policy option "Questionable cases will be brought before a gaming tribunal and grilled on their subject matter." And something about a penalty cage.
EDIT: Also Khoo, will the decision of whether to start enforcing the ban or having it lifted be announced before PAX? I would very much like to know the outcome.
<@zerzhul> you win at twdt
Also she looked cold.
As a question: Will this policy apply to all cosplayers or just those employed on the show floor?
I don't care if a place uses booth babes, as long as they aren't dizty blonds who don't know or don't care about the product they are promoting and are just there to insult my intelligence because companies believe i'll give two shits about their horrible game because they put tits next to it.
My feelings on the subject is I don’t mind if the employees of a booth are scantily clad so long as they are fully cosplaying a character of the game. A good example of this was the Alien Ware booth. Not all of the agents where knowledgeable on all the details of the computer system or even the details of the tournament that was taking place, but they were more than willing to help while still maintaining the persona of being secret government agents.
So as a final example if EA Sports had some Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders to promote their newest NFL game then that would be acceptable. Now if a graphics card manufacture had some Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders in an attempt to entice people to visit their booth given its limited if any relevance to the product should not be tolerated at pax.
Personally, I'd say it's ok as long as they can provide us with at least some info. If there's a dev at the booth of a company, obviously he can tell us a lot about a game he's promoting, but if, say, ArenaNet had a Aion booth babe, I'd like her to be able to explain that Aion is a MMORPG that has two factions of angel-like creatures fighting a third race, the Balaurs. She doesn't have to know everything, but if she's here to promote a product, she must be able to do more than "have breasts".
I love boobs as much as the next guy, but I don't go to PAX for that. I go to PAX for games. Let's keep substance at PAX and let E3 have the flash.
As the old saying goes: "Everything in moderation."
I don't view booth babes as fitting into that theme.
I'm not for discrimination based on looks, mind you. If a beautiful girl can tell me coherently why this RTS is going to make Starcraft its bitch and distract me from her answer with her pendulous breasts, I'm all for that. But as a gamer and as an informed consumer I resent the bejesus out of companies trotting out some beautiful young thing in a g-string in hopes that as I grasp with my sweaty palms for the girl I will accidentally end up with one of their products in my hands.
And that's just looking at it from a guy's point of view. Imagine the girl gamers - Are they going to feel at home with a half-dressed America’s Next Top Model reject staring at them from the game booths?
Keep it in character. Keep it covered. Hire gamers who know the product.
End of story.
I didn't really notice the booth babes that much last year at pax. but having seen videos from other conventions, I don't want it to become like that.
I hate over-regulation, especially when it comes to "decency" stuff. Tell booths not to bring booth babes, or put standards on "scantily clad", then you'd have to put the same standards on female convention-goers.
That ever-so-popular L4D Witch cosplay would sure as shit fall under "scantily clad". I was pretty shocked when I first saw it. But never did it cross my mind that she shouldn't have been allowed to do it.
I also don't find the "know the product" deal to be sufficient. That's just putting a gloss on what is still the problem: the only reason the booth babe is there is to look attractive, and it's that aspect of the booth babe concept that offends me. Anyone on the team can talk about the product, so why didn't they bring the girl who wrote the code? And if the booth babe is the girl who wrote the code, why'd the company dress her up funny? Maybe I'd be okay with it if everyone in the booth was dressed ridiculously, heh.
Anyways, it's obviously not scantily clad girls that are offensive to people, otherwise we probably wouldn't be able to play 75-90% of games.
Even if she can talk gamer with you, shes still just a PR rep. We need more girls in engineering and programming that arn't subjected to the kind of crap where the attitude is, "Hey, I'm fine with you being scantily clad as long as you can speak my lingo."
If you change your mind on what you would have done to something different because there is an attractive girl involved, you're doing it wrong. Find your own attractive girl, and leave the gaming/nerd conferences to gaming/nerd fans. Shit, it's not like there arn't tons of hot women working with you, walking on the street, and being visitors to these conferences. There's really no need to encourage an industry of women to set their bar low.
Surely you can see the irony inherent in this statement compared to your view.
In any case, it's just marketing.
I think the obnoxious "TURN THAT SHIT UP" campaign was insultingly bad. Doesn't mean we should regulate how they choose to market. If it's effective, it's effective. If it isn't, it isn't, and it'll get scaled out.
If it's "not about scantily clad women", then you're banning some honestly cool shit, like the Sins of the Solar Empire girl that was at PAX '08. And you'd certainly have to ban basically anyone that dresses up just for marketing purposes if it's not a "decency" thing. So that means "bye-bye guy in full Isaac Dead Space armour who did nothing but stand around".
If it IS a decency thing, I'm against it as well. Again, anything you'd have to enforce on booth babes you'd logically have to enforce on cosplayers who show up to the convention. Welcome Home, indeed.
And this is all coming from someone who couldn't give two shits about booth babes or cosplay. I think they're both weird. But it sure as hell ain't killing my buzz.
Not that anybody has been less than civil, just wanted to get that out there.
Also, at E3 and PAX, many companies use attractive people (especially women) to do things like hand out pamphlets or bags and stuff. In most cases, these people are modestly dressed in things like polos or tshirts and pants. I think that's perfectly fine too. The women that Nintendo or Sony have used in the past is a good example.
For me, the problem is when the booth babes are dressed and/or behave in a way that's designed to be sexually provocative. Bikini-like clothes definitely fit the bill in my opinion, but that's not the only way I've seen it.
That's just not the type of atmosphere PAX should have IMO. Sure, if you go into a booth for certain kinds of games, you might see sexual or violent promotional material in addition to whatever's in the game. If it fits the game and the audience, that's to be expected. However, I don't like it when I see booth babes at the edges of a booth that are mainly designed to catch people's initial attention sexually.
I also wanted to add that some people seem to be saying that we can't enforce decency standards on exhiboitors because then we would have to enforce those standards on attendees as well. My first question, is why is that necessarily the case? I would be alright with stricter standards for exhibitors than attendees. Secondly, why would enforcing rules on attendees be out of the question? I would actually be in support of that too.
PAX Attendees should be allowed to wear whatever they are legally allowed to. I may not like what I see some people wearing, but if it's not illegal to wear to the grocery store I don't see why we should ban it at PAX. I just don't want to see the game companies themselves supporting the clothing themselves.
1. PAX is a big party for a bunch of friends who've never met. At a party, you want all your friends to be comfortable. Lots of people are really, really uncomfortable with the idea of booth babes. Not having booth babes keeps the peace.
2. Booth babes create a gender disparity between men and women, as they're meant almost exclusively to attract the attention of men. Thus, it creates an environment less welcoming to women, and sends the message that the convention is meant for men. PAX is wonderful for having a female attendance much higher than would be expected; it'd be a shame if booth babes made women feel less welcome.
3. PAX isn't about being sexually aroused, it's about the gaming culture and community. You can find sexual arousal any day of the year. You can only find PAX one (or two) weekend(s) a year.
In short, PAX is a beautiful formula, and shouldn't be mucked with.
My thoughts are I think there's a fine line between booth babes and attractive female gamers. I too saw the glasses booth at Pax East and found the women there were about at the borderline between the two. They weren't overly scantily clad (I for SURE saw more scantily clad women at Gen Cons and cosplaying at Pax and other conventions). That said, while I'm sure they were brought in because they were female, I found a few of the women at the UbiSoft booth (clad just in jeans and T's) to be knowledgable and I thought were just fine. Same with the women at the 2K booth. As long as they aren't trotting around in their underwear and know what they're talking about and clearly are a gamer, I think that's fine.
I do think a few of the policies on the survey could use a bit of clarification. For example, one mentioned words/images drawing attention to certain body parts. While I agree when it comes to lettering on the seat of shorts, would T-shirts fall into this category? I say no, but someone else could make a case there too. Similarly, what counts as a shirt? Would a tanktop or something similar count?
In any case, I clarified my views on the survey and hope it helps. I think PAX East this past year was mostly fine, with 1-2 booths walking the line, but most having no booth babes that I saw.
world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples
of ignorance?" - John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun
There are some models who just fit and it works well with the booth. If you put up a global ban, you do deny some of the fun of a convention, which is interacting with costumed characters (I was an EQ player for years and it would have been fun to get my pic with a dark elf or Firona Vie) at a con. Even if they may not know the details, its still part of the overall atmosphere.
Now like someone said earlier: If you bring in bikini models and are trying to sell a Zombie FPS, then you are being crazily stupid and that should be reviewed.
And like I saw another comment: Gamers are smart. They are going to see past a lot of the 'fluff' and just look at the games. E3 isn't all gamers. it has developers and designers and other groups who can be sucked into viewing stuff.
Why? Because right now, PAX is all about being a welcoming place for anyone immersed in the game culture. Every single person there, with the exception of the security guards, is a gamer. Both genders are represented - not quite equally, but a lot closer than you'd think. The instant booth babes are allowed in, both of those qualities will sink. It will feel more commercial, because the number of people who are not part of the culture and are only there because they're paid to be will quadruple. More importantly, the female gamers who come to the event, instead of feeling welcomed and like they are a part of the culture, will feel excluded... like they are not part of the culture, and never could be. And at what is probably the single largest and most important gamer geek cultural event in the western world, that is hugely damaging to both the event and the progression of game culture in general.
Booth babes must not be allowed at Penny Arcade Expo.
Honestly, I'm all for scantily clad people. I'm a grown-ass man, and I'm fully willing to admit that I like boobs. I know women who like naked guys. A large percentage of video games, like comic books and movies, are totally about scantily clad, kick ass, costumed badasses doing badass shit, and these games are some of my favorite games. So if you're making a video game with scantily clad characters, I think it's totally appropriate to have scantily clad people representing your game.
I think a LOT of the resentment towards booth babes comes from booth babes not knowing the game they're affiliated with. Like many others, this is primarily what I want to avoid. If you can answer my questions about the game you're representing in an informed, intelligent, and professional manner, that's really what I'm concerned with. If you can do it while being gorgeous and skimpily dressed, that's just a bonus.
However, I'm very sympathetic to the idea that PAX is an event that has a decent amount of minors and children. I see plenty. If someone were to float the argument that PAX is rated T-for-Teen or PG-13, and we should adhere to standards that represent those ratings, I could be easily swayed.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
So, I change my mind. No booth babes!
Clicking back through a few recent Penny Arcade comics, I see the F-word being used in the presence of a nursing mother, a bestiality reference, a monster with penises for eyes... basically an endless series of attempts to be as offensive as possible. How is that any firmer moral ground than using a pretty girl in a bikini to promote your product at a trade show?
Caveat to the above: I love cosplay, but I expect people in costume to have some familiarity with the character they are dressed as. The informal policy of all attendants needing to know what they are promoting is essential. In my ideal world, booth attendants would have either unisex attire (i.e. preferably tshirt + normal pants or skirt) or be in game-related costume--and they would always be an employee or fan who was genuinely interested in the game.
The traditional booth babe model of attractive-but-uninformed eye candy sends messages that are demeaning to all concerned: it implies that females are valuable only for their looks, and that male gamers will lose critical thinking skills if you shake some boobs at them. I also find that I resent the presence of too many people who are neither gamers nor geeks at "my" convention.