I was with them Sunday night. You don't look familiar, maybe it was the buttons.
Anyhow, we'll have to meet up. Canadians are like penguins, they band together for warmth so you probably know at least a couple of the ppl I hung out with. You can see them in my flickr (check sig).
Anyhow, back to on topic:
Saying that I like booth babes is vile? Since when? What are we, the christian church? Half the games in the damn room feature some sort of sexual theme. Did you guys PLAY them? It's quite hypocritical to call me vile and then go on like a mindless zombie playing games filled with perfect women which kill people in brutal ways.
There was this one woman at the EVE booth who was very attractive, but I can't say she was a Booth Babe because while I was playing she spawned 40 ships on me.
Obviously a Programmer for them, which is a bonus.
Saying that I like booth babes is vile? Since when?
...
I like hot chicks. Is that vile?
I think the main objection to your post was that it sounded like hot chicks weren't good for anything besides being ogled/photographed.
edit: Hrm...I was with a smaller group of people on Sunday night, so it must be the buttons. Unless you spotted me at the Sheraton before people were going for dinner.
Judy Nails and the Sins girl were pretty awesome, because they actually... you know, made sense. The feeling I got is that they would've been there even without the booth. The Reset Generation princesses were sort of cutesy clever, as was the X-Blades girl, but neither seemed to add anything to the booth besides a photo op.
The Ninja Town squishy guys were a lot cooler, even though they weren't scantily clad and nobody expected them to answer questions. I don't have a problem with promotional mascots in general, it just seems like 'random hot girl' isn't the best way to go.
How about all of the countless video games, covers and ads with big tittied amazons in their skin tighties ready to save the world with a camel toe?
We're not talking about print ads and games in general. PAX has had a policy against having booth-babes solely for the purpose of being hot, at least that was my understanding. This year it didn't seem to be the case.
That's what we're talking about.
i say we give them a chance to defend themselves next year in a wet brawndo tshirt trivia contest. If we had done it this year and had enough people attend I might have been able to sneak off and actually play L4D.
Misterioso on
Listen. And understand. That Misterioso is out there. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead..drunk.
I love threads like this. Because everything is fine until someone comes in and disagrees and then shit gets REAL.
I'm happily married. My wife sees every picture I take. These chicks choose to dress up like FUCKING CARTOONS for christs sake, completely objectify themselves for money no less, and somehow I'm the vile one for taking pictures and liking it? I could care less if there are chicks there or not. I'm going to play the game anyway.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I love threads like this. Because everything is fine until someone comes in and disagrees and then shit gets REAL.
I'm happily married. My wife sees every picture I take. These chicks choose to dress up like FUCKING CARTOONS for christs sake, completely objectify themselves for money no less, and somehow I'm the vile one for taking pictures and liking it? I could care less if there are chicks there or not. I'm going to play the game anyway.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I'd like to see you guys sort that one out.
Cosplayers enjoy that which they are portraying to the point that they wish to show the world that they like it.
Booth babes are paid money to look pretty.
jonxp on
Every time you write parallel fifths, Bach kills a kitten.
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Saying that I like booth babes is vile?
I like hot chicks. Is that vile?
Saying that's all they're good for is looking good is what's vile. They're human beings. They're good for lots more than that. I feel sorry for your mother and your wife.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I have to agree with Altmann on this particular point. Guys were happy to oggle and pose with cosplay girls/scantily clad attendees, but complain about booth babes? Granted, the cosplay girls were free fan service whereas the booth babes are pay for play, but both were drooled over and grabbed for pics. My thought is, cover up if you don't want to be oggled. That can be applied to cosplayers and booth babes. But do be consistant. If you hate the objectification apply it to both booth babes and cosplayers. Trying to have it one way and not the other is hypocritical.
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It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I have to agree with Altmann on this particular point.
I don't agree. On one hand we have girls who want to look cool, maybe get some attention, who are a part of the community. Girls wearing short skirts don't bother me any more than fan cosplayers. On the other hand, we have women who are being paid to manipulate me into giving a corporation my attention by exposing themselves. You're comparing apples to oranges here, the two things aren't analagous at all.
I have no problem with Booth Babes on the basis that they're just another marketing tool. If it were just about the games, there would be no need for PAX at all. You could put a few video up online and a few demos available for download, and be done with it.
Gaming conventions are there so you can have something to interact with. They put thought into their sets and their designs and their outfits, so why not have a few actresses come in to dress up as characters from the game, to make the game seem a little more real and a little more interactive? There's nothing inherently wrong with the concept of a booth babe, other than the fact that it might make some guys a little uncomfortable in their pants.
With that said, they really need to take the position a little more seriously. If you want to be an actress or if you want to be a model, then prove that you can be an actress or that you can model. Get into your work. Ask for a friggin resume. Read up on some of the materials in advanced. The fact is that acting isn't an easy profession to follow, and you need to prove yourself in the field.
My only stipulation is that they KNOW THE GAME. I don't care how skimpy your outfit is as long as you can pick up the controller and show me something cool.
Know the Product.
I totally agree on ths one. And I support the cosplayed booth characters as well just because I think it's fun - if they had a Lara Croft vs. a Big Daddy to take pictures within a booth why should I be peeved that the female characters when turned into real life characters tend to be a bit sexualized. They are tht way in the game.
What irritated me was the general (disclaimer- based on my experience this weekend) lack of knowledge by the female expo hall booth staff. EA should be ashamed of itself. They didn't have 'booth babes' persay, but the women they hired to cover the main areas of their booths were completely clueless. Every question I asked about every game led to 'oh, I don't know try asking one of the guys in front of that game'. One didn't even know that Rock Band was part of their company. Finally I asked if any of them knew anything about any of the games and the women shrugged and said they just kind of directed traffic. I'm pretty sure EA found moderately attractive women to hand out those passports. At least give a paragraph blurb on each of your games and make them read it so if someone asks "What is Mirror's Edge?" and the release date of something of the 10 women you have in your booth don't look like morons for knowing nothing about your games or company.
I saw the four booth babes who were dressed like Vegas showgirls in different-colored dressed undressing in the ladies' room at 5:30pm on Sunday. They were classless - covering the room with their shit, not ducking into a stall to change, and talking garbage about the con attendees the whole time.
to be fair they were probably trash talking them after being swarmed by socially awkward nerds that don't know how to behave
not saying this is true of all or even most guys at PAX, but I'm sure it applies to enough that it would be gross and maddening for the ladies in question to put up with
Anecdote from previous thread: Earlier in the day, I see a girl, dressed up as the Bride from Kill Bill. I introduce myself. Later in the day, I see her dress in a really scanty stretchy outfit, surrounded by a group of guys.
Me: "Oh hey, you're the one dressed as the Bride from Kill Bill earlier."
Some guy: "That was you?"
Me: "She has a face, you know."
The type of "booth babe" I like was demonstrated at Meteor Games' booth. They had the PRESIDENT of the company dress up as an in-game character. That was just downright awesome in my book. She wasn't too revealing and was down to earth.
So if ANY potential exhibitor for next year is paying attention, do that instead of hiring models. Seriously, few if any of those attending PAX even think they have a chance with them and many, like myself, have wives that would be offended by them.
Booth babes don't belong at PAX and I really wish the organizers would throw them out.
I'm there with my wife trying to have a good time and walking past a group of trashy strippers really puts a damper on that experience. There were a few booths in the expo hall that felt like walking past a red light district.
EA should be ashamed of itself. They didn't have 'booth babes' persay, but the women they hired to cover the main areas of their booths were completely clueless. Every question I asked about every game led to 'oh, I don't know try asking one of the guys in front of that game'.
EA just needed some people to hand out pamphlets and run their swag promotion (get passport stamps from all games for a shirt). How is it remotely fair to expect EA to field subject matter experts for that job?
Booth babes are retarded... I understand as a female that they aren't necessarily meant to market towards myself... but that doesn't deter my opinion. To be honest, I wouldn't necessarily have counted the Meteor Games president... she's definitely a cosplay (in my opinion) she knows the game, the characters, etc.
BoothBabes -- Either they really have extremely low self-esteems and can't muster to be anything but an echelon up from stripper OR they really can't do anything else and are so simple minded that they couldn't have picked up a copy of the demo and played it a few times, so that they could answer SOME questions that we may have. They served no purpose other than to attract 16 year olds to the booth.
Cosplay is different... it's some man or woman who enjoy a character, they are knowledgable of the game/character/show and want some attention from the community AS a community member.... just for the sake of fun! They aren't accepting money to do this, they aren't completely clueless, they would have come to pax otherwise, etc.
I'm a woman and I have no problem with a good looking woman at one of the booths in or out of costume any more than I would a good looking guy. There are a lot of attractive people in this world and I don't think it excludes you from being a gamer.
However,
I find booth babes that have no interest in PAX beyond getting paid for jiggling at the front of a booth really demeaning. Not to them, but to the PAX goers. It's an assumption by the game company that PAX attendees are so desperate for female companionship that they'll do anything a stacked girl wants them to do. It's demeaning for female con goers who are now suddenly are being compared to the booth babes. It's demeaning to PAX culture in general by bringing in an 'exhibitor' who is not one of us, is not part of our culture and does not get it. Really, aren't there enough places where hardcore gaming gets ripped on without having to import it here?
I saw the four booth babes who were dressed like Vegas showgirls in different-colored dressed undressing in the ladies' room at 5:30pm on Sunday. They were classless - covering the room with their shit, not ducking into a stall to change, and talking garbage about the con attendees the whole time.
to be fair they were probably trash talking them after being swarmed by socially awkward nerds that don't know how to behave
not saying this is true of all or even most guys at PAX, but I'm sure it applies to enough that it would be gross and maddening for the ladies in question to put up with
EA just needed some people to hand out pamphlets and run their swag promotion (get passport stamps from all games for a shirt). How is it remotely fair to expect EA to field subject matter experts for that job?
I'm not saying they needed a horde of subject matter experts, but if I ask one "where is the Rock Band booth" and she answers "Oh, Rock Band isn't one of our games." I think EA might have a problem with who they hired. I wouldn't expect them to answer gameplay questions- like I wouldn't ask a Spore creator questions about Mirror's Edge. But if I ask a simple question, having that many clueless people on hand who are just there to look pretty (none of those hand out people were guys and none were unattractive) is frustrating.
It's an assumption by the game company that PAX attendees are so desperate for female companionship that they'll do anything a stacked girl wants them to do. It's demeaning for female con goers who are now suddenly are being compared to the booth babes ...(snip)... Really, aren't there enough places where hardcore gaming gets ripped on without having to import it here?
Hear, hear. Finding out that those women were talking trash about the con-goers in the bathrooms, in front of other con-goers? Awful.
I saw the four booth babes who were dressed like Vegas showgirls in different-colored dressed undressing in the ladies' room at 5:30pm on Sunday. They were classless - covering the room with their shit, not ducking into a stall to change, and talking garbage about the con attendees the whole time.
to be fair they were probably trash talking them after being swarmed by socially awkward nerds that don't know how to behave
not saying this is true of all or even most guys at PAX, but I'm sure it applies to enough that it would be gross and maddening for the ladies in question to put up with
In all fairness, the N-Gage booth was also probably the worst designed booth of the entire convention. Who's idea was it to put the display 3-4 feet above the keyboard?
So the Babe Booth thing was the least of their worries.
The "Sins girl" is one of the co-founders of Ironclad games. Pretty freakin' awesome costume too
As for booth babes - again, if they know the product I'm all for 'em. I had absolutely no problems in learning how to run Endwar from the chick who most likely worked on the game.
That said, if you're dressed rather boldly and you're not half bad looking don't fault me from having a gander. I respect you as a human being, but I'm still gonna stare at your tuchus as you walk by. Deal.
The girls at the N-gage (across from Brothers in Arms) completely distracted the guy in my group every time we walked by. He thought one of them was so hot. On Sunday he finally talked to one to get a picture, turns out she wasn't very knowledgeable about the game, didn't sound like she had much going on in the head at all, and barely spoke English. Had their costumes had more effort put into them so I could recognize that they were supposed to be from the game they were representing and they had knowledge of what they showed, I probably wouldn't have cared.
Here, here. One of the girls that lured him away actually seemed like she had maybe played the game. The other sounded like she didn't even know where she was.
I could care less about scantily clad women at PAX. I mean, it's still a bit of a boys show. But seriously, at least know how to play the damn game!
And here's hoping that next year we have Booth Hunks. I would love a photo with a half naked zombie/pirate/robot with a 6-pack. Yum.
I love threads like this. Because everything is fine until someone comes in and disagrees and then shit gets REAL.
I'm happily married. My wife sees every picture I take. These chicks choose to dress up like FUCKING CARTOONS for christs sake, completely objectify themselves for money no less, and somehow I'm the vile one for taking pictures and liking it? I could care less if there are chicks there or not. I'm going to play the game anyway.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I'd like to see you guys sort that one out.
Um, yes. Did anyone see the girl in the see-through top with her boobs painted black? I have no idea who she was cosplaying but she looked like she was 15 and someone should have called her parents.
I love threads like this. Because everything is fine until someone comes in and disagrees and then shit gets REAL.
I'm happily married. My wife sees every picture I take. These chicks choose to dress up like FUCKING CARTOONS for christs sake, completely objectify themselves for money no less, and somehow I'm the vile one for taking pictures and liking it? I could care less if there are chicks there or not. I'm going to play the game anyway.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I'd like to see you guys sort that one out.
Um, yes. Did anyone see the girl in the see-through top with her boobs painted black? I have no idea who she was cosplaying but she looked like she was 15 and someone should have called her parents.
She posted her own pic in the cosplay thread. I was kinda shocked that a young woman would be so bold. Something tells me she was thirsting for attention. I'm just afraid she might attract the wrong kind of attention, particularly in downtown Seattle.
I love threads like this. Because everything is fine until someone comes in and disagrees and then shit gets REAL.
I'm happily married. My wife sees every picture I take. These chicks choose to dress up like FUCKING CARTOONS for christs sake, completely objectify themselves for money no less, and somehow I'm the vile one for taking pictures and liking it? I could care less if there are chicks there or not. I'm going to play the game anyway.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I'd like to see you guys sort that one out.
Um, yes. Did anyone see the girl in the see-through top with her boobs painted black? I have no idea who she was cosplaying but she looked like she was 15 and someone should have called her parents.
She posted her own pic in the cosplay thread. I was kinda shocked that a young woman would be so bold. Something tells me she was thirsting for attention. I'm just afraid she might attract the wrong kind of attention, particularly in downtown Seattle.
That outfit was... interesting, to say the least. I didn't see her at PAX, but the pic made me doubletake in disbelief.
Posts
Anyhow, we'll have to meet up. Canadians are like penguins, they band together for warmth so you probably know at least a couple of the ppl I hung out with. You can see them in my flickr (check sig).
Anyhow, back to on topic:
Saying that I like booth babes is vile? Since when? What are we, the christian church? Half the games in the damn room feature some sort of sexual theme. Did you guys PLAY them? It's quite hypocritical to call me vile and then go on like a mindless zombie playing games filled with perfect women which kill people in brutal ways.
Pretty funny actually if you ask me.
I like hot chicks. Is that vile?
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
Obviously a Programmer for them, which is a bonus.
All hail the Hypno-Spode!
Based on the above, you don't seem to be a very open-minded person.
I think the main objection to your post was that it sounded like hot chicks weren't good for anything besides being ogled/photographed.
edit: Hrm...I was with a smaller group of people on Sunday night, so it must be the buttons. Unless you spotted me at the Sheraton before people were going for dinner.
Also, tell me what the booth babes are good for? Please. I BEG YOU.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
The Ninja Town squishy guys were a lot cooler, even though they weren't scantily clad and nobody expected them to answer questions. I don't have a problem with promotional mascots in general, it just seems like 'random hot girl' isn't the best way to go.
I'm trying to help you here. Please, stop posting.
i say we give them a chance to defend themselves next year in a wet brawndo tshirt trivia contest. If we had done it this year and had enough people attend I might have been able to sneak off and actually play L4D.
I'm happily married. My wife sees every picture I take. These chicks choose to dress up like FUCKING CARTOONS for christs sake, completely objectify themselves for money no less, and somehow I'm the vile one for taking pictures and liking it? I could care less if there are chicks there or not. I'm going to play the game anyway.
It's funny, Cosplay is celebrated, but Booth babes are reviled.
I'd like to see you guys sort that one out.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
zing!
Cosplayers enjoy that which they are portraying to the point that they wish to show the world that they like it.
Booth babes are paid money to look pretty.
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PAX Prime 2014 Buttoneering!
Saying that's all they're good for is looking good is what's vile. They're human beings. They're good for lots more than that. I feel sorry for your mother and your wife.
I have to agree with Altmann on this particular point. Guys were happy to oggle and pose with cosplay girls/scantily clad attendees, but complain about booth babes? Granted, the cosplay girls were free fan service whereas the booth babes are pay for play, but both were drooled over and grabbed for pics. My thought is, cover up if you don't want to be oggled. That can be applied to cosplayers and booth babes. But do be consistant. If you hate the objectification apply it to both booth babes and cosplayers. Trying to have it one way and not the other is hypocritical.
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I don't agree. On one hand we have girls who want to look cool, maybe get some attention, who are a part of the community. Girls wearing short skirts don't bother me any more than fan cosplayers. On the other hand, we have women who are being paid to manipulate me into giving a corporation my attention by exposing themselves. You're comparing apples to oranges here, the two things aren't analagous at all.
Hang on and ready your e-brakes everyone! This thread is about to do a 180 once one of them starts posting!
Gaming conventions are there so you can have something to interact with. They put thought into their sets and their designs and their outfits, so why not have a few actresses come in to dress up as characters from the game, to make the game seem a little more real and a little more interactive? There's nothing inherently wrong with the concept of a booth babe, other than the fact that it might make some guys a little uncomfortable in their pants.
With that said, they really need to take the position a little more seriously. If you want to be an actress or if you want to be a model, then prove that you can be an actress or that you can model. Get into your work. Ask for a friggin resume. Read up on some of the materials in advanced. The fact is that acting isn't an easy profession to follow, and you need to prove yourself in the field.
Natasha.
And she was a musketeer.
I totally agree on ths one. And I support the cosplayed booth characters as well just because I think it's fun - if they had a Lara Croft vs. a Big Daddy to take pictures within a booth why should I be peeved that the female characters when turned into real life characters tend to be a bit sexualized. They are tht way in the game.
What irritated me was the general (disclaimer- based on my experience this weekend) lack of knowledge by the female expo hall booth staff. EA should be ashamed of itself. They didn't have 'booth babes' persay, but the women they hired to cover the main areas of their booths were completely clueless. Every question I asked about every game led to 'oh, I don't know try asking one of the guys in front of that game'. One didn't even know that Rock Band was part of their company. Finally I asked if any of them knew anything about any of the games and the women shrugged and said they just kind of directed traffic. I'm pretty sure EA found moderately attractive women to hand out those passports. At least give a paragraph blurb on each of your games and make them read it so if someone asks "What is Mirror's Edge?" and the release date of something of the 10 women you have in your booth don't look like morons for knowing nothing about your games or company.
not saying this is true of all or even most guys at PAX, but I'm sure it applies to enough that it would be gross and maddening for the ladies in question to put up with
Me: "Oh hey, you're the one dressed as the Bride from Kill Bill earlier."
Some guy: "That was you?"
Me: "She has a face, you know."
So if ANY potential exhibitor for next year is paying attention, do that instead of hiring models. Seriously, few if any of those attending PAX even think they have a chance with them and many, like myself, have wives that would be offended by them.
I'm there with my wife trying to have a good time and walking past a group of trashy strippers really puts a damper on that experience. There were a few booths in the expo hall that felt like walking past a red light district.
EA just needed some people to hand out pamphlets and run their swag promotion (get passport stamps from all games for a shirt). How is it remotely fair to expect EA to field subject matter experts for that job?
BoothBabes -- Either they really have extremely low self-esteems and can't muster to be anything but an echelon up from stripper OR they really can't do anything else and are so simple minded that they couldn't have picked up a copy of the demo and played it a few times, so that they could answer SOME questions that we may have. They served no purpose other than to attract 16 year olds to the booth.
Cosplay is different... it's some man or woman who enjoy a character, they are knowledgable of the game/character/show and want some attention from the community AS a community member.... just for the sake of fun! They aren't accepting money to do this, they aren't completely clueless, they would have come to pax otherwise, etc.
However,
I find booth babes that have no interest in PAX beyond getting paid for jiggling at the front of a booth really demeaning. Not to them, but to the PAX goers. It's an assumption by the game company that PAX attendees are so desperate for female companionship that they'll do anything a stacked girl wants them to do. It's demeaning for female con goers who are now suddenly are being compared to the booth babes. It's demeaning to PAX culture in general by bringing in an 'exhibitor' who is not one of us, is not part of our culture and does not get it. Really, aren't there enough places where hardcore gaming gets ripped on without having to import it here?
Go gnome or go home.
--
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I'm not saying they needed a horde of subject matter experts, but if I ask one "where is the Rock Band booth" and she answers "Oh, Rock Band isn't one of our games." I think EA might have a problem with who they hired. I wouldn't expect them to answer gameplay questions- like I wouldn't ask a Spore creator questions about Mirror's Edge. But if I ask a simple question, having that many clueless people on hand who are just there to look pretty (none of those hand out people were guys and none were unattractive) is frustrating.
Hear, hear. Finding out that those women were talking trash about the con-goers in the bathrooms, in front of other con-goers? Awful.
In all fairness, the N-Gage booth was also probably the worst designed booth of the entire convention. Who's idea was it to put the display 3-4 feet above the keyboard?
So the Babe Booth thing was the least of their worries.
Also, the game itself was pretty confusing.
As for booth babes - again, if they know the product I'm all for 'em. I had absolutely no problems in learning how to run Endwar from the chick who most likely worked on the game.
That said, if you're dressed rather boldly and you're not half bad looking don't fault me from having a gander. I respect you as a human being, but I'm still gonna stare at your tuchus as you walk by. Deal.
Edit: TotP win!
Here, here. One of the girls that lured him away actually seemed like she had maybe played the game. The other sounded like she didn't even know where she was.
I could care less about scantily clad women at PAX. I mean, it's still a bit of a boys show. But seriously, at least know how to play the damn game!
And here's hoping that next year we have Booth Hunks. I would love a photo with a half naked zombie/pirate/robot with a 6-pack. Yum.
Um, yes. Did anyone see the girl in the see-through top with her boobs painted black? I have no idea who she was cosplaying but she looked like she was 15 and someone should have called her parents.
She posted her own pic in the cosplay thread. I was kinda shocked that a young woman would be so bold. Something tells me she was thirsting for attention. I'm just afraid she might attract the wrong kind of attention, particularly in downtown Seattle.
That outfit was... interesting, to say the least. I didn't see her at PAX, but the pic made me doubletake in disbelief.