Eurogamer Expo Bans Booth Babes

[Bat Vader]

So, let's get this straight.

We will not allow men and women who aspire in their career to be models and building their portfolio and help earn a living and develop a career. Also, apparently due to how risky these models dress and given the demographic we must have it remain child friendly because someone must think of the children.

Yep it's official, the video game industry now has a religious right enforcing their morality.

I don't think it is official. It could be they want the people to be drawn to a game because the game looks interesting, not because of some scantly clad person showing off their skin.

 

[Jrtlaktalk]

I actually entirely agree with the banning of booth babes.

There is absolutely no purpose. And, if you are married, all this does is upsets your wife, and if you actually care about your wife, this in turn makes you have an awful time. Notwithstanding that, its insipid. Having some 'lolly' flag me down and waste my time trying to smear a product off on me, is no different than that of someone asking me to give them spare change if I am minding my own business / have no change / am in a foul mood.

Scantily clad women is not an answer to anything. Its the same as cheerleaders in sports. The moment they put cheerleaders in football and ruin the integrity of the game, just like rugby and american football - is the point where I question whether I actually want to support the game anymore.

 

[Groenteman]

Reading though this article and this thread has me thinking: My god people love to be offended.

No, booth babes are of little value to the exposition, possibly even detrimental, and mostly just misplaced.

But to take it as a personal offence? To think it will bring utter ruin to your family day of fun? That it will ruin 'integrity'?

They dont have your name on them, they are aimed at a general user demographic. They dont generally start humping you in front of your wife, and im not even sure where games got an integrity part (besides not crashing and stuff).

The expositions are run by marketing guys, the guys who designed and made the game generally got nothing to do with it. If you let a tasteless advertisement decision ruin your games, your gonna be missing out for no good reason.

 

[Bat Vader]

Something I never understood about booth babes is why they are always in revealing outfits. Wouldn't it be better for the developers and/or publishers to instead have them dress up as characters or background characters from their games in a non revealing outfit? If Bioware wants to advertise Dragon Age 3 wouldn't it be better to have a model dressed up as a Mage or a Priest of the chantry instead of a revealing outfit?

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I love the booth babes; gorgeous girls in great costumes willing to let you take their photographs. Yet I'm not fussed that this has happened. I personally would have banned attendees under 18 instead and enforced a 1 babe and 1 stud ratio per booth though.

Although do you think Team Ninja can still bring them since if they're advertising DoA it would legitimately count as advertising an aspect of the game?

 

[Xisin]

One gets paid to do it and the other is doing it for shits and giggles.

Indeed, why can I have sex with any willing woman but not pa... oh... wait... we're talking about something else... /shiftyeyes

XD You bring up a good point but I think we can agree that using someones baser instincts to exploit them is wrong.

It's what make the world go round. Food advertisements attempt to make you hungry. Beer commercials often tug at the pants of men. Advertising is exploitation. What's your target demographic and what are they interested in?

I have a hard time sympathizing with people who choose to spend money on things they don't need for ridiculous reasons; booth babes, plastic surgery, homeopathy, etc. Why does an authority need to step in and prevent a fool from parting with his money?

Besides, banning booth babes actually saves the companies money from hiring them, and preventing the consumer from realizing the shoddy business practices said company would use to advertise their business, while simultaneously cutting into the working wages of your local model. You're harming the wrong target, since it's the company you're pissed at. Letting them waste money on a tactic that will gain them only negative press while financially supporting the models business is a win win for everyone; minus the twisted company that seeks to steal your money by offering you visual stimulation in exchange.

A model being paid to dress a certain way is no more advertising a product than a cosplayer who dresses a certain way to support something they love for the hell of it. The product is still receiving advertising. What's the difference? A few dollars changed hands? I was going to advocate that cosplayers receive a reduction in attendance costs because they're advertising various products, but I can't now because that's exploitation.

But only if they're cute? Only if the only thing they offer is visual stimulation? So if I got a hot piece of ass to wear skimpy clothing that actually knew what the fuck she was talking about, no one would take offense? Or if I paid an uglier than sin female to stand around in skimpy clothing who didn't know shit it would be OK? A chip and dales model painted like the ghost of sparta?

Well, it's a private run show and can make it's own rules. Can't wait to see the verbage on this cockeyed guideline.

I agree with you. My first thought was, "What if the "booth babe" was knowledgeable?" Would she still be kicked out?

A booth is their to advertise a product. Ban unqualified people from manning booths, not pretty women. If we are worried about them being half naked, apply a dress code to all people attending the convention.

 

[AngloDoom]

I'm with the idea of, rather than banning, enforcing an equal amount of booth-studs.

+1 Have buff guys with just a belt of ammo covering their privates for advertising shooter games to balance it all out.

Do I smell a petition starting?
We need to make this happen as soon as possible.

You can add another signature to the list. We don't need less objectification of women, we need more objectification of men! Only when both sexes are considered equally as sex objects will we find true peace!

 

[blackrave]

While I like the concept of booth babes (especially if they know things they are supposed to represent), yet...
I don't like how they are treated by people (half of them are drooling over them, other half is demonizing them)
I don't like the purpose and intentions behind them
And especially I don't like that people fall for that

So yeah, with heavy heart I must admit that banning them was a good thing.

 

[Petromir]

these are events open to the general public which are there to show VIDEO GAMES hoping to attract as large an audience as possible as is gaming itself in general.

its an entertainment industry that appeals to everyone.

#

It's quite possible to use different methods to target different people. Often its more effective to run a few specific ads rather than one generalist one.

there are no "booth babes" at film festivals.
there are no "booth babes" at music festivals.
there is NO justification for "booth babes" at game "festivals".

#

There bloody well are equivalents at both. At film promos they tend to be wearing a classier style of costumes but they are there to sell the movie with sex appeal.

This may not be justification for booth babes at games festivals but trying to suggest neither film nor music use similar tactics is naive.

 

[mdqp]

I am not interested in booth babes. That being said, the only reason I might mind it is because videogame companies are simply wasting money (and since it's not a big waste of money, I don't mind it very much). If you don't stand out (and since almost everyone employ them, you don't stand out), then what's the advantage for the game? And honestly, I doubt anyone will be swayed into buying one game or the other by them, or even watch a trailer they are not already interested in, because if they like to look at the girls, they will LOOK AT THE GIRLS, they will actually pay less attention to the product.

I don't see any reasons to ban them, though, people could walk around naked everywhere, for all I care. Wanting to ban them is just something prudish people would ask for, or people that get offended about what a marketing department might think of them (I don't see why anyone would, marketing departments are dumb by definition), or people that believes that other people aren't as smart as them, and needs to be protected by the "booth-babes-mind-trick" or have some misguided idea about women being defined by what other women do for a living (some sell their bodies for sex, does this mean that all humans do? Some women dress up for money, does this mean all women do? Does this means that other human beings, not some alien creatures that know nothing of us, should come to the same conclusion?).

Not only I don't think there is anything wrong with earning money with your looks, if you find people willing to pay for it (I would be okay even with sex being sold, but in many countries it's illegal, and criminal organization get their hands on it, leading to horrible abuses, so I am not going to debate on this now) and they want to, I am totally fine with it (I might get mad if someone gets a job that requires a smart/capable person, by virtue of being beautiful/handsome, but otherwise, I see no problems).

Am I smart? I go to med school. Am I physically gifted? I do athletics. Am I beautiful? I do the model/booth babe/whatever.

I doubt booth babes ever hurt anyone just for being booth babes, so no need to ban them, this alone should be reason enough (hurt feelings don't count, of course).

 

[antares273]

And by opposing the use of sex as a marketing tool, you might as well reinstate some 13th century dress code forcing women to wear sweaters down to their ankles, because you could accuse any woman on the world in every situation of social interaction to use her sexuality as a marketing tool. Yeah, sex is evil, and marketing by sex is far worse more evilor, a dark, mystical power used by women to manipulate men, and at the same time oppressing the women which doesn't even make any sense, at least admit that.

The witchhunts of the middle ages were the result of the same incoherent argumentation.

But why not prepare for some witches, as it seems we have people bitten by Sarkeesian-zombies already among us.

A woman who gets paid to put on a costume is being exploited by the patriarchy.

A woman who chooses to put on a costume for fun suffers from internalized misogyny.

 

[fuzz]

I don't mind booth babes being banned. It's crude and kind of insulting to men. I was in Cardiff recently and one clothes shop had a male model just hanging around outside topless. He was certainly drawing in the females but I doubt any guys would go anywhere near, I certainly wouldn't. The same goes for booth babes I think. I'm sure they make most women feel quite uncomfortable, which whilst not a crime unto itself, does make the expo less fun and enjoyable for those women and many men.

However those saying 'paid babe = bad, babe for fun = good' are missing Andy's point I think. He points out the reason they were banned was because of inappropriate clothing. Thus creating the double standard where booth babes with cleavage being bad and cosplayers showing cleavage being perfectly fine. Which seems to be the case.

 

[scw55]

I'm with the idea of, rather than banning, enforcing an equal amount of booth-studs.

+1 Have buff guys with just a belt of ammo covering their privates for advertising shooter games to balance it all out.

I would still say that's not appropriate for a gaming convention. Rather a blanket ban on Booth Totty in under 18 areas than more totty in under 18 areas.

I think the point is that the convention is for everyone. And the best compromise is to have the 'if you have booth totty, go to this area' or 'go to the 18 rated games area'.
The former is better.

The only time you see men with tags on their body parts is in Pride events for example. I don't see why it's fine to have women everywhere.

In some other events you do have exposed males. It's all rather more complicated than it needs to be. And it's always dangerous to have this debate on the interwebs. It always feels like nothing is achieved.

 

[FEichinger]

"Think of the children!" is a ridiculous argument. We present violence, gore, all that shizzle to minors at these conventions just as well. Why? Because people care jack shit about whether or not the contents of the game affect minors (But of course people cry in vain when some random kid goes around shooting, since obviously the games are at fault!)

"Cosplayers are just unpaid booth babes" or "Booth Babes are just paid cosplayers" is a valid point ... in theory. As long as they advertise their own skills, I have no problem whatsoever. If they express themselves, I have no problem whatsoever. But when they're hired to advertise something else through their body, I do have a problem. I do not want to be portrayed as a "teenage looser with no sex life" for attending a gaming convention. I do not want to be surrounded by women who get paid to look like they had their clothes stolen.

There might be people who do. Perfectly fine. I get the point that it sells and that it works. Perfectly. Fine.
But if a company chooses to ban booth babes on these grounds, that is perfectly fine as well. I'd rather have less companies attending the con due to the ban, than the entire medium portrayed as a massive sex sim, which might in the long run have a much stronger effect.

 

[Little Duck]

It's selling games with sex vs dressing a a character. To dress as a character is to say yes, I enjoy this person, but when you have a scantily clad advertisement for an upcoming game, that's just hey guys, look at my companies wonderful tits. Also buy our games.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Well it's their event, if they want to promote a certain atmosphere and image then that's up to them. I can see why, videogames are trying to get themselves a modicum of respect and shed the basement dweller image. Booth babes don't exactly help that.

But why not prepare for some witches, as it seems we have people bitten by Sarkeesian-zombies already among us.

A woman who gets paid to put on a costume is being exploited by the patriarchy.

A woman who chooses to put on a costume for fun suffers from internalized misogyny.

You do realise that guy's a massive troll don't you?

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Gotta agree with a lot of posts. One is shallow marketing, the other is a customer. Pretty obvious difference

Basically the difference between someone at a convention advertising & endorsing Doritos, and a person at a convention enjoying a bag of Doritos. Not the same thing