Let's Stop Pretending E3 Is A Professional Event

[ThunderCavalier]

Will we stare at booth babes? Yes, yes, we unfortunately will, because gamers (of course male gamers... and possibly the occasional lesbian one) are attracted to sex appeal, and they pretty much do appeal to that specific allure.

We could, however, try to show SOME restraints and... uh... not take the picture? Please? I mean... come on, guys. For those of us who are avid gamers and want to portray ourselves and gaming as a culture as something beyond a geekdom, you're making us look really bad.

... At least make sure no one's looking and that you didn't ask. >.>

 

[Cousin_IT]

Poor guy. That was probably the first time he had the opportunity to take pictures of women without risking arrest.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Huh, From what I heard, yes there were booth babes there but it was a lot more toned down and less exploitative than previous years and the girls were more modestly dressed. The worst of it was the darksiders 2 booth babes and the lolipop chainsaw girls but for the most part it was an improvement on previous years.

Some, like the Nintendo girls, were not only dressed demurely, but also knew a great deal about the games they were demonstrating. To me, they're the ideal booth babe - cute, but also helpful. Some of the girls at E3 were straight up dressed like hookers. (Expensive hookers, in fairness, but hookers.) If more of the ladies at E3 were like the former - actually knowing something about the games they're presenting, and fully dressed - perhaps fewer people would feel awkward.

I'd feel that would be expected of nintendo considering they're more child friendly and more family orientated, and hookers aren't exactly family friend stuff despite what the film "Milk money" would have you believe.

But any way I do agree that booth babes should be more like the that (the nintendo kind) But my point was that from what i've heard of previous e3's it's improving and getting less sexist and shallow, and perhaps while it isn't perfect and it's still a problem, it was getting better and there was a failure to recognize this improvement.

On side note how much do you thing the hitman trailer controversy effected this years e3 and how much effect do you think it will have on the next? Considering the whole backlash and will it make industry rethink about booth babes?

The Hitman trailer? Not even a blip on E3's radar. Keep in mind, the vast majority of people at E3 had no idea such a thing even existed. Game journalists are a teeny, tiny slice of the E3 audience. We're vastly outnumbered by mainstream press, business consultants, buyers and the like. While the backlash was a Big Damn Deal in certain circles, its actual impact on the industry at large was minimal.

 

[Eamar]

Good article, thanks It's really nice to see men addressing these issues (and doing so more visibly. I'm well aware plenty of men have always felt this way).

Maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist, but I've honestly been getting the feeling that some parts of the industry are coming out of their adolescence, or at least becoming more aware of how we're all perceived, and articles like this can only help that. Fingers crossed, anyway...

 

[JuliusMagnus]

Huh, From what I heard, yes there were booth babes there but it was a lot more toned down and less exploitative than previous years and the girls were more modestly dressed. The worst of it was the darksiders 2 booth babes and the lolipop chainsaw girls but for the most part it was an improvement on previous years.

Some, like the Nintendo girls, were not only dressed demurely, but also knew a great deal about the games they were demonstrating. To me, they're the ideal booth babe - cute, but also helpful. Some of the girls at E3 were straight up dressed like hookers. (Expensive hookers, in fairness, but hookers.) If more of the ladies at E3 were like the former - actually knowing something about the games they're presenting, and fully dressed - perhaps fewer people would feel awkward.

On the other hand Nintendo does have a habit of sometimes tethering the 'booth babe' to the console, which is probably awkward.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/E3_2010_Nintendo_Media_Event_-_Nintendo_3DS_demo_girls.jpg

 

[Susan Arendt]

Huh, From what I heard, yes there were booth babes there but it was a lot more toned down and less exploitative than previous years and the girls were more modestly dressed. The worst of it was the darksiders 2 booth babes and the lolipop chainsaw girls but for the most part it was an improvement on previous years.

Some, like the Nintendo girls, were not only dressed demurely, but also knew a great deal about the games they were demonstrating. To me, they're the ideal booth babe - cute, but also helpful. Some of the girls at E3 were straight up dressed like hookers. (Expensive hookers, in fairness, but hookers.) If more of the ladies at E3 were like the former - actually knowing something about the games they're presenting, and fully dressed - perhaps fewer people would feel awkward.

On the other hand Nintendo does have a habit of sometimes tethering the 'booth babe' to the console, which is probably awkward.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/E3_2010_Nintendo_Media_Event_-_Nintendo_3DS_demo_girls.jpg

Oh, yeah, they do that every year. Keeps people from running away with the 3DS. Last year, there was a HUGE bodyguard blocking the exit to the 3DS play area. That dude was the size of a Buick, for reals. This year, the girls had Mario caps and were the only 3DS stuff Nintendo had on display.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist, but I've honestly been getting the feeling that some parts of the industry are coming out of their adolescence, or at least becoming more aware of how we're all perceived, and articles like this can only help that. Fingers crossed, anyway...

+1.

PAX's "no booth babe" policy is a good sign, particularly considering that Penny Arcade doesn't exactly represent a particularly feminist or non-sexist viewpoint in gaming. Hopefully more conventions will follow suit.

 

[BrotherRool]

On a side note, are you sure that guy is a tourist? People from the gaming press are so busy that they don't pick up any swag, or look at the booth babes? You may have schedules to meet, but the companies can and will do anything to keep you at their booth, or get you to spend a few spare minutes listening to their pitch. It's not a pretty picture, but it can just as easily be someone from the industry, loaded down with the goodies they normally receive in press packs, as it could be a tourist.

I did think this, especially since mainstream gaming journalism is not a terribly high standard (I mean I love Escapist news, but this site, which is a moderately big player in the game, has news consisting of copy and pasted articles where sometimes they haven't even fact-checked with Wikipedia). It's not unbelievable that we have some guy who decided to run a popular little gaming blog or site, or can't believe his luck that he gets paid to write about videogames and is treating the whole thing like a pretty amazing chance to have fun and see a few game

 

[esperandote]

The most offensive thing I saw from E3 2012 was this tweet and the image it linked to.

How do you know that isn't their phone and they didn't ask him to take a picture?

I thought this article was going to be mo than booth babes.

 

[immortalfrieza]

As demeaning you think it is for men, imagine how it is for women.

Booth babes and any other similar occurences of objectifying women are objectifying and demeaning to both sides. Women because it's humilating probably even to the women that are helping to perpetuate it, and to men because it shows just how pathetic some of us can be. However, both sides are also at fault for even making this kind of objectifying behavior possible, it wouldn't happen if women didn't allow themselves to be bribed into dressing up in skimpy outfits and make it happen, and if it didn't work on some men.

Booth babes are one of the reasons why I would never go to E3 even if I ever had the opportunity, in fact, as a straight guy I find them kind of disgusting and not attractive, but maybe that's just me. The other reason being I don't care for the fluff, including booth babes. If I went to E3 it would be for the sole purpose of looking a trailers for games I was interested in and playing demos, both of which I could probably get all of somewhere online a week after E3 anyway, same for any of the other these other gaming conventions.

 

[Bigeyez]

I remember that E3 where the convention was seriously toned down and there were no booth babes.....We had MONTHS of articles and forum posts on game sites about how crappy that E3 was and how we lost the "fun" and "spirit" of E3...Heck I think some of that stuff was even here on the Escapist.

We have booth babes for the same reason we have tons of military shooters. THE GAMING MARKET WANTS THEM. Sad or not thats what the people want.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Oh god, I made this rant like, yesterday on twitter (@adamjensensi, come say hi). I think I love you.

Who the fuck, are booth babes for at E3? Either stop pretending it's an industry event or get them the fuck out.


Alternatively, keep pretending that it is an industry event and invite me along as a key journalist or whatever. That's exactly how Destructoid got started.

 

[Slayer_2]

As a queer female gamer, I never know what to do with booth babes. They're pretty, and I look at them because they're pretty, but I also know that they've been hired to be professional oglees, and while obviously they knew what they were getting into, I kind of feel sorry for them. Part of me goes "ooh, boobies" and part of me goes, "how the hell as a fellow woman would I feel if I were in her shoes?"

I mean, I don't stand there and drool on booth babes but they're kind of hard not to notice. And sometimes I get greeted happily by one, who is maybe happy that the person who is staring at her might also have boobs but is also not drooling and has obviously showered this morning. But sometimes I get a weird look, like, "Uh, you're not the clientel I was hired to... can you go away now?"

So notice them and then I feel guilty and then I flee the table and don't buy the product/sign the mailing list/take the business card and I think there's a failure of marketing at work here.

If straight male attenders of cons are also feeling more awkward or uncomfortable then maybe it's not as good as a tactic as once thought.

I'm willing to bet a portion of booth babes must enjoy the power they hold over the helpless basement nerd species. Regardless, I do feel some contempt for the marketing teams that think that "hot chicks = win". You can only play that card so many times before people start to catch on and avoid places using such tactics, mostly because they don't want to be labelled as a desperate basement nerd.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Huh, From what I heard, yes there were booth babes there but it was a lot more toned down and less exploitative than previous years and the girls were more modestly dressed. The worst of it was the darksiders 2 booth babes and the lolipop chainsaw girls but for the most part it was an improvement on previous years.

Some, like the Nintendo girls, were not only dressed demurely, but also knew a great deal about the games they were demonstrating. To me, they're the ideal booth babe - cute, but also helpful. Some of the girls at E3 were straight up dressed like hookers. (Expensive hookers, in fairness, but hookers.) If more of the ladies at E3 were like the former - actually knowing something about the games they're presenting, and fully dressed - perhaps fewer people would feel awkward.

Destructoid (Holmes) showcased a Nintendo booth babe talking about New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS). On the one hand, she was cute, ditzy and likeable. On the other, she knew next to nothing about the game.

http://www.destructoid.com/a-cute-as-a-button-preview-of-new-super-mario-bros-2-229364.phtml

Now as a consumer with a brain, what am I supposed to think here? That nintendo care so little about their products that they choose these kinds of people to represent their games? That I'm meant to just hurl money at the big N?

Or am I meant to take a step back, wonder what the hell Nintendo are doing at an "industry" event with booth babes anyway, cancel my 3DS order and move right the hell along? Because that's what I ended up doing.

 

[shuza]

I agree with your point, but did we have to make that guy a poster boy for this whole situation? I don't know anything about him, but I can guarantee that the small amount of confidence this guy had is now destroyed forever.
Good point, the culture definitely needs to change, but let's not use bullying to make it happen.

 

[ResonanceSD]

I agree with your point, but did we have to make that guy a poster boy for this whole situation? I don't know anything about him, but I can guarantee that the small amount of confidence this guy had is now destroyed forever.
Good point, the culture definitely needs to change, but let's not use bullying to make it happen.

On the one hand, yes, it's terrible to mock him for his awkwardness.

On the other, bullying when deployed in instances where behaviour brings shame upon the entire world of gaming is an excellent form of behaviour modification.

 

[Dennis Scimeca]

I agree with your point, but did we have to make that guy a poster boy for this whole situation? I don't know anything about him, but I can guarantee that the small amount of confidence this guy had is now destroyed forever.
Good point, the culture definitely needs to change, but let's not use bullying to make it happen.

The man and woman kissing in the V-J Day picture probably didn't intend to be creating an iconic image that would ring throughout the remainder of American history, but some pictures speak a thousand words and that's why we look at them.

The picture of that kid brazenly snapping a shot of those booth babes so perfectly represents why it's silly to call E3 an "industry event." GDC is an industry event. The D.I.C.E. Summit is an industry event. Neither of those events are going to generate a picture of a kid brazenly snapping a photo of two booth babes because to the best of my knowledge and experience there ARE no booth babes. That's part of what makes it pretty clear that they are "industry events" attended by professionals.

Had I spent the entirety of the column berating the kid in that picture, I would have to cop to a charge of bullying. As it stands, I think you've used the word inappropriately at best, and at worst the charge can be seen as trying to create sympathy for someone engaged in blatantly sexist activity which I have no issue pointing out.

Pro tip: if someone calls you out for doing something and you don't think you did anything wrong, you don't feel bad when someone calls you out for it. Should that kid become aware of this conversation and feel ashamed for being caught in that picture, and never ogles a woman like that so obviously again, I can't say I'm going to feel badly about it. There's a place for that sort of thing, and it's called a strip club.

 

[ResonanceSD]

There's a place for that sort of thing, and it's called a strip club.

A lot of game devs need to read this line.

 

[dagens24]

Those stupid Spike TV video game awards shows are worst. I watched the last one (first and last time I'll ever do that).