At 10/23/12 06:57 PM, ZJ wrote: So, I don't know if you guys know this or not, but there's apparently been a raging debate about booth babes (the girls who wear skimpy outfits to help promote upcoming games) at gaming conventions. Eurogamer Expo has just banned booth babes from their convention and the debate has been launched with people arguing for and against them.

So, I want to hear from you guys: Should booth babes be allowed at gaming conventions? Why or why not? Do you believe this ties into sexist issues within the gaming industry or is this a lot of fuss about nothing?

Why the heck would anybody deprive the already deprived gaming community of the small amount of pussy that they will receive in their forever alone lives? Booth babes all the way

At 10/25/12 03:36 AM, Dr-Worm wrote:

If we look at the definition of sexism, where opportunities are denied based on gender, then we can conclude that Victoria's Secret is actually more sexist than the entire video game industry based on the simple fact that Victoria's Secret will never hire a male model.

This entire analogy is ridiculous. A video game is not an inherently gendered product the way a bra is, and the fact that you seem to think it is kind of proves my point. That a majority of gamers are male is the result of various social constructs, not natural law.

This "social construct" bullshit you're going on about is nonsensical: 98% of all the girls I know are more interested in fashion, music, working a job, or doing homework and studying than they are in shooting, stabbing, slicing, racing, blowing up, or running over virtual people. That's not a perceived notion about girls, that's founded in the reality that they're more interested in doing something productive than sitting in front of a television for hours.

And since the study you cited didn't break down results by category/genre, casual vs 'hardcore', or 'mobile' vs 'console', the results are uselessly inconclusive. There are so many problems there. For example, the sale of mobile devices - iPad, iPhone, Android - and availability of casual mobile and browser-based games are both on the rise: everyone, male and female, owns, buys, or otherwise consumes those products; casual and party games are likely to be consumed and enjoyed by both genders - especially in families - whereas console shooters and RPGs are more consistently consumed by men. If the study surveyed 500 men and 500 women, did they allow or account for people giving more than one answer, or was it "what console/genre do you primarily use/play?" Where was the survey taken? If it was 500 men and women surveyed outside a gaming convention then that explains the 42% of gamers are female - most of the people walking outside the convention center are probably going to the convention center; if it was on a gaming website, then obviously 100% of the people there are going to play video games, and it's just a matter of what the split is. How large was the survey pool? If they asked their neighborhood if they played video games, and 29 men said 'yes' and 21 women said 'yes' and everyone said no, then that's a much less accurate result than polling 1,000,000 people at random. And, perhaps my biggest problem, is that the doesn't account for people who said 'no' - if they polled 300 women and 100 men, and only 100 of those played video games (58 men and 42 women), then while that does work out at "42% of gamers are female," it's actually 14% of the women surveyed who play games, and 58% of men who play games.

They can stay but need to start wearing different outfits

At 10/25/12 10:01 PM, Cyclops wrote: They can stay but need to start wearing different outfits

More outfits like this.

Seriously now, these poor, poor woman probably have 7 children to feed and in need for a job. And to think some people actually want to leave them jobless, for some unhumane reasons, truly breaks my heart. I fear for mankind we have come to this.

It's degrading and at least 90% of them don't give two shits about games.

At 10/26/12 03:41 AM, Cootie wrote:

At 10/26/12 02:23 AM, jjjkuk wrote: It's degrading and at least 90% of them don't give two shits about games.

If grown women want to degrade themselves for money who are we to stop them?

BECAUSE IT'S DEGRADING. Help out your fellow human, otherwise one day they'll get confused and drink bleach.

Here's a good video on the debate:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/643 6-Booth-Babes

I personally agree with him on the point that I wouldn't mind booth babes, but if females and other people who go these conventions want them gone, I wouldn't mind it too much. The conventions are supposed to be about the games, not the girls.

I don't see the problem, I really don't. I've seen way more suggestive commercials being aired on television, if people are smart enough to know that the majority of gamer's are lonely dudes, and know that they can use that to gain a foot in the marketing department, go right the fuck ahead.

At 10/25/12 06:25 AM, kmau wrote: The concept of booth babes is retarded. Is your game that bad that you have to put half-naked women in front of it?

To me, this is the greatest call out for the AAA game industry ever. Fuck AAA games with giant carrot with spikes on it. I will play my AA and indie titles instead, thank you.

At 10/28/12 02:54 PM, HiryuGouki wrote:

At 10/25/12 06:25 AM, kmau wrote:

To me, this is the greatest call out for the AAA game industry ever.

Really? Calling out an AAA game because of booth babes is like calling out McDonald's for their fatty foods that you know would lead to obesity if you eat them. The logic is virtually nonexistent in those statements.

Fuck AAA games with giant carrot with spikes on it. I will play my AA and indie titles instead, thank you.

Yeah, because nothing says sticking it to the man like playing indie games that are virtually the same in concept and style, or are rip-offs of a more successful game in the past.

Booth babes? Is this some American phenomenon exclusive to gaming conventions? As Australia previously does not have a gaming convention (until PAX Australia comes to Melbourne on July next year), I only knew about booth babes through American conventions.

I'm not sure if PAX Australia will have booth babes, but seeing as Australia is about twenty years behind the US, I am thinking of a maybe. But there will be female gamers, so booth babes will be made redundant unless they dress up as characters from the video games produced by the gaming companies.

At 10/29/12 03:27 AM, joe9320 wrote: Booth babes? Is this some American phenomenon exclusive to gaming conventions?

No. There are plenty of booth babes outside of gaming conventions, and you especially see a lot of them in other game conventions in Japan and South Korea. From the looks of things, they don't seem to have much of a problem with them, taking the cultural differences aside.

Its kinda strict about what they are doing but you got to admit using attractive women is a cheap way to promote your product. I was at PAX and went to check out "Just Dance 4" and there were atleast 4 chicks almost half naked jumping up and down to get people's attention. Which is pretty hot ;0 ...but still a cheap way to hypnotize males to check out the game.

At 10/25/12 10:18 PM, simon wrote:

At 10/25/12 10:01 PM, Cyclops wrote: They can stay but need to start wearing different outfits

More outfits like this.

Hey, that's Jessica Nigri! But I thought she was Kiwi.....

At 10/31/12 07:02 PM, SneakyGameBoy wrote: Its kinda strict about what they are doing but you got to admit using attractive women is a cheap way to promote your product.

Car shows have been doing it for years. It's not just something that gaming came up with. I doubt it'll ever go away from the industry as a whole.