This is an opinion piece by me, Andrea Campton and although I do own this site, this doesn’t necessarily reflect how everyone here feels.
Comments made by the Entertainment Software Association has seemingly paved the way for booth babes at the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3. Specifically Dan Hewitt, spokesperson for the ESA stated that specific guidelines must be met, "Material, including live models, conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative, including but not limited to nudity, partial nudity and bathing suit bottoms, are prohibited on the Show floor, all common areas, and at any access points to the Show." One has to wonder if they’ll enforce this much at all considering the organization is attempting to keep its members happy. Booth babesc for those who aren’t in the knowc are generally females who are paid to scantily dress up in whatever attire the company provides them in hopes of luring young males to their kiosks for better coverage of their product(s). Although there have been males who have preformed this job in the past, this role generally is for female applicants.
In the past two years, E3 scaled down the event to only a few thousand unlike previous years which had seen up to 70,000 attendees according to the ESA. This downsizing lead to smaller booths by all companies and no tantalizing female bits to draw the eyes away from the focus of games. Companies complained about this downsizing, however, since they weren’t getting the coverage they had hoped for. This year, the ESA decided to change the scope of E3 once more. Their aim is to bring back the spectacle complete with booth babes that may get the desired result.
This is detrimental to females in gaming because it simply makes eye candy out of those who would become booth babes at what is supposed to be the centerpiece of the industry. It’s a step back from the classy direction games have started to head toward and back down the slope for gaming as a whole.
How will games ever be taken seriously if we as a gender are actively participating and supporting what these ladies do? Can you honestly say you would look at someone dressed in less material than a ShamWow as you would a movie actress dressed up for the Oscars in the same regard? Of course you wouldn’t because one has tact, the other has little to none. In some cases, depending on the actress however, this could be debated. Regardless, the majority of famous celebrity actresses choose to not wear attire that might be found on a hooker or in a strip club just for a few minutes of attention. They get this through their work and so should the games industry.
Let’s also mention the fact that many of the ladies they hire don’t know the product they’re even trying to market. It wouldn’t be so bad if they at least understood the talking points, but most of the time they can only give you the name of the game and maybe what system it’s on. For all intents and purposes they’re paid to be clueless bags of flesh that look appealing.
The industry needs to stand back up and instead of grabbing attention by using the quick and easy method of using sex to sell their product, let it speak for itself. There’s no shame in that and eventually those who haven’t come around, will. Nintendo is turning the mass market onto games without using the female body as a lure. They’ve proven it can be done and have done so at these events without this from what I’ve seen. So where’s the rest of the industry?
I can’t even figure out what the product is?