Jimquisition: Booth Babes

[Something Amyss]

DAMAGE CONTROL!!! Which we have been stuck in since, that fucking trailer, added with Tomb Raider and the whole she might have gotten rape if she didn't put a bullet in the guy head. Then everything blew up with that chick that decided to spam her kickstarter on 4chan, and got a backlash for it though in her case that what she wanted. Then we have since been trying to rid of anything that can be perceived sexist so that our image won't be ruin and we be mainstream now, or be considered an art medium or some other bullshit that we are currently on.

The irony in this is that it's not about sexism, never been about sexism, it's about the gamer image, and protecting it from anything unsavory. Which just means that we are mainstream, and this is part of the course,as every other medium has faced this before. Which also made me realize how stupid the community was, as at first I thought there head was stuck up their asses with their 90's mentality, but now I realize the community is just dumb. They think someone is going to take their games away, and it is just around the fucking corner so we be vigilant, and strike down any thing that might tarnish our image.

Hey, you know I don't really mind if you wish to streamline or omit any context or relevant details that are inconvenient, but as you're strawmanning the whole conversation, at least don't call the gaming community idiots for taking issue with things that you have left out partially or wholly in the process.

 

[Something Amyss]

If they want to give me basiclly naked beautiful booth men with their package outlined and very prominent (as girls' bits are)... they can keep the booth babes. I just wat to be able to look at a booth dude and see how well built/endowed he is and have him act all happy to see me like the girls do. THEN I'll be happy. Let's start treating the men like sex objects when it comes to cons and expos, and all is good with me.

... ... I'm serious here. I want a guy in a speedo and a little vest strutting around a booth handing out flyers or posing suggestively with a gun or sword.

I really, really am serious. Because booth babes and the degenrating of women at these events won't go away, so let's start treating men like meat, too.

... I'd also really like to see that, too. I mean, boobs are nice, yeah... bust give me a nice, muscley back and shoulders to stare at, too. And whatever the man equivilent of camel toes are so later when I get home I know exactly what to picture.

Edit: Work keyboard is dying, don't mind the typos.

Serious or not, I'm not sure that would fix the problem here.

So now they have problems with booth babes in gaming conventions. What about every car expo-race, or even cheerleaders on basketball, NFL and so on. (At least the first they are just standing there and not teasing)

Who is teasing, again?

And really, is it wrong that the fandom with the larger female demographic take issue with booth babes than the ones with fare fewer women as fans?

I mean, it's sort of the difference between someone complaining you got meat in their hamburger and someone complaining you got meat in their tofu.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

Very interesting; another high calibre Sterling episode for my Binder Full of Jim Sterling's. I never did consider the more human side of booth babes, probably because they are rarely treated as such, though admittedly getting rid of them would surely do more good than harm--I often change the television channel when watching E3 coverage whenever they film the booth babes because, well, it is just awkward and uncomfortable to look at. And, like Jimothy said, getting rid of that cop-out entertainment would only make the event more interesting.

 

[RandV80]

I don't know, I can't say I've ever been to one of these conventions but the whole thing feels like a big whack of insecurity from the gaming community. 'Booth babes' and their like are used for many other types of events or shows with little concern over what other people think of it, whether that be F1/Nascar racing, MMA/Boxing, or even just car shows. Women are less blatant but also aren't guilt free here either, with things like firemen calendars.

It would seem to me that if it's the problem of inclusiveness, that more women are becoming involved or interested in gaming, then it seems the obvious solution like many others have mentioned is to add booth studs.

 

[LetalisK]

Um, I'm not sure about E3, but if you got rid of booth babes, that wouldn't do anything. Sexy female cosplayers still exist.

Why is someone being uncomfortable relevant, anyway? It seems to suggest there is something inherently wrong with the booth babes. Why isn't the issue with the person that's uncomfortable? What if it's their failing in this case?

 

[Susan Arendt]

Also, the way some people behave towards booth babes is just plain disgusting. I've seen men (not journalists, I do want to point out), treating these women like they're at the show to provide sexual favors. I personally don't give a damn if a show has spokesmodels or not, but I shouldn't have to deal with a guy trying to stick his hand down someone's booty shorts while I'm trying to do an interview nearby. That stuff happens because some people simply cannot be trusted to behave professionally.

Hm. Might I offer my services? My body can kill libido at 100 paces. Plenty of room to conduct interviews without inappropriate, distracting behaviour going on.

but jokes aside, I do have a serious question: how is security and safety handled at these cons? I have read a bit about groping and the like, and I keep thinking "don't they have security?"

I mean, shouldn't a dude groping a spokesmodel (or really, anyone) be dealt with?

Judging by the number of stories recently I've heard of sexual harassment at comic cons, I'm guessing they're not handled very well (if at all), but I've been to a total of one convention in my life.

Depends on the event, but for something like, say E3, the convention center has security, but their primary concern is people trying to sneak in. (I've seen flying tackles, no joke.) If celebrities are at a booth, they bring their own personal security. If a company is having girls at their booth, they may also have handlers at the ready to step in should someone get too friendly, but a guy could (and has) grope a booth babe and be gone before anyone could do much about it.

 

[Jimothy Sterling]

Just to reply to your "this is putting people out of work" comment...

It strikes me that people working in coal mines probably feel the same way. If you're saying that what they do for a job makes the world worse, not better, then losing their job as a consequence to your criticism seems fair, doesn't it?

I'm not saying that booth babes are an issue or that they're doing something wrong - I'm just saying arguing that we shouldn't criticize them because they might lose their jobs, when the merit of said job itself is being drawn into question, seems silly to me.

 

[mrjoe94]

This may be somewhat off topic but I can't view this or any other video on this site. Whenever I try to this stupid escapist promo video that's 8 goddamned minutes long and after I skip to the end that's it.

 

[Jimothy Sterling]

This may be somewhat off topic but I can't view this or any other video on this site. Whenever I try to this stupid escapist promo video that's 8 goddamned minutes long and after I skip to the end that's it.

Check out the video help page to find the solution to your problem. If your problem isn't on the page, you'll be invited to submit a ticket about your issue at the bottom.

 

[Jennacide]

I'm glad Jim took both sides on this one, as there is no good answer. The closest we can get to a fair deal is conventions not being allowed to dictate their use, and the developers/publishers being the one to decide to tone down the oversexualization. Some games still make perfect sense for their use, like the example of Lollipop Chainsaw. I actually got to talk to Jessica at PAX, and I'm pretty sure she falls into the category of loving her job, and not feeling exploited at all. I realize that some women feel put upon when surrounded by all the booth models (fyi: I hate the term booth babes, can we at least stop using that?), but that falls a bit onto the person themself to feel comfortable with thier appearance. I realize I may be in the minority, but I'm comfortable with my appearance, so the booth models being around doesn't bother me outside of pondering why they are there for games like Call of Duty.

 

[Zenn3k]

Hey now people.

Hot, sexy, well developed women like an easy paycheck where they get to play with props and get drooled over.

Does that sound sexist? Too bad, its true. If it wasn't true, there wouldn't be any women to fill these positions, there wouldn't be models...for ANYTHING.

Models exist because some people WANT to be models. All you're doing is trying to put honest people out of work.

They have a nice rack and look good in nearly nothing, thats not a crime, stop hatin'

 

[Lyri]

Well that was probably due to my misinterpretation of your post I suppose, I guess I just didn't see what you were aiming at overall.

I'm just going to point out that a lot of slaves were happy.

Oh come on now, you can't compare slaves to the modern booth babe and expect it to be taken seriously.
Some slaves were probably happy because they believed that that was their lot in life and their owners didn't crack the whip too hard, booth babes get assigned to venues from agencies and probably get to accept or decline the job.
Huge difference, no comparison.

I'm not sure I'd consider expos to be a child friendly zone, the thought doesn't sit well with me so when you mention people addressing the dress code of the place I have to bring into question why people are taking children to a place filled with varying age limits of content?

I honestly don't care if they can handle it. I don't think it's proper to be doing this within the context that people have been doing it. The only legit concern I can see is that of employment and even then, you hardly see people complaining that there's no market for lamplighters and telegraph operators. Does anyone really lament when other jobs are reduced solely because they are not necessary, appropriate, or useful? Does anyone really care that email has virtually eliminated the need for copy boys?

What do you define as proper then? Besides the terrible analogy your opinion up until this part has been a resounding "No" and then nothing else to actually suggest what you would believe to be a proper use for the booth babe.

The job loss would be pretty bad in terms of the video gaming industry at least, those ladies aren't useless and they provide basic marketing for companies whilst they're there. The lamplighters analogy and telegraph operators was way off.
If you want to compare it to anything, try Blockbuster and Redbox as people are looking for the next logical progression.

As for the Nude Butlers.

They're hired by an agency who then list them and the party planner will ultimately hire one for a set fee.
I'll look for an AMA link somewhere on Reddit but it is not like it is just the men that like to get all gropey with the eye candy.
The problem with the expos is that it only caters to one demographic - the one that likes huge tits in small clothes and people can't behave around that as Susan Ardnt pointed out in her post.

Also no I was't entirely serious with the basement dwelling nerd stereotype.

 

[RandV80]

Or upon further thought on even better idea, just ditch the babe aspect and hire regular old promotional people. Same pretty faces, but they dress in company shirts instead of bikini's. You can add a few guys into the mix as well, and if you're promoting a specific game can go as far as dressing some people up in cosplay. This may involve some skimpy clothing but if that's what you're selling then there's nothing wrong with that.

An example of a great promotion, leading up to season 2 of Game of Thrones they want on a tour with the real deal Iron Throne. You could wait in line and get your picture taken on it, and they had a number of local people dressed up as look-a-likes from the show such as Jon or Dany, plus a few extra generic wildlings thrown into the mix. They had it all set up at a theater where they'd be playing season one in it's entirety, promoting the launch of season 2. That was a great promo.

...And now pardon me while I go cry in a corner, as in my city this was set up only two blocks away from where I live yet I didn't find out about it until an hour after it ended.

 

[Belated]

Booth babes aren't sexist in and of themselves. There's nothing wrong with having a natural attraction to the opposite sex, nor is there anything wrong with somebody marketing to my attraction in order to lure me to their display. I fail to see how having a normal sexual appetite of a human is supposed to be sexist. And I fail to see how having a normal sexual appetite is supposedly a "bad image" to portray of the gaming community. Oh no! People see us as human! We're so dirty for having natural impulses given to us by evolution!

If anything, the only thing sexist about it is that we don't have booth hunks as well. So what I'm proposing is, let's keep the half-naked ladies and bring in some half-naked dudes too.

And yes, "they could lose their jobs" IS a valid argument for why we can't just kick them out. Somebody said "they could probably find another place that will hire them for their figures", but can they really? They're best suited for an event that is public and popular. So once we reject them, that just leaves other cons (which are also going to reject them), and after that, only car shows. And I know car shows are known for being a man's event, but eventually they're going to get rid of the babes too, because they're also going to eventually hear bullshit complaints about the practice being "sexist". And then booth babes will be out of work. Can you think of any popular public event that WON'T eventually get rid of booth babes in the face of complaints? Because I can't. So no. By saying "they can go be sexy somewhere else", you're just passing the problem over to somebody else and delaying their eventual demise. The problem isn't with the booth babes, the problem is with the people complaining about them.

The bottom line is, there's nothing wrong with having a healthy sexual appetite. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to people. The body is nothing to be ashamed of, and I think it's stupid that we have these arbitrary rules about how much skin is or isn't acceptable to show. Who has the right to make that judgment? Nobody, because it's a stupid judgment to make. And let's remember that "arousal" is just another emotion. Why is it acceptable for companies to market to every other emotion I have, but not arousal? That doesn't make any sense.

So the bottom line is, booth babes are fine, let's add booth hunks, and those who complain need to just shut up and quit being puritanical pansies. You're not comfortable with it? Too bad. You're only uncomfortable around people who show off their skin because you've been taught to be uncomfortable around stuff like that. Because you've been led to believe that it's a bad thing. So just let go of your outdated ideas about what's "proper", and get with the times.

 

[r_phix]

Hello Jim,

Interesting video, thank you for it (and thank God for you at the same time).
There is however one argument I don't particularly agree with (and maybe I just didn't understand it, so in this case, you can just scream at me something very unpleasant, I won't be upset).

The fact that they are people working, and that we should pay them respect is obvious. And this is good to recall this fact. We are not just speaking about concept, we are speaking about people.

But this doesn't, in my point of view, justify they presence. If they are useless (I mean... they are in the context of video game... expect for Lollipop Chainsaw... I would prefer a Rambo guy for selling a FPS war game, but I am gay... so well... hypocrite in a way), well... too bad. For me this is the same argument that some people that said that, because of Metacritic, developers are loosing money, so one should write only good reviews.
They are people, so all my respect. But if something is not good, or useless, or...
Well...
Too bad...

Now, the "useless" statement can be argued. I find myself a little rude by using it.
But this is also because in general, I hate the "communication clichés". You sell car or videogame, let's put babes ! You sell a cellphone, let's use a big screen and a funny guy that will make jokes about himself (jokes that would not be even fun in another non-hypocrite context) ! You are making a new documentary about people, let's put a Sigur Ros kind of positive music with a guy speaking inspiringly with interesting camera movement and a sun set at some point...

And every time it makes me think "I don't want to be part of this world anymore".

Maybe I am, the useless person.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Am I the only one who noticed that he forgot to say "thank God for me"? I just... I don't know what to believe anymore.

 

[theultimateend]

Now, since I am a man, and nobody gives a flying fuck what men think on these issues (unless your business card says "feminist" on it, that is), I just wanted to say that, were I physically able, I would get a job as "booth eye candy" faster than you could blink.

Same.

Banana hammock it up and do the elevator dance.

Booth babes aren't sexist in and of themselves. There's nothing wrong with having a natural attraction to the opposite sex, nor is there anything wrong with somebody marketing to my attraction in order to lure me to their display. I fail to see how having a normal sexual appetite of a human is supposed to be sexist. And I fail to see how having a normal sexual appetite is supposedly a "bad image" to portray of the gaming community. Oh no! People see us as human! We're so dirty for having natural impulses given to us by evolution!

The short answer is western religions. I'd extrapolate but that's the answer.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I never gets booth babes since they come into existence, if I wanted to watch hot women I'd go to a strip club, if I wanted sex I'd do my gf or a prostitute. Booth babes are just hired women who thinks you living in your momma's basement and hates you that's being paid to smile at you.

 

[Varya]

My biggest problem is where to draw the line between booth babes and promoters?
I saw lots of footage from some con where a dude was walking around promoting Firefall (I think), dressed as a character from the game. So naturally this could be done with female characters too right? Lollipop Chainsaw for example? But that gets you classified as a booth babe and thrown out. So only modest characters are allowed to promote themselves? It's a fuzzy line, and I don't have a good answer