As most Australian gamers will know, this country is somewhat lacking when it comes to gaming expositions and conventions, to say the least. Recently, I attended the second annual EB Games Expo (the first real attempt at a large-scale gaming-based expo in this country) and it finally exposed me to this entire topic of ‘booth babes.’ By definition, a booth babe can be considered “a promotional model who is hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential consumers” (or so says Google). While I can completely understand why they exist, reflecting back on what I saw at the Expo last weekend, I wanted to discuss why I don’t exactly feel that they should.

I think we are all aware of the saying, “sex sells.” As much as we might find it stupid or ridiculous, the fact is, when you’ve got an attractive and beautiful model selling a product, whether you are interested in it or not, you’re going to take notice – even if it’s nothing more than a quick look, it’s still more attention than you would have given it otherwise. It should be noted that this isn’t just restricted to women dressing up (or rather, dressing down) for products aimed at men either – there are sculpted men wearing little more than underwear for products aimed for men, there are women in lingerie or other sexy clothing for products targeted at women, and there are both men and women used in the advertising for products which are marketed towards both genders. So if all of this is so common-place, why is there such a fuss when it comes to using sex to sell at gaming conventions?

I guess a good way to start would be thinking back to last week when I was actually at the Expo. I was walking around on Friday afternoon and noticed two promo girls standing at the Razer booth wearing short black shorts and black midriff tops. Now I’d assume the standard reaction expected would be, “guy sees attractive model in revealing clothing, guy walks over to booth, guy becomes interested in product, profit” but the only thing which came to mind was, “this is awkward.”

Let me explain.

I’m standing in an area surrounded by people which has been decked out for a gaming exposition – perhaps it’s just my personality, but I feel a little perverted to be eyeing out a booth babe representing a peripherals company (or any gaming-related company for that matter)… it just seems creepy.

A big aspect I feel comes into play here is the fact that we are taking about the gaming industry. When you think of gaming you think about Mario and Master Chief, you think about Microsoft and Sony, you think about nerds and geeks – what you don’t generally think about is sex. This said, I would love to see gaming move further away from that stereotypical ‘geeky’ image which it is attached to and I’d love to see gaming be considered more mature and ‘cool’ – but not at the expense of cheesy tactics like this. I find women attractive as much as the next heterosexual male, but when I’m attending a gaming convention I don’t need to see breasts and scantily-clad women… it just seems out-of-place and inappropriate. I must also be honest and say that seeing booth girls also makes me feel a little belittled as a male – this idea that I’m fickle and simple-minded enough to be lulled-in merely at the sight of short-shorts and boobs? Once again, we are talking about video games here – no fashion, not sex toys… just computer games.

We often hear commentators speak about sexism in the gaming industry, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to consider booth babes ‘sexist’, I do feel it is completely unnecessary. We shouldn’t need to resort to using sex to sell video games or gaming peripherals – the very notion that some amount cleavage is going to prompt you to purchase a new headset or keyboard is absurd and makes absolutely no sense – you don’t impress people of the opposite sex just because you can adjust the sensitivity of your computer mouse on the fly or because you can program all of your WoW hotkeys on your new keyboard. Of course, all gaming booths should have people on hand to answer questions or just discuss the products they are selling, but there is no reason they should need to wear anything less (or more revealing) than the average patron attending the event.

Another great example was seen at the ‘Game Swinging’ event hosted by GAME late last year. The premise sounded innocent enough — combine speed dating with gaming, where attendees would have a short amount of time to sit and play games with each other rather than the traditional means of sitting opposite a table and make small talk. Now this started off fine, until paid models began to strip during the event. You’d think in a room full of 20-30 year olds that this would make the event interesting, right? In actuality, from the reports of everyone who attended, all it did was make the entire event awkward and ridiculous. Once again, there’s nothing wrong with giving gaming a more mature look, but not when it resorts to cheesy tactics.

Booth babes aren’t offensive to women and they aren’t offensive to men, but they are stupid in gaming and they make things awkward and uncomfortable for most. For that reason alone, I don’t feel they are necessary. One question I would like to ask is this: if we do not like booth babes for reasons such as those mentioned above, do we have the same opinions towards those cosplayers who dress-up in overly-sexualised costumes of gaming characters? Both can show just as much cleavage and wear just as little as the other, but because one does so to be a marketing tool and the other out of the passion to dress-up/appreciation for a character. Should we draw a distinction between the two? Is this perhaps a double-standard in the gaming industry?