E3 Booth Babe Bikini Ban

Jack Thompson prevents geek hoard annual female contact

Posted by Staff
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It looks as though the hoards of men trooping to E3 this year in the hope of some female contact will be somewhat disappointed, as show organiser ESA puts the kibosh on sub-nudity on the showfloor.

Page 13 of the exhibitors' guidebook outlines new guidelines that seek to prevent any and all sexually explicit content, including any that may be on live show, from corrupting the entirely adult audience.

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. ESA, in its sole discretion, will determine whether material is acceptable.


The fact that bathing suit bottoms are mentioned so specifically does seem to hint that all female talent at E3 will be covered up, with most pointing to the Hot Coffee scandal as rationale for the decision.

As most publications seek to bemoan the news, perhaps its worth pointing out what E3 is actually like. Battling through masses of lecherous men queuing to be photographed with generic glamour model X isn't exactly fun. There's also the fact that draping semi-naked women over sub-standard videogames doesn't really do anyone any good, let alone the huge numbers of women working within the games industry at all levels.

Rather than bemoaning this guideline, perhaps we should look to why it's been put into place. Surely it's embarrassing that a sector turning over billions of dollars globally relies so heavily on base-level gratuity to draw attention to products that after half an hour, all look the same anyway. A girl in a bikini throwing cheap caps at a bunch of fat men trying to take pictures of her crotch isn't exactly the golden future of interactive entertainment we have collectively pictured.

Remember to stick with SPOnG throughout E3 for all the 10X optical zoom upskirt smut you can drain your nuts with, every day.



Comments

LUPOS 23 Jan 2006 23:03
1/14
BOOO!!!
now... technically bikini bottoms are a no no.... but what if its part of a costume... soul calibur = 13 and up... sluty soul calibr costumes = OK!
right? right?
on the plus side maybe there will be less commoners this year... or they wont be tied up in photo lines and will isntead crowd the actuall kiosk areas even worse.
________
Joji 24 Jan 2006 02:02
2/14
Heard about this and what a shame. Sound like yanks getting too pc. Gamers aren't worthy to be around hot models who are getting paid for the gig anyway.

Does this mean they also won't be at car shows and stuff too. This also means those checking out games will spend less time at E3 possibly. Is that really what they want?
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Mendez 24 Jan 2006 09:56
3/14
So what the f**k is Kikizo going to do now? Few give a s**t about its lame-o video interviews with industry nobodys (made more unwatchable due to sub-standard audio and editing). Everyone goes there, lotion and Kleenex in hand, for the booth babe coverage. It the end of an era, I say!
PresidentEvil 24 Jan 2006 10:40
4/14
Let us remember, friends. That sex is for pro-creation, not recreation. It is a sin to look on the flesh of a woman who is not your wife, and to become tumescent.

While it is clear from the bible that women are wicked tempting Jezebels, and second class citizens, it is clearly wrong that men should objectify women for their sexual pleasure.

A womean's role in life is to accept our seed, bear our sons, tend our cattle and cook our vittles.

I ask you, sons of America, to acknowledge that when you visit E3, and you wander round Kentia Hall trying to scope some booth-babes titties, that there is sin in your heart. Cast that sin out, say unto Satan, get the behind me. And I ask you, brother snad isters, to get behind me when I say that the only way to rid ourselves of sin is to Bomb Iran.

Let Jesus into you. Let Jesus enter you. Let Jesus come in you. Oh, Jeeeeeezus, Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YYYYEEESSSSSSS!!! PRAISE THE LORD.
ray_tugley 24 Jan 2006 11:03
5/14
G W****r Bush wrote:


While it is clear from the bible that women are wicked tempting Jezebels, and second class citizens, it is clearly wrong that men should objectify women for their sexual pleasure.


Does anyone know which Scottish club football team gets a mention in the bible? Really! A slice of Canadian bacon to the first person who gets it right.
DoctorDee 24 Jan 2006 11:33
6/14
Ray Tugley wrote:
Does anyone know which Scottish club football team gets a mention in the bible? Really! A slice of Canadian bacon to the first person who gets it right.

Queen of the South

I prefer "smoked". Unless 'slice of Canadian bacon' is a euphemism for something I really don't really want.

ray_tugley 24 Jan 2006 12:06
7/14
DoctorDee wrote:
Ray Tugley wrote:
Does anyone know which Scottish club football team gets a mention in the bible? Really! A slice of Canadian bacon to the first person who gets it right.

Queen of the South

I prefer "smoked". Unless 'slice of Canadian bacon' is a euphemism for something I really don't really want.



Well done, it is QOTS, Dumfries and Galloway's finest.

something I really don't really want.

Tonight i'm gonna rock you tonight.
DoctorDee 24 Jan 2006 15:51
8/14
Ray Tugley wrote:
Well done, it is QOTS, Dumfries and Galloway's finest.


I never realised Queens of the Stoneage were from Scotland. But if that's the way it is, I'll go with the flow.
Senhal 24 Jan 2006 16:53
9/14
Well, one certainly couldn't be blamed for attributing this new E3 legislation to what is often perceived as the puritanical bent of my country. In the wake of all of the legislative scrutiny that GTA provoked, it's hard to fault E3 for bowing to national pressure and attempting to maintain what it considers to be a more "professional" conference.

And for those amused or bewildered by my country's constant squabbles over such issues, know that they're very intentional. The media and government focus continually on such distracting issues as sexuality, prescription drug costs, etc.--matters that, logically and ethically need not be brought into question--as a way of blinding the rest of the country to the complete ethical mess we've created (and have been creating for quite some time) internationally. Everyone's got something to say (more often poorly informed than not) on gay rights or abortion or violence in video games, but few have heard about East Timor or the atrocities we committed in Nicaragua in the 1980s, let alone what we continue to do today on a global scale.

But to get back on topic, despite the fact that so many people are crying foul, I really don't see what the fuss is about with E3 restricting the "booth babes." My largest complaint with the regulation would be that it costs the women jobs who depend on the conference for an annual source of income, but it doesn't seem that they'll be banned outright. At the same time, I do find the preponderance of scantily-clad women at E3 and other shows to be rather silly and a concession to the societal currents that pressure women into viewing themselves as objects. If female models attend wearing belts with PSP's attached, then the industry should hire some half-naked men as well to avoid discrimination.
bunny goes squish 25 Jan 2006 07:36
10/14
Senhal wrote:
then the industry should hire some half-naked men as well to avoid discrimination.

OMGZORS! R u lyke gay or sumthink?
DoctorDee 25 Jan 2006 10:30
11/14
OMGZORS! R u lyke gay or sumthink?

The sumthink (sic) being, possibly... egalitarian.

Joji 25 Jan 2006 11:53
12/14
The odd thing with this kind of crap is that E3, like other events has not just females but male models too. Because the games industry was born of man does that mean we can't appreciate the female form to sell stuff, because sex is used to sell lots of other thing like cars, bikes etc.

What makes them so exempt from the same kind of thing?

This would be called double standards anywhere else, cause that's what it clearly is.
Senhal 25 Jan 2006 13:53
13/14
Joji wrote:
The odd thing with this kind of crap is that E3, like other events has not just females but male models too. Because the games industry was born of man does that mean we can't appreciate the female form to sell stuff, because sex is used to sell lots of other thing like cars, bikes etc.

What makes them so exempt from the same kind of thing?

This would be called double standards anywhere else, cause that's what it clearly is.

That's certainly true: sex is used to sell many things, and the video game industry is not the worst offender (just look at old US beer commercials...). But whereas some might use this fact to justify booth babes and the like at E3, I would condemn universally all uses of sex to sell products, simply because they're misleading. Sell the product, not an image. If the product isn't inherently useful, it shouldn't be purchased. Companies know this, so they try to throw in as many enticements as possible. Wasn't it Peter Moore who told some hapless gamer at the XBox 360 unveiling in Japan that the console would get him a girlfriend? It's because that sort of rhetoric comes to him so easily that he's seen so much success.
thane_jaw 25 Jan 2006 14:31
14/14
Joji wrote:
The odd thing with this kind of crap is that E3, like other events has not just females but male models too. Because the games industry was born of man does that mean we can't appreciate the female form to sell stuff, because sex is used to sell lots of other thing like cars, bikes etc.


I thought the E3 restrictions (of which there were many more, such as the first 2 hours of the first day being for authorized media only) then were intended to remove the consumer aspect of the show (e.g. directly pitching to the public) and bring it back in line with other industries' events. Certainly the banning of the booth babe/hunk thing (does anyone remember the Duke Nukem lookalikes?) is a reaction to sex within video games but perhaps "bonafide" gaming sites, like IGN, will be able to better focus their resources on the games, rather then whacking out 15 pages of thumbnailled images of boothbabes.

On a side note to look at the different attitudes towards sex accross the pond, Inigo Prophecy/ Farenheit had a few sex scenes in, although the interactive one was dropped for the states but remained in the european version. I also remember Major Nelson in a podcast, saying how he'd attended a german video game show and was stunned that there were topless booth babes wandering about. It'd be interesting to see what affect this has on other shows.
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