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E3 'Booth Babe' Interviews Reveal Comedy, Tragedy
Thanks to GameCritics.com for its series of interviews with 'booth babes' at this year's E3 videogame show, discussing "the tales these women had to tell." A model promoting Saga Of Ryzom is asked "if she's comfortable with so many guys posing with her", and answers: "It's weird when they put their arms around me... but then I feel them shaking and I'm like, whatever, if it's so important to you... it's funny when guys come up to me and tell me that it's their first time touching a girl." Girls at the Nintendo booth are also interviewed, complaining of the trade-show melee: "It's funny that people act this way over little stuffed toys... there have been people attacking us for free stuff. People will walk up to us and just try to grab it."
It's interesting to see one sterotype (women objectified by male-oriented games) discuss another (many gamers are male, lonely, and have no interaction with women). I'd hoped to hear some kind of positive comments as well, but I suppose when you're modeling, most people don't have long and involved coversations.
:)
I notice at the article ends with, "Hey, why did she get a plushie?" I would've liked to hear the apparently female author give more discussion about what she personally thought about the situation. Clearly, some games objectify women. The racing game's "booth babes" seem to be a clear example. But what did she think about the woman dressed as the sword-wielding character? Was she affected differently than the horse jockeys that seemed to be nearly up for sale? And did she buy what the Swedish developer was saying about "just dressing up in a skintight outfit for fun"?
And why are all outfits in the future skin-tight anyway?
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
...that finds these girls, for the most part, unattractive? I suppose a few of them have good bodies. But none of them would make me "shake when I put my arms around them." I can't believe there are actaully guys who are that deprived. I think it's a very inaccurate stereotype that "nerds" don't get any action. I find that most girls are very attracted to intelligence and to guys with a passion for technology.
If you're one of these guys who goes to E3 conventions and freak out around girls that are halfway attractive. Do us slashdotters a favor and stop giving us a bad name by freaking out these poor women! At least pretend that you've touched a girl before or something.
Abaddon: An Xbox 360 Indie game
I don't think I've actually touched another human being in a couple years.
Seriously? I just don't understand this. Maybe it was the way I was raised but I often hug my friends male and female. I can't imagine not being able to touch other people. Although I'm not surprised at the E3 guys being a little nervous when they pose with the booth babes the line about having never touched a woman really surprises me. Maybe they just mean "I've never touched a hottie before".
The question is, what does one do about it?
Take a ballroom, swing, or salsa dancing class. Don't worry if you can't dance, that's why you take the class. As I said I've never been squeamish about touching other people, but I definately felt more comfortable with it after I took a couple dance classes in college. I also took a relaxation class where we gave eachother massages which was pretty good. and I got P.E. credits for all of them.
In other words, would I like to get the real information from a game, instead of a hollow chick in a bikini 'promoting' the game ?
No, i don...... wait a second : yes, i do.
I, too, didn't realize that the author of the article is female until the "why did she get a plushie" line. I suspect being female helped the booth babes open up more willingly.
I wonder if/why so many of the attendees were lonely males? And why they shake when getting close to touching a woman? The last time I was playing video games with other people, it was with four other males. All of whom are married.
Personally, I might also be shaking, but that's because I don't feel comfortable being in close physical contact with any scantily-clad woman who is not my wife. Perhaps the reason the babes had such a strong impression of pale-skinned, shaking nerds was because all the happily-married men weren't clambering for a photo op.
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Please. This has more comments for a recently posted Games topic than most of the others I've seen lately.
I honestly can't believe anyone would have told the "talent" that this is their first time touching a girl. That's just a little too phenomenally stupid to believe, I'm sorry.
My first E3, I went around and took pictures of and with the women, after that, it was kind of...oh-kay, whatever. I just tried to do more interesting things. Like pose with them while holding a tube of Mentos. (That got a great reponse.)
The past couple years what I've noticed is how truly AWFUL some of these women look. For example, the Dual Screen Twins Nintendo hired. The most butt-ugly women at show. They were not a year under 40, and they were (as part of the presentation) trying to flirt up the voice of Mario, who looked to be about 65-70. The sad thing is, I think if they came on to him, he'd actually turn them down.
A lot of women just should NOT have been wearing those outfits they were putting on. I'm not of the "fat people should be shot" mentality, but I don't think you should be getting paid to traipse around in skimpy outfits when you are more likely to make people recoil than not.
This E3, which was kind of shocking, I dicovered that more and more of the employees and the show attendees are very attractive people. The girls working the booths without shedding their clothes were more prevalent, and better looking this year than any year in the past. So it was either, get in line to take a picture with a floozy who doesn't game, or strike up a conversation with a decent, attractive girl who does.
While this article was interesting, it didn't really show any dramatic insight or anything, in fact, that only piece of information I learned from it was that there were booth babes at the Total War booth, and that some of the women there were complaining their mouths hurting. (presumably from smiling the entire day.)
I think the most important line in the article is when the non-booth babe character tells the interviewer, "These women KNOW what they're doing with their bodies." If they didn't want to be hanging around in video game costume for hours, THEN FIND A REAL JOB! Yeah, they're people, people who are taking a job that basically demands they be objectified. If everyone talked to them about the games, they wouldn't have a freaking clue for the most part, and that would mean they didn't have a JOB either. So they can deal with it.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
Why do people, in games and in music, find such repellant environments attractive?
Because it's completely different from their daily lives, and video games are supposed to be escapist fantasy.
Nice attempt at a threadjack, though.
Rob
I wonder if/why so many of the attendees were lonely males?
This is a convention for members of a particular trade. It's not necessarily that the guy is lonely, it's more that the wife is back home, in a different city/state/country.
Booth babes have been around long before videogames, and they will outlast us all. They are there because sex sells. The guys that get a picture taken are mainly subscribing to the "while the cat's away" philosophy, in my opinion.
I've been to E3, and it's not all that different from a car show. Lots of attractive ladies, loud music, flashing lights, and guys trying to score with a good looking chick because the wife will never find out.
I've seen a few undeniably sad pasty lonely guys get their picture taken with a booth babe, but it's not as though you walk into the convention center and are overwhelmed by the stench of lonelyness and asthma meds. Is the geek stereotype accurate sometimes? Sure, but it's overused.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
Was the only reason that the article author was able to get any information out of these booth babas was that she was a girl? I'm sure at least one of the booth babes has heard the "I'd like to do an article about you" line from somebody. Sure, her press credentials probably helped, too.
I'm probably going to get labeled as gay for this, but:
I have been to E3 once. I have met these booth babes. I still recoil at calling them that.
I find the booth girls actively repulsive, not due to how they look, but how obviously false they are. I value honesty over pleasantries, and truth over superficial beauty.
No, I'm not gay. In fact, I'm rather solidly hetero. However, I'm not going to set myself up for disappointment by investing any amount of emotion or biological impulse in someone who so obviously merely tolerates my existance.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Don't talk about Star Trek, Slashdot, Linux, or quote Monty Python. They don't have the slightest interest in any of those topics
Dear God no, I'd never date a man who had never heard of Monty Python or Linux. Not all girls are the same, there is no topic that is either perfect for/disasterous for a conversation like that. If you think every girl on the planet has the same interests, you've got some re-thinking to do my friend.
"The question is, what does one do about it?"
uhhh... stop playing video games?
Dating is not a game. But "Just being yourself" is stupid answer to a complex question. If "just being yourself" gets you wat you want, then perfect, if it doesn't work then what? "It'll happen when it time is due"?
No, that is completely unhelpful.
I'd rather follow bad advice that makes me do something to improve myself than to keep "being myself" and botch good chances because I'm too shy/coward/stupid to notice/use them. At least if I fail I could try to rationalise why, if I succeed I could try to rationalise why. Perhaps it doesn't bother you not knowing how things work, but the social mechanism is an interesting one, and very misterious too.
BTW, to game sometimes wants to mean "hunt wild animals", but I suppose you'll dislike this analogy even more.