#oneaday Day 578: Booth Babe

Gamescom has been great fun so far and I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff, though it really drives home quite how sexist a lot of the industry still is, despite many positive steps having been taken and a lot of prominent females with important creative and business roles.

But still we’re cursed with the booth babe. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against looking at a pretty lady in tight form-fitting clothing in an appropriate context (if there is such a thing), but seeing girls in hotpants and thigh-high boots promoting Kaspersky antivirus solutions just seems a bit weird, and seeing World of Tanks with a bevy of scantily-clad beauties outside compelling people to come and play just highlighted the fact that some aspects of the industry are still firmly entrenched in the mind of a 12 year old boy.

This even extended behind closed doors in the business area — I won’t name specific names (largely because it happened a lot) but many booths had attractive women in short skirts staffing their front desks, and it was clear in many cases that said women weren’t part of the software company’s regular staff — particularly when you got inside the booth and saw the actual female members of staff dressed, for want of a better word, “normally”.

I’m sure there’s a reason for the fact that this still goes on — perhaps there’s some deep-seated psychological reason that people will respond better to attractive women — but we’ve seen plenty of evidence, particularly in the last 5-10 years, that gaming is not a male pastime at all. It’s not a female pastime, either. It’s just a pastime, a hobby, something to do for both genders — and the way a lot of people, both male and female, make their living. So for the industry to exploit women — real women, not rendered, polygonal women — in this way leaves something of a bad taste in the mouth.

However, while features like The Top 10 Sexiest Booth Babes In The Universe remain traffic magnets for sites, the situation’s likely to continue. I know very well that if I spend tomorrow walking around the show floor taking photos of booth babes and then uploading them into a picture-heavy, word-light piece, I’ll likely create a day of spectacular traffic. But I find myself torn a bit between my own integrity and what makes, for want of a better term, “good business sense.” It’s all very well feeling like you’re taking a stand, but unless everyone does it it’s a largely meaningless gesture.

Maybe I’ll just hunt sexy cosplayers instead.