SEX IN THE INDUSTRY
At game
industry shows, most notably the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3),
female models are often hired to staff the booths of software and
hardware publishers. Models also roam the show floor or stand outside
convention centers handing out flyers that describe their client’s
wares and booth location to passersby. These models are frequently
referred to as “booth babes.”
The video game
industry is hardly unique in its use of models, of course. Convention
Models & Talent Inc. of Atlanta lists Pepsi Corporation, Sysco,
Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee among its clients, and attractive
models are used on television and in magazines to market everything
from eye drops to automobiles.
When E3 first
began in 1995, spotting models was difficult. Although rumors
circulated the show floor about who was using models and who wasn’t, it
was difficult to tell. Models generally wore whatever the company’s
staff wore, be it company tee shirts or other more formal attire.
Attractive staff members were occasionally brushed off as spokesmodels
who, it was assumed, knew nothing about the products they were
presenting.
By 1999, however, “booth babes” were
standard at game industry shows and spotting them was not difficult.
Industry pundits had even started asking whether the show was about
games anymore. Crave Entertainment’s booth featured women in bras with
racing stripes, and over at the Midway booth, the model’s apparel was
decidedly low cut. However, Gathering of Developers, a Dallas,
Texas–based publisher, took the booth babe concept to a new level—and
what many called a new low. Having positioned themselves as an
anti-establishment, developer-driven publisher, Gathering of Developers
rented a parking lot across from the Los Angeles Convention Center
where E3 was taking place. Having a booth separate from the show
asserted their independence. At the booth’s entrance, women dressed in
schoolgirl uniforms carded people to make sure they were at least 21
years old. Inside, the booth was loud, even by E3 standards. Bands
performed and competed with the sound of traffic from the street.
Dwarves dressed up as members of the band Kiss strolled around the
booth to promote the Kiss Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child
game that Gathering of Developers would be releasing later that year.
The biggest surprise, the one that would be remembered for years to
come, was what came to be known in the industry as “the lesbian sex
show.” On the final day of E3 and in a parking lot across the street,
two women were broadcast kissing one another intimately on the big
screen behind the main stage where bands traditionally performed. In
subsequent years, the infamous Gathering booth would continue to make
waves, most notably hosting pole dancing strippers in 2001. Images of
these dancers can be found at www.ritual.com/index.php?section=inside/showcavepics&id=79.
Although
people within the game industry regularly talked about the use of booth
babes and expressed their distaste for it, year after year, the booth
babes continued to be a fixture at industry events. Booth babe photo
roundups have become standard fare for press covering industry events,
and one site, www.e3girls.com, covers the show’s models exclusively. The site has also released DVDs featuring the show’s models.
At
E3 2005, having had its fill of booth babes and looking for a little
publicity of its own, Agetec®, a game publisher and hardware
manufacturer, launched an anti-booth babe campaign in an effort to
remind people that E3 is about the latest games, not the latest looks.
Wearing long blonde wigs, black logo tee shirts and high-waisted,
form-covering women’s underwear over black lycra shorts, the
male Agetec Anti-Babes (Figure 1.5) caused quite the stir and a fair
number of smirks. Photos and further information on the anti-booth
babes can be found at www.antiboothbabes.com.

FIGURE 1.5 Agetec’s Anti-Booth Babes
© 2005 Agetec®. Reprinted with permission.
By
2006, the tide had turned, however. E3 indicated that it would enforce
its dress code policy and fine violators $5,000. Those inappropriately
dressed would be asked to leave. The policy prohibited bikini tops and
other revealing attire that had become common among booth babes and
furthermore excluded games with adult sexual content from the show. For
developers of sexual content, it was a watershed moment, perhaps the
very one in which the mainstream game industry and adult games
industries went their separate ways. For booth babes, their
participation in the conference was largely unchanged. They were still
there, just better (or more) dressed.