From here: http://www.igda.org/sex/archives/2006/01/e3_censorship.html
I’ve never been (damn this straightlaced IT job), but what do you think the impact will be at E3 because of this, other than no more being bumped by a fat, greasy dude with an erection who isn’t paying attention to what’s in front of him?
Welcome to the post-Hot Coffee E3. All I can say is, ‘It’s about time’.
But censorship? Hardly.
-Tom
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Well, it doesn’t say no more booth babes. It just says that there can’t be nudity or “sexually provocative” dress. The only other specific is no swimsuit bottoms.
It remains to be seen what kind of effect this will have. The EQ Elf Queen certainly dresses provocatively, but I doubt that the ESA will clamp down on all midriff baring otherkin with ample cleavage.
It is an effort, I think, to tone down the event sexually speaking.
Having never been to E3 (though I’ll go if someone can give me a good reason…), is the amount of skin getting to be a problem?
Troy
No more booth babes? But I haven’t had a chance to touch a girl yet!
Say it ain’t so a-woah-a-woah.
You drug is a heartbreaker.
I went to E3 in 2000, which was (from what I heard) the last year in which booth babes were really out in force, its been dwindling off as time goes on. It gave the show a tacky feel, one itd be better off without. The girls mostly did not look happy to be there and the slobs drooling all over them was kinda gross. This news is just one more indication the industry is shedding its old-school, small-time status. But please keep the people in gorilla suits and Beyond Thunderdome rags. That stuff is funny.
I always found booth babes to be vaguely insulting. As if someone is going to buy my attention by paying a pretty girl with fake tits to shine her fake smile my way so I can pick up a leaflet or walk into a booth and get hype thrown at me.
BREAKING NEWS: E3 BANS NICE RACKS; GRAPHIC VIOLENCE STILL OK.
Wow the gaming industry finally growing up?
It might be censorship with regards to showing adult videogames, but with regards to expecting people to be properly dressed, yeah, definitely not censorship. Also, they should ban cameras to stop the lineups of dirty-shirts from trying to get pictures with any female in the room.
Which I think is Brathwaite’s major concern. Didn’t she do the Playboy game?
Troy
I saw a part where the ESA would fine exhibitors $5,000 for non compliance, payable on the spot. How exactly can they do this and enforce it? If an exhibitor got fined $5,000, wouldn’t they just pack up and go home? Who would pay that?
Also, while it certainly isn’t censorship, and it seems a good move in general (to make E3 seem more professional), isn’t E3 about over-the-top presentation and a chance to relax a bit? The obvious reaction if you are thinking about being an exhibitor is to be far behind the line of acceptability, which is to not have booth babes at all (or dramatically alter their role).
One less thing to worry about organizationally, I guess. Expect big gaudy displays TO THE XTREME! to make up for the booth babe draw.
Now there’s a scary thought - E3 getting louder than it already is.
Maybe they should bring back the booth babes and ban the speakers.
Booth Babes are really kind of silly acutally…but after having attended for the past 5 years, I have to say that it never ceases to amaze me that crowds of horney dorky looking guys continually flock, and I mean stampede these girls just to get a picture with them.
Yeah I have my share-- I try to get as many as possible without seeming desperate…but man there is truth in the idea that some of these guys have never seen a girl before. I mean last year the GUMBY game for godsakes had a boothbabe… hot too but wtf?
They bumped the pay option for exhibits only to $500 as well, seems to be some overall effort to improve the show this year (that ticket was $200 and was known as the last hope for non-qualified people, since they never checked creds of paying attendees. So it’s a $500 non-industry fee basically, instead of a $200 one)
The booth bade thing soudns great, maybe I can try taking Keri again without being embarrassed for my hobby. I think she came in 00 or 99 and I felt like an ass for liking games because of all the slobbering super alpha dorks fawning over the ‘babes’
Oh, man, the “C” word again. It’s not censorship. People still can and do make adult games, the folks running E3 have just decided that they don’t want these games at their event, probably for PR reasons. And when when was the last time an AO game was shown at E3? (GTA3 doesn’t count.)
Anyone know if the quotes from the Exhibitor Handbook are actually new? I mean if we looked at the handbook from 2005 or 2004 would we see the same exact wording? I have to admit, though, that the bikini bottoms stuff kind of makes me scratch my head. Swimsuits seem pretty much on this side of the tame line.
I’m totally ambivalent on the booth babe things --I’ve got the Internet, so titilation is always only a left-click away. But these people are models. It’s what they do and it’s not like they’re indentured servants. Even the ones who are dressed up as indentured servants. You don’t need to feel bad for them. And besides, there ARE plenty of less busty people at these shows willing to show you new games.
Someone’s never been down to kentia hall!
There’s always a few adult games down there. The kind which don’t end up even getting rated by the ESRB. I remember one year, there was a company down there advertising their games for the “SEXBOX”.
hahahah. Damn straight.
Actually, I have many times, but I guess I’ve never been on hunt for sex games. :) I shall have to …investigate this come May.
I’ve never been on a hunt for them, but in the three years I was there (2000, 2001, 2004) there was always something like that down there.
edit: And of course you aren’t going to find any this year! You shall never have a chance to prove me wrong!