Sexism in Gaming: The True Story, as Told by a Booth Babe

"After modeling in Europe and Asia, I was able to get back to gaming again. It was near impossible to travel frequently with a gaming rig. Stateside, in 2005, I got my first promotional gig working The Legend of Zelda booth at E3, where I had the amazing luck to meet Miyamoto my first day!" - PSLS

[ftwrthtx]

Great interview. Yvonna seems to grasp the concepts of booth babes well and the market as a whole.

[decimalator]

yeah, she definitely sounded like she understands the business

[Foolsjoker]

It is great to hear from someone who is actually going through the issues, as opposed to people just trying to talk about things they have no idea about.

[cleft5]

This was a great article and Yvonna brought up a lot of points that I didn't think about before. Also I like the term "Brand Ambassador", I think that's a much better way of describing someone who is there to present a game or franchise and do more than just stand around and look pretty.

[MysticStrummer]

Charisma +2 is an awesome name for her agency, and bringing in women that actually know and enjoy gaming, at least to some extent, is a great idea.

Also, she used the word "poppycock".

:D

[Pisque]

Seems hypocritic to be against sexism when you sell your body to an industry.

[doctorstrange]

You didn't read it, and selling your body is a bit extreme

[TekoIie]

I think that what he's trying to say is they're not there for their intellect (although this article talks about changing that).

But otherwise "selling your body" is not accurate but not entirely false either.

"Charisma+2 models are gamers that are not only fans, but can interact with the customers. Many times our models are set to play alongside, or against, the customer in a much more interactive experience than the standard booth."

I hope this is the future of booth babes^^^

[Killa78]

Are they there for a reason other than to look good and bring in 'foot traffic'?

Granted it's slightly extreme but the reason they're there is pretty evident.

[Foolsjoker]

Actually, a brand ambassador aka "Booth Babe" does a better job when they understand the product. As some people just stand there drooling, others are asking questions about the product themselves.

[Foolsjoker]

You might actually benefit from reading the article before opening your mouth. Then again, I doubt that would have still saved us from your drivel.

[Brucis]

Not really. Looking pretty or handsome while playing games doesn't mean you can't be against unfair treatment due to gender. She actually seems to know what she's talking about unlike a lot of people that cry sexism. She acknowledges that both genders in video games are often taken to extremes and that having someone take a picture of you or flirt with you isn't the same as being sexually harassed, molested, or denied a job because of your gender.

[Jayjayff]

Only if you don't understand what being a hypocrite is, you would think that to be against sexism couldn't work with being a model.

[Lord_Sloth]

I know! Look at the way these characters shamelessly put their bodies on display!!!

SHOW SOME MODESTY!!! STOP PUTTING MY GENDER ON DISPLAY!!!

[Brucis]

Did you read the article and how she said the same thing happens with guys in video games as well? She's not some Kotaku feminazi crying about cleavage, she's actually pretty much telling those people to shut up and stop crying because someone said you look hot or there was a busty character in a videogame.

@Lord_Sloth below
Ah, my bad lol. Hard to establish intent on the internet.

[Lord_Sloth]

My comment was meant to be humerous and nothing more. Laugh and move along.

[Nevers0ft]

Ironically... I skipped the article and fapped to the pics. Best advice I can give is don't give me boobs to look at if you want to talk about misogyny as I'm still a slave to my primitive chromosomes O_o

[0pie]

im really tired to see cheap sensationalist article about how the industry is sexist...

[Brucis]

It's actually a good article saying most of the stuff is overblown and out of proportion.

[cleft5]

This is not a cheap sensationalist article like the rest. I highly recommend you read it. It's very well written and from the perspective of a women that is doing something real within the gaming industry.

[-Gespenst-]

So many people are going to use this article to confirm their bias, but don't forget, her body is still being used to lure male gamers to booths (that's the actual purpose). It's still objectifying - she's being treated as a sex object, and being used to a utilitarian degree for the sake of marketing. A fashionable, current idea of what constitutes the ideal female body is being deployed for the sake of a procedure within a corporate agenda, and it's altogether very cynical. It's sad to say it, but any "booth babe" who thinks she has some sort of power in her line of work, is mistaken. All it is, is buying into and supporting what is already a backwards, narrow-minded, cynical, and structurally patriarchal system that cares not at all for any of them - cares only about their oblique function in relation to the market.

Most booth babes, by virtue of the fact they choose to be booth babes in the first place, aren't very critical people. If they were, they wouldn't degrade themselves for a corporation like that, and they'd realise that they're contributing to the objectification of women in society, as well as to gender and body expectations which certainly don't apply to many, many people. I mean, the subjectivity of that job alone has such narrow parameters - your job is to be a "babe" and you function to draw attention to a "booth", i.e. stand there and look pretty.

I appreciate her initiative with the whole Charisma +2 thing, but it's a shame that it seems to retain the whole "booth babe" appearance.

[Craigatorian]

If there are prostitutes, why can't there be booth babes?

[doctorstrange]

Uhh

[fsfsxii]

This.

[rainslacker]

Objectifying a woman to sell a product is a far cry from sexism.

The fact that you dismiss her arguments, or at least cast doubt on them by saying they are being bought by the cynical and structurally patriarchal system like she has no mind of her own due to her looks and being paid for those looks could be considered sexism however, as it's discriminatory due to her gender, and her acceptance of using that gender to profit is the same cynical, narrow minded, and structurally patriarchal train of thought that you seem to be so much against.

"Most booth babes, by virtue of the fact they choose to be booth babes in the first place, aren't very critical people"

Tell me exactly how this isn't a sexist statement. It is discriminatory through and through.

[-Gespenst-]

It isn't a sexist statement, it's a comment on her line of work and the gender politics built into it. If you effectively sell your body (and that's what it is, even though "selling your body" has become fully and wrongfully associated only with prostitution) to a corporation who are exploiting broad, crude ideas of gender to maximise their profits, you can't be a critical person, no matter your gender. To be part of such a thing IS to be ignorant of your own circumstances- to be fully immersed and entrapped in the "booth babe" (or otherwise) subjectivity. It's not even their fault, this is a thing that has been culturally gaining traction for years because of the mass culture produced by corporatism and advertisement, themselves logical developments of toxic ideas dating back to the 19th century. It's even insulting that companies would use such crude methods to get attention, not to mention productive or reproductive of a mass culture already weaned on shallow ideas of gender.

If anything, booth babes should just be replaced with normal civilians, male and female, who just challenge you to a game of whatever's being shown in the booth. Again, I appreciate her initiative with the Charisma +2 thing, I think it definitely shows a greater self-awareness and a greater critical awareness, but I just wish they'd ditch the "booth babe" persona, then they'd escape the clutches of corporatism and encourage more actual, friendly human contact during these shows, not calculated advertisement and luring.

[deno]

It must be horrible having to go through such a difficult thing. Can you imagine how tough it is compared to women in the middle east who have to wear ninja (burqa) masks or people starving due to a lack of food. Man we have it tough here.

[Hicken]

Yes, because it's acceptable as long as somebody else has it worse...

[-Gespenst-]

Exactly. It mightn't be as bad as the issues deno mentioned, but it's still bad and therefore shouldn't be just accepted. @Deno: No one for a second is denying that the stuff you've mentioned is bad, how could they? There's still issues in our own society however, and this numbers among them, which is why we're discussing it. Our society isn't somehow perfect compared to the third world and the middle east, there's a lot of cultural problems here too. And besides, it's not like people are somehow ignoring the issues overseas, granted they could use a lot more effort and many are deeply implicated in capitalism, which needless to say is OUR own problem and is impeding the help we can actually give the rest of the world - but nevertheless, those problems aren't ignored. We just happen to be discussing one unique in form to our own corner of the world. There's nothing wrong with that, and it should be encouraged.

[Len]

BURN ALL WOMEN! XD

[PrimeGrime]

I had to stop reading at the headline. So you will gladly take money for people to look at your body but then you are going to talk about sexism? That is like a pornstar or a stripper almost trying to talk about sexists. Sorry that equation isn't adding up.

If you cared that much you would not be a "booth babe". Pretty simple there. You can't complain about sexism when you willingly subject yourself to it.