Jon Radoff’s Entrepreneur 2.0 Blog

PAX attendance was estimated at over 50,000 people this year, and one of the consistent comments I heard from people during the show is that PAX has filled the void left by E3’s ongoing implosion. However, even if PAX continues to grow and attracts even more people—and the constant one-upping of trade show booths that comes with it—I still think it will be a more honest, more authentic convention. The genes that spawned PAX are filled with an enthusiasm for the experience of playing games.

One of the things that I overheard other attendees commenting on was the return of booth babes in the convention (E3 had been discouraging them, and eliminated them recently). For those that aren’t familiar with the practice, these are attractive women (typically from modeling agencies) hired to wear scantily clad costumes and attract you over to their booths, where you’ll be quickly turned-over to a generally less-attractive but better informed staffer.

A premise of booth babes is the most attendees are young males who will be easily lured by a pretty female face. There’s no denying that there are a ton of young men at PAX, but it also had more women than I’d ever seen in a gaming-related convention before. If the crowd continues to diversify, will the practice of booth babes also wane?

One of the telling signs is who didn’t have booth babes. I didn’t see any at Blizzard, Microsoft, Wizards of the Coast, Harmonix and most others. In fact, booth babes were an infrequent exception rather than the rule—and those that did make use of them appeared to be lesser-known brands, smaller companies and companies that might be struggling.

I’m a hot-blooded male who likes attractive women. I just wish they’d be capable of playing or talking about the games they’re representing. I’m not critiquing the practice—this is a blog about entrepreneurship in games and social media, so my purpose here is to dissect old practices and see what works for business. My take: it won’t go away as a practice, but despite PAX’s liberal acceptance of them, they’ve already run their course. If they can’t play the games they’re showing, then what are they there for?  I’d like to bring more women into gaming, and see women playing and enjoying games at the booths like anyone else.

In closing, I’ll give you a snapshot of what I’d like to see more of.  She was more of a costumed character than a classic booth babe.  Dressed as Judy Nails from Guitar Hero, she could play Guitar Hero World Tour on expert. I’m hoping to see more like her in the future.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.