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Pax's Booth Babe Policy


Gone are the days of being inches from a Booth Babe and wondering how they could possibly fit in those skimpy clothes. Recently Pax announced in a official statement their change of policy regarding this issue that stirred up plenty of controversy over the years.

“PAX Booth Babe’s Policies”

PAX has a strict ‘no booth babe’ policy with the purpose of creating an environment where everyone can feel comfortable and welcome, and the focus is on games, not hired booth staff.

Booth babes are defined as staff of ANY gender used by exhibitors to promote their products at PAX by using overtly sexual or suggestive methods. Partial nudity, the aggressive display of cleavage and the navel, and shorts/skirts higher than 4” above the knee are not allowed. If for any reason an exhibit and/or its contents are deemed objectionable to PAX management, the exhibitor will be asked to alter the attire of its staff.

Cosplayed characters that are playable in-game are an exception to this rule (within reason), and exhibitors must obtain permission from show management prior to the show.

If for any reason an exhibit and/or its contents are deemed objectionable to PAX management, the exhibitor will be asked to alter the attire of its staff or remove those staff from the show.

Cosplaying attendees may be asked to alter or modify their costume if it is considered overtly sexual.

This debate about relevance of booth babe to game conventions isn’t an isolated incident. Organizers and game developers have been struggling for years how to handle this issue and issued several polls in the past to assess the gamers’ perspective on this subject. A certain poll from 2010 issued to 6.313 people from Penny Arcade’s community shows 60% favored the ban of booth babes, while only 12% stated they hated the policy, with the most common reason for this public response being the booth babes lack of knowledge for the product they are supposed to advertise and a general dislike of attempting to convince gamers by showing partial nudity. Some would contribute this percentage to the amount of females on these events, since the demographic changed over the years with males only compromising around 50% of the visitors. Although a staggering poll Pax issued in 2010, where 81 % of the participants ask that the booth babes have some knowledge about the game itself, instead of being cheap eye candy show this isn’t purely a female or feminist issue.


The only exception being cosplayers that still maintain plenty of respect inside the community, as many feel these restrictions shouldn’t hinder their desire to dress up in their characters favorite clothes. Some costumes may be revealing, but they remain accurate to the game’s lore and therefore shouldn’t be hold back since it falls under their own freedom of expression.

So we know the developer stance and the gamers stance, but how does this influence the many models that will be affected by this. We all remember that infamous contest in Comic-Con EA did in 2009, when trying to advertise Dante’s Inferno by utilizing booth babes in a more active role.


This contest backfired horribly and resulted in many models complaining of gamers engaging in bad behavior throughout the contest. EA quickly corrected this and apologized accordingly, but the damage was already done, making several question the ethics of utilizing booth babes and pulled this issue more to the forefront. This controversy is only one example, but this made organizers primarily focus on the feedback their fans provide and shift their priorities to a more strictly gaming focused event, without the need for any superficial aid.

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