Games fans not mad about the girls

There seemed to be little joy for some visitors to Chinajoy yesterday. Not because of the games at the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference 2010, but because of the girls.

The country's biggest annual online game fair is famous for its scantily clad hostesses, but they failed to excite visitors to the Shanghai New International Expo Center in the Pudong New Area yesterday.

"I feel cheated to pay 50 yuan admission fee here. Girls are far from my expectation and there are fewer beauties compared with past Chinajoys," said Xiao Yang, who has visited the show for the past six years.

Chinajoy, though just a games show, attracts visitors by using girls dancing and posing at games firms' booths. Most wear only bras and hot pants, a look designed to attract attention from male visitors and photography fans.

In China, almost 300 million people play online games, the majority of them young men, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

During Chinajoy, Shanda Entertainment, the country's No. 2 game firm, hired 130 girls. Giant, which operates popular game Zhengtu, hired more than 100 girls.

Other visitors complained that girls were sexy but not pretty.

"Some girls have impressive curves but you can't see their faces," said Xiao Ding, a university student.

Exhibitors admitted that they had faced difficulties in finding girls for the show, because a lot of professional models and show girls were working at the Expo. "Even non-professional models demand a high price," said one games firm official.

On average, firms had to pay 20 percent more to hire a girl this year, a Giant official said.

Firms were paying about 800 to 1,200 yuan (US$176) for a girl for a day, compared with 500 to 1,000 yuan in the past years, they said.