Topical Tuesday - What The Escapist Means to You Contest

[Spinwhiz]

Topical Tuesday - What The Escapist Means to You Contest

Whether people visit The Escapist for our great articles, hilarious videos, in-depth features or just to be part of the amazing community, one thing is for certain, people from around the world call The Escapist their home.

Welcome back to Topical Tuesday! Every Tuesday we ask our community a question related to that week's magazine topic. Our goal is to begin an intelligent discussion based on a topic that's uniquely relevant to us as gamers and to the industry we love.

This week we celebrate the 5th anniversary of The Escapist. Every week we publish articles, features, webcomics, videos and a ton of extra awesomeness to give you the best of what the gaming industry has to offer. In return, you have given us 5 great years and we see no end in sight. So, in light of our anniversary comes our Topical Tuesday question:

What does The Escapist mean to you?

We will be choosing one of the essays to publish on the front page at a later date! We will keep this thread open for 2 weeks. All entries must be in by July 20th at 11:59PM.

Here are a couple guidelines:

Use proper grammar.
Submissions can be no longer than 300 words.
No Shout-outs to your friends in the submission.
If you are chosen as the winner, we will need to use your real name to publish your submission. If you don't want your real name being published, please don't enter. We will contact you asking for this information if you win.
Please have something meaningful to say.


Ladies and Gentlemen, to your keyboards and discuss!

 

[Radeonx]

Thank you for making it a two week contest, because I'm swamped with intern work in a foreign country so getting stuff done takes a while.
Time to get to writing!

 

[Frequen-Z]

Are we to post our entries into this thread or PM them to you?

 

[Spinwhiz]

Are we to post our entries into this thread or PM them to you?

Yup, post them right here in this thread.

As for giving our names out that just means the first name yes?

[sub]No I'm not paranoid, just curious[/sub]

First and last name.

 

[Spinwhiz]

snip

I assume we can PM you the full name instead of posting it with the short essay? Or do you want it to be with the essay? Or is it up to us?

If you win we will ask you for that information. There is no need to post your full name prior. Great question and article updated accordingly.

 

[Rakun Man]

Hmm, I'll get to writing!

 

[Pegghead]

Well here's my submission, it is exactly 300 words.

What does the escapist mean to me, well if it didn?t hold any value I wouldn?t be sitting here discussing it with you now would I? Drunken Scottish ramblings aside asking what this wonderful world on the web means to me is a rather fickle question. Is it the wonderful community, the good news on everything geekish, the videos that can have me in stitches at the fast-talking Anglo-misognyst or in a state of rose tinted misery at the pixels Miss Mayes makes us muse upon? Frankly it?s none of those things that make me keep coming back to this wonderful place through good times and bad times, through kind users and awful trolls. So what is it, you may ask, that keeps me coming back week after memorable week? Well, I might respond, much like the philosophy of one William Shakespeare ?tis encapsulated in the name, the escapist, escapism, freeing myself from the hollow to-ing and fro-ing that is my life and whiling away a few wonderful hours of an evening at the place where Russ is king. So while men and women armed with texters and textbooks may spend six hours of each day making me believe that I shall need to know the process of deducing the length of a hypotenuse in order to survive the real world I know liberation is soon to be, so while men in suits on the television screen may seem to think I care about our economy for half an hour I know my freedom is at hand; and while stuffed-shirts and neat-freaks may have me on the ground ensuring not a trace of filth shall befall the soles of our shoes I know that soon I will be in the arms of those who took me in with arms outstretched.

 

[Lust]

My submission is thus:

The Escapist.

I could use so many words to describe how I feel about a site that has become a personal lover of mine. Joy, happiness, and levity only go so far. Joy, for whenever I log into my profile and see a new message from someone who liked what I had done or said the day before. It could also be a new badge awarded to me for completing a quiz. Happiness, for those days when nothing's going on and a new Yahtzee, Moviebob, or Unskippable video has been uploaded. I can only say that a mild form of mania surges through my veins whenever this happens. Let's not forget levity.

Levity hits me like a bag of sand whenever I search the forums. Be it a new thread or an overly stressed one. I'll contribute, if the topic interests me. That said, this is where the Escapist really shines. The community. A place where all walks of life can come together and speak amongst each other. Philosophy, gaming, films, or whatever subject strikes your fancy.

You ask them, they respond. The Escapists will not scorn you with pessimism, hopefully. Everyone welcome newcomers with open minds.

The Escapist is a site that can't be expressed through words alone. It must be experienced.

 

[sammi43055]

Here is my submission:

Escaping from the real world and being a part of a community that shares my love of gaming: that is what The Escapist means to me. The name says it all. I feel freedom and acceptance from a welcoming community. I am able to meet and discuss a wide variety of topics with gamers like me. The community relationship is very important, but above that is the excellent content that The Escapist supplies. The reviews are above and beyond what I would expect from similar sites. The Escapist has reviewers who have actually taken the time and energy to play the games, and give a meaningful review that clearly shows the pros and cons of the games. By watching these reviews I am able to make an informed decision when it comes to purchasing new games. The other video content is enjoyable to watch. I was thrilled when they finally offered the community a chance to join the publishers club. Beyond the reviews, the site also offers several fun aspects. I enjoy taking quizzes, and the badge system is a great feature. It is fun to be rewarded with badges simply for enjoying the features on the website. The Escapist is a fantastic website. I am glad that I found the best gaming community, but I am truly happy to have great articles and videos to look forward to everyday! The Escapist means a lot to me. It is better than waggling a Wiimote around! In all seriousness it is a lot of fun to get on and chat with other members, take some quizzes, read the many articles, or simply sit back and watch the awesome videos. Zero Punctuation brought me to The Escapist, but the many other features are what keep me coming back for more.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Here is my submission, in little bite-sized chunks, as is my wont

I?m new to the Escapist this year. But in this short time I?ve moved from casual ZP fan to devoted lurker and contributor to, well, just about everything. I read the Escapist from beginning to end every week now. There?s multiple reasons for this.

Firstly, the reviews help me research new games. Although they don?t always clinch whether or not I should buy, I make better informed purchases now. I rarely buy duds anymore. Plus, the style of writing or quality of review is consistently high, meaning they?re a pleasure to view!

The articles expand my knowledge of the games industry and games design. As a student doing Games Design, I find them all interesting and helpful. Where else can I go to discuss the most important aspects of gameplay, find out the latest updates from developers or debate the importance of good storywriting to an immersive gameplay experience?

And then there?s the really fun stuff. The forums are always fun, and sometimes really thought-provoking. The Escapist has managed to attract some really intelligent and fn people as members, and I can just soak up their wit and wisdom. Yay!

The real reason I found the Escapist was, of course, Yahtzee Croshaw. I still wait religiously for his weekly instalment of fun, and am beginning to find and explore the more hidden video gems on the site.

So The Escapist for me is my internet destination of choice. It fulfils so much more than entertainment or social networking; it guides my choice of games, my knowledge of the industry and my enjoyment of games in general. I?ve got to say, my only problem is that of what to do first when I log on in the morning. And when that?s my sole issue, why would I ever want to leave?

 

[The Random One]

Does it need to be an essay? I had an amazing piece of fiction I had planned. Oh, never mind, it's way more than 300 words.

I think I'll post it in here anyway just because I won't post anywhere if I don't.

 

[Frybird]

What i wrote makes me feel a bit like some kind of weird hippie car salesman...thing...but, well, whatever.

Here we go:

Whenever someone, maybe a famous critic or a politician in search for an easy answer (read: scapegoat) for the problems of society, denounces games, the greater gaming community is quick to react. "Games are art", maybe the most common argument of those defenders.

But are games actually treated as such by those people?

Look up the big gaming sites and communities, and try to tell me that they treat games as an artform. Granted, some may go above and beyond giving out arbitrary scores and creating the hype for the "next big thing" and may touch upon aspects of "gaming culture", but in most cases, it's easy to see that gaming is treated just like any other hobby.

And that is where The Escapist makes a difference. A gaming magazine that is not about colorful advertising, forced review scores and special features like "The Top Ten Games with Boobs in it". This is different. Special. One could even argue that it is not about "games", but "gaming": Game culture, aspects of game design and the gamers themselves are front and center here. It examines why "we" play, not how we do it. Sure, as The Escapist grew larger, it has integrated more conventional content like "classic" reviews and news, but the core, the one thing that makes this little part of webspace special, remained. Games are treated as experiences, part of a greater culture, and more than every other page on the internet I visited, as "art".

And if someone would ask me what makes videogames so special for many people, and what are the reasons why people play, the next best thing to actually play games with him would be The Escapist.

 

[The Rockerfly]

This is my submission

The Escapist is an interesting and rare type of site, not for the reviews, gaming discussion or videos but something entirely different. To me The Escapist is so many things and more that other sites may offer but The Escapist presents them in a much more interesting way.

To start with there is the community which you discuss almost anything from; reality, music, books, reviews, politics, religion, gaming discussion and so much more. Each day I spend on The Escapist it expands my knowledge of anything and everything, which has made me more aware and knowledgeable about the world I live in because of the community and articles which is the life blood of The Escapist.

My second thing that the escapist means to me is the input from staff and videos. These provide a large variety of things The Escapist means to me such as; intelligent articles, humorous videos, impressive gaming feats and insight into the gaming industry. I have never found a site which has caused me to; think intelligently, laugh and go ?wow? in 5 minutes.

The input from staff and videos drew me in and the community kept me and since I?ve been here for over a year I can say you did a good job of reeling me in and keeping me. To me The Escapist is not something that can be talked about but more experienced, stay here for 3 months and you will think the old you is a moron. Probably because he was compared to how you are now, how you think and how the world affects you.
So The Escapist means a lot to me but overall I think it shows progress of what the internet can achieve for good

 

[Weaver]

Why do we need to use our real name and not, say, a pen name?

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[BlueHighwind]

My entry:

The Escapist is my best friend in the whole world. The Escapist gives me candy when I'm feeling sad. It plays baseball with me when everybody else wants to play football. It tucks me in at night, and gives me goodnight kisses. The Escapist reads me Harry Potter, and kisses my boo boos. The Escapist makes me laugh when I want to cry, it makes me happy when Daddy beats me, and makes love to me when a date goes bad. I love you Escapist. Will you marry me?

 

[Jared]

Me Entry :

The Escapist for me is more than just a community, its an entity of its own. The progress it has made, the obstacles, and the drama which have all come, and gone, have only served to make us stronger.

The content has always been solid, and, quality control is something which I know people here are passionate about. The information is presented, the facts, with the jokes, all rolling into one great read.

The interaction with those who read too is great, not only do they deliver great news, but, they deliver content which people can activly get involved in, in terms of prizes, or, just for fun...from Rebecca Mayes to competitions.

The Escapist is more than just a place to read the news, and, to keep up to date with the latest games. Its a place to truly become involved