Call me paranoid or cynical, but i don't think a vote for the Escapist would "send a signal loud enough to be heard on every corner of the web that games, as a medium, have arrived."
It would rather mean The Escapist would get more attention, and therefore more revenue from ads or whatever. Now, that is of course not a bad thing for The Escapist, but the phrasing makes it look like we're doing ourselves a favor. No, we would be doing The Escapist a favor, there is no other political or social agenda that can be attached to the Webby Awards, and i don't like to be conned into taking part to something that doesn't concern me.
I nonetheless wish this website the best, may the extra revenue allow you to make more interesting content, i guess it would then benefit us too, should you take that route that is.