Jim Sterling leaves The Escapist

[the_maestro_sartori]

...is Yahtzee still going to eat the mustard?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

...is Yahtzee still going to eat the mustard?

I feel a bit cheated on that one myself.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I don't know what's been happening to the escapist recently.

They got bought by yet another big parent company and many core people - like Susan Arendt and Greg Tito - left some time ago...

Will stay for the newsfeed, ZP (forever!!!) and LRR's stuff. And Bob I guess.
Time to bring back Doraleous and especially Apocalypse Lane, guys!!!

Wait... Greg Tito is gone? What?

I didn't care for Susan in a similar way I don't care for Bob. But I thought Tito was still here.

Sorry!!!
I was very groggy last night and checked the name in my Twitter feed when posting.
But I have both Tito and Russ Pitts, whole I also follow on there and mistakenly used Greg's name.

I was referring to Russ in my comment, and MAN, he was BLOODY GREAT at the job!!!
Thanks again, Russ (and Susan, and others)!!!

 

[Ishal]

Ah, this is kind of fun to watch in a weird way.

Hell, 2011 was just a horrible year for The Escapist in general; that's really where I started noticing the increasingly passive-aggressive attitude all-around (and am guilty of contributing, I freely admit).

People changed in those three years, but then again, people just change in general in three years; that's especially true in this blogosphere environment (everything seems to fly at the speed of light now).

Jim's departure comes at a timely moment for me; I'm pretty much done with this site anyway.
The passive-aggressive knee-jerk attitude is thick and infectious, "discussion" of anything game related is a joke unless it's tied to controversy/politics, and unless one already belongs to some clique there's really little worth sticking around for (incidentally, the Dreamer Society was fun, but a change in my work-sleep schedule basically killed my dreaming).

After GamerGate and the responses of certain contributors (MovieBob chief among them; I have zero respect for him or his work, to put it as politely as I can), I'll stick to lurking more; reading reactions more for a laugh and a sigh than anything now. At least until I become bored enough to move on entirely.

Gotta say I agree with you on this.

I joined in 2012, but I lurked the forums long before that. I probably started around early 2010. People have changed, and like you said it's just the way things are, people change. However, the climate of the industry hasn't exactly helped matters.

Snark, sarcasm, smugness, condescension, and passive aggressiveness are rampant in these forums. I try not to fall into it, but depending on the topic and responses, it can be hard. We've engaged in it, despite perhaps not wanting or meaning to. Thing is, I've been around the internet more in the last year or so. I've visited places that normally I didn't go. And while it's true to some extent that people will act relatively similar no matter where you go, the place of discussion tends to change things at least a little bit. I've found myself enjoying certain boards of 4chan lately. Lot's of crap on there, even in the boards I frequent, but among those threads are always interesting discussions between anons that keep me reading. Tons of different opinions, but I started to notice something after a while.

I feel a lot of the attitude problems on this site are due to the forums rules. People don't want to say things that will get them a warning, so they dance around the rules and be smug and passive aggressive. Coupled with the fact that many posters here don't seem to contribute to discussions at all. As in, they don't answer a question that's in the OP. They don't address the topic at hand. They just wade in to "call out" other posters. It's just an attitude that is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Atmos Duality]

... many posters here don't seem to contribute to discussions at all. As in, they don't answer a question that's in the OP. They don't address the topic at hand. They just wade in to "call out" other posters. It's just an attitude that is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

^This. So much this.
It took me until 2012 before I actually really used the Ignore list feature.
But this year, I just started throwing people onto it by necessity for exactly that reason.

I'm not naming names, but there are a few users who make an appearance in virtually every thread with any traction to do exactly that; a trend that's become especially true thanks to all this GamerGate business.

 

[faefrost]

It will interesting to see how long he is able to maintain his tone and approach without the backing of a larger organization and it's lawyers. Jim has never really been all that great at seeing where the lines are on his own, ( yeah TB gets away with it, but let's not forget TB IS a lawyer.) show of hands, who thinks Ubisofts team of corporate lawyers is watching this turn of developments with a vengeful glee in their eyes?

 

[RedDeadFred]

It will interesting to see how long he is able to maintain his tone and approach without the backing of a larger organization and it's lawyers. Jim has never really been all that great at seeing where the lines are on his own, ( yeah TB gets away with it, but let's not forget TB IS a lawyer.) show of hands, who thinks Ubisofts team of corporate lawyers is watching this turn of developments with a vengeful glee in their eyes?

I highly doubt they care. I enjoy Jim's videos quite a lot, but there's no way he has a large enough fanbase to actually make a big enough difference in sales. Plenty of people bash games and devs on the internet, and it's pretty much only stupid indie devs who try to do anything about it. I think bigger companies are aware that the bad publicity would not make it worth it. Then again, considering some of the PR statements made by Ubisoft, nothing would surprise me.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

...is Yahtzee still going to eat the mustard?

I feel a bit cheated on that one myself.

We did get that last episode of Uncivil War, but they ripped it out of their schedule, so I guess no chance of a revival with a new cast.

Anyways, I wasn't a big fan of Jim (he was always too aggressive and self-aggrandizing for me), but I can respect what he was trying to do. I stopped getting involved with Bob's stuff months ago, so all that's left for me is Yahtzee, the bits of LRR that come here (but I'm also on their site), and the fledgling tabletop stuff. I used to love this place, but I'm with this thread's general opinion: the forums are pretty toxic recently, and there is less and less interesting content.

 

[Mezahmay]

It will interesting to see how long he is able to maintain his tone and approach without the backing of a larger organization and it's lawyers. Jim has never really been all that great at seeing where the lines are on his own, ( yeah TB gets away with it, but let's not forget TB IS a lawyer.) show of hands, who thinks Ubisofts team of corporate lawyers is watching this turn of developments with a vengeful glee in their eyes?

While I don't care for Ubisoft and haven't for quite some time, I'd like to think their legal department has better things to do with their time.

 

[morphixgm]

will gameoverthinker come to escapist now?

 

[Lost Traveler]

Now it's just Zero pucn. and Movie Bob and then Escapist will reach the perfection it seems to be seeking.

 

[Lost Traveler]

Make sure you get rid of the desert bus driver too.

 

[Dal Riada]

For my own satisfaction, has Jim ever publicly stated what his reasons for leaving were?

 

[VondeVon]

That seemed suspiciously sudden. I'm sad to see him go. I'm a lazy consumer of entertainment and if it's not here or on youtube, I probably won't see his new stuff. It's definitely a loss for escapist though. Now I'm only popping over for Critical Miss, the news (industry gossip?), Graham's gang and ZP.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Oh dear, my box of fucks appears to be empty. How dreadful.

In all honesty, I'm not at all sad he's leaving. Jim's facade of being pro-consumer shattered when the whole GG mess kicked off, and with it went his credibility, far as I'm concerned.

What? GamerGate doesn't support one of the most pro-consumer people in the industry? Or is yours just a radical opinion?

 

[Dragonbums]

Oh dear, my box of fucks appears to be empty. How dreadful.

In all honesty, I'm not at all sad he's leaving. Jim's facade of being pro-consumer shattered when the whole GG mess kicked off, and with it went his credibility, far as I'm concerned.

What? GamerGate doesn't support one of the most pro-consumer people in the industry? Or is yours just a radical opinion?

If your against GG, no matter how long you've been calling out industry bullshit, your corrupt and a hypcrite. End of story.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Jim clearly wanted to be free of all that politicking, and now he is.

I remember at the height of the hysteria that he took a break from engaging with twitter. It may have been a request specifically from the Escapist or, what I think is more likely, he sat back seeing hundreds of personal messages from both sides directed at him and simply came to the conclusion it wasn't important enough to consume his career.

I don't think GG was the root cause of the decision to go his own way but I certainly think the incoherent screaming at him for weeks might have pushed him to accelerate his plans. I think the ad-block episode (and that fallout) was the inciting incident.