MovieBob leaving The Escapist

[Bat Vader]

Honestly, I grew to hate the guy once he started calling those of us in the forum "subhuman scum" for even discussing the GamerGate.

And now that he's no long Escapist staff, it's no longer against forum rules to say this: Fuck JerkBob and his bullshit.

I'm normally not happy when someone gets canned, but he's clearly talented enough and liked enough that he'll continue to make money.

And all you saying you're leaving the Escapist, you guys gotta mellow the hell out. They're going to make new content for the site, and hire new people. I look forward to be able to get movie reviews on this site again.

They should mellow out because a content creator you dislike left? I'm genuinely sad that he was fired because I liked his content. Him and I basically had the same taste in movies so a move he liked I knew I would most likely like too. I'm not going to leave, I will just continue to watch Bob's reviews if he continues to do them at his own site.

Edit: Before someone labels me an SJW for liking Bob's content let me just make one thing clear. I couldn't care any less about GamerGate and Anti=GamerGate stuff. I treat both with extreme apathy and I don't care what Bob's opinions were either on the subject.

 

[Silvanus]

Sorry, as you can see in my post above if you like AAA games Bob has deemed unacceptable, you have been insulted. And you are a part of "The slime-pit that makes up the AAA-only/Dew/Doritos/pre-order base" and you do need to "slither off and find a new medium to fester in". Whether it's right or left wing, when your mentality is "with us or against us" like Bob's those tend to be the breaks.

Yep, he seems to have insulted me there, though a more generous interpretation would be that it's a lax generalisation-- stereotyping and lazy, sure, but no worse than a lot of stuff people come out with in average threads across the internet.

He still didn't call gamers sub-human, though.

Please understand, I'm not saying the stuff he came out with was fine. I'm only trying to get people to address what he really said, rather than building their own narrative and then letting every statement-- whether it fits or not-- feed into it.

 

[runic knight]

Ruh-roh.

@TheEscapistMag [https://twitter.com/sh00ter_d] We are accepting pitches but not adding staff at the time.

— Alexander Macris (@archon) February 13, 2015 [https://twitter.com/archon/status/566363010147844097]


https://twitter.com/archon/status/566363010147844097

Him saying that Bob's cut was part of restructuring, yet them not taking on new people. Either they have new content planned yet are keeping very, very hush about it, whereas they probably should be assuring people that it is indeed coming if that were the case, or they're just not hiring replacements. This "restructuring" plan seems like its when that time I 'restructured" a tree with a chainsaw. I'm not trying to doomsay, nor do I want the site to go down, but I honestly can't see anything good happening, and this isn't the first time I've seen a site go down like this.

Do keep in mind that the restructuring was said to be across all the defy media sites. Perhaps part of that is to have each site itself more focused on their core audience, and then loan out to the other sites for the other content (in this case the movies and comics content). That way you get less redundancy, waste less money paying so many people doing the same task, and keep each site more directed instead of each trying to be a jack of all trades. If that is the plan, I can see that perhaps working.


My thoughts on bob? Glad he is gone. He was an insufferably arrogant guy lately, and his reviews and shows went downhill a while ago. Initially I thought it was just a funk or something, since reviewers do sometimes go in waves of higher and lower quality, but after gamergate broke, he went entirely off the rails and honestly, as unprofessional as he was and as openly as he attacked his and the site's audience, he was lucky to not get fired months ago.

That said I don't wish the guy any ill will, I just wish he'd grow up, learn a little about why people consider Yahtzee or TB professionals and maybe try to stop acting like he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room who the audience should feel grateful to listen to.

 

[TailstheHedgehog]

I only watch the odd ZP episode, I only came back twice a week specifically for MovieBob. So... well, bye. It's been great!

 

[AkaDad]

I joined the Escapist for the exclusive content and laid-back forums. Now most of the content is gone and since Gamergaters flocked here, the forums turned to shit.

Unless things change, it's probably time to move on.

 

[Ratty]

Sorry, as you can see in my post above if you like AAA games Bob has deemed unacceptable, you have been insulted. And you are a part of "The slime-pit that makes up the AAA-only/Dew/Doritos/pre-order base" and you do need to "slither off and find a new medium to fester in". Whether it's right or left wing, when your mentality is "with us or against us" like Bob's those tend to be the breaks.

Yep, he seems to have insulted me there, though a more generous interpretation would be that it's a lax generalisation-- stereotyping and lazy, sure, but no worse than a lot of stuff people come out with in average threads across the internet.

He still didn't call gamers sub-human, though.

Please understand, I'm not saying the stuff he came out with was fine. I'm only trying to get people to address what he really said, rather than building their own narrative and then letting every statement-- whether it fits or not-- feed into it.

He mentioned the "sub-human" bit when talking about the antagonists in SVU, who he described above as "a strain of gamers who exist and are a cancer on the hobby" don't pretend it was an unrelated tangent man. You're trying to deflect the specifics to draw away from the intention and spirit of what he has said. And come on be real, calling gamers who play core AAA games "slime" and saying they need to go "infest" somewhere else IS an insult. An insult to his readers and to the Escapists' readers.

 

[Silvanus]

He mentioned the "sub-human" bit when talking about the antagonists in SVU, who he described above as "a strain of gamers who exist and are a cancer on the hobby" don't pretend it was an unrelated tangent man. You're trying to deflect the specifics to draw away from the intention and spirit of what he has said.

I didn't say it was an unrelated tangent. I said that he did not call "gamers" "subhuman". That's a fact. Whether he said it of a "strain" of gamers, or ill-defined "conservabros", or whoever, he simply did not say that gamers were sub-human.

 

[Ratty]

He mentioned the "sub-human" bit when talking about the antagonists in SVU, who he described above as "a strain of gamers who exist and are a cancer on the hobby" don't pretend it was an unrelated tangent man. You're trying to deflect the specifics to draw away from the intention and spirit of what he has said.

I didn't say it was an unrelated tangent. I said that he did not call "gamers" "subhuman". That's a fact. Whether he said it of a "strain" of gamers, or ill-defined "conservabros", or whoever, he simply did not say that gamers were sub-human.

And again, I say your obsession with that particular insult is just a deflection from all the things he has said. So he didn't apply one particular insult to EVERY gamer, he still called the vast majority of gamers who would read his material or follow this site a "slimepit" who need to leave so that he and his friends can "build a new game industry and a new gamer culture". The point is he views those who disagree with him as inferior, and he has loudly proclaimed this for months.

 

[wearesoneutralthatithurts]

Ruh-roh.


That said I don't wish the guy any ill will, I just wish he'd grow up, learn a little about why people consider Yahtzee or TB professionals and maybe try to stop acting like he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room who the audience should feel grateful to listen to.

They do because neither yatzee nor tb dares to have an opinion on the clusterfuck thats gamergator. Because if you dont have an opinion, cou dont have a wrrong opinon for dickwad on side A or B that would be enough for dickwad x from side A/B to justify a hatecampaign, doxxin or other sheit.

Its the easy way out, in a sense. Its safe, less chance to lose (subscribers, money, a job, your home and sense of safety etc) and also, well, those two have the easy difficulty, even if it doenst seem that way.

 

[Silvanus]

And again, I say your obsession with that particular insult is just a deflection from all the things he has said. So he didn't apply one particular insult to EVERY gamer, he still called the vast majority of gamers who would read his material or follow this site a "slimepit" who need to leave so that he and his friends can "build a new game industry and a new gamer culture". The point is he views those who disagree with him as inferior, and he has loudly proclaimed this for months.

How can it be a deflection, when I've acknowledged numerous times in this thread alone that the stuff he did say was shitty?

If I'm deflecting, I'm really bad at it, because I keep criticising him myself!

 

[Karadalis]

He still didn't call gamers sub-human, though.

The subhuman comment was targeted at the "dude bro" persona... however "dude bros" are a big part of gaming culture, who after all is buying each and every call of duty, GTA and madden game comming out every year ensuring mind boogling sales numbers and massive profits?

So no, it can still be argued that he insulted gamers. Not all of them, but a significant group with alot of financial power.

That said... after reading some of the quotes of his posted in this topic:

His rhetoric eerily reminds me of racist/arian rhetoric, only "true" or "pure" gamers are "real" gamers.. those dudebros? They arent gamers.. they are cancer, subhumans... not worthy of the medium they drag down. And yes "subhumans" was a term that was usually used by nazis to describe those they deemed belonging to a "lesser race" and just like moviebob claimed that these dudebros are ruining gaming they claimed that it was those subhumans fault that germany was going down the drain in the 1920s (instead of you know... loosing the biggest military conflict the world had ever seen to that date and being made solely responsible for that tragedy) And then when the "subhumans" are "purged" (slithered away to infest some other thing) the "real" (arian) gamers can rebuild their utopia.

Its really ironic that someone who belongs to the liberal camp is using such incredible racist rhetoric.

And anyone is surprised that the escapist might not want to associate anymore with someone who uses such rhetoric to agitate a portion of their readership?

 

[Boba Frag]

...

I don't know. I generally dislike the idea as one should 'celebrate' someone they dislike being taken off a site. Bob, for all of his soapboxing and political talking, was someone I generally liked. He was a constant well of knowledge and even if I disagreed on him with something, he provided a perspective that I generally liked.

I loved Schlocktober, I loved listening to his Escape to the Movies articles, I loved listening to the background and history of Marvel and DC comics and how they related to the live action movie release this week and I really loved his Big Picture shows. Now, I'm not entirely sure if I will come to the Escapist, because I usually came for his shows. Even if Bob's opinions drove me crazy sometimes, I had respect for him. I'd rather have a critic who insults my tastes and makes me think rather than a critic how gives me a pat yay/nay response. That's more than I can say for a lot of critics nowadays.


Best of luck, Mr. Bob "Moviebob" Chipman. I wish you well.

Well said, man. Bob would often drive me demented with his opinions, but man, I love to sit down and listen to him break down the history of comics and film.
He did that so deftly, and made a really convoluted and tricky subkject fascinating and fun to learn about.

I've always respected his integrity and that he holds very strong convictions, and I'm utterly gutted by this news.

The place has been feeling quite bare of late, and while I still come by, with Bob moving on, and LRR's content mostly available elsewhere....
We'll see, I guess.
I've had some wonderful times thanks to all the guys and gals of the site and the forums.

 

[Signa]

Sorry, as you can see in my post above if you like AAA games Bob has deemed unacceptable, you have been insulted. And you are a part of "The slime-pit that makes up the AAA-only/Dew/Doritos/pre-order base" and you do need to "slither off and find a new medium to fester in". Whether it's right or left wing, when your mentality is "with us or against us" like Bob's those tend to be the breaks.

Yep, he seems to have insulted me there, though a more generous interpretation would be that it's a lax generalisation-- stereotyping and lazy, sure, but no worse than a lot of stuff people come out with in average threads across the internet.

He still didn't call gamers sub-human, though.

Please understand, I'm not saying the stuff he came out with was fine. I'm only trying to get people to address what he really said, rather than building their own narrative and then letting every statement-- whether it fits or not-- feed into it.

He mentioned the "sub-human" bit when talking about the antagonists in SVU, who he described above as "a strain of gamers who exist and are a cancer on the hobby" don't pretend it was an unrelated tangent man. You're trying to deflect the specifics to draw away from the intention and spirit of what he has said. And come on be real, calling gamers who play core AAA games "slime" and saying they need to go "infest" somewhere else IS an insult. An insult to his readers and to the Escapists' readers.

I read that second string as talking about the AAA games industry as slime, and not gamers. I might have missed something though. Maybe if you want to interpret the "pit of slime" as the audience for the AAA industry, you might have something by citing that one, but it's a bit of a stretch. I don't know anything about SVU (or what it even stands for) but if it's as you describe, that's FAR more damning than the slime pit comment.

 

[Silvanus]

The subhuman comment was targeted at the "dude bro" persona... however "dude bros" are a big part of gaming culture, who after all is buying each and every call of duty, GTA and madden game comming out every year ensuring mind boogling sales numbers and massive profits?

So no, it can still be argued that he insulted gamers. Not all of them, but a significant group with alot of financial power.

It can be argued that he insulted a group of people who overlap with gamers. It cannot be honestly argued that he simply called "gamers" "subhuman".

 

[RandV80]

Conspiracy theory time! Movie Bob was fired because he refused to review 50 Shades of Grey.

 

[Signa]

If this happened a year ago, I think I would have been disappointed. Now, after so many forceful opinions and antagonistic comments, I'm just shocked it didn't happen sooner. I'm glad now

You know, the most surprising thing here is the sheer number of people who, like you, openly state that they want their internet browsing to be a complacent echo chamber where they won't see nor hear opinions inimical to their own.

Forgive me for going full Godwin here, but I need to make this extreme for contrast.

If someone made the comment/argument that "The Nazis were great!" you're not going to get many people agreeing or listening to that person making the statement.

If someone else said "The Nazis did some amazing things, despite attempting genocide," and continued presenting points about how a lot of modern medicine is based on their research, as well as just being able to pull Germany's economy out of the toilet in only a decade or so, you'd have a lot more people listening.

Anyone can present an argument, but how you structure it is very important. Bob isn't even trying, and he's trying to just preach to his choir instead of figuring out how to get people to listen to things they don't want to hear.

Also, why did you blockquote me? Speaking of forceful opinions and antagonistic comments...

 

[Signa]

If this happened a year ago, I think I would have been disappointed. Now, after so many forceful opinions and antagonistic comments, I'm just shocked it didn't happen sooner. I'm glad now

You know, the most surprising thing here is the sheer number of people who, like you, openly state that they want their internet browsing to be a complacent echo chamber where they won't see nor hear opinions inimical to their own.

"Transformers was a pretty bad movie"

"Transformers is for bad people. The world be better off without these subhuman shits"

You see, when your opinion is more along the lines of the second statement and you constantly, and I mean constantly, try and convince people that you're somehow intellectually superior, then yeah, I couldn't give a fuck about your opinions, and you should really learn how to present your thoughts, let alone have a whole fucking editorial segment on a website.

Also, please stop accusing that guy of some random BS. He isn't "openly" saying shit. He's clearly talking about how antagonistic Bob was. Try not to put words in his mouth.

Hey, thanks for that. I don't know why he removed my name from the comment before saying shit to me. You know what I'm talkin' 'bout! *high five*

 

[Adultism]

I'm kinda meh on the subject. While sometimes I liked his content.... Sometimes I absolutely hated it. He often got too politically preachy for my tastes/ I wish him luck and all. But you know I won't miss his content as much as I worry about the gap this leaves in the escapist.

This post stood out to me the most. I feel like he puts his personal opinion and tastes before actual reeviews / content that he posts so some of it can be quite one sided. I dunno he's just rubbed the the wrong way on multiple occasions and it doesn't really bother me that he is moving on.

However, i do hope he does well wherever he ends up. I just won't be following him like I did Jim or even Extra Credits. (or more on a side note Yahtzees drown out episodes keep me pretty entertained, but hes still a major part of this site.)

One more point, on the subject of "hating specific gamers because of who they are, IE "subhuman"

Alright first I'm a stoner so I fall under the "dudebro" catagory, but i still play games like the Longest Journey and Portal, getting my story fix is a huge part of a gaming activities and you usually won't see me playing games often that don't have much of a story. I wanted to put this point in that just hating a specific group of gamers and "hoping they die off" is on the level of "YOU LIKE THIS GAME? WELL FUCK YOU THEN!" A lot of times his hatred toward a thing or peoples is based on his biased view on the subject matter. Which is why I never really liked him. Plus how pety he would be towards people trying to hold an actual conversation with him. FORCING his points and BASHING anyone who disagreed. As I said, won't miss.

(I don't hate the guy I have the same problems sometimes its just he always pissed me off when he started taking things personal sooooooo often.)

(my grammar is atrocious.)