MovieBob leaving The Escapist

[Stewie Plisken]

Don't mind me, I'm just here for the tea and dancing-on-graves party afterwards.

Seriously though, I don't quite need to tell anyone who's ever even glimpsed at a post of mine how much I had grown to loathe the guy. He was consistently unprofessional, politically myopic, but most importantly he was entirely out of touch with the culture he had a job with interacting with and critiquing, which made him bad at what he did as well.

I mostly make this post to wonder about those who would leave the site entirely because Bob and Jim and others have left, though. Didn't a bunch of editors come over from Gamefront? Stick around; they know their gaming and they write well.

 

[Nixou]

I did come here first for Yahtzee but his reviews always felt samey so I kinda zoned out on his content

Yahtzee's most interesting content always was his extra punctuation column, since here he isn't constrained by the review format.

 

[webkilla]

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

This is now canon.

Nah - he wanted to review it too much... it creeped out of the new management

 

[Doom-Slayer]

LRR... GONE
Jim...GONE
All the extra podcasts... GONE
MovieBob... GONE
Yahtzee next?

Seriously? If this keeps up there wont be anything left of this site...

Like Ive been here for going on 6 years and the content kept wobbled a bit as Jim was introduced then LRR dissapeared...then the new podcasts came and I thought it was an okay balance point.

Now that Jim, Bob and the podcasts are gone we are less than the content level of 6 years ago except no LRR and no Russ Pitts or Susan Arendt.

And no Doomsday Arcade....or Extra Credits...

I miss the old days...

Seems like my pubclub membership is becoming slightly unneccessary now. I came here for Yahtzee, Jim and Bob basically. The 3 things I think a lot of people came here for. 2 of those things are now gone..and if Ben goes on solo weeeeell a lot of people like me are going to move on I think, despite how much we love this place.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I still check out Jim on youtube from time to time. I won't be bothering with Bob because I find his stuff pretty poisonous. Good luck to the guy I guess. I personally feel very little good will towards him or his extremist opinions and and am sure he will die in the great wild savannah that is youtube where quality and consistency are traits needed to survive. Without an editorial team for quality control, a platform (This website was seriously where most of his content went.) or moderation. (Look at his twitter comments) He will not last the race. Practically every other contributor had something outside the escapist going for them in a serious capacity. Bob's painfully bad youtube stuff will not be able to compete with people with actual production values.

I am sure he knew which way the wind was blowing so he probably made his own plans. Although I am sure he will be changing his tune about independent you tubers after getting the chop. And he DID get the chop. That much seems clear.

 

[anthony87]

[...]
But the issue with him was likely his inability to not be a flaming asshole on twitter. [...]I think they asked him repeatedly to turn down the twitter nonsense.

Considering they had to resort to removing his tweets from the sites twitter feed due to peoples response to his conduct as well as the reactions in this very thread to the news, I reckon this is most likely the reason for the whole thing.

The consensus from many, including myself, seems to be:

"I really liked Bob until I discovered his Twitter feed".

I don't think any site would like to associate itself with that kind of reputation.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Whilst he did have some polarizing opinions and got a bit too 'Fanboy' for my liking on occasion, I still liked his content in spite of that, partially why I liked the Big Picture. From geneeral laps through threads and stuff he has said some pretty bad Twitter etiqute, but twitter is a form of social posion I'm sure so I don't touch the crap chute with a ten foot pole.

I'd probabaly support his patreon perhaps if he goes the Jim route, ergo content is free but paying is appreciated.

 

[ForumSafari]

I've heard mixed reports on this, apparently his announced firing may have been a mistake. Just out of interest can any staff members comment on it?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Huh.

On one hand I always thought he had a bunch of absolutely terrible views on a lot of political and social issues and expressed them in the worst way possible. On the other hand though I did enjoy his movie reviews and some of his Big Picture. I did like his insight on pop cultural esoterica and I think I'm gonna miss them.

 

[Karadalis]

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".

True, but if you belong to both groups it might seem to one that he insulted gamers as a whole, especialy if your idea of a gamer is based on your emidiate suroundings (all your gaming friends are dudebros too)


What that says about the insulted parties horizon ill just leave up to imagination but i can understand where the notion comes from.

In the grand scheme of things thought it matters little if he didnt insulted gamers as a whole this time and only a sub group of gamers seeing that he insults everyone who doesnt agree with him... not only gamers or his personal boogyman the fratboy demographic but also movie goers and comic readers that dont adhere to his personal tastes.

Wow that escalated fast. Dude starts with insulting some peoples purchasing habits and ends with concentration camps and the eradication of millions. I wish people would stop throwing in nazi's at things that aren't even in sniffing distance of nazi's or the intended meanings of the speaker.

No? Even thought he uses the same narrative and even some of the same words? Subhumans ruining a once great thing was exactly the narrative that the nazis used in their raise to power. Never heard of the "Dolchstoß" legend and how the jews where responsible for germany loosing WW1? It was the same narrative that was used to justify their hostility against the jewish population. It was the very narration of "once these subhumans are gone germany will raise to its former glory"

Or hell.. even modern day racists in the US are using this rhetoric... "the US is ruined by all those subhuman illegal immigrants and ruining our great country, everything would be better if they where gone those filthy dogs"

And you seriously cant see that he is talking the exact same shit only with the nazis/racists replaced by the "true gamers" and the jews/immigrants replaced with "the dudebro demographic" and germany/USA being "the gaming industry"?

The thing is its bob who has these gaming holocaust fantasies. He used the words, he keeps talking about subhumans and people not worthy of the medium. Hes the one saying that he wants these "bastards" to "suffer" and "scorched earth" (words he used in his twitter ramblings, look it up if you dont believe me, someone posted a link to an imgur gallery of bobs best comments)

He was the one saying there are no wrong "tactics" only wrong "targets", or that those in gamergate are flea ridden dogs.

Just saying.. pure nazi rhetoric right infront of you and you ignore it because bob didnt called for the gassing of dudebros yet?

Heck at this point hes the very epitome of a gamernazi, deciding who is worthy and who is not worthy, who is a true gamer and who isnt based on his own inane qualifications.. you know.. just like the nazis.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Nothing worse than getting dumped over Valentine's ouch

 

[Cyberstrike_v1legacy]

He made many posts claiming that "bros" had co-opted his hobby, and that he was an "original" gamer because he started with the NES and many of them only started with the Xbox.

That was Bob circa 2009, back when his misanthropic "Why have I to share a planet with these moronic rubes" shtick wasn't regarded as controversial: back then he could have pulled a Hicks and called for the systematic genocide of every and all people who didn't notice the similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5, and that would have barely caused a blip.

It's when he mellowed out, toned down his generational tribalism and began to revise his older opinions, starting to say that maybe educated, upper-middle class kids with backgrounds and cultural references similar to his own weren't blameless art enthusiasts that he started to be regarded as sanctimonious, antagonistic, and disrespectful.

No, gamers are not worthy of good journalism

"I'm not offended by #SVU because I am a gamer and recognize that gaming is diverse. The villains in the show were a sadly spot-on... ...depiction of a strain of gamers who exist and are a cancer on the hobby. But they are not me, they are not the majority" https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/565919038686392320
Apparently SVU was "spot on", in that women get yelled at and raped at gaming conventions just for being women. And GG has kidnapped and tortured a prominent female game dev. And had rooftop shootouts with the police. Except wait, none of that actually happened, so how exactly are the villains "spot on"?

Also every gamer who disagrees with his personal view on things is either a n00b or "insane" and needs to "slither off" because you and people like you are a "slime-pit".

"Basically, the current "big" games industry, i.e. everything apart from the indie/retro/mobile scene, is pointed toward...
...and maybe NEEDS a crash. The slime-pit that makes up the AAA-only/Dew/Doritos/pre-order base needs to be allowed to slither off...
...and find a new medium to fester in. Then, innovators, true (sane) longtime gamers and fresh audiences won by the mobile/indie scene...
...can build a new gaming and a new gamer culture. It happened once before in '83, and it can happen again. Best analog: Comics bubble-burst" https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/560025668797624320

Of course, it's ok to be a n00b if you were won over by arthouse indie games, then you and Bob can build gaming Utopia without all those smelly old AAA playing gamers getting in the way.

How many times has just about every major youtuber VG reviewer said something simlar to that? Crowshaw is almost always railing against AAA games and publishers to the point where he's far more annoying about than Chipman was or has been.

 

[Karadalis]

How many times has just about every major youtuber VG reviewer said something simlar to that? Crowshaw is almost always railing against AAA games and publishers to the point where he's far more annoying about than Chipman was or has been.

Yes.. the AAA industry... NOT his audience.. and never in such disdain and with so much hatred either, he makes fun of AAA, he doesnt call for it to burn down and that all the subhumans should just disapear and how gamers are all a bunch of terrorists.

Fact is he insulted large portions of the escapists readership on almost a daily basis these last couple of months and even called for their "suffering" and was talking about "scorched earth" and even gave his support to do all the horrible things that GG was accused off to GG supporters. That the escapist even put up with it for so long is amazing

Chroshaw makes fun of the AAA industry and games in general but rarely will he ever seriously insult his own audience, and another difference between chroshaw and moviebob? Yahtzee makes fun of himselfe with the same crass humor he insults everyone else. Bob however? Yeah never did.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Heh. I saw this coming and I'm kind of surprised it took this long for it to happen.

Whelp, firstly:

To those bellyaching, making baseless assumptions that a sounding of The Escapist's death knell is all but imminent, or claiming they're effectively taking their ball(s) and going home?

[small](Note: This can be a 'hai' or 'bai' depending on how you're feeling. ;D )[/small]

The consensus from many, including myself, seems to be:

"I really liked Bob until I discovered his Twitter feed".

I don't think any site would like to associate itself with that kind of reputation.

Throwing my hat in with the "until I discovered his Twitter feed" crowd.

I was all right with him and even enjoyed the occasional EttM and BP, whether I agreed with him or not, but his recent behavior downright killed my interest in consuming any of the guy's content. Hell, I even kept on watching his stuff after that glowing Anita article.

It could be forgiven. We all have different opinions. Fine. His content was still decent...but it just got more and more politically charged. Every opportunity was taken to snipe at the people he didn't like and it just flat out stopped being enjoyable to tune in to.

Ever since the big blow up and the ranting started, I've completely cut him out of my weekly viewing rotation, including any and all articles that had his name attached to them. Didn't feel right to give 'em clicks.

OT(Well, on topic-er, I guess): I don't particularly begrudge the dude and am thankful for what entertainment I'd managed to glean from his offerings...or at least I wouldn't if I weren't absolutely certain the guy thought I was some sort of abhorrent slithering gamer trash.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Nothing worse than getting dumped over Valentine's ouch

I got dumped on my birthday once, and my divorce date is December 25th. I get all the best gifts.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Nothing worse than getting dumped over Valentine's ouch

I got dumped on my birthday once, and my divorce date is December 25th. I get all the best gifts.

Someone just gave me a bottle of wine for helping them out. I shall raise a glass to you tonight my friend

 

[Phourc]

... It was great to have a reviewer who pretty much agreed with my opinion of movies. Hopefully he'll keep doing reviews. ):

 

[major_chaos]

Honestly, at this point pretty much anywhere. A few people have left for Reddits, a few others have gone to various other gaming websites with slightly less shit-swirling communities. Most have just straight up left internet forums all-together, only sticking to small groups of close friends (Skype groups, Usergroups, Steam) so they don't have to deal with the usual bullshit anymore.

Yea I think its pretty clear we have a different definition of what makes a good community. NeoGAF is a only one opinion allowed circlejerk and has ten times the ego of this site. Kotaku, Joystiqu, Polygon, IGN ect. all have the comment quality of a Youtube video and moderation more focused on preventing people from saying unpopular things rather than stopping people from being dicks. /V/ is everything I hate about this site turned up to 11 with none of the redeeming factors. GameFAQS and Steam forums are a constant fanbois vs. trolls battleground and anyone who isn't gets shouted down instantly, and the worthless moderation isn't gonna do anything about it. Tumbler is... no. I lurk reddit but the format makes posting painful and hunting down the .01% of subs that aren't over moderated hugboxes or self congratulatory venom spewing is time consuming.

I feel like you are mad at this site over GG and are thus leaving, while I'm not and continue to see the rest of game forums as far worse.

 

[Darkmantle]

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.

I'm pretty sure TB has been very active in and during the Gamergate debacle. He has taken a very clear stance and you do him a disservice by pretending he hasn't. He's not a coward who has refused to comment or take a stance, he's been out in the open since the beginning.

He's openly condemned and supported various people on both sides and made his personal positions well known. he doesn;t deserve the disrespect.

 

[Cecilo]

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.

I'm pretty sure TB has been very active in and during the Gamergate debacle. He has taken a very clear stance and you do him a disservice by pretending he hasn't. He's not a coward who has refused to comment or take a stance, he's been out in the open since the beginning.

He's openly condemned and supported various people on both sides and made his personal positions well known. he doesn;t deserve the disrespect.

Aye, he even did that Anonymous Biscuit thing a week ago that the Anti's were in an uproar about, oh and that thing a month or two back where he retweeted a Charity that asked for retweets and got called a harasser since he is "Pro-GG and just going to attract his GG harassers"

At the same time though, he has denounced the parts of GG that are discussing specific people, (Part of the thing a week ago).