MovieBob leaving The Escapist

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Never really watched the death of a website before... except maybe MySpace.

Guess this place will just become a shell for cross-posted content from Defy's other ventures. Ciao, Escapists.

 

[jklinders]

I'm not exactly Bob's biggest fan. But it seems to me that The Escapist is bleeding dry of it's content creators and editors of late. The tone of Bob's post on his site strongly implies a firing or layoff. On top of all the other staff that were removed under bitter circumstances this really does not look good.

I hope the remaining staff have some kind of idea for how they are going to keep this place ticking with all these guys gone. ZP and that series that spoofs game cinematics is not going to cut it. It almost feels like that they want to shut it down but don't have the guts to do so. So they gut all the content out and when traffic slows to a crawl they can just say "well, no one is coming here anymore so we might as well shut it down."

We'll see what happens I guess.

 

[tippy2k2]

Does anyone know how exactly you delete your Escapist account anyway?

You "technically" cannot. If you really really really really really really *air breath...really really want to, the staff has that ability to delete accounts if you ask. I'm not 100% if Mods can or if it would have to be staff...

Kick a Mod a PM and ask them first if they can. If they cannot, Ron Whitaker [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/ffronw], the new Community Manager, would likely be your best bet. Sorry to see people go but that's what you have to do to completely obliterate your account.

 

[rorychief]

Does anyone know for certain Bob was let go because of his social media antics? That doesn't make sense to me. Because surely whether people come here to complain about him or agree with him its still hits for the escapist.

I enjoyed moviebob's reviews and think pieces. Sad to see him go even if I could't understand his rage sometimes.

 

[Drthewooter]

At least we know that LRR wont be leaving the site now at least.. the amount they make from this site is pittance compared to the money from patron/twitch/wizards, so the only way feed dump being cancelled being a thing is that the escapist feels that the show isn't worth the money.Even then it goes up on youtube hours before and the donors see it the day before..

 

[Dragonbums]

Well dang.

Honestly Jim still leaves the biggest loss of them all. He was the only reason for why I joined the forums in the first place. Yahtzee just increasingly bored me with his whole ZP personality and I don't watch enough movies to care about Moviebob. So the only thing I have left IS this forum and even then I'd rather just lurk than post now.

 

[WarpZone]

So I wonder how long until The Escapist flushes Yahtzee? He's basically the only one left at this point. Go ahead, The Escapist, fire all your talent. Chase your readers out the door with a broom. Kill your business model. Because that's how this industry works, right? We the audience are just sheep. You can just make a list of five things with a misleading headline "we won't believe" and we'll keep showing up like idiots and handing you our eyeballs to monetize no matter who writes the content, right? Get the janitor in here to record a podcast. Write a perl script to randomly generate video game reviews. Talent? Fans? Who needs that!?

 

[Dragonbums]

Does anyone know how exactly you delete your Escapist account anyway?

You "technically" cannot. If you really really really really really really *air breath...really really want to, the staff has that ability to delete accounts if you ask. I'm not 100% if Mods can or if it would have to be staff...

Kick a Mod a PM and ask them first if they can. If they cannot, Ron Whitaker [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/ffronw], the new Community Manager, would likely be your best bet. Sorry to see people go but that's what you have to do to completely obliterate your account.

The closest I've seen to his scenario are simply people asking for permabans (if they are really even permanent since you technically didn't get the boot for breaking rules.) and leaving it at that.

 

[Dragonbums]

So I wonder how long until The Escapist flushes Yahtzee? He's basically the only one left at this point. Go ahead, The Escapist, fire all your talent. Chase your readers out the door with a broom. Kill your business model. Because that's how this industry works, right? We the audience are just sheep. You can just make a list of five things with a misleading headline "we won't believe" and we'll keep showing up like idiots and handing you our eyeballs to monetize no matter who writes the content, right? Get the janitor in here to record a podcast. Write a perl script to randomly generate video game reviews. Talent? Fans? Who needs that!?

Your assuming that they gave Moviebob the boot and he simply didn't just leave on his own accord due to Patreon being more beneficial or he wanted to move on to something different.

Outside of that this comes off as needlessly antagonistic. Especially when the site itself is going under quite a bit of a management overhaul.

 

[Fox12]

Does anyone know how exactly you delete your Escapist account anyway?

If you're serious, then you can request a permaban.

I won't miss Bob, though. He was a total clown. I tolerated him before, but he basically became the comic book guy from Simpsons. He's self righteous, and looked down at games from his high film critic tower, like he was better then everyone just because he worked in a more established medium. He was the perfect ugly storm of pseudo intellectual art film snob and pop fiction fanboy culture all mixed together. He was a man child, and a political demagogue hate mongerer, when he should have been a film critic. He was a cheavinistic pig lacking any human dignity or respect. He was an emotionally stunted misanthropic sewer. His soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots.

*sigh*

That was fun. Hopefully I don't get in too much trouble. I'm glad he's gone, and sincerely hope that he's replaced with more interesting and intelligent providers. The Escapist could use a more positive face change after the last few months. I don't mind people who have differing opinions, I just ask that they conduct themselves in a professional manner.

 

[Scorpid]

Does anyone know how exactly you delete your Escapist account anyway?

If you're serious, then you can request a permaban.

I won't miss Bob, though. He was a total clown. I tolerated him before, but he basically became the comic book guy from Simpsons. He's self righteous, and looked down at games from his high film critic tower, like he was better then everyone just because he worked in a more established medium. He was the perfect ugly storm of pseudo intellectual art film snob and pop fiction fanboy culture all mixed together. He was a man child, and a political demagogue hate mongerer, when he should have been a film critic. He was a cheavinistic pig lacking any human dignity or respect. He was an emotionally stunted misanthropic sewer. His soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots.

*sigh*

That was fun. Hopefully I don't get in too much trouble. I'm glad he's gone, and sincerely hope that he's replaced with more interesting and intelligent providers. The Escapist could use a more positive face change after the last few months. I don't mind people who have differing opinions, I just ask that they conduct themselves in a professional manner.

Clearly you are correct with all those unsubstantiated ad hominem attacks.

 

[Phil the Nervous]

If anyone from marketing is reading this you really need to get "I survived the purge" badges to people who are here and posting about a week from now. Also content, but something to convince people that the site isn't dying.

Ignoring how salty you are.
How the hell did Archon throw Tito under a bus and pander to GG.
Like giving its supporters chance to speak is pandering now?

Free speech is alright as long as it agrees with the majority, i.e. the American reaction to the early Iraq war.

Or, if you want a more recent example: Washington just before the Seahawks/Packers game

 

[Fox12]

Does anyone know how exactly you delete your Escapist account anyway?

If you're serious, then you can request a permaban.

I won't miss Bob, though. He was a total clown. I tolerated him before, but he basically became the comic book guy from Simpsons. He's self righteous, and looked down at games from his high film critic tower, like he was better then everyone just because he worked in a more established medium. He was the perfect ugly storm of pseudo intellectual art film snob and pop fiction fanboy culture all mixed together. He was a man child, and a political demagogue hate mongerer, when he should have been a film critic. He was a cheavinistic pig lacking any human dignity or respect. He was an emotionally stunted misanthropic sewer. His soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots.

*sigh*

That was fun. Hopefully I don't get in too much trouble. I'm glad he's gone, and sincerely hope that he's replaced with more interesting and intelligent providers. The Escapist could use a more positive face change after the last few months. I don't mind people who have differing opinions, I just ask that they conduct themselves in a professional manner.

Clearly you are correct with all those unsubstantiated ad hominem attacks.

I can't help it. He has all the tender sweetness of a sea sick crocodile. Why, between the two of them, I'd choose... The sea sick crocodile!

In any case, I hope the escapist pulls through. Unfortunately I've seen this before. I just hope this doesn't turn into another spill.com. Hey, there's an idea! Get the spill.com crew, escapist! Maybe you can get a few of them in on the action. They're probably scattered to the four winds by now, though.

 

[Sampler]

So I wonder how long until The Escapist flushes Yahtzee? He's basically the only one left at this point. Go ahead, The Escapist, fire all your talent. Chase your readers out the door with a broom. Kill your business model. Because that's how this industry works, right? We the audience are just sheep. You can just make a list of five things with a misleading headline "we won't believe" and we'll keep showing up like idiots and handing you our eyeballs to monetize no matter who writes the content, right? Get the janitor in here to record a podcast. Write a perl script to randomly generate video game reviews. Talent? Fans? Who needs that!?

Your assuming that they gave Moviebob the boot and he simply didn't just leave on his own accord due to Patreon being more beneficial or he wanted to move on to something different.

Outside of that this comes off as needlessly antagonistic. Especially when the site itself is going under quite a bit of a management overhaul.

It's on the first page, first post, a link to his blog where he was 'let go': http://moviebob.blogspot.co.il/2015/02/all-good-things.html

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

There's actually a "Let's Drown Out" that Yahtzee did that ends up with thirty minutes of him and Gabriel railing on SJWs for a lot of how some of the more vocal ones acted in the situation...

Which one was that? I must have missed it.

And TotalBiscuit is definitely not staying out of the Responsible Journalism thing. Most recently, there's been Anonymous Biscuit, but he cheerfully does things like rant on Twitter against FemFreq for saying that Dying Light has a Damsel in Distress plot.

Does anyone know for certain Bob was let go because of his social media antics? That doesn't make sense to me. Because surely whether people come here to complain about him or agree with him its still hits for the escapist.

I enjoyed moviebob's reviews and think pieces. Sad to see him go even if I could't understand his rage sometimes.

I wish I could find it, but somewhere in this thread there's a tweet from Archon (I think) saying that Bob was let go as part of the restructuring.

However, some people think that's fishy given that the 'mass restructuring' happened a few weeks ago for everyone else, that Bob seems entirely surprised about what happened, that Bob has previously had problems handling himself on social media in the way that the Escapist would prefer, and that he had another sizable venting last night. Maybe they were planning on letting him go and this was something that stepped up their time table?

EDIT: Found this on Archon's Twitter: "So "master race" as a joke is offensive because Nazis used it, but "subhuman" as an insult is reasonable even though Nazis used it?"
https://twitter.com/archon/status/565974786740723712

So yeah, looks like the Big Man finally got sick of swatting Bob's nose with the proverbial newspaper and gave him to the pound.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

At the moment, Yahtzee is the only reason I even bother coming to this site. I also agree with pretty much everything Fox12 said about MovieBob.

 

[Estranged180]

I've heard a lot of people say "Now that X is leaving I have no reason to come to the escapist", never thought it'd be me. And it won't! At least not until Yahtzee gets the boot. And even then I'll probably come out of pure habit and for general gaming news. The only videos I watch at this point are ben and bob's. So weird to have lost all the shows I did come here for. What is it about this place that drives everyone away? Gonna miss ya bob, and by that I mean I'll probably have a hard time tracking you down but when I do we'll be back in full swing.

Extra Credits takes a powder: "Okay, they had to do what they had to do, it's understandable."
LoadingReadyRun exits: "Umm... that was unexpected, but still, people have to look out for themselves. It's understandable."
Jim Sterling leaves: "Uh. Okay, didn't see that happening. Hope everything works out."
MovieBob bolts under circumstances we don't understand: "If this continues, the escapist is almost finished."

If Yahtzee goes, there will be a revolt, and I'm going with it.

 

[Callate]

So I've been doing a bit of looking at Bob's stuff, post-mortem (so to speak). And what strikes me as kind of tragic was how often he advanced an argument of "We, the geeks, are the mainstream, now! Video game players (and comic book fans, and role-playing gamers, and anime fans, etc., etc.) should accept criticism with stoicism and humility! We're the ones controlling the zeitgeist, and we can't afford to 'punch down'..."

But then he'd rage about The Millenium Trilogy. And Penny Arcade. And Gone Girl (the original novel). And American Sniper. And Total Biscuit.

And I know some might say he had particular grievances about PA or Total Biscuit, but I have to say a glance over their work suggests they don't seem to spend a fraction of the time or energy on the issues that enrage him that MB did hurling invective at them.

In short, while preaching "nerd culture rules, grow up and accept your place", an awful lot of his output suggests someone who viewed themselves as an under-represented outsider who felt the need to screech his hatred at the monoliths of the mainstream.

Somewhat to the detriment of both the man and his work, it might seem.

I'm still not one who thinks the site is better for his absence; I think his voluminous knowledge of things like comic book storylines and monster movies could be fascinating when brought to bear. But I have to wonder how things coming to this pass is going to influence his future work.

...I'm thinking, maybe not for the better. It might just re-enforce the sense of being an upstart trying to yell over the stupidity of the mainstream.

 

[LazyAza]

So basically the escapist fired him over non-sensical bullshit from what I'm reading in to the situation.

A shame I use to think this website was proud to showcase a diverse range of opinions and content without censorship but alas I can only assume the suits in charge decided bob wasn't "to their taste" anymore since he's always been very opinionated but rightfully so as he freaking should be.

Wonder how long yahtzee and the critical miss guys will stick around now, the two soul remaining reasons for this website to exist, creators of great content each week so I'm sure at some point this websites suits will decide they have to go to.

Between this and channel awesome going to complete crap I have to wonder if these big nerd sites understand what quality content is anymore, they all seem to be going out of their way to kill it off.

 

[Gennadios]

That leaves ZP and Critical Miss and No Right Answer when I'm in the mood. Interestingly enough, I didn't cancel my subscriber account when Jim left, but the loss of two weekly shows by Moviebob just kind of dropped the subscription into not worth it territory.

Just in time, too. If they'd waited a month I would have been auto-renewed, it was the Jimquisition three weeks ago last year that got me to sub in the first place.

What I don't understand is why social media antics are such a big grounds for purgings. Granted I'm a cave-dwelling troglodyte and I have no efing clue what the gamersgates and sjws are aside from the one paragraph urbandictionary definitions. The last big flame war I had anything to do with was the ME3 ending fiasco and then I just stopped caring.

Anyway, tl;dr, even if Bob was a generally horrible person on social media, he made good content for the site. The site needs content.

EDIT: Just saw his TotalBiscuit comment. Oh my.