MovieBob leaving The Escapist

[Karadalis]

Somebody refusing to abide by certain behaviors because they have moral grievances with it?

Thats the definition of "ethical".

eth·i·cal
ˈeTHək(&#601l/
adjective
1.
of or relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these.

Come again? That definition your quoted there has nothing to do with what you just said. Infact ethics means abiding certain standards and guidelines attached to a profession.

But heres the other definition you just happened to forget to add:

2. being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession:
It was not considered ethical for physicians to advertise.

These people have no standards, they lie, they turn like leaves in the wind when it fits their agenda (moviebob defending Metroid other M calling people racist because japanese culture is different, but then turning around to say anita sarkesian is right in calling japanese video games sexist for example) and they are not afraid of bullying or supporting borderline criminal practices aslong as the people who disagree with them are the target. Leigh alexander openly stated that she enjoys ruining peoples lives if they disagree with her. Infact she stated that she finds it exhilarating to have so much power.

Moviebob, leigh alexander and all the other wannabe "game journalists" have no standards, they have no ethics. They will do and say whatever they can to further their agenda. They will lie, slander and insult whomever disagrees with them.

How is any of this ethical?


You have some very warped idea of what ethics mean.

 

[Ishal]

Their politics and image matters more than their careers, it seems.

Its almost as if these people have ethical standards for how they're willing to behave.

Ethical enough to call people subhuman. As well as a myriad of other vile things.

Yep.

Would you object to somebody saying nasty things about, say, the Westboro Baptist Church because they're digusted by the groups ideology?

I would, despite having my own strident disagreements with their beliefs.

I would prefer that I, or others, not lower themselves to their level. A concept that seems to be sadly foreign around here. Hate to break it to you, but it's hard to shout down at the unwashed masses when you so eagerly throw yourself in the mud with them.

Even if I were to say those things, I would never say them on social media. And if I did, I would immediately regret it afterward.

 

[darthdenim]

Hard to feel any sympathy for him.

For someone who fancies himself such an enlightened person, the "with me or against me" mentally riddles every fiber of his being.

 

[Skatologist]

Their politics and image matters more than their careers, it seems.

Its almost as if these people have ethical standards for how they're willing to behave.

Ethical enough to call people subhuman. As well as a myriad of other vile things.

Yep.

Odd, recent twitter activity from him points out he feels legitimately regretful for using the terms

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566130641176367104]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566130880763408384]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566131050968281088]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566131431857192960]

 

[Evonisia]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I get the impression Bob doesn't like Yahtzee very much? Every time he brings up "the amazing content producers of The Escapist" he mentions everybody but Yahtzee.

I think one of his Big Pictures mentioned appreciation for being on the same website as Extra Credits and Yahtzee, though for all I know his opinion has wildly changed since then.

 

[wizzy555]

Well that's good. For someone who makes a living pointing out connotations (ugh) you would think he was more self aware.

 

[Ishal]

snip

Reality tends to hit home upon reflection, and with likely tons of people, friends, followers, and enemies telling him how bad that was.

Should have happened immediately after he posted it. That statement is not something that you need to time to reflect on. Especially when one cloaks himself in so-called "progressive" ideologies.

It's good that he realizes it, no doubt. But it's one step forward after ten steps back.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Isn't it a little bit pathetic that, for all his entitlement and self-proclaimed righteousness, all that Bob had going for him was a freelance gig that could end suddenly and unceremoniously just like that? Patreon is without a doubt a sound vehicle to help kickstart independent projects and all that. But to have "The Movie Bob" flee like that and make such a desperate, half-hearted attempt to grab some cash... I dunno. I think the guy loses credibility like that, making vague promises while dissing his former employers in such an immature way.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I get the impression Bob doesn't like Yahtzee very much? Every time he brings up "the amazing content producers of The Escapist" he mentions everybody but Yahtzee.

Patreon provides a safe place for these people to make their content strictly in line with their politics and asinine ideologies, free from the influence of an employer. Dissing the employer is only one of the immature and telling things these people constantly do. Their politics and image matters more than their careers, it seems.

Spoiler

None of them seem to care for Yahtzee, as they seem to think he represents a part of the escapist that is undesirable, and must be changed.

There's another cap around where Leigh Alexander says mentions that it would be better to leave places the the escapist and get on Patreon like Lees so "nobody could ever tell them what to do again."

It's laughable. Them not being told what to do is so important. I just don't see how writing for games or movies for that matter conflicts so much that they can't write for a site, and must rely on their echo chamber supporters on patreon.

wow, are they REALLY trash talking yahtzee there??? without him, escapist would have not been nearly the site it is today. way to shoot a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[Lightknight]

Odd, recent twitter activity from him points out he feels legitimately regretful for using the terms

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566130641176367104]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566130880763408384]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566131050968281088]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566131431857192960]

Does make me wonder if I misread him. But how in the world would we "know" him? We only know his public face and have no way short of going to school with him to know anything else.

Lots of people say crap on twitter they don't mean.

I guess I'll never know. I seemed to think that Bob would say inflammatory things and then make videos to further back those up. The problem is that he doesn't get it. The problem isn't which insult he used. It's that he used an insult at all to describe people who use the term "master race" to refer to PC gamers because PCs are the untethered all powerful machines that are only limited by funds and not by the confines of someone else's design. It isn't literally like the Aryan race or some nonsense like that.

So he basically decided to insult all pc gamers. Why would he think the problem was just the sort of insult he used rather than the audience he targeted? You don't target gamers if you are employed by a gaming related company.

 

[Ishal]

wow, are they REALLY trash talking yahtzee there??? without him, escapist would have not been nearly the site it is today. way to shoot a gift horse in the mouth.

Well, the gift horse made a pretty level headed response to a moronic article. It just so happened that said response wasn't tacit agreement with the politics of those people. Thus, we see those tweets.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

wow, are they REALLY trash talking yahtzee there??? without him, escapist would have not been nearly the site it is today. way to shoot a gift horse in the mouth.

Well, the gift horse made a pretty level headed response to a moronic article. It just so happened that said response wasn't tacit agreement with the politics of those people. Thus, we see those tweets.

i'm sorry, but i'm not fully aware of what you're talking about here, any chance you could hook me up with some links? someone wrote a stupid article and yahtzee made a calm retort that management lost their shit over? am i understanding that correcty?

 

[Ishal]

wow, are they REALLY trash talking yahtzee there??? without him, escapist would have not been nearly the site it is today. way to shoot a gift horse in the mouth.

Well, the gift horse made a pretty level headed response to a moronic article. It just so happened that said response wasn't tacit agreement with the politics of those people. Thus, we see those tweets.

i'm sorry, but i'm not fully aware of what you're talking about here, any chance you could hook me up with some links? someone wrote a stupid article and yahtzee made a calm retort that management lost their shit over? am i understanding that correcty?

Sure.

PC Gamer published an article about PC gamers no longer calling themselves the "PC Master Race."

Found here: http://www.pcgamer.com/lets-stop-calling-ourselves-the-pc-master-race/

Then Yahtzee wrote something in response, found here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/12882-The-PC-Master-Race-Discussion-Political-Correctness-vs-Language-

As the term originated with him. Then the people made the tweets that you saw.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Spoiler: Stuff about extra credits and why they left the escapist

Regardless of what people think of MovieBob ... I actually enjoyed the majority of his content.

Reminds me of when people despised Jim Sterling at first because of his commentary + videos. Then by some miracle, the lad really improved and became an astounding member, if not a top tier guy on par with Yahtzee (is that why Yahtzee decided to do a series with him about making rhymes? Lol).

MovieBob is less or more the same. Love em, hate him... you can't deny he's done some incredible work around these parts.
It's really sad to see him go. At least it didn't go down like how Extra Credits went. Anyone remember that contravesty? Ugh .......

Still, he'll be missed. Least he can make a name for himself elsewhere and hopefully pick right back up.

I plan to support Bob by buying his book and watching his content on his site. Whatever happened to Extra credits anyway? I remember there was something about payment and an arm or something.

Alrighty, take a seat my boy. I'll try making this brief but ... *ahem*

It took place around June 28th, 2011... Portnow announced through the show's Twitter account that Theus had a radial tear in her shoulder (likely a separated shoulder) that could potentially end her career. A two-month crowdfund project on RocketHub was created with a goal of $15,000, which eventually raised around $104,000. The crew, overwhelmed at the response, decided to start an independent game publisher with the excess profits.

Around the end of July, The Escapist privately contacted Portnow with a disputing claim for the funds. Alexander Macris, content director for The Escapist and current general manager for Alloy Digital, led the claim and stated the money should have been used to create more episodes of Extra Credits and to compensate parent company Themis Media for donation incentives, such as premium memberships and T-shirts. As a result, Extra Credits broke ties with The Escapist, and after a brief four-week stint posting directly to YouTube, the show was picked up by Penny Arcade's PATV network.

Proof: Extra Credits History [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Credits].

So in other words, Extra Credit's main fellow Alex decided to screw the contract over by using the money on a privately owned indie studio instead of improving their show on the website... that they ran. While both sides weren't exactly innocent, at least our CM at the time was very blunt with his reasons / actions while Extra Credit tried looking innocent and pointing fingers.

They lost my respect, and totally dissed all their fans on here without considering what was best. Sure we could just check them out on Youtube, but couldn't Yahtzee, Jim, and whomever else do the same? It's not a matter of where the content lies, but how they perform on the website with the topics relating to the community. If they went to Youtube, their episodes wouldn't revolve around Escapist member's interests. Now I barely if not HARDLY hear anything about Extra Credits anymore. Even one of their main buds left Extra Credits to do their own thing... so yea.

So, EC raises funds for Health reasons, they get more than expected and then they should pay to their employers?

What the fuck is this?

Well, let me put it this way:

They worked for The Escapist. The website you're on helped em out by spreading the word on Theus needing surgery, and would see to it that things worked out such as selling T-shirts and Club Memberships to help this cause. Main guy running Extra Credits promised that any money they earned over $15,000 would be used for the show. It was not going to be used to put cash in Escapist's staff pockets but rather improve their own show, the Extra Credits so it'd benefit the Escapist AND Extra Credits.

What ended up happening was personal greed. Getting over $100,000 can change someone, and in doing so refused to benefit their own show whatsoever. Now I don't know about you, but if I helped (even by a little) someone get a fundraiser going to recover someone's arm but then they earned 4x the cash... but refused to benefit their own show on your website, wouldn't that rub you the wrong way?

When our old Community Manager confronted Portnow, the dude immediately hired lawyers to back him up, along with going right for that personal indie studio. Don't you think it's odd, that rather then talking it out or simply coming to an agreement, that the first response was getting political men to defend your stance? Clearly he never intended on improving Extra Credits nor showing any thanks to The Escapist, which again the staff helped set up that fundraiser and wasn't even asking for the money directly, but to be used wisely for performance / quality improvements on their own show.

Hopefully that cleared up any misunderstandings.

Honestly, that whole debacle caused a big mess. Who was right or wrong in that with regards to Extra Credits specifically is not something that I really can say much about, but I do know finding out that most of the content creators hadn't been paid anything for their work in a really long time made the escapist look pretty untrustworthy, regardless of the exact nature of the issues back then.

Paying the people what you've promised them for the work they did is one of the most basic aspects of running a business ethically.

To find out that wasn't happening raises a lot of questions. Even if there were reasonable excuses for why that was the case, it still doesn't paint a pretty picture of what was going on behind the scenes back then...

 

[Nobuoa Schniell]

I like that Greg Tito response to Escapists audience being "defined" by Yahtzee. "Thankfully I can stop trying to change that now." That's very telling, that he was trying to "change" the Escapist's audience rather than respecting them and developing content for them. Seems like a solid business strategy: rather than give our audience what they want, lets give them what WE want and force them to like it.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/566131050968281088]

"either misinterpreted or intentionally twisted"

He really has no shame or self awareness. Blaming the audience for something he articulated so badly. A man as gifted in the art of communication as he. I am very happy he is gone.

 

[Lightknight]

Interesting. I disliked him at times and enjoyed his work other times. I had no idea there was this much resentment built up. I mean, I was surprised he kept getting away with attacking the escapist's audience (which I guess he didn't), but I thought his reviews were enjoyable enough that he'd make it through unscathed.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Whenever I tried to see anything of his, I always got the impression he's kind of a dick, and this was well before GG. Or his content/style just isn't for me. Either way, I wish him good luck, but that patreon video wasn't the best start.

 

[Darks63]

I like that Greg Tito response to Escapists audience being "defined" by Yahtzee. "Thankfully I can stop trying to change that now." That's very telling, that he was trying to "change" the Escapist's audience rather than respecting them and developing content for them. Seems like a solid business strategy: rather than give our audience what they want, lets give them what WE want and force them to like it.

That comment by Tito really goes a long way in explaining why it seemed like he held the community in such contempt.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I go away for a while to get some shit done, only to come back and find the Escapist sacked Mr. Chipman.

*shrugs*
I've had my issues with some of his works (articles/videos) over the years, but for most of those, I chalked it up to him being hyperbolic or passionate with his opinion.

I didn't really hate his work until he published one particular article that was just shameless PR lip-service for a certain controversial figure, devoid of all honesty and critical authority. Just stopped watching him overtly after that.

He occasionally popped up on the radar or in conversations, though most of that was largely due to him making vile, often hypocritical rants on Twitter (especially during GamerGate).

At most, I'd skim the comments section for one of his videos to see the more interesting things going on there if I was especially bored and caught in down-time, but I never bothered watching/reading his stuff.

Based on what I'm seeing from him and others, it appears his sacking was abrupt and unpleasant, though that is just my speculative take based on skimming. He has a Patreon which surprises absolutely nobody, since that's where all the Internet Critics of the past 6-8 years go once their original port of calling has ousted them.

Given the Escapist's recent hemorraging of content producers, I can't imagine the reason for his departure was pleasant at all. I always figured they needed his traffic.
Huh. We'll see..

 

[Delance]

I used to enjoy a lot more of MovieBob's content. After #GamerGate, he just went ideologically nuts, and his worked suffered. Very few of his latest content was actually good, and even then it was just kinda meh.

The "subhuman" comment, alone, would make anyone get fired on any serious outlet. Much less than that, actually.