MovieBob leaving The Escapist

[themilo504]

Um well that?s kind of a shame I guess.

I used to really like nearly all of moviebob?s work to the point I kind of looked up to him, however that changed during the mass effect 3 debacle, not because I disagreed with him but simply because I got the sense he didn?t really know what he was talking about, that and he just came across as a bit of a jerk.

Nowadays I think that he?s great as long as he talks about movies or television, he?s clearly very happy with the current state of both mediums and I just feel like he has more overall passion for both, because of that he comes across as informative and even when I don?t agree with him his videos are still enjoyable.

But he really needs to stop talking about video games because he has no clue what he?s talking about, he just doesn?t play or know enough about video games to talk about them in the way he tends to do, honestly I don?t think he even really likes video games anymore, gaming has evolved in a direction that he clearly doesn?t like(with the exception of Nintendo) and he feels left behind.

And his reaction to the whole gamergate debacle made me loss nearly all of my respect for him, I know twitter brings out the worst in people, but even as far as people at their worst go bob just came across like a judgmental self righteous asshole.

Still it is kind of a shame to see him go and I might still decide to check out his new stuff wherever he might go, I just hope it?s a movie website where using twitter is forbidden.

 

[Silvanus]

What's the qualifier for being a "gamer"?

Do the "dudebros" play video games? Yes

Do "gamers" play video games? Yes

The problem with that is that when somebody refers to a category, they are not by extension referring to any group which includes that category.

For example, if somebody says "pirates are bad", it is not reasonable to accuse them of saying "humans are bad", on the basis that pirates are humans. The statement was quite clearly more contained than that.

Then I'm tempted to say they're gamers and there's nothing wrong with what they do. What is wrong is how the gaming community shuts out certain franchises as being inherently bad, regardless of overall quality. They do the same thing with people, and frankly it's bordering on fascism. Everyone must march in lock step against Call of Duty and Madden, because that's exclusively the domain of the subhuman bastards.

The "gaming community" does not shut out Call of Duty. It's incredibly popular, as evidenced by its absurdly high sales figures.

A relatively small sub-set are critical of Call of Duty, as is Bob. You're under no compulsion to "march in lock step". That's just silliness.

 

[likalaruku]

Hate to be "that guy," but Bob & I never agreed on much. I also still feel that anything not about games should be off topic for this site, even with all the new changes. However, I wish him the best on his journey to the next big adventure.

Not a big fan of mass site changes though, especially so soon after the Channel Awesome debacle. At least I know CA's CFO is to blame for that one. Judging by Bob's surprise, it's probably the same story here.

 

[Strazdas]

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

Its almost as if he is sorry to be fired. No wonder he regrets saying it - it cost him his job. There is still nothing to indicate he regrets the notion itself, merely getting caught using it. in fact the first tweet you quote flat out says he simply needs to find a "different insult".

 

[cth]

I actually had to check what you were talking about. "Subhuman"? I can't even recall him using that. And I watched all of his content! Even read most things. I guess he used it to describe the anti Sarkeesian guys? I honestly don't know. I mean I don't like her either, even though I respect her skill as a scam artist, but I didn't feel offended at all by Bob and his stance on the matter. I mean that would be childish, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I hope he does the same thing Jim Sterlin did. I would hate to miss out on his opinions/reviews/comic and tv summaries. Not a big fan of the Schlocktober stuff, though.

 

[Davroth]

I won't miss him. I lost all respect I had for him after I saw how he conducted himself on Twitter. I don't need my go to video game news site to give money to Aristotle Means.

Good riddance, Movie Bob.

 

[VanQ]

Don't ask for a permaban. Earn it.

This. Should I ever decide to leave this site for good, I'm going out with a bang.

 

[darthdenim]

I haven't really cared about him as an actual critic for a long time now.

I've been mostly watching his stuff lately to see how he filters various things through his preconceived notions and political beliefs, and to see what inflammatory thing he says next to get everybody riled up.

 

[Pescetarian]

Just visited the site reflexively to catch the new Big Picture before I realized there was only Extra Punctuation.

Better extend Yahtzee's contract through the end of the dang Holocene Epoch, guys.

 

[Victor IV]

Glad he's gone. Couldn't watch his stuff anymore after gamergate happened and he went off the deep end.

 

[The Philistine]

That's a pretty big chunk of content gone from The Escapist. While I rarely fully agreed with Bob, his content has been one of the main reasons for me to regularly check the site. Hope the news stories stay good, because there's less and less content to be padded by click-bait.

 

[James Nettum]

Well, this is what it took for me to make a forum post.

I don't like this choice. Bob was a polerizing figure, no doubt there. But he got people talking, frequently about subjects that needed to be discussed and no one else was willing to bring up. Even when I thought that he was way off the mark, his opinions were almost always presented with his logic behind them so I could see how he arrived at his conclusions. Unlike other "high" profile opinion people, Bob was willing to admit when he made mistakes, or acknowledge when his tastes had changed, or just not deny that we humans are ever-growing.

On top of that, Bob's firing is the latest in a recent trend that I'm not enjoying at the Escapist. When past Editors in Chiefs have left (Russ, Susan), they've been able to say their goodbyes. When Jim left, he was given a classy send off and a plug for his new project. But when Ross, Greg and company where terminated, they weren't acknowledged at all. It's now Tuesday, Movie Bob was fired on Friday, and there's no official notice from the Escapist. I think that's a piss poor way to treat people who have worked so publicly for your business for years. Even World Wrestling gives a "we wish so-and-so well" press release when a wrestler is released. (With a few exceptions of course.) When the WWE is acting classier than you are, it's time to reevaluate your practices!

I've cancled my Publishers Subscription. I like ZP and LRR, but they can't carry this site for me.

 

[faeshadow]

The worst part of this by far has to be the gloating by the "he insulted his audience" crowd. I certainly wasn't a fan of everything Bob did (maybe even most things), but I'm even less of a fan of people who pretend to be wounded by someone's twitter content. You don't like it, debate him on there, don't whine about it here, or worse, smugly imply now that the "writing was on the wall after he disrespected his fans." I despise this 'they should lose their job for disagreeing with me' culture.

And yes, he comes across as a total blowhard on twitter. So what?

There is a huge difference between disagreeing with your audience, and saying that most of your audience are rapists.

 

[erbkaiser]

I feel like the Gators are doing some sort of rain dance in celebration.

SJW tears do make for a fine rain to dance in, there's so much of them.

In all seriousness though, no need to use Ghazi terms like 'Gators'. Keep that to the trainwreck... err dedicated thread.

 

[Peterpan]

I've heard a lot of people say And it won't! At least not until Yahtzee gets the boot.

And I agree completely.

 

[magicpokey]

I'll say this one time. I respect the hell out of moviebob, I've been a fan since the early days of Game Overthinker and loved everything he did on this site. Here's the problem. The people who do the awful things are always the loudest voices in the room. It isn't glamorous to be the guy calling for moderation and civil discourse, because the crazy people are louder and usually more entertaining. But those of us on the side of progressive social issues need our voices heard as well. And it takes a lot of guts to be as vocal a mouthpiece as Bob was and still is.

I agree with 99% of everything Bob said here and on twitter. I think Swatting, Doxxing, and all the other -ing's that are used to harass and bully people you don't agree with are morally reprehensible and have no place in a civil society. When you take part in or encourage the type of behavior that the worst of #gamergate was associated with, you deserve to be called out. When you use an anonymous position of power to lash out at people like that just because you disagree with them (or, more often you are shocked that they had the nerve to be a woman in the games industry) then you deserve to be called subhuman.

Call me a Social Justice Warrior. Call me whatever you want, wrong is wrong and if the only way to defend this culture that we are a part of is to get a little dirty, then i'd rather get dirty on the side of RIGHT than Politically Correct any day.

I stand with Bob. I will follow him anywhere, because I respect the hell out of him, and I want him to continue fighting the good fight. Today is a sad day for The Escapist. And I, for one, won't be back any time soon.

-Brian "Magicpokey" Shoop

 

[McMarbles]

Well, Jim's gone, and now Bob's gone. Soon, the Escapist will be a perfect little echo chamber where no one will ever have to hear any opinions they're not comfortable with.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

I may very well opt not to renew my pub club membership now, with the site having two less video series that I watched regularly on the site. The only things videos series left that I enjoy are No Right Answer and ZP, and I long ago ceased to be a regular on the forums if I even ever was a regular to begin with. I will for sure will miss the high quality video option and no page breaks on articles but I'll get over that in short order I suspect. Which is not to say I'm abandoning the site completely over Bob's departure like some folks but I'll be checking in with far less frequency.

 

[baconmaster]

Sucks that he's out of a job but when you say the idiotic garbage that he did on twitter recently, it shouldn't come as a surprise. I hope he gets back on his feet soon... in a different industry