The Escapist Means More Than Just Video Games

[Callate]

"We fear change."

Honestly, I'll be interested to see what the change-up it 2014 will bring, and I'll be trying to keep an open mind. More content is usually a good thing, and if the Escapist is going to be providing enough content to warrant dividing it this way, I'll applaud it. I just hope it will still be easy to navigate, and find favorites and top stories.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

I expected to see a bunch of comments saying 'OMG why no anime section?' based on how much it comes up on the forums.

 

[Aerosteam]

Can't wait to see what the new staff members will be like.

 

[The Wooster]

How is this about videogames?

^^ With any luck, we can start banning people for posting the above phrase.

 

[Something Amyss]

Might help too with the regular comments on some news articles, along the lines of "Why is this being reported here?" Well - either that or it'll make those comments more prevalent. One of the two.

Considering the past, I'll go with the latter. The Escapist has long been more than just games, though it's nice to see the non-video game section expanding some. Still, I think Susan Arendt even got some flak despite being explicitly hired as the "not games" editor (at that point).

ALL HAIL ME

Hail! Hail!

I will prepare an offering of D12s to be burned in your name!

 

[SonicWaffle]

Jonathan Bolding is also taking over as Senior Editor - Tabletop, so expect to see board games, miniatures and tabletop roleplaying games covered more often on The Escapist.

All hail Jon Bolding!

ALL HAIL ME

Hopefully Tabeltop will be including MtG (because why wouldn't it?)

We will. I call thee forth, [user]Encaen[/user].

In that case, all bloody hail.

How is this about videogames?

^^ With any luck, we can start banning people for posting the above phrase.

To be replaced with "This topic does not interest me. BAN THIS SICK FILTH"

 

[Kerubim]

Does this mean the return of Reel Physics?

Please mean the return of Reel Physics...

 

[2xDouble]

This is a neat idea, Greg, but do try to keep the channels organized and accessible. I used to tune in to Gamebreaker.tv [http://www.gamebreaker.tv/] to watch shows like This Week in MMO or Guildcast, and was actually building interest in several MMOs and other games they had covered in live discussion. They made a similar decision, to branch out into other, semi-related content. At first it was pretty cool: weekly Cosplay galleries, articles and comics from Dorkly popping up (with borderline copyright-infringing frequency), news and commentary on whatever the author felt like at the time... but eventually the site became a jumbled mess. Content and comment that attracted regular viewers and visitors became overrun with non-content; relegated to and buried within sub menus instead of being on the front page. Gamebreaker was on-track to become the CNN (or at least FoxNews) of video game/MMO culture, and instead devolved into Reddit: mindless reposts of other people's opinions with forum-post level commentary at best. (...so it DID become FoxNews. heh)

As you well know, as the editor-in-chief of a magazine/website, presentation is everything. Please, think long and hard about how your content is organized and presented, even more so than you do now, and do your best to avoid making those same mistakes. I would hate to see gaming's New York Times transform into gaming's New York Post, if you follow my metaphor. (That would be gaming's The Guardian becoming gaming's The Daily Mail, for those of British persuasion.) You still have some dignity, Escapist, despite having mostly comedy content (and a bunch of assholes on the forums, such as myself). Please, hold on to that.

 

[FancyNick]

Strange, I always thought this was a multi-geek-hobby site with gaming just being the main front. I look forward to these changes

 

[zBeeble]

If I'm not mistaken, I'm starting my third year as a publisher's club member --- and I'm happy to read this statement of direction.

Originally, I joined the escapist community to read other peoples considered thoughts on games I have played and was playing. This is not the job of a review, per se, but of articles covering the topics touched by the games in question. Zero Punctuation had a large part of this --- they really are less of a review and more of a critique (if I can split that hair). I'd also be happy to admit that Zero Punctuation was a core part of the decision to subscribe. If I were to spread those bits around, I'd admit that the LLR crew and movie bob are both important to my week. And, indeed, both of them do to "discuss" than to simply "review"


It even amuses me that tabletop gaming makes the list. I will be making my own first trip into D&D this year as my sister was kind enough to buy me a Red Box for Christmas.

My reason for replying, however, is more complex. Inequality is on the rise. I'm not going to talk about poverty or the war against the "middle class" --- these are things best covered by the mainstream media. But this is the elephant in "our" room, too. Never has that interests of the corporations that make the products (games, PCs, etc) been so distant from the interests of their purchasers ... their audience.

Many of your writers have touched on this ... Jim's article on the pessimistic FTP tactics, for instance. I would encourage more such exploration.

To be blunt, Games cannot be Art until Game consumers are treated as patrons rather than resources.

 

[Kyber]

After being here for about 4-5 years, I can say that this place is incredible for talking about pretty much anything.
The mods are the most efficient mods I've seen in any site, and the community is good and overall, pretty intelligent. One day I wish I can be a mod too, this is pretty much the best site on the internet, content and community wise.

 

[Worgen]

Does this mean we can look forward to more of those pony movie trailer posts? Cause those were awesome and have been lacking lately.

 

[Remus]

Will there be a feed that shows top stories from each category though? Because I've always liked that TE has been about more than just games, but I'd like to get a mix of news. A lot of the news stories are things I find interesting, but often I'll click them because they're there on the front page, if I have to actively seek them out I'm more likely to just ignore it.

For instance; I like seeing cool things about cosplays every now and then, but I don't really care enough to actively seek it out.


So yeah, these are good news indeed so long as the front page will still contain the mishmash of news that I'm used to.

This. If you plan to separate the topics out by genre, please keep a front page window showing the latest stories. I'm also one of those masses who don't know what they like until they see it, so I'll be far less likely to check under each individual subsection and far more likely to click the latest story to pop on the front page.

 

[Nick Lerman]

I look forward to the new content.
I'd like to see a section dedicated to tabletop and miniature sandwiches.
I am both a lifetime patron and a consumer.
Our hungry voices, muffled by food, must be heard!

 

[Adam Locking]

Ross Lincoln - Senior Editor - Comics and Cosplay

Is this referring mainly to print comics, or is there going to be expanded coverage of webcomics (other than Penny Arcade ect.) as well?

 

[Greg Tito]

This is a neat idea, Greg, but do try to keep the channels organized and accessible. *snip*

Will do! We definitely want to keep the presentation as clean and engaging as possible. The point is to make it EASIER to get to the kinds of content you enjoy so we definitely will not be hiding anything. But as always, please let us know if there's anything we can do better.

Greg

 

[Greg Tito]

Ross Lincoln - Senior Editor - Comics and Cosplay

Is this referring mainly to print comics, or is there going to be expanded coverage of webcomics (other than Penny Arcade ect.) as well?

The focus is on comics in print, but you will see some more webcomics coverage too if that's the kind of thing you are interested in.

Greg

 

[Adam Locking]

Ross Lincoln - Senior Editor - Comics and Cosplay

Is this referring mainly to print comics, or is there going to be expanded coverage of webcomics (other than Penny Arcade ect.) as well?

The focus is on comics in print, but you will see some more webcomics coverage too if that's the kind of thing you are interested in.

Greg

Heck yeah! While I do love print comics, there's plenty of sites catering to them, whereas webcomic news/reviews have pretty much dried up over the last half-decade, with the sole exception of The Webcomic Overlook.

 

[-Dragmire-]

The Escapist Means More Than Just Video Games

I?m happy to introduce some new faces and expanded content on our favorite website - The Escapist.

Read Full Article

Phew! For a second there I thought this was another Editor in Chief resignation letter that begins with reminiscing about the site before saying farewell!

I'm glad to hear that this is a positive expansion to the site. I have a couple questions about the implementation though.

Will current accounts stay the same or will people have to sign in separately to each channel?

Does the publisher's club membership apply to all channels?

Will there be another site overhaul with a pub club test phase? I imagine that a new layout will be required to accommodate the diverse sections of content. I want to know this so I can be on the ground floor giving feedback rather than coming in late when everyone is already tired and bitter...