What happened to the Escapist?
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Pfttt, nostalgia.Boba Frag said:Damn, but I've missed posts like this!
That gave me a lot of warm, fluffy nostalgia, Spidermod.
Things like this keep me coming back here. This is my digital equivalent of Eric Foreman's basement or the Central Perk from Friends.
Completely agreed. Jim always made me cringe when I watched him. This site should just be renamed ZeroPunctuation.com.Johnny Novgorod said:
If I remember right, the person who first distributed this image (was it on Reddit? My memory is fuzzy) was Velventian (who admitted it later in the megathread, committed forum suicide, subsequently banned), someone who sort of went...far off the rails. I vaguely recall many reactions in the megathread being baffled or disagreeing with the image. But self-admittedly, my memory is shit.MarsAtlas said:
But I think that highlights a problem with GG, in that there still is no greater organization to denounce certain actions or hold certain people responsible for them. Just throwing out "it's a leaderless movement" and not wanting to explain a position when someone in the movement goes way too far is not an excuse. I think it's far simpler and much more effective to say that the image was hyper-reactionary and unnecessary and denounce its usage.
I would like moderation to be more strict in the megathread, but honestly at this point it should be a user group. Some would even say that when all this shit began.
This is coming as someone that agrees with a number of GG's points or views, and still thinks it has some form of merit lurking in it. Don't blame ANYBODY for not thinking so though. Especially if they've only interacted with supporters here.
A user group would work great. It wouldn't be diluting any forum space it occupied (like poor R&P) and they could keep it public so people could still see the discussion even if they are not members. Hell, call it debate group so anti-GG people can join without feeling quite as weird about it.Solaire of Astora said:If I remember right, the person who first distributed this image (was it on Reddit? My memory is fuzzy) was Velventian (who admitted it later in the megathread, committed forum suicide, subsequently banned), someone who sort of went...far off the rails. I vaguely recall many reactions in the megathread being baffled or disagreeing with the image. But self-admittedly, my memory is shit.MarsAtlas said:
But I think that highlights a problem with GG, in that there still is no greater organization to denounce certain actions or hold certain people responsible for them. Just throwing out "it's a leaderless movement" and not wanting to explain a position when someone in the movement goes way too far is not an excuse. I think it's far simpler and much more effective to say that the image was hyper-reactionary and unnecessary and denounce its usage.
I would like moderation to be more strict in the megathread, but honestly at this point it should be a user group. Some would even say that when all this shit began.
This is coming as someone that agrees with a number of GG's points or views, and still thinks it has some form of merit lurking in it. Don't blame ANYBODY for not thinking so though. Especially if they've only interacted with supporters here.
As a side note I chose that Avengers Forever image for the Brovengers homepage like forever ago. It's kinda funny seeing it plastered on some conspiracy theory poster XD
Fappy said:
Yes, conspiracy theories, keep up the facade.
It's actually hilarious that someone thought BroChat would have the organisational skills to "plan raids" of GG shit. XD
I came here one day out of the blue. I'm not sure why. Maybe I saw an Extra Punctuation on YouTube and wondered where it came from. The site I found was wonderful.
Starting with Zero Punctuation, I began watching entire series of videos which I had never heard of. Apocalypse Lane (Jon Ethridge kicks all sorts of ass, by the way), There Will Be Brawl, Escape to the Movies, Game Dogs, Unskippable...I couldn't believe the wealth of great content I had found. Doraleus and Associates and Extra Credits sealed the deal when they came around. I was hooked.
Some series came to narrative conclusions, and so when they disappeared I understood. Game Dogs ended on a weird note, and always left me with the suspicion that something had gone on behind the scenes for the show to get the axe. Extra Credits leaving really threw me for a loop, and over the last few months Jim and Bob...Only Yahtzee is here now for my viewing pleasure. Sure, I still get most of my geek news from here, but the coverage isn't by any means widespread. There's all sorts of interesting stories which fall through the cracks, making me go elsewhere for the details.
The forums...oh man. See, I've forum-hopped for years. I rarely post on multiple forums, instead I maintain a presence in one place and then move on when I get sick of the bullshit. I started with Goofball.com, then moved to WinMX, Nation States, Gaia Online, 4chan, and then finally to here. Here I finally found a community with which I could identify, one that wasn't full of kids or prejudiced assholes. Then GamerGate happened.
The divisiveness of this whole shitpile shitstorm of useless shit was/is legendary. The tangible effect it's had (if it's had any real effects at all) was to drive a wedge right down into the gaming community. Even one of my best friends and I got into it over this, each on different sides of the issue.
In the aftermath, we have a lot of snotty behaviour for parties on both sides, lots of cold shoulders going around, and too many people either too terrified to bring up social subjects, or making mouthy hyperbolic comments about them in order to incite ire.
Well, as much as the climate has changed here, I'm not moving on. Sure, I'll be doing most of my content watching on YouTube now (in all honesty, I have been for the last couple of years), but I'll always miss the days when there were websites apart from the 'Tube which hosted awesome and unique content. As far as hopping to YouTube comments sections? No fucking thanks. Things around here might be slightly rough lately, but that place is a bubbling cess pit.
Starting with Zero Punctuation, I began watching entire series of videos which I had never heard of. Apocalypse Lane (Jon Ethridge kicks all sorts of ass, by the way), There Will Be Brawl, Escape to the Movies, Game Dogs, Unskippable...I couldn't believe the wealth of great content I had found. Doraleus and Associates and Extra Credits sealed the deal when they came around. I was hooked.
Some series came to narrative conclusions, and so when they disappeared I understood. Game Dogs ended on a weird note, and always left me with the suspicion that something had gone on behind the scenes for the show to get the axe. Extra Credits leaving really threw me for a loop, and over the last few months Jim and Bob...Only Yahtzee is here now for my viewing pleasure. Sure, I still get most of my geek news from here, but the coverage isn't by any means widespread. There's all sorts of interesting stories which fall through the cracks, making me go elsewhere for the details.
The forums...oh man. See, I've forum-hopped for years. I rarely post on multiple forums, instead I maintain a presence in one place and then move on when I get sick of the bullshit. I started with Goofball.com, then moved to WinMX, Nation States, Gaia Online, 4chan, and then finally to here. Here I finally found a community with which I could identify, one that wasn't full of kids or prejudiced assholes. Then GamerGate happened.
The divisiveness of this whole shitpile shitstorm of useless shit was/is legendary. The tangible effect it's had (if it's had any real effects at all) was to drive a wedge right down into the gaming community. Even one of my best friends and I got into it over this, each on different sides of the issue.
In the aftermath, we have a lot of snotty behaviour for parties on both sides, lots of cold shoulders going around, and too many people either too terrified to bring up social subjects, or making mouthy hyperbolic comments about them in order to incite ire.
Well, as much as the climate has changed here, I'm not moving on. Sure, I'll be doing most of my content watching on YouTube now (in all honesty, I have been for the last couple of years), but I'll always miss the days when there were websites apart from the 'Tube which hosted awesome and unique content. As far as hopping to YouTube comments sections? No fucking thanks. Things around here might be slightly rough lately, but that place is a bubbling cess pit.
Like pretty much everyone else I became aware of The Escapist because of Zero Punctuation. Then I stuck around for the other creative shows and web series they were hosting. They partnered with and hosted 'There Will be Brawl', they had original animation work like Doraleous & Associates, and live shows like Space Janitors. There was a time when they held an annual short film competition.
But I don't know how the financials work behind these things, and what's going on with ownership changes and the likes. Maybe they were losing money doing these things, and sold to a company that intended to make the site profitable. Rather than producing original collaborative works there was a shift in focus to weekly single host talk shows. I'm sure the latter are much cheaper to produce and much more reliable to keep on schedule. Then they started putting their eggs all in one basket, rather than come up with a new show they just had Jim/Yahtzee/Bob pick up another day of the week. Another cost saving measure, but of course the problem here is if one leaves there goes a big swath of your content. I don't believe we know why Movie Bob left yet, but with Jim it seemed to be concerns over increasing influence of advertisements, which is essentially more monetization.
So I don't know, maybe the big bad new owners are greedy sellouts that are ruining a good thing. Or maybe the Escapist as it used to be was too much of a good thing never sustainable, and these shifts in focus are a necessary evil to keep things running. Or of course anything in between, who knows really.
But I don't know how the financials work behind these things, and what's going on with ownership changes and the likes. Maybe they were losing money doing these things, and sold to a company that intended to make the site profitable. Rather than producing original collaborative works there was a shift in focus to weekly single host talk shows. I'm sure the latter are much cheaper to produce and much more reliable to keep on schedule. Then they started putting their eggs all in one basket, rather than come up with a new show they just had Jim/Yahtzee/Bob pick up another day of the week. Another cost saving measure, but of course the problem here is if one leaves there goes a big swath of your content. I don't believe we know why Movie Bob left yet, but with Jim it seemed to be concerns over increasing influence of advertisements, which is essentially more monetization.
So I don't know, maybe the big bad new owners are greedy sellouts that are ruining a good thing. Or maybe the Escapist as it used to be was too much of a good thing never sustainable, and these shifts in focus are a necessary evil to keep things running. Or of course anything in between, who knows really.
I used to watch the videos only in Youtube. But when Zero Punctuation replaced the ending jokes with a "subscribe" screen, I looked for the side. I also visited it for MovieBob's review of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" (which was unexplainable absent from the Youtube channel), but I never signed up until much latter (when I began to comment in articles and videos). It's sad to see so many interesting people leave the Escapist.
I'm on to your evil schemes, you bastard.Fappy said:
YOU CAN'T FOOL ME.
Ah...um. I mean. Yeah, I'm really not a fan of the tin-foiling that went on and sometimes still goes on over there.
I wish I could say something here, but the current issues, whatever caused them just seems like history repeating itself to me.
I've been here long enough to see massive shifts in style and content, people come and go (both in the forums, and amongst the site management)
It's just... One of those things that just seems to keep happening.
I'm still around, so... Meh.
I miss the old video content. The story based stuff, rather than debates and facts and rants and the like, but we haven't seen any of that in so long I doubt it will ever come back.
Why would it?
The whole GG thing is a barely comprehensible mess that I have no desire to be in any way involved with, but it's undeniable how much it has been getting mentioned. Here, and in lots of other places online...
I still feel some connection to this site.
Even if it's not what it once was.
The forums are the forums. Maybe the proportion of groan inducing negative topics have increased, but I saw my fair share of controversy and loud, vicious arguments right from the start, so it's nothing new to me...
Of course, most of my original friends and recognisable people from those days are gone, but... I've made new friends. Probably closer to the new ones than I ever was to the old ones in all honesty.
Stressing over what the content on the site will be in the future is something I gave up on many years back.
My only concern now, if any is whether the site is doing badly enough to collapse outright. Because in spite of everything, that would seem like a pity to me.
I've been here long enough to see massive shifts in style and content, people come and go (both in the forums, and amongst the site management)
It's just... One of those things that just seems to keep happening.
I'm still around, so... Meh.
I miss the old video content. The story based stuff, rather than debates and facts and rants and the like, but we haven't seen any of that in so long I doubt it will ever come back.
Why would it?
The whole GG thing is a barely comprehensible mess that I have no desire to be in any way involved with, but it's undeniable how much it has been getting mentioned. Here, and in lots of other places online...
I still feel some connection to this site.
Even if it's not what it once was.
The forums are the forums. Maybe the proportion of groan inducing negative topics have increased, but I saw my fair share of controversy and loud, vicious arguments right from the start, so it's nothing new to me...
Of course, most of my original friends and recognisable people from those days are gone, but... I've made new friends. Probably closer to the new ones than I ever was to the old ones in all honesty.
Stressing over what the content on the site will be in the future is something I gave up on many years back.
My only concern now, if any is whether the site is doing badly enough to collapse outright. Because in spite of everything, that would seem like a pity to me.
Gaystar belongs to DOTA 2, it has taken him.Fappy said:
He will never love me the way he loves Axe.
A lot (read: everyone) in this thread's lamenting the decline of video content on the Escapist. I'm not in the same boat. For me, the Escapist has been on the decline since they cut the newsletter (that nearly always had something interesting to read) and the numerous columns. Know how the Escapist has Shamus Young and Robert Rath writing columns? Back in the day the Escapist had at least 5 going at once that I can recall (including Shamus), along with a joke one. (that I can't recall the name of now; the writer's name was Marion or something?) All of them usually had something thoughtful and smart to say.
All of that starting getting the axe near the end of Russ Pitt's run, I think. It's probably why he left.
And those articles and columns covered the gamut of games criticism, positive and negative. A lot of them showed a love for games and the people who played them, not a desire to tear them down that has become a prevailing attitude over the past two years.
I miss that website. And I hate that the archives for the site it is today have absolutely horrible archives for anything that goes further back than a year, so I can't even find examples of what I'm talking about since I don't remember the specific names of articles and columns.
All of that starting getting the axe near the end of Russ Pitt's run, I think. It's probably why he left.
And those articles and columns covered the gamut of games criticism, positive and negative. A lot of them showed a love for games and the people who played them, not a desire to tear them down that has become a prevailing attitude over the past two years.
I miss that website. And I hate that the archives for the site it is today have absolutely horrible archives for anything that goes further back than a year, so I can't even find examples of what I'm talking about since I don't remember the specific names of articles and columns.
You seem to be venting, fair enough, that's what the internets for.Shanicus said:
One thing though, you talk about the toxic environment after/during GG with disdain yet you are being incredibly toxic in process by targeting people and dragging that argument along with you, it's like you didn't get a chance to say your bit when it was going down.