What I find wrong with Jim Sterling

[McMullen]

That right there, does not make me want to watch. He looks like one of those firebrand preachers up on stage ranting on about how the gays are ruining the US, or whoever is on the gospel shit list for the week.

That is exactly what it's supposed to look like, because that's what he's parodying.

It's not my favorite show, and I tend to only watch them when I'm really bored, but a few of them have been pretty good, "Accountability" foremost among them in my opinion. Why would you write off a satirical show without watching it? Seems a foolish choice to me, unless you don't have the time for it. But then, you're posting on the Escapist forums, and giving a negative review for a show you've never watched while doing so, so that doesn't seem to be a problem for you.

 

[Stu the Pirate]

My only problem with Jimmy is that he doesn't engage with the viewer. It's true in public speaking and it's true in videos: People need to see your eyes. Lose the shades, Jim.

 

[Meggiepants]

I don't mind him at all. His persona is abrasive, to be sure. His tweets are even more so if you take a look. But he often has an opinion that is a direct counterpoint to so many other videos on this site, take for instance his stance on Nintendo. I think that is a great addition to this site.

Too much of the same thing makes a site bland and pandering. Jim shakes things up. I enjoy that.

 

[YawningAngel]

I think it's hilarious.

 

[Continuity]

Jim, like other shows and contributors, will live and die by popularity. if you don't like him, don't watch him. If enough people want to watch him then he has a place here, if they don't then he doesn't.

Simple.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

You know what? At least the guy's entertaining. At least stuff he brings up actually matters. At least it can potentially lead to some interesting discussion.

Jim is not trying to fuse EC with ZP. He just pretty much takes the "troll" aspect of ZP and makes it far more obvious. In fact, that's what makes him far more entertaining than certain other shows on the Escapist that make it their job to bring up obvious stuff and make it sound super important.

 

[TornadoFive]

I don't like his videos. I just find him really annoying. Yeah, I get that he's putting on an act for the video, but that doesn't excuse it.

But I just ignore him, and hope the Escapist is smart enough to realise that we shouldn't have more like him.

The Escapist has to cater to a wide range of tastes. Some of these I wont like. So I ignore them, and enjoy the ones I do. Simple.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Jim Sterling's Jimquisition is BY FAR not the worst series the Escapist hosts.
I like it, quite a few people don't, it's all subjective so just live with it.

 

[Outright Villainy]

First line should read: "Why Jim Sterling doesn't work in my opinion.

Having to say "in my opinion" every time someone expresses an opinion would be wasting 3 words in every sentence. Of course its his opinion, it's all frickin' subjective. This isn't science, so everything is opinion. A disclaimer is completely redundant.

Ot: Don't like him. It's not his abrasive attitude on its own, I mean that works well enough for Yahtzee. The issue is he's trying to be funny, and I'm not even remotely amused.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

In his Nintendo of America video, he gave a graph about how Japanese games sell more copies in America, but he never seemed to take into account that America obviously has a much larger population than Japan.

I'd just like to know: how does that make any difference what so ever? Selling product is additive, not based upon percentages per capita. Even if the American market was at 10% of the entire population, if that 10% is additively more units sold than all of Japan combined, you're making a larger profit off America (assuming the units are sold at the same price). Now, obviously one has to think about exporting costs and localization, but even then most of those games were sold in the European market, which usually means the U.K. and anyone else that wants an english copy of the game, if not other languages which, in theory, would cost more to produce than a uni-language copy for the American market. The fact that the American market often doubles Japan, or covers more units than both the Japanese and European markets combined further confuses people as to why the exporting costs are "too high" for America, yet are perfectly reasonable for a European release.

That would be why that particular point is the most important point in that entire argument.

OT: Jim is doing fine. While I'm not rolling on the floor laughing during his videos, they make me chuckle once in awhile (see: Impression of Nintendo of America). The meat of the video, however, is really well placed. He judges games as games first and not some sort of higher, superior art form. His style of message is, in fact, the exact same style that haters of video games use, mocking them while elveling the playing field to their intellectual level, if you will. If you don't like it? Well, I'm sorry for you, because he makes some really good points and you could stand to actually watch an episode or two because the topics and points he makes are really intelligent and well thought out with a gimmick that appeals to an audience that has yet to have an educational look at video games aimed towards them.

 

[Hagi]

I like Jim.

I don't know if it's his actual intention but the persona he uses separates the boys from the men.

The boys will be busy hating Jim and talking about how stupid he is. Meanwhile the men can smoke cigars, drink whiskey, discuss the things he's actually saying instead of how he's saying it and afterwards thank god for Jim.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Probably my biggest problem is the attitude he takes, though I also think he's a sexist chauvinist pig who is playing the oldest card in the book. I thought people didn't fall for 'it's all a joke, it's okay to be rude and offensive,' anymore. In order for it to be a joke, you have to actually have humour you fat fuck.

Sorry, I had a point. My main problem is why he's on this particular site. This site that jumps on anyone who might say anything mildly offensive and bans them for trolling, and they have a troll as one of their video contributers. Because that's what Jim is, a troll. And the reaosn he's a troll is because he makes videos about subjects he knows will be offensive, doesn't do his research, spouts nonsense and hate for a few minutes, and then if anyone does try and respond to him, he calls them an idiot and says that they don't understand humour.

I've just listed off basically the go to definition of what a troll is, and yes somehow we have no way of taking Jimmy boy down from the site like any other troll, instead we're being told week after week that trolling is bad, except when he does it.

And no, Yahtzee is not trolling, because he backs up his points with facts from the games, he does it aggressively, but he at least has a point. Movie Bob likewise does the research, and presents his points in such a way that it invites debate instead of shutting people down with lots of yelling. Also, Yahtzee and Movie Bob both have columns where they then address some of their more extreme views in an even more reasonable debate. Mr Sterling does not do so.

Mr Sterling is a troll sponsored and paid for by the Escapist to piss off their members, nothing more.

 

[Accountfailed]

Haters going to hate. Haters, you are just going to have to accept that Jim is here to stay, and to be honest, I'm glad. I like the Jimquisition, I got the satire from the first episode, and I also think Zero punctuation has turned to shit.

Long live Jim, and the Jimquisition, I can imagine the laughs Sterling gets from these threads.

 

[ms_sunlight]

OT: Jim brings up interesting points sometimes and I sometimes agree admittedly. But I usually always find at least one counterargument to his points. For example: In his Nintendo of America video, he gave a graph about how Japanese games sell more copies in America, but he never seemed to take into account that America obviously has a much larger population than Japan. I agree with everything else he said about Nintendo of America though.

I would imagine he didn't take that into account because it was irrelevant to the point he was making - that is, questioning how can it be economically unattractive to localise games for a market where they routinely sell in greater numbers than they do in their home market. It's not about what percentage of Americans buy JRPGs.

I'm sorry, I should have made it clearer. I'm not saying he's "destroying us" because I concluded that out of him not actively helping us. No, I'm saying that he's actively destroying us.
Not actively helping us is technically equivalent to doing nothing, which I would be fine with. But harming the image of video games as an industry and with that same message encouraging his viewers to take a similar stance? Now that I view very much as active destruction.

Do you really think the video game industry's reputation is so good, or so fragile, that one guy filming videos can affect it?

If anything, it goes to show that gaming is becoming a mature media (like film, television, theatre, the novel etc.) in that it attracts, accommodates and withstands a variety of critical voices.

 

[Lord Krunk]

snippy snip snip snippety

I agree with you about all of that, it grates on my nerves too.

That said, I've seen him write some excellent points about interesting topics, on the show and elsewhere. I sense that, provided he either reworks or loses his current persona, he could be a very interesting watch. I could see him as a very intriguing foil to Extra Credits' stalwart optimism, Yahtzee's blind cynicism and Moviebob's idealism.

What I'm trying to say is, if he stopped trying to be funny and devoted that time to getting some solid arguments through, a hefty weight will be lifted off the show's shoulders.

But who knows? Maybe it's just a teething issue and his brand of humour will begin to work. I'm going to keep watching to find out anyway.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Why would you write off a satirical show without watching it?

Because of all the things the outward advertising for Jim's show conveys "parody" is not one of them. From the image painted for me by his advertising it does not look like I would enjoy his show; therefore I have opted to not watch it.

Seems a foolish choice to me, unless you don't have the time for it. But then, you're posting on the Escapist forums, and giving a negative review for a show you've never watched while doing so, so that doesn't seem to be a problem for you.

Check again, my post was not a negative review of his show. It was the assumptions I've made about his show based upon the advertising campaign for it and what I've heard from other users on the forums. It was the long form rant of why I find his advertising campaign off-putting enough to not watch it.

There's also no need for insults. If you want to discuss the matter at length then I think you should be more than capable of doing so without stooping to personal attacks.

 

[C2Ultima]

Jim has a weird approach to conveying messages, but I always get some valuable knowledge from his videos.

He didn't really try the satirizing fake persona thing until he joined The Escapist. The Jimquisition was going on for a while on Destructoid.

 

[Woodsey]

The "hostile" parts are separate from the parts where he's quite clearly just making a point.

People are pussies; reminds of the whole Expendables fiasco with Movie Bob. By the end of it people were acting as if he'd fucked their grandmother and then sent them the video to prove it.

 

[GiantRaven]

For example: In his Nintendo of America video, he gave a graph about how Japanese games sell more copies in America, but he never seemed to take into account that America obviously has a much larger population than Japan.

Population is a completely irrelevant point. If a game sells more copies in America than in Japan, then it made more money in America than in Japan. The size of the population has no bearing on that. In fact it makes more sense to release in America due to the larger population and thus the greater amount of potential customers.