What I find wrong with Jim Sterling

[SenseOfTumour]

I'll watch him, tho I'm not a huge fan, but, to say that his being both funny and serious is a bad thing is strange, should we ban comedians from voting as they're obviously incapable of rational thought?

Personally, Rebecca Muse didn't really entertain me, I realise that she's a talented musician and songwriter, but it just didn't really interest me. However this is the first time I've mentioned it. Hell 'Twilight' might be the greatest literature ever, but it's not my genre, so I've chosen to pass on it.

Of course, I'd hazard a guess she wasn't actively stirring people up by stating controversial opinions in each chorus.

This does sound like a lot of people are returning to Jim like a tongue returning to poke at a bad tooth. 'Ow...that hurts...oh...it still hurts, yep, I'm back again and it's still hurting, kinda feels good in a way too tho'.

If I'm right, there's a song on youtube called Friday, I think you're gonna love it

Part of me also wishes I could fake that level of confidence, Jim sure ain't scared of criticism

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Honestly, my only problem with him is that he hides all of his intelligent and very good points in the later parts of his episodes, while the beginning is usually a non-stop string of ad hominems that insult the intelligence of anyone who disagrees with him.

I mean... Take his call of Duty Video. The first half...I almost closed it right there. But then in the second half, he made a TON of good points which made me stop and think about exactly WHY I hate/dislike CoD.

If he would stop the non-stop ad hominems, then I would love the show. Now, though, I only think it's ok.

 

[Farther than stars]

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.

Of course he "affects" it. We all do, in our own measure. In the end we all have to take responsibility for the image we give this media.

 

[Atmos Duality]

In my opinion, Jim Sterling is nothing more than another AVGN/Yahtzee wannabe.
He has nothing original to say, his delivery is intentionally annoying and his "jokes" are mostly unfunny or badly delivered.

I'll probably ignore his show entirely in the future.

 

[ms_sunlight]

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.

Of course he "affects" it. We all do, in our own measure. In the end we all have to take responsibility for the image we give this media.

See, that's the thing I don't get. I also watch television; if I decide to blog about an episode of a show am I responsible for the image I give television? Why should any of us be responsible for the image we give of video games?

Jim Sterling is not responsible for anything but himself, and I think the multi-billion-dollar video game industry is big enough, mature enough and robust enough to survive his polemics.

 

[lord.jeff]

I not a huge fan of his persona but I agree with him a lot and I like his view on games the Extra Credit guys are great, they are about the art of games and narrative which is great but I like having Jim to do to his it's all about fun way of thinking, it makes a good contrast.

 

[Dr_McSteamy]

I find Jim's exceptionally dry humor to be to my liking, mostly due to my folks raising me on the stuff as a youngin. I do see the problem here though is that as the OP said, when he came to the site it was in a way that was made for people to hate him or love him, and the dichotomy created was not what a new content producer needs. The second issue is that as stated earlier in the thread, the comparison to Yahtzee is one that was made almost immediately, given that he had the monopoly on the crass British man until Jim's arrival. Lastly, Jim's humor is, as I said earlier, exceptionally dry; a style of humor that is not present on the Escapist to his level in any other form. While Yahtzee is the crass Brit, his humor is vulgar and over the top as opposed to Jim's.

Thats my .02

 

[Harbinger_]

You know I wouldn't be upset to find out that Jimquisition was taken off the Escapist tomorrow. In fact and I hate to say this but if they brought back Rebecca Mayes instead of Jimquisition I'd actually be happier and I couldn't stand her.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

I like it...

I think that a lot of people take him too seriously and/or don't find him funny, but isn't that the point? I think of him as a kind of lame supply teacher who will tell you the facts, occasionally tell an unfunny joke, and get ridiculed behind his back etc etc, but at the end of the day has an interesting point or two to make.

I think he has a kind of fragile, narcissistic fly-off-the-handle dictator persona going on, and - in my opinion - it works. It's the kind of thing where you have to want to try and like it to get anything from it - if you go into it thinking 'I hate this guy and I don't care what he has to say' of course you're not going to enjoy it! I'm not saying that you have to go into it and forgive its faults, but you have to give it a chance.

If you think he's taking himself seriously, and thinks he's nearly as smug/self-indulged/humourless as he comes across, then I have to disagree with you.

 

[Forsvaine]

Jim Sterling's personality on Jimquisition reminds me of Maddox, and sometimes it sounds funnier when someone acts that way than writing it. I think you're taking it way too seriously. I'm sure that he only wants people mature enough to realize he's joking around to watch his videos, or he'd be chest-high in hate mail.

 

[Farther than stars]

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.

Of course he "affects" it. We all do, in our own measure. In the end we all have to take responsibility for the image we give this media.

See, that's the thing I don't get. I also watch television; if I decide to blog about an episode of a show am I responsible for the image I give television? Why should any of us be responsible for the image we give of video games?

Jim Sterling is not responsible for anything but himself, and I think the multi-billion-dollar video game industry is big enough, mature enough and robust enough to survive his polemics.

Yes, but when you talk about a show, you're affecting the image of that show. Here we're talking about gaming in general, so it's affecting an image on a far broader scale. Also, as I stated before, games are a more fragile medium, making it different to something like TV. This is of course partly because of its lack of political representation, but that will come.
I, of course, also have no doubt that gaming will be able to weather whatever one person does and will eventually gain the same kind of artistic revelance as films, but why would we make it harder for the medium to get to that kind of recognision, rather than easier?

 

[Ca3zar416]

I tried to watch to give him a chance but his voice just grates on my ears in the most horrid possible way.

 

[intheweeds]

What doesn't work... Is that he talks about difficult subjects in a very hostile manner. Generally speaking, people avoid difficult subjects, and when the speaker starts to become hostile about their work, peole are more inclined to rage back... Or ignore the speaker. In both instances, the audience generally doesn't listen enough to hear what you really have to say.

Whether or not you become offended by his style is i think (and please any brits come over here and confirm or deny this) just a cultural difference. British humor is different from American and Canadian humor in many ways. They tend to have a more deadpan delivery leaving the audience to realize when they have heard a joke. They also tend to be a more scathing in their comedy entertainment (i'm thinking of the uber-success of 'The Weakest Link'). I personally find him hilarious, but I'm Canadian and our sense of humor is different too. Just my opinion though...

 

[PekoponTAS]

I've never liked Jim Sterling in his videos, or as an editor on Destructoid. He's unprofessional, unfunny, and seems to go out of his way to purposely get people angry. I know that's sort of the point of his videos, but he even does it in his news articles and reviews. I can understand being a troll in silly videos or in comment sections, but when you're a journalist, no matter what the industry, there needs to be some level of professionalism, and I never see that in anything he does. He's a poor writer, and doesn't really belong in a journalism position at all.

However (and I know this is kind of contradicting myself) I'm always willing to give credit where credit is due, so here is a video by Jim Sterling that I must confess is absolutely hilarious, and is easily the best thing he's ever made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWL_WwhEtLA

 

[poundingmetal74]

Love Jim's show. Entertaining, makes pretty decent arguments. If I want a purely intellectual show on gaming, I'll watch extra credits. If I want an egomaniac reviewer and commentator to put forth his opinion, I'll watch Jim.

 

[weker]

Why Jim Sterling doesn't work.

Please note, this isn't a hate-filled rant on Jimbo. I do realize that he's trying to do satire. I'm just trying to point out why it doesn't work.

So, a month or two ago, Jim Sterling rushed onto the Escapist with a herald of hisses and boos. Nobody liked him, and it was quite a while before anybody realized they were being trolled. Mission Accomplished, Sterling. You got everybody to hate you.

So aside from the cloud of hate hovering over his show, it seems that he's trying to fuse Zero Punctuation and Extra Credits. Cool, I like both shows and they both have content that I thouroughly enjoy.

What doesn't work... Is that he talks about difficult subjects in a very hostile manner. Generally speaking, people avoid difficult subjects, and when the speaker starts to become hostile about their work, peole are more inclined to rage back... Or ignore the speaker. In both instances, the audience generally doesn't listen enough to hear what you really have to say.

So while he has said that he encourages raging at his show (the ad says "get angry", after all), it seems to go against the whole concept of having a commentary on difficult subjects. When you talk about such things, you want people to listen, but when you get hostile, they don't listen. Especially when you get on your "holier than thou" horse.

But that's another issue for another time

ZP is the same he just goes around what he talks about a different way.
Jim simply talks about different issues and problems but introduces comedy to make it more entertaining, but alas his humor is more vulgar, hostile and contains more satire which many many many ppl dont understand or like.

 

[Avistew]

I think the reason unlikable characters often work and become likable (I'm thinking for instance of Colbert's persona) is because they're portrayed as stupid and wrong, which makes their megalomania all the funnier when everything they say is so obviously rubbish.

But Sterling acts and talks like a megalomanic, abusive asshole, and while doing so makes good points. He's not making fun of someone and making bad points just to point out how stupid they are and that he thinks the opposite. No, his persona is a horrible person, but the opinions and points are his. As a result, it doesn't work for me at all.

Plus, when someone keeps insulting you, treats you like crap and makes some good points, there is that gut feeling that if you agree with the good points you somehow validate being treated like crap. So instinctively a lot of people just shut off and would rather dismiss everything he says, even if they previously agreed with it, because it comes from him. On top of that, people often don't want to be associated with someone like the character he's portraying, meaning that they don't want him to agree with them. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame]

 

[ExodusFlame]

Personally i do not mind Jim Sterling his trolling is slightly irritating but that is the point of it so get the fuck over it and when you say about the humor is there something your missing here? the "thank god for me" shit is supposed to be funny if your not getting it you need to broaden your mind a bit to humor its not purely topical.

Even with the trolling which i feel has lessened these days i think he is evolving changing from the beginning he was the most hated escapist reviewer it seemed these days his haters are either letting up or people don't mind anymore he is very good at getting to the point of his topic even though he insults the creator of any examples he throws up.

If you do not like him do not watch then you do not have to be a part of anything to do with him nobody forces you to watch. Also someone i seen posted earlier who has not seen his show before you start to hate on anything FUCKING WATCH IT! until then your opinion has no basis and in fact makes you just another troll much like the person you are demonizing.

 

[Pinkamena]

I like it. I wouldn't sho it to anyone as a point in a discussion, but when I agree with what he is saying, I really find his videos amusing. They are far from as intellectual as Extra Credits, but it's a fun break in the week!