With Zero Punctuation puttering--will the Escapist survive?

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Funkysandwich

Contra Bassoon
Jan 15, 2010
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I came here for ZP, and stayed for LRR. I still watch ZP most weeks though, usually after I've checked out Feed Dump.
 

Guitarmasterx7

Day Pig
Mar 16, 2009
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Honestly I think Yahtzee has been doing more creative and interesting things with ZP now. It had a bit of an awkward period a while ago but i feel like the more recent episodes have been good. He deviates from his shtick a bit more now and i feel like that keeps it from feeling stale, but some people will inevitably hate it because change.
 

mitchell271

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Sep 3, 2010
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The only reason you think there's a decline is because you've grown accustomed to his humour. It's as good as ever but you're used to the style and delivery of the humour as well as those zing moments.
 

2ndblackjedi

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Sep 12, 2008
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*TDKR Bane voice* The Yahtzee will be ripped from his decadent nest, and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure. The LRR crew will survive, as they learn to serve true justice. This great website...it will endure...The Escapist Will Survive!

(I suppose I could say something On-Topic but that's the first thing that came to mind >.> but yeah...ZP is still funny to me and apparently a few other people)
 

MammothBlade

It's not that I LIKE you b-baka!
Oct 12, 2011
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Thankfully The Escapist doesn't rely on just one "anchor" show anymore, it has other famous features still. And statistics are misleading.

Even if ZP were to pack overnight, things would still keep going on. So don't worry about it. Everywhere has a lifecycle I guess, users come and go, but it's fun while it lasts.
 

Gazisultima

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May 25, 2009
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The best way of showing some sort of downward trend is to check traffic numbers specifically from Wednesdays. Using yearly trends isn't a fair way of deciding the decline of one series. for all we know from those numbers, Zero punctuation could be keeping the site alive while the other shows are the ones not gaining any exposure. Context is important. A downward trending graph looks bad, but the context of it isn't shown therefore it cannot be used as secure evidence.
 

Gazisultima

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May 25, 2009
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Two reasons why this downward trend is possibly happening. 1. ZP is on youtube so a lot of potential site traffic could be from there. 2. The data shown so far does not show actual traffic, but the Escapist's rank compared to other websites. Other websites could be getting more popular as opposed to the Escapist losing popularity. Not enough context is shown in the data for it to be relevant.
 

repeating integers

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Mar 17, 2010
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Rogue 09 said:
On an actual forum related note:

I still love the Escapist. I have some trouble with the content, as great shows like "Doraleous" (I have no idea if that is spelled right), Unforgotten Realms, ect. are being replaced by more and more Moviebob (ugh...), No right answer, and other garbage. Yahtzee and the news feed are basically the only reason I come here anymore. G4 is gone (though it was never very good to begin with...) and Kotaku is constantly filled with some of the dumbest nonsense stories I've ever seen.

If Escapist goes down... I might give up on the internet.
I'm loving Critical Intel so far, though, so there's that.
 

Patrick Buck

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Nov 14, 2011
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I dunno, I still think it's funny to be honest. I still look forward to wensdays because of it, and think it may not be as funny as it was when I first found it, but that's mainly due to being used to watching them, so I'm more desensitezed to what he's saying, and can predict what he's going to say about a game he's reviewing.
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
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I admit I'm less a fan of the site now than ever, but it's due to me changing more than The Escapist. Jim and Justin and the only content providers who really "click" for me. That said, I'm sure people are forgetting the other factors that may contribute to the site receiving less traffic (if that's true): Youtube and competition in general. There's just a lot more competition nowadays. I can't even name all the people on Youtube who provide terrific content on gaming. And then sites like Giant Bomb have really hit their stride (I actually find myself around there more these days. Their GOTY podcasts were wonderful. It's all about gaming there, and I love that). I don't think The Escapist is in any immediate danger of going under. The small decline just seems natural given the circumstances.
 

RobfromtheGulag

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May 18, 2010
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Yahtzee's stuff started out with a huge stable of games to look at. I'm not going to go check, but I'd bet the games he was reviewing at first were not released week after week. Now that he's doing primarily cutting edge new titles every week, you can't expect him to have novel stuff to say about each one of them. He has some genres he likes more than others, and it's hard to whip up a witty commentary on something like Super Mickey or Mario Galaxy. Those games don't warrant a lot of critique, they just are. Nobody's competing with Mario for best platformer in outer space. Meanwhile on the opposite end of the spectrum military shooters are getting so bad that I honestly couldn't tell you which game a screenshot is from. The jokes are only really funny the first time.

Anyway, what I notice most on the Escapist is this seemingly huge turnover of featured content. It makes me a bit sad to think of these people who were probably contacted, thought 'oh this'll be great', then got booted out the back door when they didn't rake in enough viewings or forum posts or whatever shows their draw.
 

TheDrunkNinja

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Jun 12, 2009
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While it's true I don't wait in anticipation for noon to roll around on Wednesdays as I once did, I have yet to see anything that I would call "stale routine" when it comes to Yahtzee's material.

Hell, even this most recent review had me audibly laughing quite a number of times. There will come a time when Yahtzee will need to step down gracefully, but that time has not yet arrived.
 

disgruntledgamer

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Mar 6, 2012
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Yahtzee's really the only reason I come here, he's still funny so I don't know what your talking about. It does help to have played the games he's reviewed tho maybe that's it.
 

Evil Top Hat

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May 21, 2011
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GunsmithKitten said:
Yea, all I'm left with as far as Ben Crowshow is concerned is his old FullyRamblomatic written material and his freeware games. Between his misogynistic Sims 3 rant, his racism, and his coiningings of the terms "PC Gaming Master Race" and "spunkgargleweewee"(Ben, this isn' the 2nd grade...) he lost any and all respect I ever have for him or his opinion on...well, anything.
First off, I have absolutely no idea where you pulled "racism" from, and secondly, the term "PC gaming master race" is used by him to MAKE FUN of people that see themselves as superior because they play on the "better" system, Yahtzee himself has never once trying to make out that he in any way thought of PC gamers as a "master race". It's called a joke, and it was used against PC gamers, not in support of them.

It's fair enough that you don't like ZP, but wishing failure on a man and accusing him of being "racist" and "misogynistic" is the sort of thing that you kind of need a bit of evidence to support, and you at least need to have some kind of basic grasp of what is and is not a joke, especially seeing as Yahtzee makes jokes about everybody and everything and means almost none of them.
 

The White Hunter

Basment Abomination
Oct 19, 2011
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Casual Shinji said:
Everything ultimately becomes mundane. Deal with it. It's hardly the end of the Escapist.

And here's another fact; Even the Escapist will one day go the way of the dodo. So enjoy it while it lasts.

[sub]I think I just depressed myself - I need to go change my underwear.[/sub]
YOu shouldn't spend so much time with your candy canes that's whats depressing you! : D

OT: Meh, I still watch, though it's not so hilarious to me anymore it's still entertaining and gets a smirk out of me, it's ebcause I'm used to it more than anything. As for spikes in post count you'll find that the comments tend to pile up when you discuss really popular things with large fan bases. Like COD, pokemon, smash bros, metal gear, etc.

Thjere's a tonne of other great shows here, in particular I'm a big fan of the Jimquisition.

Incidentally, does anyone know if Cliffy B replied to Jimothy?
 

Tom_green_day

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Jan 5, 2013
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I think the late middle of last year there was a lul, but at the end with reviews like Far Cry 3, XCom and Blops2, that is probably the funniest I've seen him.
 

Evil Smurf

Admin of Catoholics Anonymous
Nov 11, 2011
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Copper Zen said:
I need a hug
Don't worry Coopper Zen, my friend. ZP will die eventually, you still have a fantastic forum environment however.
 

Jonluw

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May 23, 2010
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People have been saying that "zp has been getting worse lately" since practically two weeks after Yahtzee first joined the escapist.
For this to have been true, that the quality of zp has been steadily declining for years, each zp episode should have been nothing but Yahtzee yelling incoherently into a microphone for 5 minutes by now.
This leads me to believe zp is not, in fact, getting worse. Like everything else, zp has had its good episodes and its less good episodes, but all over the series is as good as ever. It's just not novel anymore, particularly since Yahtzee has more or less found the form to stick to.
This coming from someone who has been watching zp since 2007.

I do miss the old song snippets though.

If you want to know what it looks like when a show actually does get shittier over time and it's not just the fans whining, go find the Unforgotten Realms archives and watch the entire series as it aired on the Escapist.
It should be somewhere on here still.
 

Evil Smurf

Admin of Catoholics Anonymous
Nov 11, 2011
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SkarKrow said:
Incidentally, does anyone know if Cliffy B replied to Jimothy?
<spoiler=yes he did>http://i.imgur.com/Lp3Uh.png

This is why I like twitter.