A plea for change after the departure of Extra Credits

[tyriless]

I lend my voice to the thousands who are saddened by this loss. This should not of happened. Over the past three years the Escapist brand has been strengthening thanks to the likes the big three: Moviebob, Yahtzee, and Extra Credits. Great clips and articles may of came and gone, but the big three where a foundation of quality that made the Escapist a phenomenon. Extra Credits brought an intelligence and earnestness to this website not seen before. For the first time in the history of gaming someone came forward and made a show that delved into the mechanics, ethics, and principles of the medium, and it was fun. Their was genius at work here. Honest to goodness talent and brilliance that will not be exceeded or even matched, ever. And now it is gone.

This should not of happened. Being that everyone involved in this fiasco where adults the lack of maturity and ethical behavior is inexcusable.This conflict should of not occurred in the first place, and its resolution was about the worst possible outcome imaginable. All it took would be one person to look at this conflict and go, "We can make this work out. Both sides are upset, but we can find a medium to make both parties happy." From that moment of reasonableness, arbitration could of arisen.

I don't believe that Extra Credits wanted to leave, and I damn sure hope the Escapist didn't want them to go. The fundraising effort for Allison showed a fanbase both loving and devoted. The fans of Extra Credits where so generous that they gave money to a woman they never met to save here career. If that good will could of been directed to online sales, Extra Credit and the Escapist would not be dealing with financial issues at all.

We now stand at a crossroads where the Escapist has lost a major contributor and they cannot afford to lose anymore. The practices of Escapists have to change in order to keep the talent they have. The loss of Moviebob or Yahtzee will sound the death knell of this site. In addition, perhaps the most regrettable thing to come of this debacle, new talent will be discouraged to lend their voice to the forum. I am sure the next Yahtzee is waiting to give her/his insight but in witnessing what has occurred, may decide to move on to some other site.

I have been a reader of the Escapist for almost 2 years and I will continue to do so despite my reservations on how they may of treated the talent they have acquired. This site still offers some the best clips and articles found on the internet. However, I know worry about the Escapist's future and wonder if the departure is a sign of what's to come.

 

[Soviet Steve]

I'll be around until they get rid of Yahtzee or go bankrupt and shut down the site. Latter seems more likely given how they're unable to pay wages. Sucks but at least Extra Credits and ZP and such are likely to find employment elsewhere on the internet.

 

[Glerken]

Extra Credits made it very clear they wanted to leave.

Also, you're trying far to hard to sound proper, and that combined with all the spelling and grammar errors makes the post look silly.

 

[silv]

Why no love for the loading ready run crew? They have so many shows and are a big part of the site.

 

[Plucky]

If its any consolation, i only came to The Escapist for There Will Be Brawl and Critical Miss...don't think ive even watched more than 1 episode of ZP without skipping bits of it, if i skipped bits off that that and EC is lesser exposed, chances are i would've skipped most of their clips too....is it a comic or a video series..?

Now that i think about it, i don't even look up much of The Escapist's content, not even that comic about some anime guy with a fish logo...whatever that was.

 

[FalloutJack]

Why no love for the loading ready run crew? They have so many shows and are a big part of the site.

Because they are a power in of themselves, universally recognized, who are not primarily supported by the Escapist? They signed up and put shows here, but they have their own site, their own success, and so on.

 

[silv]

Why no love for the loading ready run crew? They have so many shows and are a big part of the site.

Because they are a power in of themselves, universally recognized, who are not primarily supported by the Escapist? They signed up and put shows here, but they have their own site, their own success, and so on.

Well played sir. I hadn't thought of it that way.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I don't care who hosts them as long as they continue to provide insightful advice about the medium.

Honestly when the whole payment thing was being brought to light, I was sure we'd find that it was only Yahtzee who was being paid on time and in full.

 

[mirror's edgy]

The Extra Credits mess was just a stupid business debacle as most have said, but it's done now. You really shouldn't worry like this; The Escapist is not trying to drive their computers away, they're just in bad financial shape. As long as they don't pull a fast one on any other contributors, the site will not be in the throes of death or anything like that. I see why you want to be careful, but this was just a coincidence that led to a little slap fight over The Escapist's debt that won't likely be repeated.

 

[FalloutJack]

this was just a coincidence that led to a little slap fight over The Escapist's debt that won't likely be repeated.

Famous last words.

You think this is bad? Wait for Yahtzee to get pissed.

 

[mirror's edgy]

this was just a coincidence that led to a little slap fight over The Escapist's debt that won't likely be repeated.

Famous last words.

You think this is bad? Wait for Yahtzee to get pissed.

Will Yahtzee's presence make or break The Escapist? Well... probably. The traffic numbers don't lie. But The Escapist has seen what happened with EC. Whether it was a mistake or not, they won't be stepping on anyone's toes for a while unless they are seriously in the red.

 

[Gralian]

Given the desperation of people trying to break into the video games critique / journalism / entertainment business, i highly doubt any debacle, no matter how bad, would deter any future talent from rolling up. Beggars can't be choosers, after all. Good luck trying to find a platform to launch your career if you're going to spurn ones you consider ethically bankrupt.

 

[FalloutJack]

this was just a coincidence that led to a little slap fight over The Escapist's debt that won't likely be repeated.

Famous last words.

You think this is bad? Wait for Yahtzee to get pissed.

Will Yahtzee's presence make or break The Escapist? Well... probably. The traffic numbers don't lie. But The Escapist has seen what happened with EC. Whether it was a mistake or not, they won't be stepping on anyone's toes for a while unless they are seriously in the red.

The proper analogy for this, I think, is this... The Escapist now treads upon a minefield covered in eggshells and mouse traps on a thunderous day...and there are machine gun nests. Or, to put it another way...

 

[FernandoV]

Everytime something meaningless happens on the internet there's always a bleeding heart speaking for "us". Thanks OP but your wall of text is as meaningless as your cause. Cya.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Too...much...conjecture.

That's actually an aspect of EC that rubbed me the wrong way too. All in all, I'm not convinced this is such a big loss.

 

[Arella18]

Wow talk about a serious screw up. I hadn't been on the site in awhile I love Extra Credits I can't believe this. Yahtzee and Moviebob are my other favorites...and I watch LRR from their site but the rest of this tripe on here can go it's all just useless and makes gamers seem even more like immature morons who can't function. (I know yahtzee isn't really the main voice for gamers but at least he's funny once in awhile) If Movie Bob goes I'm gone. This site was starting to show promise but now well I'll let the content speak for itself.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I'm not going to address anything regarding EC, as it's not my place to do so. But speaking as someone who has worked with dozens and dozens of truly gifted, insightful, and excellent authors on hundreds of articles, I assure you, OP, that The Escapist had "earnestness and intelligence" in abundance before EC ever aired.

 

[RanD00M]

Extra Credits brought an intelligence and earnestness to this website not seen before.

I stopped reading there. Because this is simply not true. The Escapist had a lot of intelligent discussion and well written and thought out articles. Now that I think of it almost all that intelligence the Escapist had seemed almost completely fade away when EC came on this site. While it had been dwindling, I do believe that EC came right at the point where my faith in the Escapist started flying straight out the fucking window.
So essentially what I'm trying to say here is that while EC was sometimes enjoyable, it did more harm than good community wise, it was a big part in killing off what I loved about the Escapist.