An open letter to James and Alexander

[Hagi]

I won't speak on this situation as if I held the truth over everyone else, but you're quoting James out of context.
You're quoting things James said about how the EC team's yet-to-be-set-up indie publishing fund would operate. What he meant was that when their Indie game non-profit publishing project took off, they would be transparent about how it operated and what happened with it, nothing more.

What money do you think they're talking about if not the money invested into the indie publishing fund?

Regardless of who's right or wrong, assuming one party is even right, the indie publishing fund is at the heart of this issue. As such this case should be treated with the transparency we were promised.

 

[Archon]

Dear Alexander Macris,

This was a very honorable post you made. I appreciate that and I actually know how it feels to get a load of heat from making mistakes. You're not a bad person, as everyone (or most Users) has claimed. You've done a lot of great deeds for this website, and even though I joined in December 2010, you made a really successful website with the best benefits for everyone and actually try to improve, manage, and grow in favor of the Users. Not even Facebook is as good as The Escapist, because of the community as well as the services provided. This post isn't going to be like [user]intheweed[/user]'s post. Rather, it's pretty much an advising solution to the whole conflict if you can take your time to read please.

Even though I am sorry you're getting all this heat and I am sorry for that (along with thinking James screwed up just as hard for his poor decisions in the matter), you might want to pull your Staff together for a meeting and discuss how to manage paying people on time. The main issue in this is pretty much money isn't being given to people on time for making shows. Not saying your system is horrible and I know you guys supported Allison's donation by letting James sell Publisher Club Memberships and T-Shirts, thus this whole thing is a misunderstanding.

You and Extra Credits are well respected and very well known. I mean, yeah many are upset with you but you can make things right. It's not to late, all you got to do is take James in person and settle an agreement saying how you're both at fault, that you guys can fix this. I admit I am ashamed of Extra Credits for just leaving like that, not being mature in the situation and pretty much holding out the whole truth on us- but if you really want to regain respect then please tell the whole truth to your side of the story to the community. Some will judge hard, but many will take in your words knowing you mean it that you're sorry which overtime the website can heal. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. I don't see you as a bad person nor a failure, but just a guy in a very tight spot who didn't make the best of decisions. It's a very bad situation, but you've done more good then bad so don't be so hard on yourself. Many will still support the website, it's just you have to make things right and show that The Escapist isn't evil, yet isn't the innocent one ether. Please do this for the dedicated Members like me and others who know you for the best.

Yours Truly,
Ryan Matthew

Ryan,
Thank you for your very kind note.

I actually have had several meetings with my staff about getting people paid. Last week was actually one of our most successful weeks ever in terms of getting our accounts payable cleared up - a lot of people got sent checks, James included. But this was due to some cash from our investors, not due to improving economics.

In general, since the recession began, we have reduced our in-house team by 40%, reduced our freelance expenses by 50%, reduced the rent on our office by 50%, and reduced our bandwidth bill by 30%. Our current office is in a basement with no windows. There is a limit to how much we can cut before there's only bone left.

The reason for the harsh circumstances is that we largely depend on videogame publishers buying ads. Unfortunately, the sales of core videogames are at a 5 year low right now. See, for example, this article: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/06/may-2011-video-game-sales-lowest-since-october-2006-npd.html

Lower sales means smaller ad budgets. Smaller ad budgets mean that the publishers place their ads on the largest sites exclusively where they get maximum reach. The problem is worsened by the recent trend towards making games that cater to "mainstream" rather than "core" audiences. Not surprisingly, you guys are considered a core audience, and therefore less desirable to advertisers than non-core gamers, I guess. The result is that we get even fewer ad dollars. Finally, Google, Facebook, and so on, keep adding more and more ad options, and search ads swallow even more dollars. This is why so many sites, like NY Times and The Onion, are switching to paygates. Nobody's making any money on online ads.

So from where we stand, our options seem to be:
1) Migrate to being a mobile and iPad content company, and hope revenue trends there stay strong
2) Switch to pay-gates for revenue, infuriating many loyal customers who can't afford to pay
3) Change our content to be more mainstream to attract ads, and lose our old core-gamer focus
4) Stop paying for content and be like HuffPost, losing the quality of our content producers
5) Something I haven't thought of

What would you do in my shoes?

That's probably more business discussion than you cared to hear, but I figure that since this situation has shined a spotlight on our business, more transparency is always better.

 

[Blackpapa]

This is an interesting case.

In the old media situations like this couldn't happen because the content producer couldn't speak directly to the consumers of that content other than through the content he produced. In today's day and age Extra Credits can talk directly to their fans.

This is a good thing.

Except when it's not.

On one hand it's hard not to appreciate the information that James shared, outlining the situation. We all like to know what's going on behind the scenes. We like to judge the mud-slinging, drama and accusations. We like gossip. And if you think about all of this - it's just gossip. There's nothing constructive that revealing information like this could possibly achieve. We, the consumers of Escapist content can't possibly influence the situation for the better.

I believe that James knew that and knew exactly what he's doing. The audience of EC uses social networks, forums, is inquisitive and opinionated. Whether intentional or not this audience has been weaponized against the Escapist. Even though the guys from EC don't openly encourage people to cease being customers the hate on the forums is immense. I don't believe for a second that James didn't expect this to happen, especially after they realized what influence they have on the community after the record donations. This is an underhanded tactic and James is a sly businessman.

Alex!

Good job on the damage control on this one. And I'm not saying this just to console you because my nick is like yours, but longer.

From where I stand this whole affair is the result of trying to be a person who speaks in English and not a corporation that speaks in legalese. This is all fine when the money is there to cover all expenses. This is why Google can be a corporation and not be viewed as evil.

Take caution, learn and don't get discouraged.

 

[supermariner]

Your point was pretty angry
but it's probably the nearest anyone's come so far in terms of fair treatment to both sides of the arguement

Let's just hope this all gets sorted out and EC continues somewhere else blissfully problem free
and The Escapist gets it's act together

 

[krellen]

I stand by my *personal opinion* that the overflow money from fans of Extra Credits given to "save Extra Credits" should have been used on Extra Credits and not on a start-up publishing business, but a personal opinion is just that, and it's ultimately going to be up to the backers to decide.

Your "personal opinion" is extremely unreasonable and blatantly selfish to boot.

If the Escapist wants to host a "save the Escapist" fund-raiser, do that. I know that broadcasting dire financial straights might scare big-time investors, but it also might garner you grass-roots support from the people that actually utilise the site as well.

You erred the moment you tried at all to capitalise upon a charitable donation drive. When you donate to charity, you donate to charity. I've worked in the non-profit sector for seven years now; this is the first time I've ever seen a partner try to capitalise on the drive's success.

You may be upset with James and the Extra Credits team, but you should probably be making some apologies here.

 

[Archon]

Good job on the damage control on this one. And I'm not saying this just to console you because my nick is longer than yours.

From where I stand this whole affair is the result of trying to be a person who speaks in English and not a corporation that speaks in legalese. This is all fine when the money is there to cover all expenses. This is why Google can be a corporation and not be viewed as evil.

Take caution, learn and don't get discouraged.

Thanks for the encouragement. Although I must add that if this situation is the result of doing a good job on damage control, I hate to see what happens when I do a bad job on damage control!

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

A little off topic here, but am I the only one who read the OP in Yahtzee's voice?

 

[LetalisK]

Dear Alexander Macris,

You probably won't respond to this, which is understandable, but I do hope you see it. I can't say I agree 100% with either side of this situation, but I would like to thank you for being so open and communicative about it. Often times other websites I've belonged to would sweep any controversy under the rug and ban anyone who even spoke of it, let alone criticized them, often over much smaller issues than this. The fact that you've openly discussed this with courtesy, humility, and haven't taken action against members who disagree with what you've done or have said some very negative things about yourself and the Escapist is a strong indicator to me about whether or not the Escapist has been operating in good faith in the past. It's sad that the behavior you have exhibited isn't standard when situations like this arise elsewhere, whether it be websites or large businesses, but I will take what I can get and hopefully it becomes more common. Thank you.

I won't speak on this situation as if I held the truth over everyone else, but you're quoting James out of context.
You're quoting things James said about how the EC team's yet-to-be-set-up indie publishing fund would operate. What he meant was that when their Indie game non-profit publishing project took off, they would be transparent about how it operated and what happened with it, nothing more.

What money do you think they're talking about if not the money invested into the indie publishing fund?

Regardless of who's right or wrong, assuming one party is even right, the indie publishing fund is at the heart of this issue. As such this case should be treated with the transparency we were promised.

Yeah, that's the main issue at this point for me too and I don't understand why it's been so overlooked by the majority of Escapist members. If James is using the overflow from the fundraiser to help Allison for his own personal projects then I take serious issue with him and question his ability to operate in good faith.

Edit: Also, include the fact that he tries to deflect the issue by painting it as a completely selfless act when it clearly is not calls his integrity and honesty into question even more.

 

[Archon]

If the Escapist wants to host a "save the Escapist" fund-raiser, do that. I know that broadcasting dire financial straights might scare big-time investors, but it also might garner you grass-roots support from the people that actually utilise the site as well.

Thank you for your reply. Honestly, if I thought we could fund the Escapist via a Kickstarter/RocketHub drive, I would do so in a heartbeat. I just don't think it would work. Unfortunately, our experience with Publisher's Club has suggested that the volume of users inclined to pay to support us is small. The cost of running a website that gets our volume of traffic per month is painfully high.

 

[Frankie Villanueva]

Hagi, shut the fuck up. Quit bitching about shit you're not involved in. We get it, you're smarter than everyone else and if you were there this all would've been avoided. Just stop talking and let the big boys handle this.

 

[krellen]

Thank you for your reply. Honestly, if I thought we could fund the Escapist via a Kickstarter/RocketHub drive, I would do so in a heartbeat. I just don't think it would work. Unfortunately, our experience with Publisher's Club has suggested that the volume of users inclined to pay to support us is small. The cost of running a website that gets our volume of traffic per month is painfully high.

You don't advertise the Publisher's Club correctly. It's marketed as a nice little bonus you guys are appreciative of - not as a dire necessity for the continuance of the site. If it is, in fact, the latter, you may be surprised by how much support you have.

Another important point with regards to donations is price-points; some people might be willing to chip in $5, another $20, and another $100. Your Publisher's Club is a set price-point that excludes all of the first group, many of the second (who might view the returns they get as not worth it) and relies largely on the last group. The last group isn't very large.

 

[Althus]

This post was a amazing demonstration of intelligent, calm and well constructive conversation, even if not be twin the 2 involved parts. It just shows that the right way to try to fix a problem is discuss it, not starting pointing fingers and say its "your" fault and not "mine".
But we all know that whit this mess all are losing, and specialty wend there is money involved things tend to go crazy.

So a advice from a complete stranger, to all of you is this , sort your shit out, and fix it the best way you possible can, because you probably now have your dream job and are working hard to make it work,and if you mess it up and take a bad decision you might lose it and regret it the rest of your life.

 

[Althus]

Hagi, shut the fuck up. Quit bitching about shit you're not involved in. We get it, you're smarter than everyone else and if you were there this all would've been avoided. Just stop talking and let the big boys handle this.

He might not be involved but dosent he have a right to share is opinion like every one is doing?

 

[Archon]

Option 5 probably has some possibilities. One that occurs to me is taht you do have the advantage of a dedicated audience in a strongly defined demographic. Stop thinking about that just in terms of advertising ancilliary products and think about it in terms of your main content as well. EC, Yahtzee, Dorealas & Associates, Unforgotten Realms, all have managed to get large numbers of followers based on the Escapists audience. "We're not gonna take your IP, other than exclusive usage rights to anything you choose to send us. We'll handle serving up your content to our dedicated and motivated audience (and here you can point to the donations that EC received), and in return we get all ad-revenue from doing so. In addition, our bright and innovative people will come up with extra ways to generate cash from your IP, (Tshirts, posters, contests, DVDs, donation campaigns, etc) and take a cut from each.

Kwil, very insightful. You are correct that Russ has definitely moved the site more mainstream. By and large it has been successful in that traffic is considerably increased, and we've had a FEW non-endemic ads (I think you'll all seen the Slim Jim ads?) But it's not yet enough.

Your point #5 is very interesting. It's actually akin to how record labels are attempting to make money in the post-napster/itunes world. The new label-musician arrangements are called "360 degree contracts", and the label takes a percentage on not just music sales, but merchandise, concerts, and so on. We do in fact have a clause that shares revenue for all ancillary revenue streams, but we haven't figured out how to make more money from those other areas, though. To date our revenue from merchandise is only about 5% of our revenue from advertising, and our ad revenue isn't that much.

I had hoped we'd make money from affiliate sales (some of you have noticed that we added affiliate links to a lot of our content) but most people don't click on them. I think people come here to talk about games in general, but we're not the consumer guide that sells games.

 

[zephae]

Mr. Marcis,

"I am not sure where I'm double speaking."

Allow me to assist you then:

"we are not making any claim on any Rocket Hub money;"
|
|
V
"we said he should use $9,500 to create more episodes of the show that the money was supposed to be used to save."

That sure looks like making a claim on the money to me. Now, I expect that you view that quote as a suggestion or a preference but not a "claim" in the sense that "we control this money" or any other such legal issue. Still, the fact remains that you (and James to a lesser extent) are jumping in between legal terms and a more casual tone which creates a lot of confusion.

It's quite refreshing to see that you have dropped your request for a portion of the RocketHub money, though I still look forward to reviewing your e-mail correspondence. My main issue with you was much less about the missing payments, which is not uncommon in your industry, but rather that you wanted to pay the EC crew with proceeds from their independent charity project. However, in another example of the confusion your explanations have caused, you originally called the RocketHub initiative a "joint-effort," a claim that has subsequently been undercut by other statements you've made, the T-shirt issue being the most obvious one. It would've been more accurate to say you simply offered up your assistance instead of making sound like you were a partner.

 

[krellen]

I had hoped we'd make money from affiliate sales (some of you have noticed that we added affiliate links to a lot of our content) but most people don't click on them. I think people come here to talk about games in general, but we're not the consumer guide that sells games.

You might try focusing on less mainstream games - the indie and small-publisher sorts that may appeal more to core gamers than mainstream gamers. I know for me, personally, there has been absolutely no high-profile games this year I'm all that interested in buying. My purchases have all been from GOG.com or small, indie games. Maybe if I was more aware of what else was out there, I would have things to buy, and I could buy those things through an Escapist affiliate link were one made available.

Going mainstream doesn't really seem like it's working very well for game publishers (usually only the one or two big mainstreams win the fight, and everyone else flounders), so maybe it's not the best tact for game reporters to take either.

Also, tell Mr. Pitts to be less of a douche. I'd already become disinclined to the Escapist before this because of him. I have to be nice at my job no matter how much the people I work with annoy me, and it's no different for him.

 

[Archon]

**Raises hand**

Hi Alex. Im confused as to what situation the show is currently at. Is the show "Pulled" or is there still a chance of saving this mess, and it is a mess, and having things get back on good terms. Is this now a wedge issue with both sides no longer able to do business or could we possibly see things go back to a sense of normaility?


Also there seems to be a bit of a knife fight going on. There seems to be pretty contrary stories going on both sides. If the story you tell is 100% treu then james as come down withe the carzies, gone loco in the coco so to speak. I don't beleive this to be the case and i think you are both reasonable parties so why do both accounts make the other out to be pretty unreasonable. If Jame's story is 100% accurate then the escapist has acted in an almost cartoonishly disgusting way and i wouldn't expect that from the site either. There seems to have been a real breakdown of communications and gulf of expectations and it seems that if everything you said has happened has done so then there wouldn't be any problem.

I supoose i have a hard time seeing that there would be such a lack of concreat terms between you two as would seem to an outsider to be the case.

Yours somethingly (since everyone is doing it here these days)

The Monkey of Scrump

Monkey, thanks for your note. No one escapes their own biases so I'm sure a third-party reading the record would see things differently than any party does.

As for what's happened, I'm reminded me of the initiation of World War One - Well-meaning leaders on all sides accidentally lead their nations into the most devastating conflict in history.