Escapist Editors in the Midst of an Exodus?! -Updated-

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I am terribly disappointed to see them go, and have added their twitters in hope to keep up with them. It would be awesome if they could go make their own site, so we could join them there. This is terrible news for our escapist community. How do they expect to increase profits when they lose their best people?

 

[Raesvelg]

While the notion of creating walking tanks with howitzers seems awesome, actually we will have tanks, infantry, and howitzers, and they will work together in a combined-arms task force. This metaphor seems sensible to me but I have been watching a lot of Robotech lately.

Sounds more like Metal Gear to me, Colonel.

Destroids, man.

But clearly we can have walking tanks with howitzers, and walking tanks with missiles, and walking tanks with cannons! Together with flying robots, weapons of mass destruction, and pop idols.

Though upon further reflection I suppose Minmay qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction in her own right.

 

[Breakdown]

I'm going to have to set up a Twitter account to follow everybody who's gone. And I hate Twitter!

 

[PunkRex]

Well shit, now what am I gonna randomly click on after checking Youtube?

This isn't snark, I freaking love this site.

 

[DSK-]

I for one would like to welcome our new Defy Media overlords!

 

[Random Gamer]

I think most sites like the Escapist could get a lot of free content if they spent more time engaging with their communities, I agree. It always makes me scratch my head when communities like ours are left to their own devices. Seems like a missed opportunity.

On the other hand, isn't there a risk that, sooner or later, the community members providing free stuff might rebel and want a share of the pie, and some court might actually decide that they should get paid for their work?

If he went against the grain, his site could very well have ended up at the end of the barrel during Operation Disrespectful Nod, a deliberate attempt to shut down a site they didn't like.

At times, there were discussions about the Escapist's place in ODN, and GG people who read or posted in the Escapist argued to make sure The Escapist wouldn't be targetted - except by random people acting on their own, and not in a coordinated mailing campaign.

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

 

[Fappy]

I think most sites like the Escapist could get a lot of free content if they spent more time engaging with their communities, I agree. It always makes me scratch my head when communities like ours are left to their own devices. Seems like a missed opportunity.

On the other hand, isn't there a risk that, sooner or later, the community members providing free stuff might rebel and want a share of the pie, and some court might actually decide that they should get paid for their work?

If that's a real concern there are plenty of things they could do to prevent that from happening. Signing a contract that says all the content you produce for them is theirs to distribute is an obvious example.

 

[Thorn14]

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

Right, thats the tragedy of it all, that because I suspect the ENTIRE industry might be getting hurt, journalists who may be completely ethical and had no involvement with this are suffering.

 

[Breakdown]

I'm going to have to set up a Twitter account to follow everybody who's gone. And I hate Twitter!

Could always do what I do. Set up a Twitter folder, put a bookmark for everybody I follow in the folder. works fairly well.

Good suggestion, I might give that a go.

I think most sites like the Escapist could get a lot of free content if they spent more time engaging with their communities, I agree. It always makes me scratch my head when communities like ours are left to their own devices. Seems like a missed opportunity.

On the other hand, isn't there a risk that, sooner or later, the community members providing free stuff might rebel and want a share of the pie, and some court might actually decide that they should get paid for their work?

If that's a real concern there are plenty of things they could do to prevent that from happening. Signing a contract that says all the content you produce for them is theirs to distribute is an obvious example.

I think there's a risk that producing free content will damage the video game journalism market further.

 

[Fappy]

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

Right, thats the tragedy of it all, that because I suspect the ENTIRE industry might be getting hurt, journalists who may be completely ethical and had no involvement with this are suffering.

At least you have the empathy to regret the collateral damage GG has (potentially) caused. A few other GG sympathetic havens I have seen are cheering about this news.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

Right, thats the tragedy of it all, that because I suspect the ENTIRE industry might be getting hurt, journalists who may be completely ethical and had no involvement with this are suffering.

Considering video game profits declined by $3.8 billion since 2009, they have been working hard to expand gaming to women and other target audiences such as athletes for good reason. If it continues to decline, they will lose investors. This is why we have been seeing gaming articles in glamour magazine, as they really need to expand the market or it will continue to decline. I think gamer gate just made the industry more toxic to investors and advertisers, and I can see why they would want to stay out of it entirely.

 

[Fappy]

I'm going to have to set up a Twitter account to follow everybody who's gone. And I hate Twitter!

Could always do what I do. Set up a Twitter folder, put a bookmark for everybody I follow in the folder. works fairly well.

Good suggestion, I might give that a go.

I think most sites like the Escapist could get a lot of free content if they spent more time engaging with their communities, I agree. It always makes me scratch my head when communities like ours are left to their own devices. Seems like a missed opportunity.

On the other hand, isn't there a risk that, sooner or later, the community members providing free stuff might rebel and want a share of the pie, and some court might actually decide that they should get paid for their work?

If that's a real concern there are plenty of things they could do to prevent that from happening. Signing a contract that says all the content you produce for them is theirs to distribute is an obvious example.

I think there's a risk that producing free content will damage the video game journalism market further.

That's assuming they take the concept and run with it. I honestly doubt we'd get enough quality community-made content to endanger the job security of any professionals.

 

[Thorn14]

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

Right, thats the tragedy of it all, that because I suspect the ENTIRE industry might be getting hurt, journalists who may be completely ethical and had no involvement with this are suffering.

At least you have the empathy to regret the collateral damage GG has (potentially) caused. A few other GG sympathetic havens I have seen are cheering about this news.

There are those with a "burn it all to the ground" mindset, yes.

And I'm not going to apologize either, or agree with you that this is damage "GG Caused."

Consumers should never have to apologize for a consumer revolt.

There have been many many instances where this all could have died down or been solved with civility, and instead several people went "Hey lets pour more gasoline on this fire. Surely it'll drown it out!"

Considering video game profits declined by $3.8 billion since 2009, they have been working hard to expand gaming to women and other target audiences such as athletes for good reason. If it continues to decline, they will lose investors. This is why we have been seeing gaming articles in glamour magazine, as they really need to expand the market or it will continue to decline.

Gaming has gotten bloated to the point I think it was a bubble and we may be seeing this bubble burst soon.

 

[Vault101]

@snip!

[snip.

this might sound insane but what about starting a subreddit? we can call it escapist Exodus

I know Reddit isn't quite the same but the quote/feedback system is there and it will be easy to find/self contained

 

[Fappy]

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

Right, thats the tragedy of it all, that because I suspect the ENTIRE industry might be getting hurt, journalists who may be completely ethical and had no involvement with this are suffering.

At least you have the empathy to regret the collateral damage GG has (potentially) caused. A few other GG sympathetic havens I have seen are cheering about this news.

There are those with a "burn it all to the ground" mindset, yes.

And I'm not going to apologize either, or agree with you that this is damage "GG Caused."

There have been many many instances where this all could have died down or been solved with civility, and instead several people went "Hey lets pour more gasoline on this fire. Surely it'll drown it out!"

That's why I edited in "potentially"

I am well aware that the response to GG by some professionals wasn't very... well... professional. I won't try to defend that behavior.

 

[Fappy]

@snip!

this might sound insane but what about starting a subreddit? we can call it escapist Exodus

I know Reddit isn't quite the same but the quote/feedback system is there and it will be easy to find/self contained

That idea has potential. I am really not a fan of up-voting systems though D:

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I can totally see this entire debacle causing advertisers to just go "Woah fuck we don't wanna get involved with this insanity" and pull out and/or not get involved. I'm not really sure if I should feel responsible or not, because this whole mess could have been avoided had the industry not constantly thrown fire onto the spark and make the worst possible decisions regarding it.

Well, odds are that several ad contracts were renewed for the new year, and that the rate was lower due to gaming media becoming less safe with all the Gamergate mess. In which case, other sites face a similar fate.
And both gamers and journalists were involved in that GG feud, which made advertisers wary of the wisdom of putting ads in gaming press. Though one could probably argue that journalists should've been more careful and shown more self-preservation when it was their jobs on the line. Of course, that line of reasoning doesn't apply with the Escapist, since the people who've been fired weren't vocall on either side and didn't make fools of themselves - that reasoning will mostly apply if other sides are hurt just as much in the next few weeks.

Right, thats the tragedy of it all, that because I suspect the ENTIRE industry might be getting hurt, journalists who may be completely ethical and had no involvement with this are suffering.

At least you have the empathy to regret the collateral damage GG has (potentially) caused. A few other GG sympathetic havens I have seen are cheering about this news.

There are those with a "burn it all to the ground" mindset, yes.

And I'm not going to apologize either, or agree with you that this is damage "GG Caused."

Consumers should never have to apologize for a consumer revolt.

There have been many many instances where this all could have died down or been solved with civility, and instead several people went "Hey lets pour more gasoline on this fire. Surely it'll drown it out!"

Considering video game profits declined by $3.8 billion since 2009, they have been working hard to expand gaming to women and other target audiences such as athletes for good reason. If it continues to decline, they will lose investors. This is why we have been seeing gaming articles in glamour magazine, as they really need to expand the market or it will continue to decline.

Gaming has gotten bloated to the point I think it was a bubble and we may be seeing this bubble burst soon.

At the same time however, other markets such as the cosmetic industry have been increasing in profits since 2009, If they can get a piece of that action with cosmetic items in games, when it has been shown that women spend more on virtual goods than their male counterparts, they would be able to expand the industry rather than downsize it.

 

[Vault101]

That idea has potential. I am really not a fan of up-voting systems though D:

it is dumb but (to an extent) it only matters as much as one wants it to matter