I've been away for a while, can y'all bring me up to speed?

[Oly J]

Hello everyone, I was never the most active poster here on The Escapist, but it was by far my most visited site for discussion and discourse and sometimes just when I needed advice on something, and everyone here has always (in my experience) been very accommodating to that end, with life becoming a bit hectic over the last year or two, I found myself coming here less and less, and that's a shame as I enjoy it here. I could always count on the people here to be a reasonable and likeable bunch.

With that said I do have a couple of questions

1. How's things in these parts nowadays?

2. Where the hell did all the content creators go?

First question is simple enough, how is everything? you all good? I miss anything fun?

Second question, a bit more context, I started visiting less after Jim Sterling left, (not immediately, but that's probably the closest event I can link it to) like many others I was brought in by Yahtzee and Zero Punctuation way back when GTA 4 was current (I didn't join right away) in that time I also discovered people like Moviebob, the Extra Credits crew, Critical Miss, No Right Answer and probably some others I'm forgetting to mention, I remember when that weekly content schedule barely had a blank space on it and I can't help but be a little down about that, I see Yahtzee's still going but what actually happened to the others? I'm aware of Jim going independent and No Right Answer ended, but is Critical Miss gone now? Did Eren Dies Alone ever get a conclusion? Has it been like this for a long time or am I just poorly timing my return? What happened?

I don't want to come across as just complaining, (although I kind of am) but it's been a while and I feel like I've got some catching up to do, anyone who could indulge me would be much appreciated

 

[Saelune]

1.) Eh...subjective.

2.)

 

[Zhukov]

Spoiler: Oh, you poor sod.

Things have changed around here.

Christ, where to begin?

- They sacked all the content creators except Yahtzee and one columnist. (Erin Dies Alone is continuing on its own site [http://dyingalone.net/].)

- They sacked all the staff except one news guy (who is currently away on family stuff).

- The news feed is now 90% ads.

- They sacked the tech team.

- The forums are overrun with spambots trying to sell you fake documents and magic spells to fix your marriage. The Gaming Discussion subforum has been completely abandoned to the spam. There's no tech team to do a permanent fix and the mods can't keep up.

- Oh, and if you have membership (which a lot of people got for free after the tech team left) then there's a new 'Wild West' subforum which isn't moderated. It's 80% generic unfunny forum drivel, 15% people being nasty and 5% actual conversation.

In short, this place is in its death throes. Just a few die-hards still hanging around out of habit, wading through the spam and having what essentially amounts to one long slow-burn argument over the usual shit.

Um... welcome back!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Replace dead with "fired".

 

[Pseudonym]

Yeah, not much to add to Zhukov up there. I do hope you like discussions about certain always recurring topics, often between the same people. Most notably gender politics and Trump, though that can be mostly avoided by just staying away from R&P. And the wild west. And game industry discussion, once created as the dedicated gamergate subforum though now de facto merged with gaming discussion since that is under constant assault by spambots.

The site was bought by defy media, I think, who don't care about it in the slightest. They've fired everyone and reportedly can hardly be contacted by the few volunteers who run things here. I'm not sure why they even have the site.

I do respect this place for surviving this long. I don't know how long it'll last but I'd have expected it to be gone far sooner.

 

[Okamisama]

Yeah, not much to add to Zhukov up there. I do hope you like discussions about certain always recurring topics, often between the same people. Most notably gender politics and Trump, though that can be mostly avoided by just staying away from R&P. And the wild west. And game industry discussion, once created as the dedicated gamergate subforum though now de facto merged with gaming discussion since that is under constant assault by spambots.

The site was bought by defy media, I think, who don't care about it in the slightest. They've fired everyone and reportedly can hardly be contacted by the few volunteers who run things here. I'm not sure why they even have the site.

I do respect this place for surviving this long. I don't know how long it'll last but I'd have expected it to be gone far sooner.

They indeed were bought out by Defy Media, which is what more likely than not started the death spiral. They are infamous for pretty much... well, exactly what we see here. A good example of this path would actually be Gametrailers. After they were bought by Defy, they had budgets slashed, people fired, and were forced into utilizing a much smaller office space to try and keep things running. Especially with some of the later videos there, as well as some videos under the people's new channel, Easy Allies which they started after the fallout of the shutdown, they mentioned some of the difficulties working and dealing with Defy... including various tech issues.

As for why creators left? Well... The Escapist has always had an issue with creators. Even before Defy bought them out, there were reports and rumors of content creators either being denied pay or not receiving any at all. A lot of them just... jumped ship and went on to either their own sites or others. No reason given. The closest to any real detail has been hinted at by Jim Sterling. In a few tweets and videos since he's gone to patreon, a big reason of going independent was to avoid... pressure from employers to alter or 'update' reviews as well as the shift we see plaguing The Escapist now. Given how he last worked professionally under the Escapist brand, you can kind of connect the dots and say Defy started pushing for him to likely drop certain things in favor for more sponsored ad articles and the like.

Yahtzee then is about the only individual left here then providing constant content. He streams at least twice on twitch, does his zero punctuation video as well as judging by the cover. It's obvious that Defy has likely had to cut costs and corners, like the tech team being gone, to try and keep him around at least. Whether they like it or not, he's pretty much the face (and hats) of The Escapist. If for whatever reason they fired him or he decided to leave? Well... you've seen the content schedule.

Though I'm wishing he would leave the Escapist proper. Start a patreon, continue the reviews as well his streaming, and then maybe we could see the return of the never-ending death battle that was Jim Sterling versus Yahtzee in weird games or weird combinations of rules in games. I miss those...

 

[DefunctTheory]

Though I'm wishing he would leave the Escapist proper. Start a patreon, continue the reviews as well his streaming, and then maybe we could see the return of the never-ending death battle that was Jim Sterling versus Yahtzee in weird games or weird combinations of rules in games. I miss those...

I think the 'problem' there is that, unlike Jim Sterling, Yatzhee's prime passion isn't what he's doing here. From everything I've listened to and read about and from him, his Escapist work is pretty much just a way for him to publish frequently and pay the bills - If he could make money doing his real passion (Writing straight up stories), I have no doubt he'd ditch all this Video Game review stuff and never look back.

Starting a Patreon and building his own 'brand' like Sterling is exactly the opposite of that. It may not seem like it, but Jim does a lot of work behind the scenes to keep his little 'empire' running - It's essentially a full fledged business. Yatzhee likely wants nothing to so with that, and it's likely why he's still here - So someone else can do all that bullshit.

 

[EscapistAccount]

I think the 'problem' there is that, unlike Jim Sterling, Yatzhee's prime passion isn't what he's doing here. From everything I've listened to and read about and from him, his Escapist work is pretty much just a way for him to publish frequently and pay the bills - If he could make money doing his real passion (Writing straight up stories), I have no doubt he'd ditch all this Video Game review stuff and never look back.

Starting a Patreon and building his own 'brand' like Sterling is exactly the opposite of that. It may not seem like it, but Jim does a lot of work behind the scenes to keep his little 'empire' running - It's essentially a full fledged business. Yatzhee likely wants nothing to so with that, and it's likely why he's still here - So someone else can do all that bullshit.

I've got a lot of respect for Jim Sterling, watching him run his own brand management has been fascinating, I really didn't have him pegged as being so savvy to be honest.

I agree about Yahtzee too, the impression I got is that this is a well paying but incidental gig to him, it's basically his day job at Tesco to fund his real passion. Does he still own that cafe by the way? the Mana Bar or whatever it was called? I wouldn't be surprised if he was using his pay from here as a regular cash injection and setting up either some serious savings or funding other businesses to eventually let him get out of the Zero Punctuation game.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I think the 'problem' there is that, unlike Jim Sterling, Yatzhee's prime passion isn't what he's doing here. From everything I've listened to and read about and from him, his Escapist work is pretty much just a way for him to publish frequently and pay the bills - If he could make money doing his real passion (Writing straight up stories), I have no doubt he'd ditch all this Video Game review stuff and never look back.

Starting a Patreon and building his own 'brand' like Sterling is exactly the opposite of that. It may not seem like it, but Jim does a lot of work behind the scenes to keep his little 'empire' running - It's essentially a full fledged business. Yatzhee likely wants nothing to so with that, and it's likely why he's still here - So someone else can do all that bullshit.

Meh. Yahtzee's a great games comedian but I really don't respect his opinion much for actual reviews.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Does he still own that cafe by the way? the Mana Bar or whatever it was called?

It closed in 2015. It was a neat concept, but I think it ran into the 'I can drink and play video games at home cheaper, and without wearing any pants' problem.

Meh. Yahtzee's a great games comedian but I really don't respect his opinion much for actual reviews.

Ok?

 

[EscapistAccount]

It was a neat concept, but I think it ran into the 'I can drink and play video games at home cheaper, and without wearing any pants' problem.

Probably that and the obvious maintenance issues around games machines and beer.

Plus anecdotally I don't see gaming as being such a subcultural thing any more, billing stuff as being for gamers doesn't seem to be the draw it once was.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Zhukov pretty much summed it up. I am honestly surprised that the plug hasn't been pulled on the site. I've heard the Defy doesn't even acknowledge that The Escapist is one of their brands so why are they keeping it online? Doesn't make sense. I'm no expert in business, but keeping a website online and thus paying for the server space, when you're not going to put any money into maintaining it seems like a waste to me.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Most of the channers and shitposters got hammered during GG, Sterling and MovieBob had their collective metaphorical teeth kicked in by mandatory ethical guidelines, and a lot of people migrated over to Reddit and Twitter in the vain attempt to be unique. It was pretty funny seeing accounts started years and years ago with less than a dozen posts asking to be banned, as if it was some deep meaningful thing and they were making a point.

Unfortunately someone made a watered down /b/ forum in the O.K. Corral and it invited some of the purged shitposters back.

Also there was a great robot war.

 

[TelosSupreme]

This is about how things have been looking for a good while:

Wanna go for a swim?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

To be fair this is what is used to look like, so we're at least beating the spread

 

[Sniper Team 4]

A few of us have been having a running conversation about Dark Souls II. We've gotten it up to six pages, which I think at this point is a rarity because...yeah. Just look at what everyone else has said above me.

 

[Trunkage]

I think the 'problem' there is that, unlike Jim Sterling, Yatzhee's prime passion isn't what he's doing here. From everything I've listened to and read about and from him, his Escapist work is pretty much just a way for him to publish frequently and pay the bills - If he could make money doing his real passion (Writing straight up stories), I have no doubt he'd ditch all this Video Game review stuff and never look back.

Starting a Patreon and building his own 'brand' like Sterling is exactly the opposite of that. It may not seem like it, but Jim does a lot of work behind the scenes to keep his little 'empire' running - It's essentially a full fledged business. Yatzhee likely wants nothing to so with that, and it's likely why he's still here - So someone else can do all that bullshit.

I've got a lot of respect for Jim Sterling, watching him run his own brand management has been fascinating, I really didn't have him pegged as being so savvy to be honest.

I agree about Yahtzee too, the impression I got is that this is a well paying but incidental gig to him, it's basically his day job at Tesco to fund his real passion. Does he still own that cafe by the way? the Mana Bar or whatever it was called? I wouldn't be surprised if he was using his pay from here as a regular cash injection and setting up either some serious savings or funding other businesses to eventually let him get out of the Zero Punctuation game.

He owned the Mana Bar? I went there for my drink fest the night before I got married. It was pretty boring and small. Never went back.

While I might not call Jim savvy, I think he's trying which as you have stated, Yahtzee isn't. He's bankrolled on Patreon so he can probably afford some consultations.

EDIT: OP Oly I hope you find this thread not too confronting. It's definitely not the Escapist of the past

 

[TakerFoxx]

The Escapist is pretty much the equivalent of a luxury liner that ran aground on a reef, had most of the crew and passengers abandon it on lifeboats and helicopters, but a scant handful stayed behind to form their own little community because fuck it, why not?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The Escapist is pretty much the equivalent of a luxury liner that ran aground on a reef, had most of the crew and passengers abandon it on lifeboats and helicopters, but a scant handful stayed behind to form their own little community because fuck it, why not?

Works for every other city in Fallout and quest line in Witcher and Fallout. I'll go get my old football pads and ducktape some animal skulls and frying pans to it.

 

[RobertEHouse]

Like everyone has stated all the content creators left ship,or were tossed overboard. I would add that at this very point it seems the Escapist exist for Defy only to be sold off.