State of the Escapist, Late 2015 Edition

[PsychicTaco115]

Hiya Escapists, Taco here

I just wanted to hear how you felt/thought of the direction of the site overall

I mean, since we lost some older figures of the site, it was looking likely that the site might fail and we'd go back to the days of using smoke signals to keep in contact with each other

Luckily, that hasn't happened yet but I would still like to gauge how people feel about what's been going on recently

So tell me, what do you think?

 

[Zontar]

I think some of the new blood is better then the old which was lost. Particularly Cecil, who's work I find much better then Bob's in regards to movie analysis. Fine a guy as competent as him to talk about comic books and the site will have effectively improved on the two niches Bob used to fill.

 

[Fox12]

Well, it's not as good as it was during its heyday, but it's better then it was immediately after Jim left. Judging by the Cover and Erin Dies Alone certainly helped. Now that Bob has "left" and the GG debate has died down I think there's a lot of potential for this site.

It does feel a little emptier somehow, though.

 

[Zhukov]

Content ain't what it used to be since Jim and Bob left. Although at least they've improved their offerings a bit from the barren wasteland of earlier this year.

Forums are a dry, traffic-starved husk of what they once were.

Doom I tell you! Dooooom and glooooom!

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I only actually post in the forums a couple times a week at most now.

...I feel pretty alright, though.

I've never come to The Escapist for its video or editorial content, really. Just the forums. I do peek into a few articles here and there and there are spots where I think the situation is improving, but I'm not very invested in how this site turns out anymore. I just care that the forums still function, even if they can be dreadfully slow at times.

 

[FalloutJack]

The only thing that is for certain is that if Yahtzee leaves, a massive hole will be carved out of the Escapist and they will not be able to recover from it, not without miraculous intervention.

 

[IceForce]

Escapist's claim to fame was its videos. Escapist implemented its video player around the same time as Youtube took off.
And what drew people to this site was the exclusive video content that could not be found elsewhere, ... that was until Escapist started posting its videos on Youtube as well.

Nowadays we've come full circle, and Escapist is now taking Youtube content and reposting it here (instead of the other way around), just to fill the gaps in the content schedule.

Some things are still going strong, Yahtzee's and Grey Carter's content, for instance.
While this is certainly enough to keep the site afloat, it's not enough to bring it back to the heyday we once had.

The reality of the situation is that Youtube and social media have largely replaced niche sites such as this and traditional forums such as this one.

 

[SolidState]

This site has improved immensely in the last few months.

The previous regime featured a content producer who had a disgusting amount of disdain for his viewers and readership, another content producer who claimed to champion consumer rights but then failed to do so when a scandal broke involving one of his friends, a team of writers who would regularly inject their politics into their writings and sometimes wouldn't even fact-check an article before publishing it, a Community Manager who never showed his face and was completely uncontactable, and a Moderator who abused his powers and was fired for it.

I didn't think there would be many people here who would want to go back to THAT.

 

[Elfgore]

Slowly getting back to a good state I'd say. More and more content is starting to come back, the news articles[footnote]Though I'll say not all can count as news[/footnote] are coming out faster and faster. I'd say the only two things we need content wise is a game reviewer who tackles new releases(not just indie games, but big new releases) and some kind of anime/manga/VN reviewer.

Now for the forums. I'd say Gaming Discussion and Off-Topic have kinda been in a dry season. I've noticed that it can take days for threads to leave the front page, even after people have stopped posting. Forum games is of course going strong, but alas my favorite game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/362.843744-Superpower-Game-VERSUS?page=13] has pretty much stopped being played. I can't say much for RP since I don't venture there often. User Reviews is somehow still kicking without Marter. Looks like good 'ole Martintox [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Martintox] is still doing his music reviews and with the help of newcomers Ayen Matthews [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Ayen%20Matthews] and tippy2k2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/tippy2k2], we've been able to keep it alive. I venture into Game Industry and R&P as little as possible, so I really can't speak for their state.

To top it off, the fact the new community manager actually gives a damn about the site seems to be making things better as well.

So yeah, I'd say were recovering pretty good from the fallout.

 

[IceForce]

I venture into Game Industry and R&P as little as possible, so I really can't speak for their state.

You get someone else to moderate those boards? If so I don't blame you.

 

[Elfgore]

I venture into Game Industry and R&P as little as possible, so I really can't speak for their state.

You get someone else to moderate those boards? If so I don't blame you.

If there is something in the mod queue for those forums, I do go and handle that. I'm speaking from more of a user viewpoint. I browse and post there as little as possible.

 

[EternallyBored]

Jim leaving took a lot of people away, Bob, despite his Twitter shenanigans made pretty consistent content of a good quality.

We also lost other good contributors, but I'll agree with IceForce, the Escapist was driven by good video content, and that took a big hit earlier this year. It's kind of getting back on track, but there still seems to be a lack of big name draws like what has drifted through the past couple years.

Still, can't expect everything to go right back to normal after losing so many contributors in a short period of time, the content is slowly trickling back in. Without some more tentpole video contributors though (ones not just reposting videos that were on Youtube first), I fear the site, and the forums will take a permanent hit to activity, remaining in its current kind of pitifully slow state.

The forums (gaming and offtopic at least) are in a sorry state, while they can still recover, there is very little conversation going on compared to a year or two ago, partially due to lost content, and the rest to getting banned during the latest controversies or leaving for other reasons.

There's always a chance things will get as busy as they used to be, but for those left, I think we are going to have to get used to a slower forum and smaller pool of regular posters.

 

[Aesir23]

Things are better now that the GG debate has died down quite a bit and I can finally stop avoiding the site. However, I'm also disappointed at the loss of so many good contributors but particularly the LRR crew and Gavin.

At this point, the forums are the only reason I come back on a semi-regular basis. It will be nice if we can get some more new blood on the site.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

-Snip-
You get someone else to moderate those boards? If so I don't blame you.

So far as I know, I'm the only moderator that pretty much made it a condition to do the job, so long as I don't have to deal with R&P and all that jazz. And GID is a bit too political for me, so I tend to avoid it as well.

OT: All I can really say is... well, it's a lot slower than I remember it being, even back when I took a break from moderating in 2012. And I miss the animé reviews, as infrequent as they were. They got me onto a couple of series I rather enjoyed.
Oh, and the comics are nice. Well, the Grey Carter ones. Even though I butted heads with him a little bit back when he first joined up and settled onto the IRC.
The other comic, I never really looked into. Saw a couple and giggled a bit, but I don't actively seek out new strips like with Critical Miss and Erin Dies Alone.
Can't really say if things are picking up again. Would be nice to see things moving as fast as they used to, even though it meant the moderation queue used to be a 40-headed beast on a good day.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

The community seems alright, if slower than when I first glanced at the forums... Our mod team and community manager seem pretty cool and connected for the most part. So on the forums and comments side, things it's slower, but still alright.

Content wise we're seeing a slow but steady recovery as the site brings in more providers. As I've said before, for the foreseeable future the site will persist and recover, unless... There is one unless, that unless is: Unless Yahtzee bows out anytime in the near future. Still he's made it known that he's comfortable working for The Escapist, so he'll stick around as long as he's still getting paid. So the state of The Escapist, in my estimation, is as follows. SNAFU[footnote]Situation Normal; All Fucked Up[/footnote], with lots of potential for new growth. Current atmosphere is cautiously optimistic.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Well, it's slowly recovering, I have to say.

We even appear to have a drama/comedy series going again (super Academy). I mean, I don't know if it's exclusive content, given the recent trends in videos, but we haven't had one of those in what, 3 years? Maybe more?
Then there's the animated series 'Non Player councillor'
Honestly, the both the premise and quality of that are not up to par with the series that used to exist here.
Doraleus and associates and Apocalypse lane weren't exactly well-animated, but they certainly seem that way by comparison.
But... It's a start. And all of this stuff, whatever the quality of it, is a good sign.
The mere fact that it exists at all is a good sign, and gives some hope for the future.

 

[Albino Boo]

I thinks are on the up. Gone are the days of content being deliberately controversial and trying play identity politics with gaming but that did leave a hole. That hole is being slowly filled with some new content. Posts are down in the forums but a lot of that is because Mr and Ms ANGRY have gone and that is not a bad thing for the long term future. If you create a pressure cooker don't be surprised if it explodes if you leave it on the heat. The only way the escapist has any long term future if is the user base is comfortable with one another and that by and large is how things are now.

Looks like good 'ole Martintox [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Martintox] is still doing his music reviews and with the help of newcomers Ayen Matthews [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Ayen%20Matthews] and tippy2k2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/tippy2k2], we've been able to keep it alive.

Martintox has called time out on his music reviews to concentrate on writing a book and collage

 

[Barbas]

Gods damn it, Taco. It hasn't even been a year since the last one of these.

It's pretty good, to be honest. It's definitely been getting better over the last several months with more interesting articles and user quizzes.

 

[RJ 17]

I think some of the new blood is better then the old which was lost. Particularly Cecil, who's work I find much better then Bob's in regards to movie analysis. Fine a guy as competent as him to talk about comic books and the site will have effectively improved on the two niches Bob used to fill.

I second this notion. Bob had a bad habit of letting his political biases bleed into his reviews, I much prefer the new guy's way of doing things: just tell me about whether or not the movie was enjoyable, I don't need to hear about what you think it says about society as a whole.