Who's running Escapist now?

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

 

[Saelune]

Or, I dunno, you stay and continue to do your job, instead of doing what virtually everyone else who promised us an improved Escapist did and run away. Remember Frappe?

I mean hell, the real Escapist had no idea what even happened. I dont even check outside the forums.

 

[Saelune]

It is super weird to me how insulated I've become to the rest of the site. Usually I read the articles of interest once a week during a particularly long transit I have to take, and timing means I just gently hopped over this.

Ordinarily I'm just as indifferent to the website, I'm here to watch ZP and kill time at work.
I simply saw the unusually high commenting an editorial was getting and pulled the thread.
What's baffling to me is that after making such a big show out of "redeeming" the site from infamy we go back to radio silence and the relatively important question of management gets relegated to a discreet peep on a different social platform altogether.

If I was the next guy there's no way in hell I would pop my head up. The escapist already had an image problem, this made it worse, and Russ throwing himself on his sword is not going to be enough to take the heat off of the site and the guy taking up the slack.

Or maybe they could just fix the potholes. Feels like we just want a mayor who will fix all the potholes on main street, and first they promise to do that, then they get caught up in bringing world peace, fail, then bail, meanwhile we just want less potholes in our streets.

 

[Something Amyss]

It is super weird to me how insulated I've become to the rest of the site.

Meh, not that weird, nor surprising.

We basically have *two* sites, two "Escapist Magazines"; This old site, which the (still active) forum resides and which still hosts all the old archived content, and the new site which has been plagued with teething problems - everything from layout and design issues, forcing Disqus on commenters, and becoming a home to politically-charged hitpieces (despite Russ promising to "leave politics at the door").

It's funny really, I'd hoped this place had learned its lesson when Alexander "Archon" Macris made the very same declaration, and then completely failed to adhere to it.

I swear, this place never EVER learns from the mistakes of the past.

Never, ever.

I still haven't really looked at the new site. I forget to check anything, even ZP and TBP.

From the sound of things, maybe I shouldn't bother.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I don't know anything about this, but Hamster Steve looks very much like a guinea pig to me.

Yeah I didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong, but yeah. Guinea pig.

Jeez no one in this industry is who they say they are! Misappropriating the Hamster identity to get ahead in the hiring process?! For shame "Hamster" Steve, just who do you think you are, Elizabeth Warren?!

Jokes aside totally my bad, but that is like the third picture that pops up when you google Gaming Hamster. Guess I need to instruct my staff to work on my vetting process before hiring new site managers.

 

[Fappy]

I don't imagine Russ will be gone for very long at all, but I don't know that for a fact. He does have quite a few dedicated people working under him though. I think the site will be just fine under their direction until he returns.

 

[Schadrach]

Huh. I don't actually read the articles except Shamus' column, I didn't know this had happened. What did Russ say?

He wrote an article that referenced a certain topic forbidden from the forums, and how despite it being evil we might actually want to talk about that thing that it claimed to be about (which was clearly just a cover to hide their evil) because that might be an important topic anyways, even if they were only using it to shield their evil.

That's about as close as I can get without touching things the forum rules don't allow discussing. That was also about the tone it used. Clear apologia for the unredeemable monsters.

Then came the interview clip where a journalist asked a Riot employee a question which made her uncomfortable.

Long story short: The Escapist via Russ engaged in wrongthink and he dared to dismiss concerns by someone who's largely unimportant aside from association with said forbidden topic.

Can someone tell me what happened and, for simplicity's sake, also how I should think about it?

The expected usual suspects attacked via Twitter in reaction to the article, and Russ more or less immediately folded and fell on his sword. Think what you will.

 

[Trunkage]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

That's not true.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

There's gotta be at least one website that can review the goddamn game and move on.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

There's gotta be one website that just reviews the goddamn game and moves on.

 

[Saelune]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

Once people stop getting mad that other types of people besides straight white men are getting some representation, then it will stop being a big deal to have something other than straight white men be represented.

 

[Saelune]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

There's gotta be at least one website that can review the goddamn game and move on.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

There's gotta be one website that just reviews the goddamn game and moves on.

If I just want game reviews, I usually check steam. No, really. Just reviews from people who probably actually played it. And you can sort it, and get an idea of whats going on with the game. If I ever feel a need to see reviews of a game, I check steam, see what the pro-people are saying, see what the anti-people are saying, compare and contrast and decide based on that. Usually works out.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

Once people stop getting mad that other types of people besides straight white men are getting some representation, then it will stop being a big deal to have something other than straight white men be represented.

That's a double-edged sword. Yeah sure, there are people who complain that the protagonist isn't a straight white man. There are also people who complain if he is.
Yes stop complaining if someone isn't white. Also stop complaining if they are. Yes its not a 1-1 ratio, but as you're a fan of pointing out, stand up to bigotry anywhere you find it, eh?
If I made a game about a white dude, the media response shouldn't be 'Why is he white and not black?' well fuck, maybe this is the character I wrote?
In the same way if its a black woman, the media response shouldn't be 'Why is she black and not white and a man?' again, fuck, maybe its the character I wrote.
Both are equally bad even if one is more common than the other.

 

[IceForce]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

It's the dishonesty that annoys me more than anything. It annoyed me when the site's 'General Manager & Publisher' came out and said "we don't want the Escapist to be political", only to renege on that and continue posting more and more politicized content. And now we saw the same thing with Russ.

If the site's curators want a political stage, then so be it. But they should be honest about their intentions and not mislead people.

 

[Saelune]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

Once people stop getting mad that other types of people besides straight white men are getting some representation, then it will stop being a big deal to have something other than straight white men be represented.

That's a double-edged sword. Yeah sure, there are people who complain that the protagonist isn't a straight white man. There are also people who complain if he is.
Yes stop complaining if someone isn't white. Also stop complaining if they are. Yes its not a 1-1 ratio, but as you're a fan of pointing out, stand up to bigotry anywhere you find it, eh?
If I made a game about a white dude, the media response shouldn't be 'Why is he white and not black?' well fuck, maybe this is the character I wrote?
In the same way if its a black woman, the media response shouldn't be 'Why is she black and not white and a man?' again, fuck, maybe its the character I wrote.
Both are equally bad even if one is more common than the other.

Well sure, if you want to make up fake outrage. See most of us progressives don't actually get mad at a character being a straight white man. But bigots like to pretend we do, they fabricate outrage. Sure, they might find a couple who are actually doing those things, but ofcourse they wont like it when I do the same back.

And even then, if there wasn't so much resistance and pushback to diversity, then we wouldn't counter with pointing out all the times diversity is lacking. I don't point out the prevalence of hetero romance in my face until people start getting all grossed out at LGBT romance.

But still people whine for white history month, straight pride, and so on while ignoring that the default is those things.

 

[Trunkage]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

It's the dishonesty that annoys me more than anything. It annoyed me when the site's 'General Manager & Publisher' came out and said "we don't want the Escapist to be political", only to renege on that and continue posting more and more politicized content. And now we saw the same thing with Russ.

If the site's curators want a political stage, then so be it. But they should be honest about their intentions and not mislead people.

I'd agree.

I don't believe anyone who says they're not going to be political. That's an impossiblility

 

[EvilRoy]

It is super weird to me how insulated I've become to the rest of the site. Usually I read the articles of interest once a week during a particularly long transit I have to take, and timing means I just gently hopped over this.

Ordinarily I'm just as indifferent to the website, I'm here to watch ZP and kill time at work.
I simply saw the unusually high commenting an editorial was getting and pulled the thread.
What's baffling to me is that after making such a big show out of "redeeming" the site from infamy we go back to radio silence and the relatively important question of management gets relegated to a discreet peep on a different social platform altogether.

If I was the next guy there's no way in hell I would pop my head up. The escapist already had an image problem, this made it worse, and Russ throwing himself on his sword is not going to be enough to take the heat off of the site and the guy taking up the slack.

Or maybe they could just fix the potholes. Feels like we just want a mayor who will fix all the potholes on main street, and first they promise to do that, then they get caught up in bringing world peace, fail, then bail, meanwhile we just want less potholes in our streets.

The problem with people who are certain they are right is that they will always find a way to let it filter in to everything else that they do. It will always be excused, because they are right and thus it is right to do it. It only gets more dangerous when those people move from believing that they are right people because they do things that are right, to believing that the things they do are right because they are right people.

 

[Drathnoxis]

There's gotta be one website that just reviews the goddamn game and moves on.

I feel Shamus' site comes pretty close to that.

It's the dishonesty that annoys me more than anything. It annoyed me when the site's 'General Manager & Publisher' came out and said "we don't want the Escapist to be political", only to renege on that and continue posting more and more politicized content. And now we saw the same thing with Russ.

If the site's curators want a political stage, then so be it. But they should be honest about their intentions and not mislead people.

Looks like everyone who said that by 'no politics' he meant 'no politics... except politics we agree with' was right. Pretty disappointing.

 

[Marik2]

Maybe leave politics at the door in Escapist 3.0

Maybe, if you are talking about games, you always going to end up talking about politics.

There's gotta be at least one website that can review the goddamn game and move on.

That's not true.

It used to not be true, but representation and politics are now inexorably linked. One group or another is going to get angry about one character or another for one reason or another for as long as games and humanity continue to exist.

There's gotta be one website that just reviews the goddamn game and moves on.

Christian gamers are good with that. They even gave a fair review of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 without yelling it was misogynist.

https://www.christcenteredgamer.com/index.php/reviews/consoles/playstation-4/6117-dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-fortune-ps4