With Zero Punctuation puttering--will the Escapist survive?

[Frozengale]

Now they're having write ins: [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121401-Help-Choose-Which-Indie-Speed-Run-Games-We-Send-to-Yahtzee?utm_source=latest&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all]. That's never a good sign. Hopefully it's just a New Year thing but I've seen this sort of "audience participation" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.398180.16281343] invitation pop up usually when a show has Jumped the Shark. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JumpingTheShark]

They did something very similar to this about 2 years ago when people made games based around ZP. I don't really see how this is Jumping the Shark. Every so often they have Yahtzee step out off his basement, blinking in bewilderment, and tell him to do this or that silly thing. It's the kind of thing that gets asked of people who are big deals. And make no mistake Yahtzee is still a big deal.

As for the quality of his work, I really haven't seen any real diminished aspect of it. It's still fun, it's still hilarious, and it's still insightful at points. He paints a better picture of games with a couple of jokes and strained metaphor better then most people ever do.

Also even if ZP has declined in quality over the years I think the real draw of Yahtzee right now would be his column Extra Punctuation. It might not be as funny but it definitely is a lot more thought provoking. So even if ZP does crash and burn at some point I'll still stick around to read his writing.

 

[MrGalactus]

Nah, I'm with the others. There's no decline.
Trust me, I get it, ZP never changed, but you did. ZP is so unique that the newness feels worn off after 5 years, but everything is still there. The show didn't get worse, you just got used to the humour.

 

[Mike Kayatta]

Like many if not most Escapists I first came to this site because someone I knew had drawn my attention to Zero Punctuation. After watching ZP here for years (lurking) I started paying attention to the rest of the site and joined up late last July.

But here's the thing: Yahtzee's stuff is still entertaining but it hasn't had the zing it did years ago. Fair enough. Yahtzee's run has been more creative and funnier and it has gone on much longer than most TV series.

Now they're having write ins: [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121401-Help-Choose-Which-Indie-Speed-Run-Games-We-Send-to-Yahtzee?utm_source=latest&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all]. That's never a good sign. Hopefully it's just a New Year thing but I've seen this sort of "audience participation" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.398180.16281343] invitation pop up usually when a show has Jumped the Shark. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JumpingTheShark]

I was a bit surprised to see how many people in this thread were confused about Indie Speed Run being a so-called "write-in." ISR is completely unrelated to site traffic/ZP popularity/the cries for Yahtzee to review indie games/most of the other things mentioned in this thread. ISR is a thing, and Yahtzee, being awesome, has agreed to judge that thing. The end. By this logic, I guess Minecraft must be going down the tubes, since Notch is a judge, too. Sometimes popular, intelligent people volunteer to do cool things without it directly correlating to their relative success. Seriously, don't read into it. Had ISR existed three years ago, then we would have asked him then.