4081

You know too much.

4082

I have to agree- the nature of people is to find news they agree with, because that’s the news they believe in. People don’t want their news or their hobbies to challenge their belief systems.

It’s no wonder that if the majority of game journos disagree with the majority of hardcore gamers willing to fund game journos (and I do think there’s a disconnect there- not a conspiracy but a disconnect) , that an alternative site will develop to meet demand.

In some ways politicizing your content is a good survival strategy- it’s a lot easier to take money from zealots than it is to earn it with quality.

4083

Yeah what the Escapist did is not depoliticization, but rather quite the opposite. This is not them picking up more diverse voices Desslock, but rather them doubling down political voices from the right, and jettisoning those on the left. Or have you not noticed that?

That’s ok, it is their prerogative. It does mean that I, and others, will no longer visit the site. Been reading there for years, even did the publisher club for a while, but at this point they have gotten rid of most of what I went there for. So the question is does this choice to embrace the right wing crowd, as lead by their head Alexander Marcais, help the site grow? Time will tell, but that they have jettisoned much of their original content creators over the last few weeks does not bode well. Even were they not courting the Breitbart crowd I’d have little reason to go. That the new people they have replaced them with are individuals whose views I take issue with cements that.

4084

I believe it will work for them, due to less competition, and a more rabid fanbase who will be more likely to donate/get rid of adblocker because it’s to “fight the evil conspiracy”. The same way it will work for sites on the left, though there are more of them.

In other words, Escapist is becoming the Fox News of gaming journalism, though I suspect their main goal will be making money directly, unlike Fox (where I think the main goal is influencing voters)

4085

Never gone to Escapist, other than for some of Yahtzee’s early Zero Punctuations. I didn’t even realize it was a full-fledged gaming site, and never heard of any of the people hired or fired. Who are the political voices from the right, other than the new guy who someone was complaining about earlier in the thread?

4086

sees liberals talking
informs them that they are wrong
liberals make counterpoints

“NEVER GONE TO ESCAPIST”

Weird that Desslock knew that the Escapist’s hiring decisions were good and an attempt to “depoliticize” gaming journalism(still waiting for a single fucking example of what that even means) without ever reading that site or knowing who they hired.

4087

Nice, only 7 clear lies in your 6 line message, loool - Said the exact opposite, even: "I don’t see it as an attempt to depoliticize game journalism. You really are a worthless piece of trash.

4088

So the Escapist has made some changes and has been attacked for hiring a more diverse group

You later elaborated that it wasn’t necessarily depolarization, and that it was perhaps a Fair and Balanced group, then you said it was about providing a diverse group of voices, and now you have no idea what’s going on. You were kind of all over the place.

Basically, while watching MRA youtube videos, you discovered something that made you think your side had scored a victory over the lesbian Jew conspiracy that reminds you, each and every day, that educated people laugh at you behind your back. I just do it to your face, and suddenly I’m the bad guy. Whatever.

Do you think you’re in an emotionally safe enough space for you to try to answer my question about what you’re mad about?

I bet you aren’t. I bet you’ll never be. Prove me wrong. You could shut me up so easily, really rub it in my face. Lay out your case in a clear and convincing manner and it’s over. I think I’m smarter than you. I think I’m better than you.

Prove me wrong.

4089

I always found Yahzee’s reviews to be funny. I never really considered them political, since they generally just made fun of games.

4090

When a self-important, psychotic misanthrope who raves about lesbian Jew conspiracies and has accomplished nothing in life, other than haranguing strangers on a gaming message board, ignorantly declares that (s)he’s better educated than you and pompously challenges you to a battle of wits that (s)he already demonstrably lost 15 pages ago…probably time to walk away.

4091

Alright Desslock I’ll give you a link that summarizes the changes going on at the Escapist more in full: http://www.zenofdesign.com/whats-going-on-with-the-escapist/

Like I said it is their choice to embrace this market, but it does mean I no longer support the site with either my money or my visits.

4092

Interesting article, it does sound like the escapist has gone full GG (you never go full GG). It sound vaguely like that time Victoria Jackson tried to headline an all right wing political comedy show.

Extra unrelated amusement for Vetarnias being the first commenter talking about how he predicted it all on his blog months ago. ;)

4093

That article seems kind of slanted, but like I said, whatever. My sole interest in the escapist has between humorous game reviews, and I think maybe folks should not always try to be serious business journalists about important topics when their sweet spot is funny flash animations.

However, the fact that Veternias apparently hates the escapist earns them points in my book, given that he had previously demonstrated blatant, overt racial prejudice here, and is clearly a huge racist and xenophobe.

And we’re talking real racist here… Like saying Asian people are bad, and influencing Canada too much.

4094

I remember Veternias. I also know how he got banned at another forum mere weeks after getting kicked out of here. I wouldn’t put anything more into that other than the fact that most of us recognize there are jackholes supporting almost every position ever.

I wasn’t claiming the article was unslanted. The writer is strongly anti GG, due to having seen the worst they can deal. Even so they broadly admit their bias, and how that Escapist choosing to court that demographic is a valid choice. It is merely presenting their reasons for why they dislike that choice, and will no longer support the Escapist because of it. It is merely a counter to the laughable claim that this move was not political.

4095

Yeah, it totally could be. It just seems weird for a games site to be political at all.

4096

Weird only because for decades games writing strived for this strained, odd, sense of ‘objectivity’. A laughably stupid goal, particularly when dealing with an artistic medium. I’ve said before this is precisely why I love Tom’s work, he embraces his subjective views, and does a fantastic job explaining them. I read Tom’s reviews despite how I typically disagree on anything but strategy games precisely because he paints a better experiential picture than almost anyone doing games writing out there.

So if part of embracing and explaining a subjective view is also adding in political into the mix? I’m all for that. I may not indulge, but I firmly believe that should be a valid choice. I believe that the political side, oft overstated though it may be, of a Polygon should be allowed, so it would be hypocritical to claim that The Escapist should not be allowed to embrace the opposite.

I will not visit them because of that (ok it’s more like they’ve gotten rid of most of the reasons I went there, and replaced with ones I dislike), but that is their choice.

4097

Look at any film critic. They’ll have a known political bias.
Trying to avoid offence, trying to be bland, is not a good thing for a reviewer or writer.

There’s certainly a point when it becomes “all about politics”, which I believe the Escapist has crossed over to, from just being interesting before. I rarely read Polygon because their bias annoys me too, I add. (Neither do I read The Guardian newspaper in the UK!)

Vet would have far fewer issues with the new Escapist team than the old.

4098

There is no such thing as “depoliticization”. Anyone who claims that they “just want politics out of <x>” is making an inherently political statement in favor of the status quo. They simply don’t like politics that might upset their preferred status as a part of the status quo.

Thank you for posting this.

It points out The Escapist’s history with GamerGate well, especially their utterly disastrous interviews of “Game developers” followed by “Female game developers”. Something I also mentioned in my long post earlier in this thread:

4099

A million times, this. It’s like how racists get furious at black people for “making it about race”, or misogynists get angry at feminists when they bring up gender roles. Race and gender and sexuality are always being commented on, outside of like Super Hexagon or something. There’s always some viewpoint informing the content, because games are made by people to be consumed by people.

4100

The weird thing is that GG seems to have adopted Yahtzee because of his comments on Shirtgate, but if you go back through his videos, his foreign policy commentary on Battlefield/CoD types is distinctly left of center. I can see that marriage collapsing.