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[Ailike]

What do you think about this and what should they do to avoid this annoying thing?

I don't care and I move on with my life because it's not a big deal. I'm not being persecuted and I'm not going to cry foul over video games.

 

[MultiCore]

Since when do you need to be an "expert" to have an opinion on a piece of media you consumed? How would adding another "expert" to the discussion change much?

She's a young woman who obviously hasn't been in the industry as long as the people she works with (Some have around 20 years of age on her). She's going to view things differently.

You don't need to be an expert, but by using that term, you yourself admit that not everyone's opinions on a topic carry the same weight.

Putting an inexperienced amateur in the mix with (relative) veterans who can actually finish SMB or Dark Souls lead to exactly the kind of results we've been seeing from her.

I don't hate her, I think she's fun and funny. She just doesn't know anything about games.

 

[Nymphae]

His job is to scrutinize videogames. If he's shirking his duties because he's afraid a particular group might shriek at him, then he's not doing his job. Kinda ironic that the guy who got fired over "sticking to his principles" on Kane & Lynch is cowering in a corner with his bodypillow instead of playing a critically-acclaimed game in a genre that doesn't get much attention nowadays.

What does this refer to? Are they not reviewing big games now because of controversies?

 

[strange headache]

She actually jokes that bringing up the subject of women in God of War will probably have people discussing her criticism for the rest of her career.

Or she's perfectly aware that her tangential political commentary is hot garbage and she's preemptively trying to immunize herself from any sort of criticism by tacitly labeling her opposition as "hateful trolls". Judging by your comments in this thread, this seem to work out perfectly in her favor.

Since when do you need to be an "expert" to have an opinion on a piece of media you consumed?

Opinions are like as*holes, everybody has got one. What differentiates a bullsh*t opinion from an informed opinion is your ability to produce meaning, be it funny, insightful or serious, that is usually expressed through your level of expertise. I certainly don't need GB to listen to uninformed crap, there's plenty of other braindead outlets providing that. Expertise is what separates the wheat from the chaff.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

What does this refer to? Are they not reviewing big games now because of controversies?

This refers to Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

I'm unaware of any others. Hey, maybe it's just a blip. It's better that it's a blip instead of an abandonment of principles. It's up to Giant Bomb to demonstrate which one it is.

 

[Optimus Lime]

This thread is a perfect example of just how distant I feel from video game fan communities AND video game criticism.

Giant Bomb was a site that I loved, but in recent years, they've shifted away from consumer reviews (Is the game fun, does it look good, is it worth the price), to the kind of pompous pseudo-intellectualism championed by Waypoint. These people are not academics (with the exception of Austin Walker, who is a completely bog standard and uninteresting cultural studies type), so listening to them attempting to apply critical and analytical lenses to games and gaming communities is kind of painful.

At the same time, video game communities have become intolerably precious and self-obsessed. Who gives a fuck what Abby says? You're right. Her contributions to the GOTY 2017 discussions were beyond idiotic. Her reading of God Of War is unsophisticated and cliched, and really speaks to her inexperience as a critic and player. But, who gives a shit? Did those ten minutes of listening to opinions that you didn't like hurt you in some way? Were you writhing in agony as you listened to a harmless internet writer say nothing particularly interesting?

Move on. You guys sound like exactly the kind of whimpering, censorious social justice types that you claim to hate. If you can't stand Abby or modern Giant Bomb, there are a bajillion other sites and forums that can give you exactly what you're looking for. Or, you can weigh up the pros of Giant Bomb's more worthwhile and interesting moments, against what is apparently the crippling indignity of having to listen to the growing pains of a younger and less nuanced critic. The choice is yours.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

As for Kingdom Come, I do get the impression that it was avoided simply because Jeff wanted to avoid scrutiny from the far left for covering it. I get the impression Jeff just wants to play it safe these days. With how everything is scrutinized these last few years I honestly don't blame him.

I wouldn't say that it has been said outright by the staff, but if you start to add up their answers to those sorts of questions in a web, it would point to them playing safe and trying to steer content away from things that would be polarizing; this is why that celebrate America stream Abby and Dan were doing got axed.

People harp on Alex all the time. I'll do it right now. He's a pompous asshole whose retorts are mostly snarky sarcasm. Combined with awkward half smiling and head nodding.

And I love him for it xD I know that's not for everyone, and I'm probably in a very small minority of enjoying people like that.

Maybe Sony should have named the game Dream Dad of War.

I loled xD

Abby is a token hire that has not enough knowledge about games to make informed or interesting commentary. That's why, instead of forming her own opinion, she's parroting social justice hot takes that she probably read on Waypoint or some such in order to make up for her lack of expertise. It's tired and old identity politics injected into video games and disguised as pseudo-intellectual superficial criticism.

Well, I hope people have better things to say about what you do for a living than what you say about what Abby does for a living.

His job is to scrutinize videogames. If he's shirking his duties because he's afraid a particular group might shriek at him, then he's not doing his job. Kinda ironic that the guy who got fired over "sticking to his principles" on Kane & Lynch is cowering in a corner with his bodypillow instead of playing a critically-acclaimed game in a genre that doesn't get much attention nowadays.

You can't blame someone for not wanting to get harassed for doing their job, though.

A lot of the "Ignore the haters," changes when it starts to affect your friends and family, especially if you're recently married.

You could argue that the harassment has always been there in the form of hate mail, but the volume of it and some of the veracity of them has increased to where this would be a not-so-outside-the-norm reaction to the current state of media in general.

We tend to forget the people who ignore that sort speech towards them until it spills out into the crazies getting overly active, they happen to also have easier access to affecting these people directly than they previously had.

On a counter point, you could say he is sticking with his guns by not reviewing certain games, even after an out cry of "You're not covering this because of X," or "You're not covering it in support of X," he does not go back and bend to either sides will and post a review or change a current review significantly (From what I know of).

From what I understand, their stance on changing a game review is to post a different one or to put it as an editors note but still leave the original one in tact.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

Opinions are like as*holes, everybody has got one. What differentiates a bullsh*t opinion from an informed opinion is your ability to produce meaning, be it funny, insightful or serious, that is usually expressed through your level of expertise. I certainly don't need GB to listen to uninformed crap, there's plenty of other braindead outlets providing that. Expertise is what separates the wheat from the chaff.

On the flip, can you provide the name(s) of a gaming media outlet that provides non-braindead material that all experts agree on and look to as an authority?

Mind you, braindead is a matter of opinion and your familiarity with a topic and how you feel about it will definitely change your perspective on that.

 

[bilderberg]

This thread is a perfect example of just how distant I feel from video game fan communities AND video game criticism.

Giant Bomb was a site that I loved, but in recent years, they've shifted away from consumer reviews (Is the game fun, does it look good, is it worth the price), to the kind of pompous pseudo-intellectualism championed by Waypoint. These people are not academics (with the exception of Austin Walker, who is a completely bog standard and uninteresting cultural studies type), so listening to them attempting to apply critical and analytical lenses to games and gaming communities is kind of painful.

At the same time, video game communities have become intolerably precious and self-obsessed. Who gives a fuck what Abby says? You're right. Her contributions to the GOTY 2017 discussions were beyond idiotic. Her reading of God Of War is unsophisticated and cliched, and really speaks to her inexperience as a critic and player. But, who gives a shit? Did those ten minutes of listening to opinions that you didn't like hurt you in some way? Were you writhing in agony as you listened to a harmless internet writer say nothing particularly interesting?

Move on. You guys sound like exactly the kind of whimpering, censorious social justice types that you claim to hate. If you can't stand Abby or modern Giant Bomb, there are a bajillion other sites and forums that can give you exactly what you're looking for. Or, you can weigh up the pros of Giant Bomb's more worthwhile and interesting moments, against what is apparently the crippling indignity of having to listen to the growing pains of a younger and less nuanced critic. The choice is yours.

what is with the straw men? Make an actual point. How are we supposed to criticize anything without this connotation that everything lives or dies on someone's opinion? Have you forgotten you're on a video game forum? If 'move on' was the response to every discussion on video games ever we wouldn't be talking about games. Games criticism deserves to be critiqued.

 

[TeamGhobad]

Giant Bomb as a whole failed big time. The crew was never as funny as they were when they were on gamespot. Gerstmann has gone to management and doesn't even play games anymore. Ryan Davis (RIP) is gone. And brad and vinny have been phoning it in for years.
Their boards are basically dead they have about a dozen regulars thats about it. Their gaming podcasts is almost 60% non gaming related.
That place is really RIP at this point. But we had good time with the that crew.

 

[Optimus Lime]

what is with the straw men? Make an actual point. How are we supposed to criticize anything without this connotation that everything lives or dies on someone's opinion? Have you forgotten you're on a video game forum? If 'move on' was the response to every discussion on video games ever we wouldn't be talking about games. Games criticism deserves to be critiqued.

There are no 'straw men' in that post, and I've been very clear with my points. If you'd prefer, I can summarise them in bullet point form.

* Giant Bomb has shifted focus away from consumer reviews, and now includes hamfisted political and cultural analysis, performed by staff who are unqualified to do so.
* Abby is particularly unprepared to perform that function, and her analysis of the medium is clunky, cliched, and unsophisticated.
* Fan reaction to this has been disproportionate to the crimes being committed, and closely resembles the extremities of the social justice left.
* There is a simple solution at hand: dial down the outrage, and either ignore her, or find a site/forum that more closely mirrors your preferred mode and tone of inquiry. Threads like this serve no purpose. She's an idiot. We know. It's not that big a deal.

None of these are 'straw men', so you'd do well to not misuse that term. And, frankly, I can't be clearer or simpler than that. You are, of course, free to disagree with every argument made here - but pretending that there are 'no points' is utter nonsense. How about you put together a coherent response and explain why I'm wrong?

 

[Optimus Lime]

Giant Bomb as a whole failed big time. The crew was never as funny as they were when they were on gamespot. Gerstmann has gone to management and doesn't even play games anymore. Ryan Davis (RIP) is gone. And brad and vinny have been phoning it in for years.
Their boards are basically dead they have about a dozen regulars thats about it. Their gaming podcasts is almost 60% non gaming related.
That place is really RIP at this point. But we had good time with the that crew.

This is something I really agree with. The Bombcast, in particularly, leads - for some reason - with a 30 minute discussion of what they've been eating, or some other trivia around San Francisco culture that I just do not give a shit about, and find an absolute chore to sit through.

And, Dan Ryckert is utterly insufferable. He is every bit the rank amateur buffoon that Abby Russell is. I get that people love him. Oh well.

 

[strange headache]

Well, I hope people have better things to say about what you do for a living than what you say about what Abby does for a living.

Are you suggesting that nobody ever has been bad at his job? Plenty of middling to mediocre actors, musicians, craftsmen and other workers to go around. Do you not complain when the mechanic fixes your car badly? Do you simply stay quiet when a cook serves you sh*tty food at a restaurant? Have you never criticized an actor for playing his role badly?

What you're trying to levy here isn't even an argument in the first place. There's no reason why Abby should be exempt from criticism for the mere virtue of game commentary being her job, on the contrary.

 

[TeamGhobad]

pretty much the last time they were funny

 

[mckmas8808]

As for Kingdom Come, I do get the impression that it was avoided simply because Jeff wanted to avoid scrutiny from the far left for covering it. I get the impression Jeff just wants to play it safe these days. With how everything is scrutinized these last few years I honestly don't blame him.

This would be the dumbest reason to not cover Kingdom Come. No leftist movement would have done anything to GiantBomb had they covered it. The game is fine and talking about that game is fine. One of the most over hyped stories of the year is almost anything Kingdom Come related. So many pitchforks out for that RPG, for all silly reasons.

She did that to get sympathy from the others just like she almost fake cried last year during the nier discussion. The problem I have is that she destroyed Giantbomb for me.

The whole discussion 2017 was fucking terrible, she lied, she actually fought against a game instead like everyone else to fight for her games, she fake cried. And her games were also really really good (only argumentation). I do not know how much it has changed since I have not listen to anything she is part of but I also feel people at GB are may more carefully with their comments etc.

I tried to listen to the God of War bit but after the I do not fucking care to Vinny. I closed it. She has no debate skills, she has no idea what she is talking about and she is just some millenial who goes for buzzwords. Even her fridge tropes makes no sense here at all. She acts like someone being raised by twitter.

Come on dude. She said God of War is her 4th game of the year. 4th! We really going to kill her opinion over that seeding?

 

[bilderberg]

There are no 'straw men' in that post, and I've been very clear with my points. If you'd prefer, I can summarise them in bullet point form.

* Giant Bomb has shifted focus away from consumer reviews, and now includes hamfisted political and cultural analysis, performed by staff who are unqualified to do so.
* Abby is particularly unprepared to perform that function, and her analysis of the medium is clunky, cliched, and unsophisticated.
* Fan reaction to this has been disproportionate to the crimes being committed, and closely resembles the extremities of the social justice left.
* There is a simple solution at hand: dial down the outrage, and either ignore her, or find a site/forum that more closely mirrors your preferred mode and tone of inquiry. Threads like this serve no purpose. She's an idiot. We know. It's not that big a deal.

None of these are 'straw men', so you'd do well to not misuse that term. And, frankly, I can't be clearer or simpler than that. You are, of course, free to disagree with every argument made here - but pretending that there are 'no points' is utter nonsense. How about you put together a coherent response and explain why I'm wrong?

asking people if they were hurt or writing in agony isn't a straw man? You keep telling people to move on, and yet here you are writing half page essays on why we shouldn't give opinions.

 

[mckmas8808]

pretty much the last time they were funny

For me, this is one of the types they were at their less funny. I hate people that are overly snarky at every single thing and can't allow anything to be interesting or cool. Listen to Mark Cerny talk about making the PS4.......while joking about every sentence he speaks and how soft his voice is.

That type of stuff is so childish to me. But I'm not the target market for those type of videos.

 

[Optimus Lime]

asking people if they were hurt or writing in agony isn't a straw man? You keep telling people to move on, and yet here you are writing half page essays on why we shouldn't give opinions.

No. It isn't. Obviously, it isn't meant to be taken literally - it's a hyperbolic metaphor intended to highlight the overraction that some quarters of the online gaming community have had to some relatively minor slights. The fact that I even need to explain that to you is kind of stunning.

As for the length of my posts, I'm sorry that they make your brain hurt.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

Are you suggesting that nobody ever has been bad at his job? Plenty of middling to mediocre actors, musicians, craftsmen and other workers to go around. Do you not complain when the mechanic fixes your car badly? Do you simply stay quiet when a cook serves you sh*tty food at a restaurant? Have you never criticized an actor for playing his role badly?

What you're trying to levy here isn't even an argument in the first place. There's no reason why Abby should be exempt from criticism for the mere virtue of game commentary being her job, on the contrary.

I am not suggesting that no one has never been bad at their job, but merely stating I would hope people talk about what you do for a living in a more constructive light than how you describe others.

I may not stay quiet, but I also don't start down any roads of "This mechanic fixed my car incorrectly, he must have learned from playing on RC cars and watching Top Gear."

Criticism is one thing; bashing a person is another.

I'll point out where you're being more bashing than critiquing by removing the unnecessary verbiage, and reword it slightly for syntax.

Abby is a token hire that has not does not have enough knowledge about games to make informed or interesting commentary. That's why, instead of forming her own opinion, she's parroting social justice hot takes that she probably read on Waypoint or some such in order to make up for her lack of expertise. It's tired and old identity politics injected into video games and disguised as pseudo-intellectual superficial criticism.

I'm also be "That guy," and point out this:

Opinions are like as*holes, everybody has got one. What differentiates a bullsh*t opinion from an informed opinion is your ability to produce meaning, be it funny, insightful or serious, that is usually expressed through your level of expertise. I certainly don't need GB to listen to uninformed crap, there's plenty of other braindead outlets providing that. Expertise is what separates the wheat from the chaff.

Could you not say that your opinion about the hiring process for Abby, why she was hired, etc is not well informed, and would be tantamount to what you're stating is not okay here?

On the flip, can you provide the name(s) of a gaming media outlet that provides non-braindead material that all experts agree on and look to as an authority?

Mind you, braindead is a matter of opinion and your familiarity with a topic and how you feel about it will definitely change your perspective on that.

I'm waiting.

 

[DonF]

I remember this same thing happened last year. It's a shame really, and I don't think it really helps the feminist movement.

 

[Petrae]

Giant Bomb as a whole failed big time. The crew was never as funny as they were when they were on gamespot. Gerstmann has gone to management and doesn't even play games anymore. Ryan Davis (RIP) is gone. And brad and vinny have been phoning it in for years.
Their boards are basically dead they have about a dozen regulars thats about it. Their gaming podcasts is almost 60% non gaming related.
That place is really RIP at this point. But we had good time with the that crew.

GB has been surpassed by YouTube and Twitch talent, as have most of the traditional gaming-related web destinations. There are not only more interesting people on YT/Twitch, but many remain gaming-focused instead of introducing sociopolitical angles for engagement purposes.

It’s a weird concept to these places that some people just shut their brains off after a tough day of work or school and play the games without thinking (or wanting to think) about which sociopolitical groups are marginalized or offended by a game.

I’m one of those people. I want to read or hear about the games. The graphics. The music. How it plays. How it might compare to other games in its genre. Whether it’s recommended. I don’t give a rat’s ass about which groups are represented enough or how we should be offended because (insert reason here). I’ll grant that politics may play a role in a game, but I’ll let the game reveal that and decide for myself whether I care or not.

This nonsense takes me back to why video game magazines, warts and all, are still infinitely better than the tripe that passes for gaming-related media in the modern age. With the exception of a letter or two to the Editor, bullshit about social and political issues rarely made it into magazines because there was only so much room... and more gaming-centric content got the nod. Publishers didn’t need the fluff they need now, in the 24/7/366 news cycle. They also didn’t survive on clicks and pissing people off for engagement. Insulting your readers came at the cost of lower paid subscriptions and less money in your pocket, as opposed to relying on ad revenue now and not giving shit one about your visitor base.

But again— gaming media sites can do what they want, and I can choose not to visit them. I’ll get my news from here or from select YouTube personalities who stick to games and don’t fall prey to sociopolitical crap. I’ll get buying advice from the same people, or by scanning aggregate sites for numerical data. One great thing about the internet is that it’s given rise to many different options for gaming news and reviews; it’s no longer about the traditional sources, and I can find options that give me the the content I want without the bullshit I don’t.

 

[Ailike]

I just don't get how this is a topic since apparently everyone stopped dealing with GB yeeeears ago. RIP and all that nonsense.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Cut for brevity

Petrae - you win the award for best post of the thread. Couldn't have said it better myself, and you've diagnosed some of the huge problems with the broader spectrum of gaming media right now. Stuff like Giant Bomb just seems so old fashioned and irrelevant now. That's probably why I find threads like this so silly.

 

[TLZ]

You personally can just dislike her takes and listen mainly for the people that you do like. I like maybe 33% of her takes, but I can respect about 66% of her takes. The last 34% are utter trash opinions (your example of her opinion of God of War is an example of this).

But at some point, you need to be able to tolerate people that you disagree with. Everyone doesn't have to agree with you or have your same perspective.

I wish SJWs and feminists felt the same way, instead of 'my way or the high way'.

 

[Kadayi]

I don't really follow Giantbomb since I dislike Jeff Gerstmann. But I've heard that since this Abby person joined, she has made them go full on SJW and feminist. They didn't want to even review Kingdom Come Deliverance because it was historically accurate.

Yeah, that was complete BS. The whole US games media turned against Warhorse simply because they had the temerity to tell Arthur Gies (formerly of Polygon) that maybe their learned academic historians knew a bit more about the realities of there being POC in medieval rural Bohemia than some tumblr blog he cited. Needless to say, unable to stand for this aggression against one of their own on mass they basically have blackballed the game and developer from any discussion it seems. With that said I wouldn't imagine given the initial bugs that KCD would necessarily garner any awards, but to be basically passed over even from nomination because of twitter BS is frankly farcical., especially given how unique the game is both setting and from a gameplay perspective. I scrubbed my GB sub after that, and I'd been with them since the start. A few months back I got some begging letter from Jeff looking for resubs, but frankly, not a hope.

Petrae on point

 

[TeamGhobad]

For me, this is one of the types they were at their less funny. I hate people that are overly snarky at every single thing and can't allow anything to be interesting or cool. Listen to Mark Cerny talk about making the PS4.......while joking about every sentence he speaks and how soft his voice is.

That type of stuff is so childish to me. But I'm not the target market for those type of videos.

car pornguy was funny, so was suckerpunch almost crying guy

 

[bilderberg]

No. It isn't. Obviously, it isn't meant to be taken literally - it's a hyperbolic metaphor intended to highlight the overraction that some quarters of the online gaming community have had to some relatively minor slights. The fact that I even need to explain that to you is kind of stunning.

As for the length of my posts, I'm sorry that they make your brain hurt.

Do you have no self awareness to see that you're the only one here over reacting?

 

[Optimus Lime]

Do you have no self awareness to see that you're the only one here over reacting?

I think we are probably done here mate. Now you're just posting stupid troll comments and wasting everybody's time. Feel free to continue this in private message if it's important to you, but I'd prefer you didn't shit up the thread with this nonsense.

 

[strange headache]

I'll point out where you're being more bashing than critiquing by removing the unnecessary verbiage, and reword it slightly for syntax.

Her vernacular and socio-political criticism is an exact copy of the usual content you find on websites such as Waypoint. Her kind of criticism is certainly not new, so nothing wrong in assuming where she is getting her inspiration from. Considering her regular output I think that's exactly the reason why she was hired. Because of her identity and because GB wanted to tap into a certain demographic that is most sympathetic to this kind of commentary. I find my criticism in that regard to be perfectly reasonable.

I meant every word of what I said and I certainly don't need you meddling with my quotes. I find it rather amusing that you ask of me to be respectful of her subjective opinion, yet are unwilling to extend the same kind of courtesy when it comes to my commentary. I'd advise you to not expect of others what you're unwilling to do yourself.

 

[Revolutionary]

I just skipped the God of War discussion once Abby pulled the feminism card. Of all the fucking things in that game to be negative about, she chose the one thing that literally no one complained about.
On the subject of Freya, I do think she was badly portrayed (it was like the actor was trying to channel Mary Louise Parker), but not due to the fault of the writing.
But yeah, back to Abby: her voice is quickly becoming grating in these discussions videos. Thankfully, it's easy to fast forward through her crap and get back on track.

 

[cr0w]

Not really familiar with her or GB or really any of the podcasts or sites people talk about these days. I think the last publication or whatever I followed was GamePro waaaaay back when. What she likes or didn't like had zero effect on my enjoyment of God of War, as I wasn't aware of her or her opinions in the first place.

I guess I just don't really see the point in caring what other people, no matter their place in the industry, think about a medium that's highly subjective in the first place. You can find anything anywhere if you look hard enough, and that seems to be the favorite pastime of people in gaming/entertainment these days.

 

[Ailike]

I wish SJWs and feminists felt the same way, instead of 'my way or the high way'.

Couldn't you just say that about any agenda driven group? Alt-right, or Incel, or MRA, or PETA or dog lovers or Sonic fans or whatever? It's that singling out that makes people think you're attacking their particular point of view. And no one likes that.

 

[J-Roderton]

Honest question as someone that was die hard on that site every day back in the Ryan Days, why even go there? Are there not proper reviews any more? News? What is it really that they do now besides the usual podcast and a quick look?

 

[Nymphae]

I think as good as Jeff, Vinny and Brad can be and have been, the spirit of the show died with Ryan. That guy was a crazy good podcast host and always felt enthusiastic. The GB crew have felt like zombies since Ryan passed.

 

[TLZ]

Couldn't you just say that about any agenda driven group? Alt-right, or Incel, or MRA, or PETA or dog lovers or Sonic fans or whatever? It's that singling out that makes people think you're attacking their particular point of view. And no one likes that.

Because it's them who infiltrated gaming and ruining it with their agenda. You can't have any better proof than that other forum.

 

[Ailike]

Because it's them who infiltrated gaming and ruining it with their agenda. You can't have any better proof than that other form.

Whoa there, Loose Change. Games still play the same for me. I dunno what they've done for you.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Because it's them who infiltrated gaming and ruining it with their agenda. You can't have any better proof than that other forum.

'Infiltrated gaming'? Come on. That's ridiculous. A few blue haired dopes on Tumblr doth not an invasion make. Stop taking shit you read on the internet so seriously.

 

[TLZ]

Whoa there, Loose Change. Games still play the same for me. I dunno what they've done for you.

'Infiltrated gaming'? Come on. That's ridiculous. A few blue haired dopes on Tumblr doth not an invasion make. Stop taking shit you read on the internet so seriously.

Resetera doesn't exist.

Ok.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

I meant every word of what I said and I certainly don't need you meddling with my quotes. I find it rather amusing that you ask of me to respect her subjective opinion, yet are unwilling to extend the same kind of courtesy when it comes to my commentary. I'd advise you to not expect of others what you're unwilling to do yourself.

I don't see how I'm not extending the same courtesy; I never said anything about Abby's mannerisms, only your own, nor did I ever condone her actions.

All I've simply said is that I hope others don't portray your job performance in the same way you did with hers. In fact, I was able to provide the same message you provided without the extra speculation on why she was hired, or where the sources of her opinions are.

In fact, I would say this part of your response is entirely more clear and seems way more well thought out than how you previously stated it.

Her vernacular and socio-political criticism is an exact copy of the usual content you find on websites such as Waypoint. Considering her regular output I think that's exactly the reason why she was hired. Because of her identity and because GB wanted to tap into a certain demographic that is most sympathetic to this kind of commentary. I find my criticism in that regard to be perfectly reasonable.

I applaud you for standing your ground on what you've said initially, however it does against a theme you've used previously.

Opinions are like as*holes, everybody has got one. What differentiates a bullsh*t opinion from an informed opinion is your ability to produce meaning, be it funny, insightful or serious, that is usually expressed through your level of expertise. I certainly don't need GB to listen to uninformed crap, there's plenty of other braindead outlets providing that. Expertise is what separates the wheat from the chaff.

The use of "I think," rather than "I know," is ostensibly the issue; you're making the statement that bull shit opinions are based on ill-informed thinkers, yet being ill-informed about why she was hired and forming opinions, and being ill-informed on where she sources her information and forming opinions. This being directly reflected by you stating "I think," which implies you are not fully informed, versus "I know," which would imply you do know.

By your own words, if you're not an expert in how CBSi/GiantBomb hires, and an expert in how Abby sources her information, your opinion would be uninformed crap people shouldn't listen to, and that there's more other braindead people we could go to already providing that. It's what separates the wheat from the chaff.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Resetera doesn't exist.

Ok.

Who cares if ResetEra exists? A forum full of clowns with opinions you don't like 'existing' is not evidence of gaming's irreversible slide into touchy feely hell. It is exactly the kind of 'diversity of opinion' and 'marketplace of ideas' that social libertarians are so in love with. I think that a lot of the time, ResetEra's political culture makes it difficult to want to post there. So I don't. What's the problem, exactly?

 

[brap]

And, Dan Ryckert is utterly insufferable. He is every bit the rank amateur buffoon that Abby Russell is. I get that people love him. Oh well.

Thank God Dan actually likes games and can explain why he likes or dislikes something. By that alone he is leagues above Abby. And no surprise somebody who likes Abby hates Dan. That's how it always is for some reason.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Thank God Dan actually likes games and can explain why he likes or dislikes something. By that alone he is leagues above Abby. And no surprise somebody who likes Abby hates Dan. That's how it always is for some reason.

Uh. That's a stab in the dark that completely missed. I've been posting through this entire thread about how dopey I think Abby is. Have you not actually read the thread, or did you just see that I don't care for Dan and decided to jump in with your very important hot take?

 

[Petrae]

I wish SJWs and feminists felt the same way, instead of 'my way or the high way'.

This binary mentality stretches to most groups— both on the left and the right. There’s no listening to and or respectful disagreement when it comes to sociopolitical issues. You’re either on the right side of the issue or the wrong side, which is why engaging in “discussion” (and I use that term very loosely) of related topics is a fool’s errand and why I would’ve liked to have seen video games media stay away from it.

The art of “respectful disagreement” sadly died years ago. The rise of social media and its echo chamber effect drove the final nails into its coffin.

The opinions that I post here are just mine. I don’t expect or demand that people agree with me, and I sure as hell don’t claim to be “right”. It’s just how I feel with regard to the select topic. Agree with me or disagree, it’s all good. I still think you’re as awesome as you were before you read and reacted. Hell, I often even see counters to my feelings that I hadn’t considered. At the end of the day, though, I’m no different than I was the moment before I hit that POST REPLY button— I’m just some old man who’s been playing video games across five different decades on a gaming-centric message board sharing his 0.78 cents (it was 2 cents, but, you know, taxes).

 

[ThatGamingDude]

I never liked her takes on anything really and found her annoying to listen to, but the greatest thing ever about her is that she got someone on the GB staff to edit their Detroit:Become Human quick look, to remove a line where she asks "Guys where in the US is this game set?" She literally asked that question. I mentioned this here a few months back and some defenders were like "Oh it was a joke I'm sure", yeah that's why they literally deleted just that line from the published quicklook (I went back and watched the whole damn thing again to find it, and it was gone). There are even still YT comments on the video making fun of it, I'm surprised they didn't delete those honestly.

They did NOT delete it from the Quick Look, by the way.



I would implore you to either edit your post or to have it removed.

 

[mckmas8808]

I just skipped the God of War discussion once Abby pulled the feminism card. Of all the fucking things in that game to be negative about, she chose the one thing that literally no one complained about.
On the subject of Freya, I do think she was badly portrayed (it was like the actor was trying to channel Mary Louise Parker), but not due to the fault of the writing.
But yeah, back to Abby: her voice is quickly becoming grating in these discussions videos. Thankfully, it's easy to fast forward through her crap and get back on track.

Keep in mind God of War is still Abby's 4th game of the year. That's an important part to remember. She not only didn't hate the game, she really really liked the game.

Honest question as someone that was die hard on that site every day back in the Ryan Days, why even go there? Are there not proper reviews any more? News? What is it really that they do now besides the usual podcast and a quick look?

They do a good job talking about games. Plain and simple. And they take their time with their opinions.

This binary mentality stretches to most groups— both on the left and the right. There’s no listening to and or respectful disagreement when it comes to sociopolitical issues. You’re either on the right side of the issue or the wrong side, which is why engaging in “discussion” (and I use that term very loosely) of related topics is a fool’s errand and why I would’ve liked to have seen video games media stay away from it.

The art of “respectful disagreement” sadly died years ago. The rise of social media and its echo chamber effect drove the final nails into its coffin.

The opinions that I post here are just mine. I don’t expect or demand that people agree with me, and I sure as hell don’t claim to be “right”. It’s just how I feel with regard to the select topic. Agree with me or disagree, it’s all good. I still think you’re as awesome as you were before you read and reacted. Hell, I often even see counters to my feelings that I hadn’t considered. At the end of the day, though, I’m no different than I was the moment before I hit that POST REPLY button— I’m just some old man who’s been playing video games across five different decades on a gaming-centric message board sharing his 0.78 cents (it was 2 cents, but, you know, taxes).

The bolded is still here. You just have to ignore alot of people in order to see the ones that are reasonable. Social Media makes it hard to find the reasonable people, since everybody now has a voice.

 

[Shy Fingers]

Thank God Dan actually likes games and can explain why he likes or dislikes something. By that alone he is leagues above Abby. And no surprise somebody who likes Abby hates Dan. That's how it always is for some reason.

I like them both though!

They did NOT delete it from the Quick Look, by the way.

And she even admits to how stupid of a question it was. Why is this used against her? It was a slip that she caught immediately.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Keep in mind God of War is still Abby's 4th game of the year. That's an important part to remember. She not only didn't hate the game, she really really liked the game.

And this is the interesting thing about the responses that I'm seeing across the enthusiast media. It's not that Abby tore the game down and suggested that it was poorly made, or undeserving of serious GOTY consideration. She praised the game, made one poorly thought out criticism, and added it to her GOTY list - but apparently, that one criticism so impacted on the ideological purity of her position that people are making threads to discuss it. It's really weird.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

And she even admits to how stupid of a question it was. Why is this used against her? It was a slip that she caught immediately.

I think the poster of that comment wasn't able to find their original line and thought it had been removed is all.

If other people are using that as a reason to attack her, I kindly remind the attackers to first pick up the purse.

one criticism so impacted on the ideological purity of her position that people are making threads to discuss it. It's really weird.

I agree.

Everyone always hops on the FNG until they get settled. That period can last longer depending on your industry.
Just a standard hazing period IMO, gotta go through it to see if you can last.

 

[mckmas8808]

And she even admits to how stupid of a question it was. Why is this used against her? It was a slip that she caught immediately.

I had no idea that this attack on her was made up. Crazy! I actually trusted the guys here to be telling the truth about that Detriot comment.

If other people are using that as a reason to attack her, I kindly remind the attackers to first pick up the purse.
.

It's literally one of the top 3 reasons why I see people say why they hate her.

1. Her love for Dream Daddy and her explaining why
2. Her so-called SJW ways.
3. She didn't know what city the game Detriot: Become Human was set in

 

[Nikana]

Not really familiar with her or GB or really any of the podcasts or sites people talk about these days. I think the last publication or whatever I followed was GamePro waaaaay back when. What she likes or didn't like had zero effect on my enjoyment of God of War, as I wasn't aware of her or her opinions in the first place.

I guess I just don't really see the point in caring what other people, no matter their place in the industry, think about a medium that's highly subjective in the first place. You can find anything anywhere if you look hard enough, and that seems to be the favorite pastime of people in gaming/entertainment these days.

I respect this outlook because you are probably right but it just gets under my skin that one of the rare actual jobs that are available in this industry is being held by someone who clearly doesn't have a passion for games.

 

[Ailike]

I respect this outlook because you are probably right but it just gets under my skin that one of the rare actual jobs that are available in this industry is being held by someone who clearly doesn't have a passion for games.

You have to remember though, she does have a passion for video editing editing or whatever, which actually -is- her job. The games stuff is just ancillary. I'm sure that blows some 24/7er's minds, but to some there are in fact other things besides games and not everyone focuses on them with every fiber of being.