
James Stephanie Sterling (born 1 January 1984) is the host of the web video series known as The Jimquisition. Sterling is an independent video game pundit (formerly of Destructoid and The Escapist), known for their tendency to stoke controversy and frequent examination of the video game industry's seedy underbelly.
Sterling's on-screen persona is a sarcastic and egotistical caricature of game journalists who engages in various entertaining antics, but always has something important to say about how people play and relate to video games, what goes on behind the scenes of game development, and how the exploitative and abusive practices of companies involved with video games are often manifestations of social, economic, and political problems facing society as a whole. Episodes can be found here
and here
.
Steph's show comes in the following major formats:
- The Jimquisition: Steph's main show, where they editorialize about current events and trends in the gaming industry. Sometimes the main subject is followed by one of their company-specific short news updates, of which there are three:
- "Oh Ubisoft!" - Discusses Ubisoft's most recent action that has managed to piss everyone off or royally fuck up. Quietly retired after the massively abusive culture at Ubisoft came to light, rendering Ubisoft's incompetence
not funny in the slightest. - "Fuck Konami" - The same, but for Konami, though they mostly just piss everyone off. Formerly "FucKonami News".
- "Bethesda is Bethetic" - Yet another, this time for Bethesda, usually when Bethesda really screws up, pisses everyone off, or both. Usually heralded mid-segment instead of post-credits, with Steph dancing to the Pokémon Sword and Shield gym music like so
.
- "Oh Ubisoft!" - Discusses Ubisoft's most recent action that has managed to piss everyone off or royally fuck up. Quietly retired after the massively abusive culture at Ubisoft came to light, rendering Ubisoft's incompetence
- Spray n' Play: Here, Steph takes a game and does a blind, 10-40 minute playthrough on it, commenting on its gameplay, graphics and such and, at the end, decides whether they recommend it or not. It includes many, many titles in Early Access. Formerly known as "Jimpressions" and "Squirty Plays".
- Jimpressions: Based on the less popular format of what was formerly called Jimpressions. This series has Steph doing post-commentary about their first, and consequent, impressions of a major title they played recently, with the game's footage in question being in the background.
- Commentocracy with Duke Amiel du H'ardcore: A spin-off show where Duke Amiel, the painted-up aristocrat, reads YouTube comments portraying "Elite Gaming Wisdom" after popular demand and positive reception from his first appearance in May 2017.

- Industry Bullshit: While not exactly a series, it is a weekly feature with Steph taking a gander at recent controversial or notable enough gaming news - and stating their opinion on the subject matter.
- Direct To Video: In which Steph plays, and naturally rips to shreds, the utter dreck that gets on Steam via Steam Direct - a system that is somehow even less limiting than the defunct Greenlight.
- Podquisition: A podcast under the Jimquisition brand where Steph chats with their friend — originally Laura Kate Dale and Gavin Dunne, with Gavin being replaced by Conrad Zimmerman in late 2019 — about gaming news, the games they have been playing recently and any other topic that might come up.
- The Spin-Off Doctors: A podcast released every couple of months where Steph and Conrad Zimmerman summarize and Review movies and tv shows spun off of or somehow about video games.
...as well as retired or rare series, such as:
- Best Of Steam Greenlight Trailers: Here, Steph takes a look at terrible, provocative, and/or absurd Steam Greenlight trailers, while offering constructive criticism and advice to the developer as to how they can improve it. Retired due to the discontinuation of Steam Greenlight.
- Greenlight Good Stuff: A spin-off of Best of Steam Greenlight Trailers, which features positive coverage alongside the ones of which they were critical. Here, Steph looks at the genuinely good games and explains why those games look appealing. They may even play them for a Jimpressions segment when the game is approved for Greenlight.
- Nitpick Theater: Here, Steph does a short, angry rant about some small gripe with a game or game company in which they blow the problem ridiculously out of proportion. This can range from a small plothole or a company's obsession with an annoying (but not necessarily harmful) practice.
- Itch.io Tasty: Here, Steph inputs a certain keyword into the search bar of the games website itch.io and handpicks the most interesting games that come as a result of this and gives their thoughts on them.
- OH MAH GAWD HYPE!: Steph takes footage of video game trailers designed to hype people up and completely snarks at them, which is doing the complete opposite of other YouTube celebrities where they hype the hell out of a game based on the trailer alone.
- Video Game Show What I've Done: Rory Fingers, a young and mostly-ignorant child, attempts to review games while clearly having no idea what's going on, usually commenting on the way a game is perceived in the process. Originally credited to Steph Sterling themself, while the show still was on Destructoid.
- Jimquisition Reviews: These were to replace the text review format of theJimquisition.com with a narrated one, game footage playing in the background included - but after a few of these, Steph laid off reviewing the games the old-fashioned way entirely, so now the part is filled by Jimpressions, giving games a good or bad review without giving out a numbered score.
Steph Sterling announced on November 14, 2014 that they would go crowd-funded via Patreon, so none of their anti-corporate videos would be powered by corporate-sponsored ads. Thus they are now free of editorial oversight as well as any hypocrisy. Donate to them yourself if you like
.
In 2020, Steph came out as a non-binary transwoman. Steph's pronouns are she/they.
They're also the "Loremaster" for Vampire Survivors, specifically writing descriptions for the bestiary and other narrative text.
In 2022, they started a wrestling promotion, Spectrum Wrestling with their husband Phoenix. They appear both as the promoter, and as their character Commander Stephanie Sterling.
Don't confuse them with Jim Starling.
