Jim Sterling (The Jimquisition)

Yeah, I remember when I first got into Jim and did an archive binge, it was amazing to see how enthusiastic he was about mobile games a decade ago.

Ukrainian Red Cross

That seems to be the driving motivation behind Jim's work in general: immense disappointment with the gaming industry as a whole. He does still praise individual games and creators, but he has reached a point where he no longer expects the AAA industry to do the right thing by customers or employees. He's disgusted but not surprised every time the AAA industry does something shitty.

Edited by M84 on Dec 3rd 2018 at 6:06:09 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F96FOn3R7w - Below Expectations (The Jimquisition)

Are you secretly Jim fucking Sterling son?

The Triple AYYS strike again

Uni cat

(*sighs*) And somehow, they always do.

I'll admit that perhaps, Jim's pessimistic outlook on the "Triple-AYYY" video game industry has rubbed off on me to the point that I'm no longer as excited for any new "Triple-AYYY" releases or even sequels of game franchises that I already have, since it's guaranteed that they will have MTX and/or DLC. And if I do look forward to upcoming releases that do not have MTX and/or DLC (such as Doom Eternal...maybe), they're usually the exception rather than the norm.

And to think that I once wanted to buy legit games after years of playing the pirated versions.

RE: "Below Expectations": (obligatory embed):

It feels we're long past the point where the "Triple-AYYY" video game industry is no longer under the control of creatives, but instead controlled by the salespeople. The only thing creative about today's "Triple-AYYY" video games is how they get more money out of existing customers. And it's an honestly depressing and sickening sight. (Yay, Capitalism...)

I can't help but recall what the famed film critic Roger Ebert (rest his soul) said about "video games not being art". Seeing the state of today's video game industry, perhaps he was right... I'd probably be more entertained by a deck of "Most Wanted" playing cards featuring the corporate honchos of "Triple-AYYY" video game publishers than an MTX/DLC-infested grindfest of a video game.

On a different note, Stephen Hillenburg passed away? This is the first I heard of it. (*Reads The Other Wiki's "Deaths in 2018"*) November 26...amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—the same illness that the "Ice-Bucket Challenge" raised awareness of?

Damn.

Edited by IncognitoNinja on Dec 4th 2018 at 12:07:09 AM

"Learn as if you will live forever, live as if you will die tomorrow."

There IS problem with taking someone else's opinions without a grain of salt Like, there isn't anything that bad about DLC model itself, its mostly as result of what is actually in the dlc and how it is priced that is the problem. It's kinda hypocritical if you consider expansion packs to be 100% okay but DL Cs to be 100% bad.

(its also weird stance to take on that Indie Industry is one thing that is also bad because asset flip devs exist or that it doesn't count at all as part of the overall game industry)

Like, even if I listen to Jim's opinion and find them relevant, I don't just assume game industry is doomed and its time to stop playing any games at all(which is bizarre stance to take on anyway considering that definitely isn't his stance <_<)

Edited by SpookyMask on Dec 3rd 2018 at 6:16:05 PM

Yeah, and besides, the gamig industry's still a lot bigger than a few greedy publishers. If that's all it takes to discredit vidéo games from being art, the same should apply for movies and cinema.

Video games are my number 1 timesink above all else since i've been born and aside shadow of war, overwatch and fe heroes, i still have to play a game with shady business practices.

Edited by Yumil on Dec 3rd 2018 at 5:18:52 PM

"when you stare too long into the abyss, Xehanort takes advantage of the distraction to break into your house and steal all your shit."

Honestly, given that he's openly espousing socialist talking points ("late stage capitalism" is very specifically a Marxist term describing capitalism post-WWII) in relation to the game industry's excess now, I'm surprised Jim hasn't just started calling himself one.

Because here in the states, the Dirty S Word is a thing. Sure, you have people like Alexandria Occasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders trying to wrest the term back from its Red Scare catch-all definition, but it still has its stigma, and it will for some time.

Qui odoratus est qui fecit.

I think Jim's critical outlook of the industry is more than justified when you look at the actions done by these publishers, and it isn't his job to sugarcoat things. However, I do admit to sometimes thinking he engages too much with the "us versus them" narrative. And then there are a few nitpicks I found a bit ey rolling like when he talked about the AC Odyssey crossover with Final Fantasy XV.

Don't catch you slippin' now.

One doesn't have to be socialist to criticize capitalist issues. And the term "late-stage capitalism" isn't by definition a socialist talking point. It's in fact quite an apt description of a part of the capitalist cycle.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Dec 3rd 2018 at 3:49:32 PM

The term was coined by Marx himself, so it's Marxian if not Marxist.

I am a socialist (DeLeonist, not Leninist; fuck Lenin and his fans), and Jim is on point here.

Ukrainian Red Cross

Yes, but that doesn't stop it from being accurate even outside of it's theory. Like I said, it's an apt description of a part of the capitalist economic cycle. Using it to describe that does not automatically a socialist make.

And I may not be a socialist, but I am a former history/philosophy major, and yes, Jim is on point here.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Dec 3rd 2018 at 9:00:44 AM

Nope, he was dead wrong on that one. The biggest players in the industry around a medium making schlock bullshit to siphon ever increasing amounts of money from their audience doesn't keep that medium from being considered art.

Videogames are art. It's just that most of it is not good or original art. And that's true of art in general — most art I've seen is crap.

The issue with the AAA industry is that their top priority is not art. It's making more and more money to impress shareholders. I have no doubt that the actual developers and writers and such want to make great games. But they aren't the ones who make the big decisions at the end of the day.

I should point out I'm not actually a pessimist about gaming as a whole and I don't think Jim Sterling is either. I just think that we shouldn't expect the AAA industry to course-correct on its own or to not double down on short-sighted greedy crap. At least not until someone finally holds them accountable, whether it be consumers (meaning gamers should stop fucking making excuses or getting angry at people who call out the industry) or government regulation.

Edited by M84 on Dec 3rd 2018 at 10:37:41 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

Videogames are art. It's just that, much like cinema, we're a relatively young art in a world that's currently very profit-obsessed, which is not exactly the best environment for art to thrive in. But you play Return Of The Obra Dinn, Papers Please, Shadow Of The Colossus, or even the new God Of War if you're playing loose with the definition, and you tell me if videogame is a form of art or not.

Videogames are just going through a rough spot. These things pass.

In thinking, I probably shouldn't have added Return Of The Obra Dinn to that list, since I haven't finished yet, but I trust Lucas Pope enough.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Dec 3rd 2018 at 12:50:06 PM

I've only considered that Ebert's statement might have been right in hindsight since today's video games lean less toward Doing It for the Art and more toward Money, Dear Boy—with the few games that do have creative passion behind it being notable exceptions. The kind of exceptions that DO put Ebert's statement into question. As for the rest, it seems to reinforce what he said about video games not being art.

While I do mainly play video games to relax, I do like video games that make me think—strategically, tactically, and sometimes philosophically. Even though the latest game may boast groundbreaking graphics and such, if the foundations (read: good intuitive gameplay, rich lore, and a compelling story) aren't solid, then there's nothing artistic about that game at all. (To say nothing of excessive MTX.)

As for "Expansion Packs vs DLC", perhaps I do miss the days when an expansion pack had oceans of new content and patches enhancing the base game instead of today's DLC being a trickle of new content and perhaps a patch that fixes a bug or two in the base game. Until the next DLC... And the next one... And the next...to the point that I no longer know whether I'm getting the complete experience or not.

Edited by IncognitoNinja on Dec 4th 2018 at 2:26:36 AM

"Learn as if you will live forever, live as if you will die tomorrow."

Jim does definitely repeat himself huh. I mean its rather notable that when Dead Space comes up he makes a point to say it again its niche genre while he didn't bother mentioning that with Resident Evil earlier He for some reason only repeats horror being niche genre when discussing Dead Space

Anyway, as I said, there are multiple different DLC formats. And I think its important to remember that there is difference between scummy DLC practices and inefficient ones as well. Like let's take Crusader King 2 DLC. Parts of it are cosmetic or additional music because according to devs at least if those content were included with expansions, it would hike up the price up much, but even then cosmetic dlc at least isn't really worth it when it comes to game were most people won't zoom that close to the map so they come across as waste of money(and by extension effort on whoever made those models in first place). On otherhand the concept of supporting your game for years with DLC expansions is great, but it has problem of seeming scary to newcomers. Either way, there isn't anything scummy about concept of selling a game and then releasing expansions for it when you support it, it wouldn't be feasible for game to be supported that long for "free". But as pointed out, it comes with pros and cons and none of those are things you would avoid with expansion pack format instead.

Like scummiest DLC practices are the ones where content feels like it has been cut up on purpose to extend game's life time or to make more packs to sell. Or when game keeps advertising inane crap like cosmetic stuff to you in menus and reminding you you don't have it all. Heck I'd say cosmetic dlc in general is pretty scummy practice because consumer doesn't really get anything out of it unless they really want to throw money at the devs Same about "Weapon packs" in FPS or RP Gs that give equipment that might or might not be better than what you find in the game regardless of whether they look cool or not.

Ya know the dumb thing about publishers is that they seem incapable or just completely unaware of the fact that human beings have limitations.

As in they can't buy and play every single game that comes out. The whole live-service shit that supposed to keep you playing all the time, well you can't do that with multiple games because human beings have limited income and time to spend on games. Sure whales are a thing, but as spend happy as they are, I'm pretty sure most just stick with one game to focus all their money on. You can only focus on one or two games at a time before you have to move on to a new game.

I had to delete my AC: Odyssey data to make room for Red Dead & even then I don't have that much time to play it because its fucking final exam week and I have multiple final exams and research papers all due at the same time.

I don't have time to play video games all the time, and this is without the fact I have other hobbies like reading and watching TV shows.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

It's an extension of the whole "binging culture" thing. Videogame companies noticed how obsessive people have become over things like Netflix, thinking they absolutely have to watch everything that's on the platform, and are hoping to reproduce that with videogames, even though binging culture clearly doesn't work long term for shows, let alone longer and more involved things like videogames.

I hear ya man. I finally consider myself an adult; no homework, no final exams, but I can still only game for a couple of hours a week because I've got other excrement to do.

It's interesting that, for all Jim accuses Nintendo of deliberately undersupplying product to drive up demand, they're one of the few AAA companies who don't have overly-inflated sales expectations.

Ukrainian Red Cross

Wait, people are obsessed with binging? I thought it was just what people who were late to old show did <_<

Well yeah, thing about Nintendo is that they do on some level seem to care about making games about as much as making money or at least holding up their brand quality at "At worst we make average game once in a while". Like I said, they don't seem to bother with making fan demand cash ins just for attempt to cash in them if they aren't interested in developing those old series themselves.(otherwise I'd think we would have F-Zero game or Starfox that isn't a reboot :P) Like I think that is part of why they don't really ever seem to compete with other companies, they don't really care about making "most" money, just "lots of money"

Edited by SpookyMask on Dec 4th 2018 at 1:19:17 PM

Slimcoder's bit about deleting AC Odyssey just reminded me: Companies are kind of forgetting about compressing too, because game file sizes are, frankly, ballooning right the fuck out of control. And that's if even any of them are worth taking up HD space for. Yeah its all well and good if Call Of Duty: Recycled Warfare is a mammoth 394 to the fuckth power gigabytes in size meaning great graphics but if I don't glean much fun out ofit there's tons of truly great games on my PS 3 that barely scratch the 5GB mark.

Plus its getting to the point that even 1TB hard drives can barely hold games anymore because publishers just aren't taking any considerations and compressing games that could do with them.

I'm quite confident in my shitposting you know

Also doesn't help that internet speeds are shite in many places and people also have to deal with data caps.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.

The myopia of games companies is utterly staggering.

Worse still, said myopia of games companies is expected.

I'm quite confident in my shitposting you know