When Ubisoft’s horrific history of abuse was exposed last year, it stunned me how quickly games media moved on when it came time to review the latest Assassin’s Creed guff.
Some argue game reviews and coverage of game releases are no place for reminders that said games are published by monsters. I argue they absolutely are, and that it’s ridiculous how quickly some of us want to forget.
Its genuinly shocking that this stuff isn’t shocking anymore.
“We, the undersigned at [Games Website], stand against the allegations at Activision Blizzard and we stand with marginalized workers. Anyway check out this new action bar coming to Diablo 2 Resurrected!”
Imagine how good our games would be if development studios actually gave workers a normal work week and safe environment
Anyone who still thinks JimSteph is just ‘games reviews’ clearly has no idea about just what it is they actually stand for – it’s LONG SINCE stopped just being about the games on a surface level.
And we wouldn’t have it any other way now – these companies need exposing, not placating.
The ethical environment behind a product’s creation absolutely has a place in reviews. Ethical sourcing is already a normal part of the discussion in many other industries
A coworker recently left and I found out she reported being sexual harassed and groped by a supervisor. I’m disgusted to hear the other supervisors knew and didn’t want to do anything about it. Due to lack of cooperation by her and lack of evidence (cause the supervisor took her where he knew cameras weren’t watching) nothing is gonna happen to him and everyone is acting like nothing happened.
I”m writing a letter to my manager and her boss telling them how they need acknowledge what happened protect our remaining female staff. It’ll either do nothing or get me in trouble but I can’t sit by and let this horseshit stand.
“Beating a dead horse” refers to someone who won’t let go of a petty grievance that doesn’t have an effect on people anymore. Abuse in the video game industry has never been rectified, it continues minute to minute. You can’t beat a dead horse if it is alive and sexually assaulting people.
The videogame industry needs a union. Straight up.
And remember: Developers who actually make video games do not get compensated more or less depending on how well the game does or reviews.
The whole “focus on the game and not the abusive company/developer that makes the game” reminds me of how people frequently use “Death of the Author” not so much in a philosophical sense like how it was intended, but to not have to think about the terrible people who create the works of fiction that they like. Feels kind of weak and cowardly, especially since people are prioritizing their own sense of enjoyment over the bigger picture here, most notably supporting these creators/companies through coverage and purchases of their products.
It’s good that someone still talks about holding these people accountable for their actions. No crime should go unpunished and continuously letting those comapnies get away with it is just making things worse – if you show someone that they can get away with it, they’ll keep doing it.
Good on you James Stefanie, keep up the good work, and thank god for you.
Don’t ever let them forget, Steph. We won’t forget, either.
It’s hilarious that some people say you’re beating a dead horse. If the abuse is still happening, then the horse isn’t fucking dead is it?
Keep on kicking that horse’s ass, Jim. Someone in this industry has to.
James Stephanie Sterling, I just want to take the time, in case you read this to let you know that while I have had to step back from watching your content(along with many others) due to mental health reasons, I stay subbed because seeing how happy you’ve become, and so see you still fighting not only inspires me but also makes me genuinely happy. I’ve been following your work since The Escapist and I have gotten to watch your journey, I have gotten to see you become a happier person despite all the video game drama and internet bullshit. You have remained passionate, honest and brave through it all.
Thank you for all the hard work you do. Thank you for being open and honest about yourself and having the willingness to share(On the internet of all places). Thank you for not shying away or letting others silence what needs to be said.
But most importantly Thank God for you.
My mind went down a tangent when you started talking about crunch culture, and I’ll have to rewatch this video as I missed most of it in my train of thought, but I’ld like others to be made aware of some details in my tangent train.
Back in the GameCube, XBox, and PlayStation2 era of gaming – back when rasterization took 3D gaming into what I like to consider as the 2nd generation of 3D gaming – these studios had maybe a few dozen developers usually. It was *Rare* for them to have more than a hundred developers. Games made back then often got relaunched as $20 “Player’s Choice” titles when they were the lucky few to hit a million sales. Games made back then were usually launched in a completed and working state; often contained developer hacks repurposed as cheats; had on-console multiplayer; and never had DLC, updates, microtransactions, live services, etc. Games made back then were usually made in 2-4 years and rarely hit the 5 year mark. Games made back then had far less graphical features, but the tools today are orders of magnitude faster at making the same games. So in the span of 20-ish years our developer studios have increased quintupled the average number of developers per studio; games take double or longer to finish; the tools are faster and more powerful; graphical features have tripled; fidelity expectations have increased in orders of magnitude; and the predatory business models of freemium mobile games have been injected into a business model of pushing games out unfinished at the 5 year mark due to investment law and trying to finish it in the wild.
I for one want to go back to the GameCube, XBox, and PS2 era of gaming.
It is so tragic that we actually live in a world where Jim Stephanie is told to stop talking about this, not by ActiBlizz marketing people using sock puppet accounts, but by actual individuals who are more interested in their gaming fix, than people’s lives and safety…