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EA Is Evil, Actually (The Jimquisition)
- Thread starter Saucycarpdog
- Start date
I typically shy away from loaded words like 'evil', from game publishers. Too often this stuff is overused because of typical gamer entitlement about products they don't personally like for whatever reason.
But endlessly repeatable microtransactions and exploiting human psychology to just pump money out of people's wallets for basically no purpose sure can be called evil. At the very least it is utterly, totally amoral. I agree it needs to be regulated in some way. It is depraved and leaves no one happier or better off.
But endlessly repeatable microtransactions and exploiting human psychology to just pump money out of people's wallets for basically no purpose sure can be called evil. At the very least it is utterly, totally amoral. I agree it needs to be regulated in some way. It is depraved and leaves no one happier or better off.
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Aren't all corporations "evil" by that definition?
The Pokemon Company drives up the value of their cards by printing limited runs of cardboard cards and puts them in blind boxes to encourage buying more of them to "hit it big". This preys on and promotes gambling addiction. In kids, no less.
The Pokemon Company Hits Record Profits In 2020 – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan (serkantoto.com)
People don't like EA. People love the Pokemon company, though.
The Pokemon Company drives up the value of their cards by printing limited runs of cardboard cards and puts them in blind boxes to encourage buying more of them to "hit it big". This preys on and promotes gambling addiction. In kids, no less.
The Pokemon Company Hits Record Profits In 2020 – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan (serkantoto.com)
People don't like EA. People love the Pokemon company, though.
Well yeah, if you couldn't spin off dozens more clickbait youtube videos to make money off an idea why would jim sterling use it?
They create content that, primarily, focuses on issues in the video game industry. I'm quite sure they'd agree that TPC is "evil" by their definition. Do you have some sort of issue with somebody driving the point that the entire AAA industry is a capitalist hellscape?
I appreciate how they point out that microtransactions and loot boxes are geared to prey on a smaller vulnerable demographic of gamers. The "whales". This gets overlooked a lot of the time as defenders crow about personal responsibilty, being a more aware parent, etc.
Just because you can buy $10-20 worth and stop isn't the point. You're not the targeted buyer.
Just because you can buy $10-20 worth and stop isn't the point. You're not the targeted buyer.
Yeah -- their videos for years have been about making money by trashing big developers and small developers alike. The "pro consumer" angle isnt anticapitalist -- pro worker is anticapitalist.
Edit: to expand on this -- they popularized "moneyhatting" as a term and screaming at small devs who decided to take a payout from a big rich company to keep their doors open rather than making that money off of end-users. You literally can't win if you're making and selling games, if you do the most ethical thing possible some youtuber will show up to make money off of helping gamer culture become evevn worse.
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User Banned (5 Days): Trolling across a series of posts
"EA is Evil," Says Increasingly Derivative Content Creator for Seventh Time This Year
This is always the only answer. I said similar stuff when it came to social media bullshit last year. The usa government loves to use light touch "self regulation" bulllshit but it never works. Corporations have consistently said they can clean up their acts themselves when they're caught doing scumbag shit and whenever they're given the ability to do so they just find a new way to get around it. The only way to stop Corporations doing this stuff is to actually regulate them correctly and not let them do it themselves. Of course the other issue is that a lot of companies just factor in the cost of fines for breaking laws and so on these days because they still make more money breaking laws, rules and cheating consumers and then paying the fines when caught than not doing that shitty stuff in the first place.
As for EA, it fucking sucks that they have exclusive rights to a bunch of sports titles and will try and push this shit into any one they can because there's no other choices for games for those sports fans. This is exactly why it was weird to have people act like those that got biomutant for $3 on ea were some morally wrong awful people when ea have 0 issues fucking you over every day of the week.
This. I feel like you could insert almost any company into that headline and this content creator will have made a video about them.
User banned (5 days): trolling, prior ban for trolling
Do we even need to? It's Jim's schtick, and EA's one of their favorite targets.
Mod edit- pronouns corrected
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And it'll still make valid points almost every time and be right about it
Fact that you call them Jim and his, points to no, you don't need to.
Personally this is so old hat.
Loot boxes/gambling tactics are only ever upsetting when it's an EA or Activision doing them.
Era members will pretend to get up in arms about how awful it is, and then two weeks later we'll have a thread on the billions some mobile Gatcha games made. Suddenly nobody will care that players are being taken advantage of, and instead they'll marvel at all the money they raked in.
Loot boxes/gambling tactics are only ever upsetting when it's an EA or Activision doing them.
Era members will pretend to get up in arms about how awful it is, and then two weeks later we'll have a thread on the billions some mobile Gatcha games made. Suddenly nobody will care that players are being taken advantage of, and instead they'll marvel at all the money they raked in.
Yet there comes a point when you've seen and heard the same message so many times that it just doesn't have an impact anymore. Their videos are the same every single week.
Do you need to watch a video before commenting on it? probably, yeah? If you're still using "him" im assuming you haven't been watching for a long time.
Love Jim Sterling, their videos are always thought-provoking.
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that corporations are psychopathic by default. EA has been evil for a long time, they've always gone for whatever they could get away with at any given time.
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that corporations are psychopathic by default. EA has been evil for a long time, they've always gone for whatever they could get away with at any given time.
Meh, I rather having that than forgetting about it. One's always free to not watch their video or care about it if one feels otherwise
People really have a problem with Jim Stephanie pointing out horrible practices in their fav companies. You could just set the thread on ignore but no you have to come in with your own equally "tired schtick". I'm glad they relentlessly pursue issues like this. It's better than them shilling doing FUT pack openings on stream.
Yeah, with the sheer volume of fluff content and PR churned out by game journalists, it's good to have someone constantly hammering on issues like this.
Can you make a chart for me that shows it's actually the same posters who critique EA's predatory microtransations, whilst fawning over gatcha gaming tactics, like you claim. I'm sure you've got the time. You had time to come and whine in this thread about a video you are never going to watch.
Love all the drive-by shit posts. :|
Jim Stephanie Sterling's a they.
I feel like it's kind of telling that Jim's detractors always harp more on the fact that Jim is drawing from the same well (Because the same issues still exist and haven't been solved) rather than actually addressing the substance of the video in any meaningful way
It has to be stated over and over that these things are still happening and will be talked about until they are not, for good reason.
"its always the same subjects" yeah no shit, that's the point. Nobody is forcing you to watch them.
This is ridiculous. There's nothing "light" about the government's vice laws. The US government banned sports betting in the 90s, and just unbanned it a couple years ago. Know what happened while it was illegal? It created a massive, flourishing, black market which was far more predatory than what was happening before hand. And which regularly resulted in violent SWAT raids on places where people were betting. At no point was there increased healthcare or treatment for addicts. And no decrease in the number of people who were addicted.
This is the same thing that happened with alcohol prohibition. And the same thing that's currently happening with drug prohibition, and with prohibitions on sex work. All the things that our laws lump together as "vices" and violently attempt to suppress and punish. People have spent decades fighting to dismantle these systems, and having some success at it. But now gamers roll in, totally clueless of history, totally clueless about how anything works in the real world, and start demanding we undo what tiny bits of progress have been made.
I mean I don't think those examples are comparable because I don't know how a black market could form in games the same way it could for stuff like betting on sports. Not to mention there's a difference between regulating and banning wholesale anyways. The government still regulates Alcohol and gambling right now.
OP
OP
1) Please use the proper pronouns. They, not his.
2) As long as the system remains broken, we should keep reiterating it. Do you also think AOC and Bernie Sanders have a schtick cause they keep talking about America's broken political systems?
Don't have time to watch yet, but does Sterling show off any toys this week? Preferably ones you can't see because of the green screen?
Do you not understand regulation and outright bans are often different? Regulation of gambling is a common thing in many countries and has been for decades. You don't ban shit when you regulate but you sure as shit make sure they work in a way to follow actual rules and laws. I'm not sure why you jumped to banning gambling on that one but whatever.
But sure it is clueless of me to have been from a country that has regulated both alachol and gambling for years and not had the huge issues the usa has. Again regulated not banned to be clear. Seeing as my country allows me to buy any alachol I want on any day of the week at a grocery store and play all sorts of gambling apps on my phone or have scratch cards delivered to my house with my grocery order, compared to when I visit my wife in texas and a bunch of alcohol stores close on Sundays, walmarts sell limited types of alachol and I can't even spin the bloody daily wheel in gta online's casino while there, I'd say regulation is working pretty good when it's done right thanks.
Should have just stopped at "I don't know". Supposedly anti-cartel laws are regularly applied to small-time drug dealers and users. Anti-trafficking laws are regularly used against sex workers themselves, such as charging a woman with trafficking cause she drove another woman somewhere, or bought her a bus ticket. And DAs have repeatedly labeled things like a tableful of dudes a "casino" so they could charge them with additional crimes.
If you don't understand how the laws you're suggesting are likely to be used in the real world, by actual cops and prosecutors, you shouldn't be suggesting them.
Yep, and it'll be just as try hard as every other time an entertainment company is called evil.
Plus there was the episode a couple of weeks ago where they said in as many words that they don't like games anymore; well no shit given what they continuously cover. Yes a lot of the time its worthwhile to highlight but not exclusively to the detriment of all else.
That must be utterly exhausting but honestly that's on them and no one else. Personally I think they need a long break from gaming and take the time to shift the channel in a new direction but that's just my 2 cents.
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Yeah, in all seriousness, and with no offense to James whatsoever, I don't think their content is particularly healthy to watch anymore.
That's not to dimiss the work they've done in talking about the abusive and exploitative behaviour of the game industry, but I genuinely feel like there's nothing to be gained by continuing to watch them at this point.
James says they haven't changed, but when they openly said: "I hate video games, and I hate that I made talking about them my job." in a previous video, I don't really see why I, as someone who loves video games, should continue to watch. My impression of James for the past near-ten years of watching them was that they genuinely did love video games, and their criticism of the industry came from that love of genuinely wanting better from it.
But looking at their video output and their Twitter feed, I haven't seem them talk about games like 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Bravely Default II, New Pokemon Snap, etc. Like...there's been great games that came out recently that they seem to have no interest in talking about. The only ones they have spoken about lately are Returnal and Resident Evil Village.
There doesn't seem to be a desire of theirs to truly push people into playing more non-exploitative, non-gambling games, and just more of a desire to...be right and complain about others telling them that they were wrong. Like I've noticed this other trend in their videos where they constantly say like: "People have said this to me that was wrong, I've been saying this for years, and look, I was right!" And yes, James has been right about many issues on their show that they've spoken about. But it just seems like they just want to yell about being right and how people told them they were wrong and just...do nothing beyond that.
As someone who's enjoyed James' content for years, the Jimquisition has become a miserable experience lately. I think the moment that hit me was when they spoke about the latest Nintendo Direct and there was just this...desperate attempt to find something negative to say about it. Like yeah, why don't people get more mad at Ubisoft instead of not getting a Nintendo commercial they want? Sure, I agree. But the whole segment really felt like...low-key shaming of people who enjoyed it? Like people even expressing moderate enjoyment of game events or game announcements they're looking forward to is doing something wrong.
Yeah, they don't actually say that it is, but the more I watch, the more of an impression I get that that they think it is.
I didn't watch this video because I pretty much know exactly everything James is going to say, I agree with the things that they do say about EA, and well, I was never a fan of EA games to begin with, so what exactly do I have to gain by watching them? To stay informed and never forget? I stay informed and don't forget by simply looking at my own Twitter feed every morning. Why exactly should I watch a twenty-minute video that re-creates that same experience?
It's not even exclusive to the Jimquisition. I've been listening to Podquisition lately as well (It's the only place where they consistently talk about games other than the channel) and this sort of thing is showing itself there lately as well. There's a real regret about having established their career around games and all I see from them lately is just...contempt for the medium as a whole.
I truly believe that James believes that the slightest negative thing about a game now defines that game. That enjoying any game with the slightest immoral background regarding its development, is an inherently immoral thing to do. They've gone on the record in saying that that's not the case, but like...I get this sense that they feel otherwise. Like...the cues are there. There's this air I feel to their videos that comes across as them wanting to say that but won't because it would cross a line into inciting harrasment and would diminish the message that they're trying to bring across. Which it would, and I respect them for having that kind of restraint, if that's how they truly feel.
But this all just begs the question for me though: Who is the Jimquisition even for now? It's certainly not for people who like video games, that much has been made clear. Is it for people to stay informed on the terrible abusive practices of the game industry? Perhaps, but any effort into boosting viewership for the channel has since faded away. I hesitate to say it's even for James themselves, since they've quite literally said that they hate that they made talking about games their job. But then again, their Patreon is their only source of income, and maybe they're afraid if they moved on to something else for the channel they'd see a dip in their revenue. A reasonable thing to worry about when making decisions regarding one's career that I can't fault.
With all that being said however, and it really pains me to say this about a content creator I've enjoyed for about a decade, but I feel that the Jimquisition has become...toxic. It doesn't matter how right they are about what they say. If I'm constantly feeling miserable watching their content, even if I agree with them on what they say, then I can't in good faith recommend their videos. I'm not saying this to attack James or that talking about what they talk about is wrong...but I don't really know how else to describe my experience watching their content lately is.
I don't know how else to describe something that isn't healthy.
That's not to dimiss the work they've done in talking about the abusive and exploitative behaviour of the game industry, but I genuinely feel like there's nothing to be gained by continuing to watch them at this point.
James says they haven't changed, but when they openly said: "I hate video games, and I hate that I made talking about them my job." in a previous video, I don't really see why I, as someone who loves video games, should continue to watch. My impression of James for the past near-ten years of watching them was that they genuinely did love video games, and their criticism of the industry came from that love of genuinely wanting better from it.
But looking at their video output and their Twitter feed, I haven't seem them talk about games like 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Bravely Default II, New Pokemon Snap, etc. Like...there's been great games that came out recently that they seem to have no interest in talking about. The only ones they have spoken about lately are Returnal and Resident Evil Village.
There doesn't seem to be a desire of theirs to truly push people into playing more non-exploitative, non-gambling games, and just more of a desire to...be right and complain about others telling them that they were wrong. Like I've noticed this other trend in their videos where they constantly say like: "People have said this to me that was wrong, I've been saying this for years, and look, I was right!" And yes, James has been right about many issues on their show that they've spoken about. But it just seems like they just want to yell about being right and how people told them they were wrong and just...do nothing beyond that.
As someone who's enjoyed James' content for years, the Jimquisition has become a miserable experience lately. I think the moment that hit me was when they spoke about the latest Nintendo Direct and there was just this...desperate attempt to find something negative to say about it. Like yeah, why don't people get more mad at Ubisoft instead of not getting a Nintendo commercial they want? Sure, I agree. But the whole segment really felt like...low-key shaming of people who enjoyed it? Like people even expressing moderate enjoyment of game events or game announcements they're looking forward to is doing something wrong.
Yeah, they don't actually say that it is, but the more I watch, the more of an impression I get that that they think it is.
I didn't watch this video because I pretty much know exactly everything James is going to say, I agree with the things that they do say about EA, and well, I was never a fan of EA games to begin with, so what exactly do I have to gain by watching them? To stay informed and never forget? I stay informed and don't forget by simply looking at my own Twitter feed every morning. Why exactly should I watch a twenty-minute video that re-creates that same experience?
It's not even exclusive to the Jimquisition. I've been listening to Podquisition lately as well (It's the only place where they consistently talk about games other than the channel) and this sort of thing is showing itself there lately as well. There's a real regret about having established their career around games and all I see from them lately is just...contempt for the medium as a whole.
I truly believe that James believes that the slightest negative thing about a game now defines that game. That enjoying any game with the slightest immoral background regarding its development, is an inherently immoral thing to do. They've gone on the record in saying that that's not the case, but like...I get this sense that they feel otherwise. Like...the cues are there. There's this air I feel to their videos that comes across as them wanting to say that but won't because it would cross a line into inciting harrasment and would diminish the message that they're trying to bring across. Which it would, and I respect them for having that kind of restraint, if that's how they truly feel.
But this all just begs the question for me though: Who is the Jimquisition even for now? It's certainly not for people who like video games, that much has been made clear. Is it for people to stay informed on the terrible abusive practices of the game industry? Perhaps, but any effort into boosting viewership for the channel has since faded away. I hesitate to say it's even for James themselves, since they've quite literally said that they hate that they made talking about games their job. But then again, their Patreon is their only source of income, and maybe they're afraid if they moved on to something else for the channel they'd see a dip in their revenue. A reasonable thing to worry about when making decisions regarding one's career that I can't fault.
With all that being said however, and it really pains me to say this about a content creator I've enjoyed for about a decade, but I feel that the Jimquisition has become...toxic. It doesn't matter how right they are about what they say. If I'm constantly feeling miserable watching their content, even if I agree with them on what they say, then I can't in good faith recommend their videos. I'm not saying this to attack James or that talking about what they talk about is wrong...but I don't really know how else to describe my experience watching their content lately is.
I don't know how else to describe something that isn't healthy.