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Waypoint folded back into Vice Games, immediately loses unique editorial voice (Staff is still the same)

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Tygre

Tygre

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,100
Chesire, UK
Waypoint has offered, for the last two and a bit years, an almost unique perspective on games and the games industry.

Unashamedly political in an industry that shuns politics. Unashamedly leftist in an industry that skews right. Unashamedly safe for women, BAME and LGBT folks* in an industry that is largely hateful towards them.

They were trying something different:
Our aim is to cover games with criticality and humanity. It is to give as much attention to the people, passion, and politics of gaming as we have been giving to the products. It is to explore how and why we play, not only because trying to answer those questions will lead us to tell great stories, but because we fundamentally believe that this will offer insight into the wider "state of play," into the culture that games emerge from and that people play in.
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Just this week, they raised $160,000 for Trans Lifeline a charity doing critical work to help at risk Trans folks, they reported on the ongoing situation at Riot games where staff have walked out, and they took a stand against the bizarre decision to cast Sandy Hook denier Ronda Rousey in MK 11.

But now?

Waypoint Is Joining the New VICE.com
Starting today, Waypoint is joining forces with VICE's incredible network of sites, and together we're merging into a single destination: the new VICE.com. Going forward, you'll find all of our work at VICE.com/games.

What does this mean for our coverage of games and games culture? That we're going to continue the work we started years ago.
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Since the change was made, their social media output has immediately switched to the sort of bullshit click-bait you get everywhere else:


Criticising fucking continuity errors in Game of Thrones? Really? That's how you reopen Vice Games? Come the fuck on.


It's terribly sad to see this happen, and I'll miss Waypoint and it's distinct voice dearly. I wish the staff all the best.


They were good, and they were good at it.



*No they were not perfect and made some missteps BUT THEY TRIED DAMMIT.
 
Mafro

Mafro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,364
The two articles in those tweets are from Motherboard, not Waypoint/Vice Games.
 
Masoyama

Masoyama

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,648
Vice games is bigger that Waypoint, the comparison is unfair.
 
Musubi

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
23,611
Yeah, coming off their triumphant weekend raising money for Trans Lifeline this uh.... was a bummer to say the least. I've really appreciated a lot of the stuff they've put out.
 
DrArchon

DrArchon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,485
Those are just retweets from other Vice subsidiaries. None of them were done by Vice Games.

Seems to be a big premature to scream that the sky is falling.
 
Another Castle

Another Castle

Member
Apr 9, 2019
552
CLT
Sad. Truly. I only really got into Waypoint during the charity stream, but I dug what I saw. Let's hope that VICE does the smart thing and allows them to maintain their voice on much of their content, despite the pivot in social media advertising towards clickbait-y articles. To be fair, their lack thereof may be why they weren't able to maintain in the first place.

If VICE does allow them a degree of editorial freedom but makes them implement some slightly more aggressive advertising, I'd say it's a fair trade-off for their continued existence.
 
Fushichou187

Fushichou187

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,309
Sonoma County, California.
As with all things, time will tell how this affects their output, or how the new structure affects their output's reach.

I think Waypoint is pretty great and have enjoyed their relentlessness in talking directly about issues that most game-related podcasts tiptoe around or outright hand-wave. I hope they are able to continue that.
 
MadLaughter

MadLaughter

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,093
They put exactly zero dollars into any kind of visual rebranding or font work or art or anything.
 

Deleted member 24907

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
5,354
I think I need to see and hear more from Walker et. al with respect to how this may change their operations. I dunno we can draw conclusions from a couple of retweets. Are they still there and putting out the same content as before?
 
jacks81x

jacks81x

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,460
NYC
Is the entire Waypoint staff intact? Or is someone from Vice going to be running it now?
 
Hailinel

Hailinel

Shamed a mod for a tag
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,527
Musubi said:
Yeah, coming off their triumphant weekend raising money for Trans Lifeline this uh.... was a bummer to say the least. I've really appreciated a lot of the stuff they've put out.
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Talk about going out on a high note. Especially given that Waypoint's efforts really made up for their past controversies in reporting on trans issues in gaming.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,552
Woof. So the rumors from a few months ago wound up being true anyway, just in a different manner of speaking.
 
FinalDasa

FinalDasa

Member
Oct 27, 2017
50
Florida
The Pokemon brain article is on Vice Tech, I assume Vice Gaming posted about it cause it's about games.
No clue where that Game of Thrones article is, but if you go to Vice Gaming neither are in that section. It's all Waypoint stuff.

I wouldn't hit the panic, all is doomed, sky is falling button yet. I have deep respect for Austin and the team at Waypoint not to just accept whatever their corporate overlords dish their way.
 
UsoEwin

UsoEwin

Banned
Jul 14, 2018
2,063
User Banned (3 Days): Drive-by Posting. Accumulated infractions.
Waypoint was trash, good riddance.
 
Truant

Truant

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,758
Love Austin and Klepek, and I'm 100% for the diverse and inclusive vibe they were going for, but Waypoint never clicked for me.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
Leflus said:
That's a pretty broad definition of the gaming industry.

I thought the OP was talking about other outlets in the industry. Most of them are center-left or left leaning afaik.

Hope the Waypoint people get to continue doing what they've done.
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Yeah and what was the reaction of a large part of the industry to GG? Not exactly what I'd call a great response, if we got one at all.
 
ParanoidRED

ParanoidRED

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
2,931
I think i only ever read their Resident Evil 2 review and jesus christ it was awful, i also never liked Klepek


Good on them for that charity stream tho!
 
SageShinigami

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,462
Leflus said:
That's a pretty broad definition of the gaming industry.

I thought the OP was talking about other outlets in the industry. Most of them are center-left or left leaning afaik.

Hope the Waypoint people get to continue doing what they've done.
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Stories of sexism are pretty rampant in game development. Racism isn't uncommon either.
 
thebagel1

thebagel1

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
359
MrBrawl96 said:
Haha. Came to say the same thing. Not only do creative industries inherently skew left, the gaming industry is pretty left leaning if you ask me.
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I got absolutely shat on by members of this very forum for making a thread questioning why the gaming industry is so left leaning.

Sad to see Waypoint go I guess even though I dont think ive ever seen a single piece of content by them.
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,183
Jesus, that website is bad..... just checked Motherboard and they got the redesign too :// what the HELL. The website was super good looking and extremely easy to use, now it's so uncomfortable...

How is the latest section at the fucking bottom???
 
NewDust

NewDust

Visited by Knack
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,586
There have been exactly 0 new articles after the site merger was announced. I imagine the editorial staff is unchanged, but backend stuff like social medias might have new personnel.

The topic title seems kinda stretching it.
 
KDR_11k

KDR_11k

Banned
Nov 10, 2017
5,235
Their actual website doesn't have that clickbait stuff, it' still their usual articles.
 
LavaBadger

LavaBadger

Member
Nov 14, 2017
4,988
That Game of Thrones post is bad. Not gaming related at all and just there for getting clicks.

I've been unimpressed with the way Vice carries itself, even if their content is fairly well polished. I hope that doesn't carry into Waypoint. Otherwise, we're due for, "I played Call of Duty on LSD and this is how it went."

UsoEwin said:
Waypoint was trash, good riddance.
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Going to elaborate? Or just here to shit post?
 
thecaseace

thecaseace

Member
May 1, 2018
3,218
Chuck Bass said:
"An industry that skews right"

How?
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Probably not the thread for this but I find obliviousness to this surprising. Also GamerGate.

Well done to waypoint for taking the kind of holistic perspective on gaming the industry truly lacks. And to the people there I'd like them to think about how they can spin off and be independent.

When people think that gaming is a diverse and welcoming place for minority groups the editorial of the like of Austin, Patrick, Danielle and all of the other contributors to the site is needed to change this thinking and help shape the future of wider engagement with gaming at all levels. Don't give up.
 
I KILL PXLS

I KILL PXLS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,526
Chuck Bass said:
"An industry that skews right"

How?
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I'd say for the most part it skews painfully centrist where outlets are quick to ignore "political" topics like race and gender issues unless they are completely egregious oversteps so that they don't anger a large portion of their audience, and they are more likely to blow off incidents without much thought or commentary or condemnation.
 
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