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Waypoint folded back into Vice Games, immediately loses unique editorial voice (Staff is still the same)
- Thread starter Tygre
- Start date
The industry, meaning the actual people who work in game development and game press, are overwhelmingly left leaning. The consumer base definitely leans right, but that's not the industry. The OP said "industry," not "gaming as a whole."
Gotta say they massively failed then being on the periphery of that game the biggest thing that reached me is the Ronda Rousy publicity hire and that's about as unprogressive or left as it gets to me.
Contributing to a sexist and anti worker rights system may not mean that you're sexist and anti worker rights, but you're still contributing and likely benefiting from it too. What any one person is or is not is fairly meaningless at the scale of systematic discrimination, and looking at the individual for a relief from it is just plain naive.
At a passing mention or quick glance, I always confused VICE Waypoint and Halo Waypoint. Kind of glad they changed their name back to VICE Games. As others have said, I havn't seen any indication that they radically changed staff during this transition.
I would not assign a particular political leaning to an entire industry. A vast majority of the people I have worked with would be considered center or left by American standards. But politics varies so widely around the globe, that this is a silly generalization to make.
A lot of corporate industry issues are due to greed or apathy, not politics.
The people at Waypoint are very talented and passionate about games, so I look forward to whatever they end up working on.
It's pretty obvious that there are going to be some pretty big changes, but they've already had to reinvent themselves several times in the relatively short time they've been around, so frankly that isn't all that new.
It's pretty obvious that there are going to be some pretty big changes, but they've already had to reinvent themselves several times in the relatively short time they've been around, so frankly that isn't all that new.
Fair. I picked a bad example.
But my point stands that there are people who are legitimately left people who still have ingrained racial and gender biases due to society, and can hold sexist or racist views. It isn't solely a "right" thing, even though that's where most of it comes from.
That being said, I do feel like the games industry in general wants to be seen as left-leaning but is way more right in practice, especially with the lack of unions, lack of female leadership and viewpoints, and general lack of non-male/non-white representation. Also the fawning over corporations/brand names and fanboy defense which seeps into the coverage of gaming topics.
Honestly I find the premise of this thread to be a gross reflection of a prevailing attitude on this forum.
This news was announced what? less than 9 hours ago? the evidence of a radical shift in editorial content is the fact that the waypoint twitter account linked to two Motherboard articles, and that's all it takes for you to froth at the fucking mouth.
This news was announced what? less than 9 hours ago? the evidence of a radical shift in editorial content is the fact that the waypoint twitter account linked to two Motherboard articles, and that's all it takes for you to froth at the fucking mouth.
By that logic, pretty much anyone working for a company in capitalist system would be right-leaning by default, regardless of personal beliefs or actions.
That is a pretty radical stance...
quoting austin walker himself, both the idea that they lost their voice because of these tweets and also about the games industry being right leaning is one of those "so bad that i went to sleep" hot takes
That "apology" is about as sincere as Donald Trump. The people responsible for it still work there; vague promises and crocodile tears are worthless, they need to take responsibility and take action on those who literally linked a site known for child porn and far right terrorism. And don't pull that "they made a mistake" card, there's plenty of evidence that show that this was deliberate and their take on outrage marketing. You don't just do an AMA randomly, these things take time and planning.
I love Waypoint. I do not love this development. It's been clear for awhile that the staff at Waypoint have not been thrilled with some of the decisions being made about them (reduction of video content, elimination of podcasts, etc) and this doesn't give me any confidence that things will be changing for the better.
It's a culture your industry fostered and allows to continue for its own benefit. You don't get to wash your hands of it simply because you think your coworkers are generally good people.
The OP's mistake is confusing the bigotry of the white male majority with having a particular political leaning.
The changes to Waypoint/Vice Gaming's structure is alarming, but I don't think it's doom-and-gloomy yet. There have been no layoffs, and although Austin has a new role (deputy something or other rather than EIC, IIRC) if they're saying Waypoint is still Waypoint, I will believe that. And, the twitter account has worked that way for a while so it's not a sign of anything.
Waypoint is always honest in their thoughts and I have no reason to doubt them now.
I've also been a big fan of their reviews and the odd article. Dia Lacina's articles are incredible reads, for instance.
Waypoint is always honest in their thoughts and I have no reason to doubt them now.
All of their video stuff is fantastic, Savepoint most of all.
I've also been a big fan of their reviews and the odd article. Dia Lacina's articles are incredible reads, for instance.
Merge them back with Giantbomb. Bring Patrick and Austin back and the rest. They're too good for Vice.
While there is an inherent risk at working at the gaming industry, I feel I'm doing something more meaningful working there rather than working as a low-level coder/intern/whatever at some IT company just for better pay and working hours.
While there's inherent issues in the industry at large, I do have some doubts that simply fixing the systematic bullshit is gonna fix everything.
And given the bullshit world we live through, it feels more valuable to just burn the whole shit to the ground than just hopelessly try to do make structural changes to the system.
Trying to associate American political ideals as a black and white label to an entire worldwide industry. Good grief, Era. Additionally, the headline here is a pretty ridiculous exaggeration.
I've never really been a huge fan of Waypoint and their content isn't my preferred source of news, but I've really liked a lot of their opinion pieces over the years. Here's hoping for the best for them, especially for Patrick and Austin.
If anything were to happen to Patrick and Austin, I'd love to see them back on the GB Crew. It's unfortunate that I don't think CBS would ever allow GB the budget to bring them back now that Abby, Jan, and Ben are there.
I've never really been a huge fan of Waypoint and their content isn't my preferred source of news, but I've really liked a lot of their opinion pieces over the years. Here's hoping for the best for them, especially for Patrick and Austin.
If anything were to happen to Patrick and Austin, I'd love to see them back on the GB Crew. It's unfortunate that I don't think CBS would ever allow GB the budget to bring them back now that Abby, Jan, and Ben are there.
Good luck to Austin and the rest of the team. I wish Waypoint clicked with me more but I've always respected their output (even when I disagree with them)
Come on now. Social media linking is not the same as they having their editorial goals changed. Give it some time before we see how things go - the fact the team stays the same should be worthy of benefit of doubt at least.
Uh no because the logic is that the individual doesn't need to be right-leaning to contribute to a right leaning system. Which, depending on where you live, is pretty much the default state of living, yes. Though if you're in Europe you're probably contributing to a social democracy which is at least not especially right leaning.
I personally found the article that Monster Hunter reminded them too much of Trump son's killing animals to be the shining example of "wut" from their site.
But they good outweighs the bad in my opinion for all the work they do, which makes this sad. I hope this won't effect their editors and writers too much.
Yeah I agree. Breakfast and Battlegrounds for example, I loved every episode of it. Makes me wanna go back and watch it. Their articles are one of the only video game site's articles I pay attention to. GB and Waypoint have been my 2 lead non-forum videogame sites for years.
Unfortunately for you the site or the team aren't gone. OP jumped the gun and so did you.
I have a ton of respect for Austin and the team at Waypoint but it was always incredibly niche as a games news site. I think that area has to be convered from a more generalist approach with sites like Kotaku and Polygon so people come to the site for more than 1 reason. Also the tone of the site was pretty combative at times, which wasn't my jam. I listen to the podcast and read the site sometimes and when they rip apart "centrists" or Beto I feel pretty alienated. Like, I get it. I'm not a complete socialist. But like my views align 95% with yours, and it kind of had this "club for us" vibe that felt exclusionary. I respect it though, I think theres an argument to be made for a "Salon-of-games-news" to exist, and I do like it when sites take stances on shit. Best of luck to the team.
Exactly. They aren't pumping out content at a rate that would make them even remotely competitive with any of the bigger gaming news/entertainment outlets. It seems to me like this might give them a fighting chance at surviving, but really...I don't know how any video game website manages to make ends meat. I hope they figure out how. Natalie is a great gaming podcaster and deserves to be heard.
Austin's note announcing the change mentions that they'll have more contributors, that they will be part of vice gaming and the podcast will remain. That's it. The thread title is misleading, nowhere does it mention that they'll lose what made Waypoint Waypoint.
Patrick Klepek Does this mean we'll get VICE GAMING PRESENTS: MARIO MAKER 2MORNINGS 2FURIOUS please say yes
i don't think gamers in general skew right either.
The GamerGate crowd isn't even 1% of the general gaming audience.
Waypoint gave me somewhere to go after the other place collapsed and I followed some others until Era came online. I'd never heard of them before that but I rather liked what they were trying to do and will always be grateful for that. The site design was excellent, light with nice colours and have checked a lot of their articles since. That new vice site though feels far less welcoming just from a quick glance, it feels like a metal band website astgetically with the black and the font.
I hope them the best all the same.
I hope them the best all the same.
tell that to the women/trans people that got into game development and either had horrible experiences or quit due to the harassment. This happened in Netherrealm and we learned it a few days ago.
just try to defend workers' rights as well and see how far you can get.
I'm not a waypoint user but they said they're gonna stick to what they're known for so where exactly is the issue? Because they now have to tweet some stuff they wouldn't have done beforehand? Surely if the articles and video content stays the same it's really no big deal?
You can argue that the industry is. Video game fans however are incredibly right leaning. If that fact wasnt true then this website would not exist. Resetera is considered to be the "safe space" for left leaning gamers and as far as I know it's the only gaming forum that takes any sort of real stance against gamergate bullshit.
Venture outside this site and it's a wild world of conspiracy theories and alt right bullshit.
OP feels like cart before the horse territory, but I ultimately do hope that Waypoint staff enjoy the editorial freedom they've previously had.
I have nothing but respect for the tone and integrity of the entire team. And have come to view them as an intelligent port in the storm, a place where difficult topics can be discussed in a calm & thoughtful manner.
It's weird, but Waypoint is 100% the NPR of gaming for me.
Hope they don't lose that unique identity.
I have nothing but respect for the tone and integrity of the entire team. And have come to view them as an intelligent port in the storm, a place where difficult topics can be discussed in a calm & thoughtful manner.
It's weird, but Waypoint is 100% the NPR of gaming for me.
Hope they don't lose that unique identity.
I worry that the Waypoint I love will be taken away in the near future, but there's nothing I can really do to change that. I'll continue to enjoy their unique work, share their work with my friends, support them in their other work (Friends at the Table just put out official merch!), and participate in the community they've eked out for themselves. Who knows, maybe this change ends up being beneficial to Waypoint.
This is true in any industry though. Employees may lean in one direction, but rarely the people at the top agree or care.
I do find hard to argue that videogame consumers don't skew right though, as is the case with tech consumers in general.
If redundant articles about Game of Thrones and Marvel movies were a sign of impending doom, everyone besides Giant Bomb would have closed up shop ages ago.