I don't really know why I feel compelled to talk about this: it's more than a week old now and I feel like the cringe and quotable quotes from it have been extracted enough. The person responsible for instigating it has already lost and to discuss it would only rub the salt on a wound that, even by the transcript, you could tell was never able to heal for the six or so months it persisted.
Of course, if you want to listen to the attempted conversation between Jim Sterling and a developer behind Digital Homicide, you're very much free to enjoy:
http://www.thejimquisition.com/2015/07/special-podcast-jim-sterling-and-digital-homicide-hash-it-out/
I declare blissful ignorance on a good amount of the goings on between these two grown men leading up to this podcast, but seeing that the rage-filled mudslinging has continued only makes me sad. Sadder still with how beaten and dragged-through-the-mud the developer comes into it; it makes me question a lot of what he hoped to gain from the interview. It's clear he had no care for his own credibility at this point and he just wanted to try anything, ANYTHING, to knock this critical nemesis of his down at least a peg. I wonder if in retrospect he even wanted the interview in the first place, really. He comes out of it looking like an ass and a bit delusional and fails his goal entirely.
And yet Jim doesn't come out of this better. Sure, he dodged every attack like an expert pundit (more expert than was even required), but the fact he published it (regardless whether the dev did the same) makes him seem a lesser man, as if sending the message that he's beaten a dead horse and he wants to draw this out even further by showcasing every blow. A better man would have just let this developer's Temper Tantrum go and tried to sweep it under the rug, if just to let the man a chance to rebuild himself and move on. This isn't about journalism any longer, this is about spite and escalating tension for viewership. Jim has no way of losing at this point.
As for the content of the interview, I don't want to analyze it, and we wouldn't gain anything from any analysis. You can watch it, the link's still up there. In my opinion, no one wins the fight really. I don't need to explain much further. The fact it's being paraded by Jim, regardless whether in character or not, really only makes him a sore winner. I can only hope it ends soon.
So why do I even bring it up if it hurts me to think about it? Because somewhere in that pained pod-cast is a kernel of truth that cements a thought I've had about Jim Sterling and game reviewers for a while, both professional and amateur. Despite many of the concerning (unintentionally hilarious), desperate and sad attacks the developer made, one thing he said hits something right:
"Something like this can ruin somebody in hours... What you do can ruin people in hours."
The context is a little muddled in the interview because he's quoting someone else, which I couldn't verify to be accurate. After this statement there was a further muddling as it devolved into an argument over whether Jim's criticisms were attributed to malice, which does matter, but isn't effectively elaborated. Regardless of this, if you take the quote for what it is, it reveals one of the scariest points about game reviewers and and their subjects:
Game reviews have the power to ruin careers.
Some will point out that it's "not the job of the [critic] to help the developer, but to protect the customer(s)", but there's already evidence of the skewed power of the review here:
http://kotaku.com/metacritic-matters-how-review-scores-hurt-video-games-472462218
And we shouldn't forget how in this blog alone one man's review crusade against a developer's entire set of works has quite clearly crushed "Robert" to a point where he's given up any personal credibility just to try to bring down Jim one last time, failing and having a mental breakdown, recorded and uploaded publicly just for entertainment.
I don't trust Jim Sterling's opinions about games all that much. He does a great job at calling out goings on in the industry, but most things he calls out are in a negative light, and often they are skewed by his own biases against certain companies (Ubisoft, EA, etc). I'll accept that most of his bias stems from a 'history of bad practices' (a phrase you can paraphrase from many of his Jimquisition episodes), the fact he assigns a personality to these companies and attributes most actions directly to malice and greed is enough to make me have to double check everything he says. He raises red flags on games industry practices, but mayhap he doth protest too much.
Even then, I have to admit as a game developer myself, Jim Sterling scares me. Even if he jokingly says to fear him in his recent Jimquisition about the interview, I'm legitimately worried. I'm afraid of the inevitable day when Jim approaches something I release. He's proven he can kill someone's aspirations and make a killing in his own career in the process. Whether it be a short Squirty Play, a legitimate review, or (god forbid) a Jimquisition, I'm going to shit bricks if it's about my work. A single review shouldn't hold so much power, but it certainly does.
And you should be afraid too, if you make games independently.
Be afraid of Jim Sterling. And all his fans.
Because if you make one poor choice, one flub, one mistake that only makes you human.
He'll come for you.
He's coming for your careers.
He's coming to attack your ego.
And he's going to eat your lunch...
Disclaimer : I'm aware that the developer in question is behind a lot of games that are very unpopular, none of which I own or have tried myself. Try to look past that for a moment and look at what I'm trying to say about game reviews on the whole. Try to imagine it was your work getting the Jim Sterling treatment... I know it's not my own work... yet...
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