• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

The Escapist getting relaunched, "leaving politics at the door"

KoolAid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,675
This has been making the roams through the gaming journalists on Twitter but there was no thread on ERA to discuss it, so thought I'd make it. Russ Pitts, mostly known as the former features editor in Polygon, was on the process of trying to buy The Escapist, but fortunately one of the companies they had been in talks with was already doing it, so he'll be Editor in Chief of it. However, the Medium post where he announces this has this troubling part in it:

One thing I can tell you without delay or equivocation: We're leaving politics at the door. Most of us have thoughts about politics. Just like most of you. And, because we're creators, those thoughts might show up in our work. Avoiding that would be unnatural. That said, I can promise you no one here will share their politics in an attempt to convince you yours are wrong. And your worth will not be calculated based on whether you're on the left or on the right. Politics are everywhere, but they don't have to be everything. We're going to focus on what's fun, and we hope you'll join us in that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

https://medium.com/@russpitts/the-last-of-escapist-magazine-5dd4f852703a

Honestly? This is quite dangerous. Politics are everywhere because they NEED to be everywhere. By not putting politics, you're pandering to those that dislike being criticised, giving them a safe zone from being told what they don't like to hear. Hell, in his replies there's already a dude talking that a site like this is needed "against the kotakus, polygons and waypoints". That should tell you everything you need to know about who your main audience is going to be.

He's retweeting subtweets critisising this, but it mostly seems in a passive aggresive way so I'm not sure it will change anything.
 
VoltySquirrel

VoltySquirrel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
490
I left The Escapist at the door many many years ago and sorry Russ but talking about your relaunch like this is proving to me you don't deserve to be let back inside.
 
JakeNoseIt

JakeNoseIt

Catch My Drift
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
4,534
1. Journalists avoiding politics sounds insane.
2. Being apolitical is expressing complacency in the status quo and thus, being political.
 
Plasma

Plasma

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,631
If they're avoiding politics entirely then they're not doing their jobs as journalists correctly.
 

Deleted member 426

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,273
Not everywhere needs politics. Some people don't want to hear about it. It's not dangerous to take politics out of media, it's perfectly normal. The idea that this shouldn't be allowed, or is troubling is weird.

Having said that. It's not for me. I like that kind of content. I'll stick with Kotaku.
 
Damn Silly

Damn Silly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,186
Urgh. As a fan of the Escapist pre-GG (it was my first proper forum after all), I was excited to hear it might be back properly but that "leave politics at the door" is some absolute horseshit.
 
Weiss

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
Just rename the site zeropunctuation.com. It's all anyone goes there for anyway.
 
Derrick01

Derrick01

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,289
I mean for once it'd be nice to have a site dedicated not just to games but actually talking about game design, both in reviews and just in general.

But given how this industry's media is I doubt that's going to happen with or without politics being involved.
 

JohnisJohn

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
172
I mean it's a smart move- most of the major sites all sort of just parrot each other on every issue so it makes sense to do something else
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
"leaving politics at the door" is a political statement in and of itself.

You literally cannot separate politics from every day life. Everything is inherently political.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,518
I don't really need another games site in my life, and certainly not one that doesn't have anything worthwhile to say.
 

Wulfram

Member
Mar 3, 2018
1,478
Eh, I think its legitimate to not want to talk politics in videogames. Politics is important, but so is, well, escapism.

On the other hand, there's not actually a lack of essentially apolitical videogames coverage so making a big deal of being apolitical strikes me as being a coded way of, well, being political.
 
Calibro

Calibro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,822
Belarus
That just seems like the new Escapist is going to be lazily avoiding scrupulous research and reporting. A journalist shouldn't evade difficult topics, a journalist should carefully research and present them to the public, unbiased and thorough.
 
BigDes

BigDes

Knows Too Much
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,791
Yeah The Escapist was a GG site because the owners thought that was where the money was. Turns out it wasn't so it looks like they're trying to pivot back to somewhere more 'neutral'

Fuck em, they made their shitty bed, they can rot in it
 

Shifty1897

Member
Oct 28, 2017
702
Honestly leaving politics at the door is a good way to separate yourself from the rest of gaming journalism. There are already tons of gaming websites with a political agenda, I can count the number of major "neutral" gaming publications on one hand, and most of them are just news-vomit headlines.
 

eathdemon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,609
Jack Orion said:
Not everywhere needs politics. Some people don't want to hear about it. It's not dangerous to take politics out of media, it's perfectly normal. The idea that this shouldn't be allowed, or is troubling is weird.

Having said that. It's not for me. I like that kind of content. I'll stick with Kotaku.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
there is no such thing as media that does not have politics. every piece of art ether intentionally, or unintentionally reflects the people's behind it worldview.
 
iksenpets

iksenpets

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,478
Dallas, TX
Even ignoring how vapid an idea a politics-free site is, we all know what "no politics" is code for. It's just "Nazis welcome, feel free to use our site as an organizing and recruitment ground".
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987
Escapist scared of losing that dumbass "gamer" audience. The one that only gets upset when the idea the tiddies are being taken away is even fathomed
 
Shark

Shark

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,126
Raleigh, NC
LPdDQqxl.png


The Escapist's rating system revealed.
 
modoversus

modoversus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,674
México
Krejlooc said:
"leaving politics at the door" is a political statement in and of itself.

You literally cannot separate politics from every day life. Everything is inherently political.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

100% this.

What games and news they cover, how they cover them, it all represents a point of view that involves politics.

Smh at people wanting game sites to be just press releases, trailers and asigning numbers to games.
 
Benji

Benji

Self Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,114
I dont blame them. Talking politics is exhausting and largely usually get no one anywhere besides giant arguments. It's rare to see people in an online setting change their minds.

As they said no doubt politics will get into their coverage, it's impossible not to as we all have our own beliefs. But trying to make it not the focus of the site or stories they publish seems a perfectly reasonable stance to take to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.