Jim Sterling

Jim Sterling
Born (1984-01-01) January 1, 1984
Erith, United Kingdom[1]
Residence Jackson, Mississippi
Occupation Video game critic, web video producer, livestreamer
Employer Freelance
Known for The Jimquisition
Website thejimquisition.com

Jim Sterling, born James Nicholas Stanton, is a British freelance video game journalist, critic, and pundit. Prior to becoming completely independent in September 2014 through crowdfunding, Sterling was the review editor for Destructoid and a content creator for The Escapist. His current YouTube series include "The Jimquisition", "Jimpressions", "Best of Steam Greenlight Trailers", "Greenlight Good Stuff", "itch.io Tasty", "Nitpick Theater", and "Boglinwatch".

Career

The Jimquisition is a weekly YouTube video series in which Jim Sterling discusses current issues surrounding video games. Such topics include unethical business practices in the video game industry, gender issues and early access games. The series originally started on Destructoid’s YouTube channel and was later moved to The Escapist's channel. As of June 2016, his other series include Best of Steam Greenlight, where he watches and comments on poorly made games and games that have been sold only using unaltered, pre-purchased assets (known as "asset flipping"), gameplays of different games released on Steam, often games of poor quality, Nitpick Theater, where he speaks intensely about issues within gaming that would usually not be noticed, itch.io tasty, a series where he plays video games available on itch.io under various topics, and Greenlight Good Stuff, a series where he makes videos about good game trailers on Steam Greenlight.[2]

His main gameplay series is Jimpressions (formerly known as "Squirty Play") which are done in the style of a Let's play series, where he talks over his own gameplay. Sterling has often spoken against sexism in gaming. He is open about the fact that his position on this subject has slowly evolved.[3]

In November 2014, Sterling announced that he was leaving The Escapist and intended to seek funding for his work independently through Patreon. He has also stated the desire to go back to writing articles and doing podcasts, which he wasn't able to do since he left Destructoid,[4] but has since done on his own website (thejimquisition.com), creating "The Podquisition", a podcast that he shares with Irish musician/one-man band, Gavin Dunne (a.k.a. Miracle of Sound), and fellow British game journalist Laura Kate Dale (a.k.a. Laura K Buzz). He started up a second podcast "The Spin-off Doctors" in which he and Conrad Zimmerman analyze movies which are based on video games, though they have mentioned they may move into comic book and other geek culture territory eventually.

In March 2016, a lawsuit was filed against Sterling by Digital Homicide Studios for 10 million dollars for "assault, libel, and slander".[5][6]

Reception

Sterling was featured in a list of "the 25 raddest game journalists to follow on Twitter," by Complex.[7] Sterling has developed into a controversial figure in the world of videogame journalism with his views often challenged.[8] Criticism of his negative review of Final Fantasy XIII prompted him to release a statement in defense of it.[9] His views on art games have been criticized by TIGSource editor Derek Yu. Yu compared Sterling's view to that of art critic Louis Leroy in 1874 of a Claude Monet painting, which Leroy criticized for being unfinished, while the style of painting later became a major art style.[10]

Personal life

After Sterling reviewed the game The Beginner's Guide, he was seemingly deeply moved by the experience, prompting him to write a several-paragraph autobiography revealing Sterling was born in the United Kingdom, where he lived on the poverty line for much of his childhood and was psychologically abused by his mother's lover, a Hell's Angels outcast.[11] This abuse is what prompted him to take on the "Jim Sterling" name, saying that he would've had it legally changed, if not for his current legal issues.[12] He currently lives with his wife and his wife's son in Jackson, Mississippi.[13][14][15] In a video from November 2015 on Fallout 4, when talking about the polyamorous relationship options he stated that he is "not a monogamous guy, nor am I a straight one either."[16]

References

  1. ↑ Sterling, Jim (11 April 2012). "Beautifully bleak, a quasi-defense of "dark and gritty" games". gamefront.com. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUmdlvJbL_Y
  3. ↑ "An interview with Jim Sterling about sexism in game culture". June 21, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  4. ↑ Tassi, Paul (November 15, 2014). "Examining Jim Sterling's Grand Experiment To Create Video Game Journalism Utopia". Forbes. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  5. ↑ Patrick Klepek. "Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million". Kotaku. Gawker Media.
  6. ↑ Chris Carter. "Indie developer Digital Homicide sues Jim Sterling". Destructoid.
  7. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (October 21, 2011). "The 25 Raddest Games Journalists To Follow On Twitter". Complex. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ Gonzalez, Oscar (March 22, 2010). "Jim Sterling: His Controversial Yet Accurate Views". Original Gamer. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Jim Sterling (Destructoid) defends himself over FFXIII review". Gamegrep. March 18, 2010. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  10. ↑ Yu, Derek (February 19, 2010). "To Jim Sterling, Who Hates Art Games". TIGSource. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  11. ↑ "The Beginner's Guide Review – The Hardest Word | The Jimquisition". www.thejimquisition.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ "While Wikipedia had already listed "James Stanton" as your birthname, does that make "Jim Sterling" a pseudonym or something more official than that? And is the "Fucking" implied regardless of whoever says "Jim Sterling"? | ask.fm/Jimquisition". ask.fm. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Jim Sterling". Twitter.
  14. ↑ "TMI - Jim Sterling interview". Trash Mutant.
  15. ↑ "Jim Sterling step-child". Twitter. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  16. ↑ Fallout 4's S.P.E.C.I.A.L Relationships (The Jimquisition). November 9, 2015 – via YouTube.

External links

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