Why's Ryan such a jerk?

I've said it before, and it still holds true: he simply hates fun.

@GreggD said:

Because their and they're are two different things, you fucking twat.

Bit much don't you think?

So Giant Bomb doesn't aim to be a professional game site? I don't remember the guys ever saying that. My bad. Continue hating your audience Ryan.

Because that is all he has.

It's part of his charm.

@Shrat:

Yes.

@Elusionar:

If you look at the GameFLy article comments, there was some asshole that got into it with Alex. Demanding that he get fired, bitch please!

what exactly was so rude that offended you so much by the way? Im not defending Ryan perse, the dude is a (self proclaimed) dick, but not more than usual as far as I can tell... you say you have been following the site/crew for a long time and you just realised Ryan is a bit of a dick some/most times?

I like Ryan. Even if he sings the praises of Ice Tee. Ryan is okay. He does get a little wierd w/the interns, and probably that is quite on purpose. Gestalt humor and not necc all that correct. But as long as theintern(s) is/are in on the joke, and doesn't feel humiliated (ie, Ryan's bitch) well, it's just off the cuff humor. Again, I like the guy.

@Shrat: I was established from the very beginning that Ryan is a jerk. I prefer the real jerk Ryan rather than the creepy pretending to be polite Quick-look EX Ryan.

@Rhaknar:Lately it just seems he's been responding to questions with a more arrogant extreme of his persona than usual. He's always had that a bit, but he's now pushing it to new limits. That, on top of how has treated the interns(I know, it's a joke haha,) Maybe it's always been at this level and I'm just noticing it more now. If so, I wish I hadn't because I don't care for it much.

@GreggD said:

Because their and they're are two different things, you fucking twat.

LOL. Saw that, and didn't bother reading the rest of OP.

I dislike Ryan quicklooks. I really do. It used to not bother me, but I'd rather watch a quicklook with people enjoying themselves instead of one being so cynical and snarky.

Ryan is just a jerk to us users. It's the persona he chooses to assume when being the "host" of the site. If you watch him interact with others (i.e. not us) he is incredibly respectful and likable. Tweet at him, ask a question, or just look at him funny, and prepare to be blocked and shamed.

well i dont watch the intern stuff so I dunno how he treats them, and I rarely watch tnt or the happy hour. He seems the same to me on QLs or the bombcast (or twitter)

Perry? Perry needs to learn timing. The questions he asked weren't all that great either.

We're all jerks here.

I'd pay my yearly subscription twice over if I could be personally bitched out by Ryan Davis.

Quite a few existential questions being asked of GiantBomb lately.

In case you haven't noticed, the Internet has an overabundance of insufferable fucking assholes, and Giant Bomb's community is not even remotely immune to that. If I was in Ryan's position, I would absolutely "hate" most of my site's user base, whether they paid to support the site or not. After all, subscribing is a choice. If you don't feel they deserve your money, don't give it to them. (And, to be clear, I don't think he actually hates the users. I've seen nearly every video on this site and listened to every podcast, and Ryan has most definitely treated Giant Bomb users positively on many occasions.)

I will say, though, that I am not entirely unsympathetic to your opinion. I used to be bothered by Ryan's dickishness. I was pissed and frustrated when he blocked me on Twitter for defending the NDX. But then I realized, "Wait, this is Ryan Davis. He's a big goofball. Relax. He's just fucking around and, frankly, he doesn't owe me anything." I'm sure he plays it up, much in the same way that I've also been a bit bolder and more dickish online in the past. That, basically, is the entire Internet in a nutshell.

I'm not excusing dickish behavior, mind you. Being shitty is being shitty, regardless of whether it's online or off. I really don't think Ryan is all that shitty, though.

@Sil3n7 said:

I kinda agree. He seems to treat users in general like an annoyance. I being someone who supports the site find it lame whenever I hear it.

agree.

@thornie said:

Ryan is just a jerk to us users. It's the persona he chooses to assume when being the "host" of the site. If you watch him interact with others (i.e. not us) he is incredibly respectful and likable. Tweet at him, ask a question, or just look at him funny, and prepare to be blocked and shamed.

also agree

Ryan Davis doesn't suffer fools, nor should he.

@Green_Incarnate said:

Perry? Perry needs to learn timing. The questions he asked weren't all that great either.

Yeah I would have to agree there, I was starting to get pretty annoyed by his constant stream of lame questions the whole time. He needs to take more time between them and curate the questions better.

Ryan is just a jerk to us users. It's the persona he chooses to assume when being the "host" of the site. If you watch him interact with others (i.e. not us) he is incredibly respectful and likable. Tweet at him, ask a question, or just look at him funny, and prepare to be blocked and shamed.

Eh. Maybe he's tired of fuck of being in literally every video Giant Bomb produces and having to be its professional on-air voice. I know I would be by now.

@Shrat said:

Fine, rephrase of the question. Does it bother you, this exaggerated persona? It does me, there's really no need for it, even if he thinks the questions are stupid.

Nope, I dig the abrasive persona he sometimes projects. My mates and I are the same way with each other, but it doesn't mean we genuinely have true contempt for each other - it's so cartoonish it can't be the real deal. Plus Ryan will occasionally laugh after dickish comments, just to let you in on the fact that he's not entirely that guy.

@GreggD said:

Because their and they're are two different things, you fucking twat.

Completely agree.

On a more relevant note, Ryan seems to be the director of most GB events. Whether it's the Bombcast, TNT or Happy Hour, he leads the way to make for a fun yet efficient event. Sometimes that requires you to be an asshole when everyone else is off the rails. It's a tough role to play, but I appreciate him for it, "jerkish" or not.

I'd rather have someone be honest than straight up lie..

@FriskyHeadCrab said:

This isn't a "professional" video game web site. It's the modern day equivalent of a Wayne's World style public access show.

Oh god. How did I not see that before? The analogy is so perfect.

shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up

@ OP's sense of entitlement....well allow us to retort:

if someone asks me a stupid question i tend to react sarcastically

@Shrat said:

@Abyssfull: I've never sent in any questions. And no, not because of Gears TNT. He's been doing it a lot lately, more so than usual. And certainly, if they want to build an even bigger audience, I don't think that's the way to go. Sometimes, as a professional, you got to put down that first impulse to call something out, bite your toungue, and answer the dumb question without pushing the people you want to subscribe away. Not being sensitive, again, I like him for the most part, and love the site. I've been watching and reading most of these guys for years.

That sounds like putting up a front and not being genuine...and would probably deter me from the site.

I like this site because they call out stupid bullshit when they see it. You sound like you don't actually know what works.

@Doctorchimp: It seems to me, him playing up this sarcastic jerk character isn't genuine either. I guess that's the kind of fake you want though eh?

@Shrat said:

@Doctorchimp: It seems to me, him playing up this sarcastic jerk character isn't genuine either. I guess that's the kind of fake you want though eh?

But that's the way he wants to run the site...so it is genuine. Are you struggling with comprehension?

I also wasn't really commenting on your problem with Ryan being a jerk. If you read what I quoted I was directly talking about how you didn't want them to call something out that's dumb as hell when they hear it.

@Doctorchimp: They can and should call out dumb game stuff all the time, but to call users' questions dumb, or to act like they're not worth their time is wrong. There's nothing disingenuous about not calling a stupid question stupid. It's just something that doesn't need to be said or inferred. Doesn't make the man dishonest to have some amount of respect for his audience.

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

because he likes anime?

He must secretly like it. It's the only explanation.

Because his mama never taught him that if he can't say anything nice, he shouldn't say anything at all.

@Shrat said:

@Doctorchimp: They can and should call out dumb game stuff all the time, but to call users' questions dumb, or to act like they're not worth their time is wrong. There's nothing disingenuous about not calling a stupid question stupid. It's just something that doesn't need to be said or inferred. Doesn't make the man dishonest to have some amount of respect for his audience.

What? Of course you need to point out the idiots - how else are they going to learn? I get really annoyed when people ask stupid shit just for the sake of asking something - anything.

I'm gonna be one of the three people in this thread that agree with you. I don't like the way he acts a lot of the time, whether it's some type of 'character' or not. He's like that guy you knew when you were a kid that always thought it was really funny to act like an asshole to everybody because it showed off how much he 'didn't care.' 

Because he has to deal with stupid questions like: 
 
Why's Ryan such a jerk?  
 
and  
 
Does it bother you, this exaggerated persona?

It bothers me. I don't know why anyone would go out of their way to make someone feel bad. And this being the internet, it's hard to tell what is sincere and what is someone being an idiot. The same question asked by two different people could be interpreted different ways. And, while it is entirely possible that the interns have their issues, it does bother me when they are rude to them on air, but more when Brad does it than Ryan, because Brad seems to try to be nice most of the time. I guess it is the whole "time and place for everything" thing.

@GreggD: Regardless of my misuse of their/they're, it's a serious question. I said I do and have enjoyed him for several years for the most part, but it seems he exaggerates his persona at the expense of hurting his audience, which in my opinion, isn't cool man.

I would say there's a middling ground

most of the time I enjoy Ryan's personality and find it engaging and funny. And based on my conversations with him he's a super personable and friendly guy

occasionally the snarkiness can be a little more overt than is maybe necessary but as someone who deals with public eye I understand the concept of pandering to the audience. And considering half the posts in this thread are from people unwilling/able to have a rational discussion on the matter and instead default to "trolololol fuck you OP", I'd say he knows his audience pretty well. It's not really how he is, but when you're in front of a camera you have to do what keeps people watching. It provides a personality contrast to the others and works well in a showmanship sense.

A lot of people seem to send in questions that ramble on and on for a paragraph about irrelevant things that happen in their uninteresting lives like how I was playing video games at my friends house the other day, his name is Dwayne and he lives 2 miles away from me, we played some Forza and then Gears of War 2 and we really like Gears and want to get Gears 3 but only one of us has Xbox Live, I can't afford it because I just got fired from my job as a toilet paper roller for showing up late because my car broke down because my other friend, Ricky-O, drove it through a brick wall the day before while he was jacked up on goof balls, and so my doofus boss fired me and now I don't have any money so I can't afford Live, so what I was wondering was: do you guys think turn based combat like that of Wizardry 6 is still a viable option for CRPGs in this era of cover based shooting being seen even in RPGs like Mass Effect.  

@ThePaleKing said:

A lot of people seem to send in questions that ramble on and on for a paragraph about irrelevant things that happen in their uninteresting lives like how I was playing video games at my friends house the other day, his name is Dwayne and he lives 2 miles away from me, we played some Forza and then Gears of War 2 and we really like Gears and want to get Gears 3 but only one of us has Xbox Live, I can't afford because I just got fired from my job as a toilet paper roller for showing up late because my car broke down because my other friend, Ricky-O, drove it through a brick wall the day before while he was jacked up on goof balls, and so my doofus boss fired me and now I don't have any money so I can't afford Live, so what I was wondering was: do you guys think turn based combat like that of Wizardry 6 is still a viable option for CRPGs in this era of cover based shooting being seen even in RPGs like Mass Effect.

I didn't see that question coming lol.

The internet is choke full of entitled morons and assholes. So after a certain amount of time working almost exclusively in that field I can imagine you would develop a certain technique for dealing with those people. Ryan takes the more crass route and I feel it is entirely appropriate.

@CaptainCody: I've only been paying for a month. Been checking out the site since the beginning. Followed these guys on Gamespot and continued to here. No lies my friend.