andyle2k

Hi all,

You can see from my posts count that I rarely post anything but I am an active member of this site and its community.

I've been on this journey with Jeff, Ryan, Brad, Vinny, Alex and Rorie since the Gamespot days when Jeff and Ryan had hilarious coloured hair. Yes I put a "u" in "colour" because I'm from Australia.

All that preamble is to say although Drew was not part of the original Gamespot crew that I clicked with, he is absolutely somebody I've grown to respect, admire and find entertaining.

This site is without a doubt personality driven and we are all here because we like their personalities and it's such a strange thing to be kind of attached to people who you've never actually met. To be honest when GB first started and Drew started making appearances, I was skeptical as I have been of all new staff. Even stranger when you grow accustomed not to just the people but to the interpersonal dynamics they have with each other. You grow protective of that, you always want Jeff and Ryan to riff off of each other or you want Brad to mope or get excited over technical details and when Drew started I was worried those dynamics would change but you've only changed it for the better!

You guys do such a great job of putting yourselves out there with integrity while still being entertaining. You could all be great actors but you all do come across as genuine and likable. Drew embodies these values to me and he's unafraid to put himself out there with his eclectic tastes and I'm sure most people find that endearing. That's the other thing I like about the GB community; other online personalities try to align themselves to cater to their audience whereas GB's audience is always accepting and accommodating. We learn more from your distinct tastes rather than dismiss them.

I can't speak for your professional work and contributions (for which I'm sure are immense) but from what you've provided us in form of entertainment, I would like to deeply and sincerely THANK YOU! I can't deny that it is sad to see you leave but I also understand and wish you all the best. I hope you continue to pursue each passion and pick more up as you go. I hope you feel proud of your achievements not just through production work or entertaining us but also being an inspiration to some of us! It takes incredible will power and discipline to do the things you've done such as working on a standing desk, your biking marathons, meditation, etc. and to me that is very inspiring.

GB is a place where people come and go but friends always look like they enjoy coming back to, not many other communities can boast that and I can't wait to see you on the next video!

@bargainben: I agree! There should always be a distinction between facts and opinions. Facts are proven. If somebody who has an opinion that contradicts facts, they are still within their rights to hold those opinions right? I'm not talking about equal time, I'm talking about as an individual they're allowed to have opinions.

Fact: GB hired two new white guys.

Opinion: GB is a sexist organization.

With this specific scenario I think it is up to you to decide the right course of action. I don't know of an over-arching "women" committee that decides what is and isn't offensive. Emotional reaction is on a personal/individual level. Since we cannot possibly live by how others perceive us, if a person says you are offending them - up to you how you want to handle the situation. However you react is entirely your right up to the point of crossing a law.

I've read the book. Finch definitely adds his very sleek touch to it (which is a good thing). I enjoyed both and both should be judged separately I think, I don't feel like everything needs to be judged against everything else especially when it's in the purpose for self-superiority.

4/5 stars! Definitely reccommend.

I remember watching this when I was like 15, it stuck with me quite a bit. Upon a recent viewing though it doesn't hold up too well especially after watching better movies like Aliens and Blade Runner.

Those who haven't seen this though, I would still reccommend it.

I feel there's a lot of over-generalization going on these days. Sure we all have our own personal opinions and ideals but a lot of times (myself included of course) we tend to think for others.

Take this feminism debate for instance. Here I am, a man, with ideas of what is best for women. I'd like to think that my ideas are best that doesn't necessarily mean that they are best or suits everyone at every time. The big difference between some I feel is whether we are willing to accept the fact that we might be wrong or not. For example, over the other thread there was a lot of hate from users (both men and women) thrown at Brianna Wu (@spacekatgal) for speaking about her experiences. While I don't agree with a lot of her conclusions nor her methods, I don't think it's fair for others to judge her feelings/emotions.

People perceive things differently, I think we need to accept that instead of always being hell bent on forcing them to see our way. I know the paradoxal delimma of asking people to be open minded is in itself is trying to force a view on others. Here's the ultimate thing though, if you don't like somebody's preaching - don't listen to them and move on. You have a choice to either engage in debate, which hopefully you will do so in a civil manner or you can ignore those points and continue on. The best thing I've ever read in conflict management is "if you get angry at a person's argument it's not the fault of the other person".

It's definitely extremely encouraging to see such civil and level-minded comments in this thread and I hope it stays that way.

It's so hard for any discussion these days to not fall back onto the you-know-what debacle.

Having said that, I think the majority of people agree in human rights and human decency. This should be starting block - regardless of colour, race, creed, gender - we are all human and deserve the most basic of human rights

You mentioned men being generally taller/stronger and therefore spend more on food and should be paid more. Should modern societies base wages on estimated living costs of the employee rather than take a generalized slice? What about those men who are smaller than women? Women need to spend more on sanitary products so should that be considered as well? What about vegetarians? I'm not trying to be incendiary, I genuinely like to follow this train of thought to find fair solutions.

The other big issue here I think is all the labeling and associations. It's human nature to want to identify and belong, which is fine. But when you feel your identity is under attack sometimes you lash back. I feel that as individuals we can have strong convictions and stick to them but hold blinding faiths against a label or a name is a dangerous thing to do. Personally I strongly believe in equality and fairness, if some group announce that they represent those ideals but use tactics/methods I disagree with - I wouldn't associate myself with that group.

So whatever issue you want to talk about - talk about them - voice your opinions, that's the beauty of the internet. If you don't agree with something voice your concerns, if they don't engage in meaningful discourse - leave. Same goes with sites, if you feel a site's agenda doesn't fit with your convictions by all means go to another site. There are so many choices and options on the internet there shouldn't ever be a need to turn violent. Issues should be talked about openly, calmly and fairly. I think we've become so desensitized that every debate turns into a shouting match and we feel the need to be louder and more vitriolic to get the point across. That shouldn't be the case. You don't need to go to extremes to be heard.

Thank you for reading my thoughts, looking forward to more input from the community.

@qrowdy:

I cannot agree with you more! It's so disheartening to see such vitriol and anger coming from people. Please let's all step back and talk about the issues as they are and as individuals. Thank you for the excellent writeup.

@rorie @vinny @patrickklepek @brad @alex

This is really really frustrating.

Seeing all these issues conflated.

People are so caught up in trying to label themselves and identifying themselves that they miss the real issues.

If you want to talk about journalism integrity then do so, if you want to talk about video game sexism then do so. These are valid and topics that should be discussed.

Seems like what the majority of level-headed people AGREE on is that death threats, exposing personal information and other violent/anti-social acts are unacceptable. Regardless of which side you fall on, resorting to these methods is disgusting and should be condemned by everyone.

So before we go accusing this group of this and that, let's take ourselves out of these groups. Let's just voice our opinions as individuals and not label ourselves or others.

I don't think GB's stance is anti-consumerism nor are they against the discussion of video game journalism ethics. This thread wouldn't exist if they were.

Reading and re-reading Jeff's post my take away from it is that don't associate yourself with a movement that has been tainted by extremists using extremist tactics that is all. Which I strongly agree with, I also strongly agree with the fundamental concerns of the GG movement.

People have threatened to leave the GB community/cancel subscriptions because they perceive GB to be anti-GG, I don't think they are. If you are so quick to be defensive and fully devote yourself to one group or another then you're just closing yourself off to every possible viewpoint. Please don't! Please keep an open mind.

Hi all,

So last night I had a strange dream. In my dream it was July 1st 2013. I rushed to Ryan (despite being in Australia) warning him but somehow he already knew. Being who he is he just winked at my concerns and kept on living every second to its fullest.

I woke up before knowing what happened. I don't know whether this was a good dream or a nightmare. Good in that I got to see Ryan again not just through old videos but new experiences. I woke up feeling quite depressed because it was just a dream and I know all we'll ever have are memories.

Thanks.

Brad was missing from this week's Bombcast and I'll do the annoying "Internet reads way too much into everything" thing but...
 
at the end of the show Ryan said "...we wish Brad and his all the best", what the hell does that mean? Has he resigned? Is he sick? 
 
To add further to this conspiracy theory, the main page's status updates is missing Brad. I know this is probably due to him not updating his status for a while but why?
 
I'm starting to freak out, so much so that I had to make a post about it even though I have never ever posted anything on these boards before despite being a member since the site went live.
 
I hope I am just reading too much into things and I hope this isn't anything. 
 
I know the Giantbomb dudes are real people with real people problems and rights such as privacy, so I won't demand (nor do I have the right to) you guys give away anything that is personal or illegal. Having said that though, myself like I'm sure many others in this community have grown to form attachments with you guys as personalities and like it or not you guys are internet celebrities. I'm sure I can speak for many out there that we do genuinely care for you guys and wish you all the best and we would like to know if any sudden changes are occuring.
 
Thanks a lot for reading.