Jim Sterling

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

James Nicholas Stanton (born 1 January 1984), better known by his pen name Jim Sterling, is an English freelance video game journalist, critic, pundit and wrestling personality. Prior to becoming independent in September 2014 through crowdfunding, Sterling was the review editor for Destructoid and an author for The Escapist. His current YouTube series include "The Jimquisition", "Jimpressions", "Industry Bullshit", "Commentocracy", "Direct to Video", "The Videogame Show What I've Done", "Boglinwatch", "Oh My Gawd Hype!", "itch.io Tasty", and "Nitpick Theater".

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 January 2017, his other series include Best of Steam Greenlight Trailers, where he narrates over and comments on poorly made trailers (and their respective greenlight pages) for games looking to get onto Steam. These often include games that have been sold only using unaltered, pre-purchased assets (known as "asset flipping"); Nitpick Theater, where he speaks intensely about issues within gaming that he describes as "make really big deals out of things that don't matter"; 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]

He also produces a series called Boglinwatch, where he unboxes Boglins and provides news about Boglins. One of the notable episodes in the series is when he visits a Boglin art show in New York. [3]

His main gameplay series is Jimpressions (formerly known as "Squirty Play") where he discusses his impressions of a recently-released video game while showing his own pre-recorded gameplay. Sterling has often spoken against sexism in gaming. He is open about the fact that his position on this subject has slowly evolved.[4]

In November 2014, Sterling announced that he was leaving The Escapist and intended to seek funding for his work independently through Patreon. He also stated the desire to go back to writing articles and doing podcasts, which he was not able to do since he left Destructoid,[5] 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, and fellow British game journalist Laura Kate Dale. 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. Also with Zimmerman, Sterling plays a character in "FistShark Marketing", an improvised comedy podcast set in a fictional marketing firm, which was shared with Destructoid writers Caitlin Cook for the first fifty episodes and Jonathan Holmes (under the guise of Paulson Sear) from episode 56 to 100.

In March 2016, a lawsuit was filed against Sterling by Digital Homicide Studios for $10 million for "assault, libel, and slander".[6][7] The lawsuit was raised to $15 million, before it was eventually dismissed with prejudice in late February 2017.[8]

In 2018, Sterling joined wrestling YouTube group Cultaholic. He has a show called WreSterling.[9]

Reception

Sterling was featured in a list of "the 25 raddest game journalists to follow on Twitter," by Complex.[10] Sterling has developed into a controversial figure in the world of videogame journalism with his views often challenged.[11] Criticism of his negative review of Final Fantasy XIII prompted him to release a statement in defense of it.[12] 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.[13]

His site has undergone two DDoS attacks due to his posting reviews for long-awaited games which were met with opposition, first for No Man's Sky[14] and then The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[15][16]

Personal life

Sterling was born in England, where he lived on the poverty line for much of his childhood and was psychologically abused by his mother's lover, a Hells Angels outcast.[17] This abuse is what prompted him to take on the "Jim Sterling" name, saying that he would have had it legally changed, if not for his legal issues.[18] He lives with his wife in Jackson, Mississippi.[19][20][21] 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 [...] a straight one either."[22]

References

  1. ↑ Sterling, Jim (11 April 2012). "Beautifully bleak, a quasi-defense of "dark and gritty" games". gamefront.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUmdlvJbL_Y
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlRceUcRZcK0d_8oobIgayPTViedw7gIh
  4. ↑ "An interview with Jim Sterling about sexism in game culture". 21 June 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Tassi, Paul (15 November 2014). "Examining Jim Sterling's Grand Experiment To Create Video Game Journalism Utopia". Forbes. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Patrick Klepek. "Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Chris Carter. "Indie developer Digital Homicide sues Jim Sterling". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  8. ↑ James Stanton. "A Statement Regarding Romine v. Stanton's Dismissal With Prejudice". The Jimquisition. The Jimquisition. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  9. ↑ Sterling, Jim [@jimsterling] (23 August 2018). "Oh hey! So it's pretty easy to guess, but I'll be providing my diseased thoughts on wrestling for @Cultaholic with WreSterling! JOIN ME!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018 – via Twitter.
  10. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (21 October 2011). "The 25 Raddest Games Journalists To Follow On Twitter". Complex. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Gonzalez, Oscar (22 March 2010). "Jim Sterling: His Controversial Yet Accurate Views". Original Gamer. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  12. ↑ "Jim Sterling (Destructoid) defends himself over FFXIII review". Gamegrep. 18 March 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  13. ↑ Yu, Derek (19 February 2010). "To Jim Sterling, Who Hates Art Games". TIGSource. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  14. ↑ James Stanton. "No Man's Site". The Jimquisition. The Jimquistion. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  15. ↑ Driver, Ben. "Jim Sterling's site under attack after giving The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a 7/10". VG247. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Donnellan, Jimmy. "Jim Sterling Angers Zelda Fans With "Negative" 7/10 Breath Of The Wild Review". Cultured Vultures. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "The Beginner's Guide Review – The Hardest Word | The Jimquisition". www.thejimquisition.com. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "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 24 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  19. ↑ "Jim Sterling". Twitter. Archived from the original on 20 December 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "TMI - Jim Sterling interview". Trash Mutant. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  21. ↑ "Jim Sterling step-child". Twitter. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  22. ↑ Fallout 4's S.P.E.C.I.A.L Relationships (The Jimquisition). 9 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via YouTube.
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