Jim Sterling

James Stephanie Sterling (born 1 January 1984), is an English-American freelance video game journalist, critic, pundit and YouTuber. Prior to becoming independent in September 2014, Sterling was the review editor for Destructoid, and an author for The Escapist. Sterling is noted as one of the main examples of a YouTuber achieving success through crowdfunding.[2]

James Stephanie Sterling
Born (1984-01-01) 1 January 1984
Erith, London, England[1]
OccupationVideo game critic, web video producer, livestreamer, professional wrestler
EmployerFreelance
Known forThe Jimquisition

Career

Video game critic

Sterling presents The Jimquisition, a weekly YouTube video series in which they discuss current issues surrounding video games, primarily involving unethical business practices in the video game industry, of which Sterling is an outspoken critic. The series originated on Destructoid's YouTube channel and was later moved to The Escapist's channel, before being released on Sterling's own channel. Sterling's main gameplay series is Jimpressions (formerly known as "Squirty Play"), where Sterling discusses their impressions of a recently released video game while showing their own pre-recorded gameplay. Sterling has often spoken against sexism in gaming, and has been open about the fact that their position on this subject has slowly evolved.[3]

In November 2014, Sterling announced that they were leaving The Escapist and intended to seek funding for their work independently through Patreon. On a 2020 episode of The Jimquisition, Sterling stated that they had departed The Escapist after the publication had refused to publish their negative review of Assassin's Creed Unity, citing that parent company Defy Media was afraid of damaging any sponsorship opportunities with Ubisoft.[4] Sterling also stated their desire to go back to writing articles and recording podcasts, which they were not able to do since leaving Destructoid.[5] Sterling currently maintains their own website, The Jimquisition,[5] in addition to producing a podcast titled "Podquisition", which is shared with fellow British game journalist and founding host, Laura Kate Dale. The third founding member/co-host Irish musician Gavin Dunne had his final permanent appearance on episode 250,[6] leaving on good terms to pursue his passion for music while stepping away from engaging with the negativity, stress and anger of the game industry, saying “outside factors, for example having my music blacklisted from being promoted by certain companies due to my involvement with the podcast. My music is my heart & soul, my life's work. It is too important & hard earned to have it be impaired due to other peoples' controversies & it's also not fair to have that hanging over their heads every time they want to speak about a controversial topic.”[7] Gavin was replaced on episode 251 with Conrad Zimmerman [8][9] who had previously worked alongside Sterling at Destructoid, co-hosting The Dismal Jesters, Boston’s Favourite Son, The Spin-Off Doctors, and FistShark Marketing podcasts.

In March 2016, a lawsuit was filed against Sterling by Digital Homicide Studios, seeking $10 million in damages for "assault, libel, and slander",[10][11] following Sterling's negative review of their first game The Slaughtering Grounds.[12] Sterling further accused Digital Homicide Studios of deleting negative feedback of the game on its Steam review page, and banning users who criticized it.[12] The lawsuit was raised to $15 million, before it was eventually dismissed with prejudice in late February 2017.[13]

Sterling has been credited with originating the name of the meme "Big Chungus". Sterling started using the term "Chungus" on their channel in a variety of unrelated contexts with different meanings for humorous effect.[14]

Reception

Sterling was featured in a list of "the 25 raddest game journalists to follow on Twitter," by Complex.[15] Sterling has developed into a controversial figure in the world of videogame journalism, with some of their views being challenged.[16] Criticism of their negative review of Final Fantasy XIII prompted them to release a statement in defense of it.[17] Sterling's website has undergone two DDoS attacks due to their posting reviews for long-awaited games which were met with opposition, first for No Man's Sky[18] and then The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[19][20]

Sterling's views on art games have been criticized by Spelunky creator 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.[21]

Personal life

Sterling was born in London, England, where they lived below the poverty line for much of their childhood and were psychologically abused by their mother's lover, a Hells Angels outcast.[22] This abuse is what prompted them to take on the "Jim Sterling" name, saying that they would have had it legally changed, if not for legal issues.[23] In a video from November 2015, while talking about the polyamorous relationship options in Fallout 4, Sterling stated that they were "not a monogamous guy, nor [...] a straight one either."[24] Sterling is openly pansexual and queer.[25][26] In June 2020, Sterling became a naturalized United States citizen.[27] In August 2020, Sterling came out as non-binary.[28] Sterling uses they/them pronouns.[29]

In late June 2020, while discussing the Speaking Out movement and misconduct within the video game industry, Sterling touched upon their own disorders:[30]

The events of recent weeks have been particularly affecting for me, as I've begun to come to terms with my own history. While all of this talk of abuse is going on, I've had a psychiatric evaluation where I was confirmed to have bipolar type 2 and complex PTSD as a result of what can only be described as a couple decades of having my sense of identity systematically destroyed by caregivers, followed by people convincing me I was making stuff up and that I wasn't even mildly depressed.

— Jim Sterling

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. Davis, Hubert (25 February 2020). "Jim Sterling – The YouTuber Standing Up To Game Industry Greed". ScreenRant. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  3. wundergeek (21 June 2013). "An interview with Jim Sterling about sexism in game culture". GamingAsWomen. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  4. Sterling, Jim. "Ubisoft Spent Years Protecting Mental And Physical Abusers (The Jimquisition)". YouTube. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  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. Podquisition 250: Miracle Of Sound, retrieved 7 November 2020
  7. Dunne, Gavin (20 September 2019). "A fond farewell to Podquisition <3". patreon. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  8. Podquisition 251: Naruto Honk, retrieved 7 November 2020
  9. "About". Conrad Zimmerman dot com. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  10. Patrick Klepek. "Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  11. Chris Carter. "Indie developer Digital Homicide sues Jim Sterling". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  12. Sterling, Jim (November 10, 2014). "The Slaughtering Grounds: A Steam Meltdown Story". The Escapist. Defy Media. Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  13. Ibrahim, Mona (2 March 2017). "Jim Sterling was sued for making fun of a game, and it was a bad idea". Polygon. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  14. Valens, Ana (13 February 2019). "Big Chungus is the last great meme of 2018—and it could only appear during the holidays". The Daily Dot.
  15. 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.
  16. Gonzalez, Oscar (22 March 2010). "Jim Sterling: His Controversial Yet Accurate Views". Original Gamer. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  17. "Jim Sterling (Destructoid) defends himself over FFXIII review". Gamegrep. 18 March 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  18. James Stanton. "No Man's Site". The Jimquisition. The Jimquistion. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. "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.
  23. "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.
  24. 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.
  25. Sterling, Jim [@jimsterling] (23 September 2019). "I used to identify as bi before I realized the whole pan thing applied to me so much more..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  26. Sterling, Jim [@jimsterling] (17 May 2019). "Anyway, as an openly queer wearer of corseted hats, I do declare that homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia all smell of poo and wee. #IDAHOBIT" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  27. Sterling, Jim [@jimsterling] (29 June 2020). "The job is done, a citizen I am, and I have a flag to prove it" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  28. Sterling, Jim [@jimsterling] (25 August 2020). "I am non-binary pansexual gendertrash. I like all pronouns. I haven't been this comfortable with myself before. Ever." (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  29. Sterling, Jim. "Commander Sterling (@JimSterling)". Twitter. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  30. Jim Sterling (29 June 2020). A Truly Fucked Up Industry. Event occurs at 5:47. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
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