As the title may indirectly suggest, I’m a regular viewer of The Jimquisition, which is independent games journalist Jim Sterling’s weekly YouTube show. While a lot of it is him getting people rabidly enraged with his opinions, as well as his distinct style of delivery and propensity to tell his audience to thank divine providence for his existence, he often covers stories unlike those tackled by most of games media. He can get quite deep into even what seems pedestrian at first, like these two Jimquisitions I’m about to talk about.
Formerly of Destructoid and The Escapist, Jim Sterling is a divisive figure for what I can determine is due to two reasons — he has an in-your-face style that rubs a lot of people the wrong way and he’s not above scraping the bottom of the barrel for stories. In fact, that latter reason is why he got sued for up to $15 million by some untalented idiot. However, he’s certainly not vacillating as far as his work goes.
These two episodes of The Jimquisition hit home for me due to the subjects covered, which I actually had my own first-hand experiences with.
Brash Games
Published back in April 17, this episode piqued my interest due to coincidentally being messaged by the individual he talked about and his unsavory way of doing business. As soon as it clicked, I diverted my attention to a particular DM I recently received on my Twitter.
Yup, I was indeed approached by Paul Ryan (not that one) to write for his website, the very same one discussed in the video. While I did like how Brash Games seemingly gave attention to lesser-known indie titles, I decided against applying for writing work there mostly due to how much the web design looked like that of a run-in-the-mill mobile games website. Not that I’m against mobile gaming per se, but it didn’t look like they had deep enough pockets to get a more skilled web designer to spruce it up.
It seems that my hunch was right.
What then made this episode of the Jimquisition special for me was Jim Sterling’s sternly-made statement from 14:35 to 16:30. That bit is important and it convinced me to work only on this brand as far as writing about video games and entertainment media goes (I’m still open to write about stuff like combat sports for other publications, if ever).
If you were wondering about why I’ve started to increase my output on this blog recently, that’s the main reason why.
Online Casino SEO Juice (wat)
Now watch this one. This is what made me write this blog post.
Yeah, I do thank God for Jim Sterling now because he’s not above covering shit like this on The Jimquisition. Just like with the video on Brash Games, I’ve also encountered what Jim Sterling talked about there, namely this email.
Media Top has indeed reached out to me through what I like to call my “monkey business” email address to write a post for them to promote their client. I’m alright with it and even gave a low rate (incredibly low in this day and age) of $10 since I just planned to cough up a blurb in five minutes. It’s my blog, so I can do whatever I want as long as it doesn’t violate my policies.
But once I saw the word “slots” in the reply, I bailed. My level of interest in the correspondence dropped to zero, as you can see in the latter part of that screenshot. I didn’t email back and that thread just sat in my inbox. Good thing I didn’t immediately delete it so I can show the screenshot here. Suffice to say, just like with the whole Brash Games thing, I dodged another bullet there.
As shown in this Jimquisition, Jim Sterling told them he wanted $100 for it, and they actually agreed. God fucking damn it, if I actually had the moxie to ask for that much or even more, then you’d see advertorials on here with gambling links all over the place. Then again, that’d be pissing this blog’s credibility away so I can buy more Gunpla, computer upgrades, a new camera, peanut butter, hookers, and so on.
Disclosure
If you look around here for a bit, you’ll find there are a few guest posts on this blog. I’m not against having a bit of SEO shenanigans going on here, as long as it’s not too crazy. After all, the bulk of my freelance writing work is leasing off my services to clients for SEO purposes. I’m no stranger to the colorful world of search engine optimization and online marketing, so I’m very well aware of how greasy it can get.
Indeed, I have written articles related to gambling sites for money before, but not directly to them. That work is usually given to me by online marketing intermediaries who are just trying to make buck. Same goes for me, a loser hack who churns out 500-word articles out of his ass for a living. After all, this is the Philippines and a big chunk of the work-at-home crowd have livelihoods based on some sort of SEO work.
Personally, I don’t see too much of a problem taking work from them. Many of us have jobs related to something we don’t completely agree with or even vehemently detest, but we have to do it anyway to earn a living. Then again, it’s not like everything I write is about online gambling. In fact, I haven’t had gambling or online casino-related writing work for almost a year now. I got piss-poor rates from that shit anyway. (Fucking cheapskates.)
I do mostly ghostwriting. I’ve tried my hand at writing for high-traffic sites like Inquisitr, and I’m willing to admit that I’m not “good enough” to cut it in those online publications. They have quotas for each article, and the ones that really attract readers are clickbait, vapid TMZ-style shit like stories about celebrities, and whatever else that can go viral.
I can write about online casinos for clients, but not articles on Kim Kardashian’s ever-expanding silicone ass. Maybe I can force myself to do it for $100 per piece, but I’d be hating my life as well. It’s not because it’s irredeemably bad per se, but I just have no interest in what I personally think is garbage.
Same thing goes for sensationalist pieces that tell half-truths and whole lies for views. I somewhat envy other writers being able to churn out stuff like that for big sites and not care; I can’t do that even under anonymity. Perhaps it’s to my detriment, but I just don’t have a thick enough skin to engage in yellow journalism.
Amending Statement of Intent
It’s another thing when it comes to this blog and my other creative endeavors. Guest posts (including this guest review on Clash Royale. Come on, he gave it a 9. Never again.) are mostly okay, but I hereby swear that there will be nothing on this website that will have anything to do with those online gambling sites and other unscrupulous outfits.
If ever, maybe I can entertain having links to sites like High Tilt Poker (and only if it’s a mostly skill-based game like poker), but it’s not like those sites need the help of a small-time blog like this one.
But those online slot machine sort of bullshit, I won’t ever touch. It’s bad enough that I have to write about them for work every now and then, so I don’t want to deal with them at all in leisure.
I’ll also be amending this site’s Policy Statement page to reflect this, as well as to plug up whatever holes there may be.
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