History WebVideo / Jimquisition

** In TheNewTwenties, Steph called out companies, especially Creator/SquareEnix, for making multiple free-to-play titles which relied on daily quests and microtransactions to keep people hooked. Steph argued that such titles were never going to work in the long run, since people have only so much time in the day and might play one or two such games instead of a lot of them, rendering the revenue model nonsensical and unsustainable. Come early 2023, and Square Enix had to shut down multiple such titles, such as ''Babylon's Fall'', ''Chocobo GP Racing'', ''Marvel's Avengers'', and ''FINAL FANTASY VII: The First Soldier''; the following year, [[VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival2MiracleLive one game]]'s release and EOL dates were announced '''simultaneously'''.

--> Today's video is dedicated to all the game industry executives out there, ''especially'' those plucky little guys sitting right at the top of the corporate structure. I'm talking about such "[[SarcasmMode adorable]]" characters as Bobby Kotick, Yyves Guillemot, and--a-ha-ha-ha, of course--"[[MaliciousMisnaming Android]]" Wilson! To those hardworking ''cats'' with such thankless jobs, I say [[SuddenlyShouting SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS]]! Like, just shove ''everything'' up your ass! Your companies? Shove ''them'' up your ass--your disgusting business models, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis shove them!]] ''Up'' your ass! [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers This Disney Parks commemorative Mr. Potato Head mug]]? [[RuleOfThree Right up the ass]], right into the hole of it!''

** Steph's first yearly "sh*ttiest games" list had three games on which they didn't elaborate, insulting them or reacting to them instead, then promptly moving on to the next item. This would persist as a gag throughout the years (see TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers below) , but dialed back to only game per video.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In every yearly "sh*ttiest games" list, Steph usually explains in detail why every game on the list is bad... nine times out of ten. There is always one game on the list (never the number 1, but almost always in the top 5) on which Steph does not elaborate. Here are their comments on these games in their entirety:
** 2010: this installment [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness uniquely]] has three:
*** ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'':
---> '''Steph:''' ... ''(pretends to vomit)''
*** ''VideoGame/AllPointsBulletin'':
---> '''Steph:''' Imagine ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', except Creator/JohnCandy's corpse exploded all over it. That's ''APB''.
*** ''VideoGame/DarkVoid'':
---> '''Steph:''' Creator/NolanNorth rides around on a jetpack and crashes into everything ''because the controls are fucking shit!'' Enough said.
** 2011: ''VideoGame/KnightsContract'':
---> '''Steph:''' Fuck. No.
** 2012: ''VideoGame/SpiritCameraTheCursedMemoir'':
---> '''Steph:''' Load of cuntin' wank.
** 2013: ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSurvivalInstinct'':
--->'''Michael Rooker:''' ''(from the trailer)'' Merle and Daryl in a game. What can be better than that?
--->'''Steph:''' Apparently, most things, Mr Rooker.
** 2014: ''The Forgotten Ones'':
---> '''Steph:''' (after showing an in-game ShoutOut to LetsPlay/PewDiePie[[note]]a Pokémon Trading Card with [=PewDiePie=]'s face on it, accompanied by a VoiceClipSong based on one of his quotes, along with a picture of the "True Story" meme[[/note]]) I think that says everything that needs to be said about ''The Forgotten Ones''.
** 2015: ''[[VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5]]''
--->''(nothing but video clips of the player taking multiple spills to the theme of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'')''
** 2016: ''Zenith'' (an action RPG on Steam)
--->'''Steph:''' A completely unfunny, broken bucket-load of red, raw, milky [[CurseCutShort c]]-- '''WesternAnimation/SkeletonWarriors!'''
** 2017: ''VideoGame/OneTwoSwitch''
--->'''Steph:''' It's a game about looking your good friend right in the eye and then miming masturbation in front of her. Still if you want to know what being a stand-up... ''[interrupted by some demonic gagging noises]''
** 2018: ''VideoGame/Agony2018''
--->''(just a bloodied grotesque character from the game staring blankly at the camera in total silence for 10 seconds)''
** 2019: ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE 2K20]]''
--->'''Steph:''' (while showing a buggy character creation screen) What the fuck is this shit?
** 2020: ''Dissection''
--->'''Steph:''' Uh, you don't know what this one is, but trust me, it's fucking crap.
** 2021: ''Outriders''
--->'''Steph:''' Fucking Early Access garbage.
** 2022: ''VideoGame/{{Scorn}}''
--->'''Steph:''' Yeah, I'd rather get my girldick chewed off by JK Rowling's dog than play this again.
** 2023: ''Guns of Sherwood''
--->'''Steph:''' Shitwood.

** In TheNewTwenties, Steph called out companies, especially Creator/SquareEnix, for making multiple free-to-play titles which relied on daily quests and microtransactions to keep people hooked. Steph argued that such titles were never going to work in the long run, since people have only so much time in the day and might play one or two such games instead of a lot of them, and the revenue model was inherently nonsensical and unsustainable. Come early 2023, and Square Enix had to shut down multiple such titles, such as ''Babylon's Fall'', ''Chocobo GP Racing'', ''Marvel's Avengers'', and ''FINAL FANTASY VII: The First Soldier''; the following year, [[VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival2MiracleLive one game]]'s release and EOL dates were announced '''simultaneously'''.

** In TheNewTwenties, Steph called out companies, especially Creator/SquareEnix, for making multiple free-to-play titles which relied on daily quests and microtransactions to keep people hooked. Steph argued that such titles were never going to work in the long run, since people have only so much time in the day and might play one or two such games instead of a lot of them, and the revenue model was inherently nonsensical and unsustainable. Come early 2023, and Square Enix had to shut down multiple such titles, such as ''Babylon's Fall'', ''Chocobo GP Racing'', ''Marvel's Avengers'', and ''FINAL FANTASY VII: The First Soldier'', and the following year, [[VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival2MiracleLive one game]]'s release and end of service dates were announced '''simultaneously'''.

** In TheNewTwenties, Steph called out companies, especially Creator/SquareEnix, for making multiple free-to-play titles which relied on daily quests and microtransactions to keep people hooked. Steph argued that such titles were never going to work in the long run, since people have only so much time in the day, and might play one or two such games instead of a lot of them. They also criticized the nonsensical and unsustainable model of generating revenue from such titles, which assumes an eternal snowball effect of increasingly more players generating increasingly more revenue, a business model that could be fairly called InsaneTrollLogic. Come early 2023, and Square Enix had to shut down multiple such titles, such as ''Babylon's Fall'', ''Chocobo GP Racing'', ''Marvel's Avengers'', and ''FINAL FANTASY VII: The First Soldier''.

* OH MAH GAWD HYPE!: Steph takes footage of video game trailers designed to hype people up and completely snarks at them, which is doing the complete opposite of other Website/YouTube celebrities where they hype the hell out of a game based on the trailer alone.

** The thought that entertainers on ''Website/YouTube'' who rely on living off their channels doing videos that they enjoy making aren't working "real jobs".

* DivideAndConquer: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w2RMBrmTsk Newtendo]]", Steph puts videos from several other games studios because they (including Nintendo) abuse Website/YouTube's copyright system and try to claim ad revenue on any video containing their content. By putting several different games on one video, they find the copyright holders get stalemated as trying to put ads on the video draws the attention of the others and leads to conflicting copyright claims.

* LoopholeAbuse: They invented the "Copyright Deadlock" technique to avoid copyright claims on their videos. How it works is that you put in a bunch of gratuitous footage from all kinds of different companies, videogame related or not. And because of the amount of Content ID claims, no single company can actually make money via ads on the "offending video", since that would mean they ''all'' own it, and yet only one of them can legally make money off of said video. Meaning, rather hilariously, their work remained ad-free due to no one company getting ad-revenue from Content ID. It's taken to another level with Nintendo where Steph is so fed up with Nintendo's shenanigans on Website/YouTube and in the gaming industry that they insert video content from Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan so that both companies, despite being basically the same company, claim the video and are unable to make money from it.

* RefugeInAudacity: [[https://youtu.be/cK8i6aMG9VM In the video, Copyright Deadlock,]] Steph explains a way to counter a Content ID claim, which is to make it so that your video has ''multiple Content ID claims.'' This creates a conglomeration of claims and if one says no monetization, no ads play, thus, no one earns anything. Steph proceeds to mock the claimants and Website/YouTube for the train wreck of the Content ID system literally making additional violations easier and more attractive than honest attempts at compliance.

** As mentioned above, any time Nintendo is mentioned or their footage is used that video will also feature Steph dancing to Erasure's song Chains of Love, just to screw with Website/YouTube's Content ID system.

* InherentlyFunnyWords: "Chungus." Originally comes from Steph's Destructoid podcast and Website/YouTube channel.

* NetworkDecay: While Steph doesn't like it, they understand why a lot of video game news blogs would occasionally cover other topics, (like TV shows, movies, and Internet culture). They're trying to stay relevant and possibly feed off some of the popularity of big entertainment pieces so that they don't disappear into irrelevance. At the same time they note that Website/YouTube channels seem less susceptible to this phenomenon, and that the most successful channels tend to focus on one thing and stick to it.

** [[invoked]] Deconstructed in "[[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/Jimquisition/9340-The-Rise-of-YouTube-Fodder The Rise of YouTube Fodder]]". Steph points out that developers who ''intentionally'' make bad games, in the hopes that Website/YouTube celebrities will give them free publicity, will fail because their audiences are either too young to buy the game (fans of ranting [=YouTubers=]) or too smart to buy it (fans of more analytical [=YouTubers=]).

* AnAesop: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14 The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Monetization]]'' has a clear message: lootboxes and other forms of microtransactions are a form of gambling, and some game companies exploit those with gambling or shopping addictions to make their games more profitable.

** In "[[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/Jimquisition/7161-Perfect-Pasta-Sauce Perfect Pasta Sauce]]", they chide the industry for its attitude of copying the most successful formulas instead of trying new or different ideas to seek a broader audience. They compare it to Prego pasta sauce who beat rival Ragu, not by making a better pasta sauce, but by making several varieties of sauces that could reach different markets, all while actively searching for new, untapped niches. And in the ''DAMN FINE COFFEE'' episode they eloquently put it thus: "The people who like [Game X] already ''have'' [Game X]. They don't need your shitty version of it!"

** In "[[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/Jimquisition/7161-Perfect-Pasta-Sauce Perfect Pasta Sauce]]", they chide the industry for its attitude of copying the most successful formulas instead of trying new or different ideas to seek a broader audience. They compare it to Prego pasta sauce who beat rival Ragu, not by making a better pasta sauce, but by making several varieties of sauces that could reach different markets. And in the ''DAMN FINE COFFEE'' episode they eloquently put it thus: "The people who like [Game X] already ''have'' [Game X]. They don't need your shitty version of it!"

** In TheNewTwenties, Steph called out companies, especially Creator/SquareEnix, for making multiple free-to-play titles which relied on daily quests and microtransactions to keep people hooked. Steph argued that such titles were never going to work in the long run, since people have only so much time in the day, and might play one or two such games instead of a lot of them. They also criticized the nonsensical and unsustainable model of generating revenue from such titles, which assumes an eternal snowball effect of increasingly more players generating increasingly more revenue, a business model which it would be fair to call InsaneTrollLogic. Come early 2023, and Square Enix had to shut down multiple such titles, such as ''Babylon's Fall'', ''Chocobo GP Racing'', ''Marvel's Avengers'', and ''FINAL FANTASY VII: The First Soldier''.

** In TheNewTwenties, Steph called out companies, especially Creator/SquareEnix, for making multiple free-to-play titles which relied on daily quests and microtransactions to keep people hooked. Steph argued that such titles were never going to work in the long run, since people have only so much time in the day, and might play one or two such games instead of a lot of them. They also criticized the nonsensical and unsustainable model of generating revenue from such titles, which assumes an eternal snowball effect of increasingly more players generating increasingly more revenue, which is simply untrue because people only have a finite amount of free time and can't juggle several of these games at once. In fact, it wouldn't be invalid to describe this business model as flat-out InsaneTrollLogic. Come early 2023, and Square Enix had to shut down multiple such titles, such as ''Babylon's Fall'', ''Chocobo GP Racing'', ''Marvel's Avengers'', and ''FINAL FANTASY VII: The First Soldier''.

Stephanie Sterling (born 1 January 1984) is the host of [[WebOriginal the web video series]] known as ''The Jimquisition''. Sterling is an independent video game pundit (formerly of ''Destructoid'' and ''Website/TheEscapist''), known for their tendency to stoke controversy and frequent examination of the video game industry's seedy underbelly.

** In "[[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/Jimquisition/8105-Lugoscababib-Discobiscuits Lugoscababib Discobiscuits]]", Steph is annoyed by everyone using "[[GameplayAndStorySegregation Ludonarrative Dissonance]]" [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness just because it sounds cool]]. In particular, they say that people are using it to criticize violence in games, when it really means a disconnect between the narrative told in gameplay, versus the narrative told by cutscenes. They looked at ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'', in which Lara Croft is supposed to be an archaeologist who hates guns, and yet spends the game killing people like a pro; and compared it to ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', which also has lots of violence, but stars a violent person, being dropped into a city that looks peaceful but is really hiding a violent underbelly. Both have been criticized for ludonarrative dissonance, when only ''Tomb Raider'' is a true example.

** While Steph once appreciated Creator/ValveSoftware for their high quality games and pioneering Platform/DigitalDistribution service, their relationship with the company grew very strained over the years due to it doing very little to curate content being published on Steam and having next to no communication with anyone, along with their steadily declining game output over the years. The resentment finally boiled over in mid-2018 where Valve announced they would no longer curate any game and would instead let the community filter out content they don't like. Steph was incredulous, believing that a problem they felt was already bad was only going to get worse.

** While Steph once appreciated Creator/ValveSoftware for their high quality games and pioneering UsefulNotes/DigitalDistribution service, their relationship with the company grew very strained over the years due to it doing very little to curate content being published on Steam and having next to no communication with anyone, along with their steadily declining game output over the years. The resentment finally boiled over in mid-2018 where Valve announced they would no longer curate any game and would instead let the community filter out content they don't like. Steph was incredulous, believing that a problem they felt was already bad was only going to get worse.

** Steph's response to the UsefulNotes/XboxOne being an overly restrictive gadget aimed at privileged consumers with lots of money, who already have other gadgets that do what the Xbox One can do, only better.

** '''Sloth''': Valve for their refusal with quality control regarding Steam, where they became complacent due to their success and lack of competition. The result of this has been a UsefulNotes/{{shovelware}} problem basically amounting to the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s problem times a billion and, even worse, a wide range of homophobic and hateful games being allowed on the storefront of these once-esteemed developers.

* SmugSmiler: Steph was criticized for attacking Microsoft over the DRM in the UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and accused of [[{{Fanboy}} ignoring Sony]] who would almost certainly follow suit; Steph was withholding judgment until Sony clarified its position on the used game market, as only Microsoft had jumped into the phone home DRM market. You couldn't find a more smug dance when Sony announced at E3 that they would ''not'' block used games on the [=PS4=].

* SpitTake: When asked to do an episode about Microsoft offering $100 for [=PS3=] trade-ins on an UsefulNotes/XboxOne Steph said they wouldn't because the video would consist of nothing but them [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/Jimquisition/8753-Steam-Needs-Quality-Control drinking coffee and doing this]].

** They made a similar argument for praising Sony's decision to support used games on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, arguing that while Sony wasn't bringing any new benefits the consumer and was in fact maintaining the status quo, they were still worthy of praise since in the current customer-hostile climate that pervades the game industry Sony's decision likely took a lot of consideration and courage.

* Spray n' Play: Here, Steph takes a game and does a blind, 10-40 minute playthrough on it, commenting on its gameplay, graphics and such and, at the end, decides whether they recommend it or not. It includes many, *many* titles in Early Access. Formerly known as "Jimpressions" and "Squirty Plays".
** Jimpressions: Based on the less popular format of what was *formerly* called Jimpressions. This series has Steph doing post-commentary about their first, and consequent, impressions of a major title they played recently, with the game's footage in question being in the background.

* Industry Bullshit: While not exactly a series, it *is* a weekly feature with Steph taking a gander at recent controversial or notable enough gaming news - and stating their opinion on the subject matter.

*** Like Nintendo, Creator/{{Sega}} is also a company Steph has a love-hate relationship with. Steph clearly loves the more creative and vivid side of Sega through games like the [[VideoGame/{{Yakuza}} Yakuza series]], even considering SpinOff ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'' outright the best game he played in 2018. However, he also lays into their occasional status as a greedy IncompetenceInc for a variety of hapless fuck-ups; from the incompetently-mangled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt_TN8ACBlw Sega Genesis Classics]]'', to their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6On5zpld7Rk scraping-at-the-barrel pre-order "bonuses"]] for ''Sonic Origins'', to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NL50_W_mgU comically awful and legendarily bad Sonic 25th Anniversary]]. It's clear however that Steph doesn't at all hate Sega like he does the aforementioned companies, even thanking Sega for bringing more classical haplessness in an era where Steph felt like it was sorely needed, but nonetheless taking the piss out of Sega out of ToughLove.

-->'''Steph:''' Shitwood.

** One kind that may sound relatively harmless is the "little white lie" told to keep fans from guessing some surprise that's scheduled to be revealed with great fanfare on a certain date, which may extend to denying leaked information that is actually correct. The problem is that creators who do this habitually lose all of their credibility, since the fans and journalists will inevitably find out what they lied about, and if they have any sense then they won't take the creator(s) at their word ever again. Creator/HideoKojima is a cautionary tale, as he pulled a legitimately brilliant misdirection on the audience with the NeverTrustATrailer marketing for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', but since then he has remained so addicted to pre-release stunts that everybody is expecting him to pull a trick on the audience, and it doesn't work like it used to.

** Whenever Steph makes a video about Amiibo (2 so far), they regularly intersperse clips of them holding two amiibo (which they rapidly switche out) and moving them like they're performing sex acts on each other.

*** Steph now considers themselves the enemy of the entire "triple-AEYYY" video games industry among Western spaces ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Konami]]), regarding almost all members of it as irredeemable, amoral slime who are raking in huge profits by actively making games worse so as to psychologically manipulate vulnerable people into spending money they can't afford in order to compensate. At the end of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14 "The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization"]] they finished by declaring ''"You damn right I'm anti-triple-A."''

In 2020, Steph came out as non-binary. Steph's pronouns are she/they.

Stephanie Sterling (born 1 January 1984) is the host of [[WebOriginal the web video series]] known as ''The Jimquisition'', going by the pronouns "she/they". Sterling is an independent video game pundit (formerly of ''Destructoid'' and ''Website/TheEscapist''), known for their tendency to stoke controversy and frequent examination of the video game industry's seedy underbelly.

Stephanie Sterling (born 1 January 1984) is the host of [[WebOriginal the web video series]] known as ''The Jimquisition''. Sterling is an independent video game pundit (formerly of ''Destructoid'' and ''Website/TheEscapist''), known for their tendency to stoke controversy and frequent examination of the video game industry's seedy underbelly.

* TrappedAtTheDinnerTable: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaerhOZOHyA&t= You Didn't Finish The Game]]", Jim recounts how the one time their [[WickedStepmother asshole stepfather]] tried to make them eat liver and onions, they sat at the table all night rather than eat it. After their mother had a long chat with him, the family never had liver and onions again. This segues into the episode proper, wherein they argue that being forced to play an entire game that clearly sucks (and you can tell 5 minutes in that it's garbage) in order to validate your criticism of it is just as asinine as forcing someone to sit there until they've eaten their liver and onions.

* FieryRedhead: Already having the attitude for this trope, Steph started regularly wearing an auburn wig after coming out as nonbinary, which was teased in a Jimquisition video shortly before that.

* {{Hypocrite}}: [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/Jimquisition/8876-Watch-Dogs-A-Vertical-Slice-Of-Steaming-Bullshots Called out Ubisoft]] for the graphics in ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'', and other developers who promote their games with better graphics than they can realistically deliver and then try to say "graphics don't matter" when they downgrade the graphics for the final release.

* ArtifactTitle: Despite Steph phasing out their deadname when referring to themself, their website and show still keep the "''Jim''quisition" brand.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: [[invoked]] Discussed in "Boring, Lazy Art Games". They feel that the term "art game" is starting to become a euphemism for "boring, pretentious pile of shit", citing examples such as ''VideoGame/DearEsther'' and ''VideoGame/ThePath'' which [[{{Railroading}} force the player through]] [[SceneryPorn an interesting setting]], but give them absolutely nothing to do.