Abby on the MinnMax show talks leaving GB and the future

No one has posted about this and I imagine there are fans of Abby that would probably want to give it a listen.

Ben Hanson conducts another one of his "exit interviews" with Abby that he also did for Mike Mahardy and Dan Ryckert when they were leaving their respective positions to go on to new projects. The interview itself feels a little terse compared to others I've watched. Obviously no one wants to lay it all bare, especially when you're still working for the company, but this one in particular felt a lot more guarded than usual. Although I gotta give props to Abby - for someone so young she is showing an amazing amount of restraint which is something that took me many professional years to learn. At her age I was constantly getting in trouble for being too honest about my opinions of the companies I worked for, workflow etc. Being able to keep things close to the chest is a valuable skill and best learned early on.

Either way it's a short listen if you're curious.

I thought this was a great interview. Good questions which Ben gave Abby plenty of time to answer, and Abby handled those questions professionally well.

She's still working for GB. Interview would have made more sense a month or so after.

Saw this last night and thought it was a good, candid interview.

Not to ignore some of the elements of the community that really seem to dislike her (in that unhealthy and toxic way, you know what I mean) it was nice to hear from her in a more casual setting and I really got the sense that she's leaving on her own terms.

Hopefully she finds happiness and success in her future endeavors, I'll be among those missing her once she's gone. Halloween will never be the same!

It was an interesting listen. This was more business-like than the others, as Ben is way closer to Andy and Dan. Felt a little early to post this but Abby probably wouldn't wanna do this during her time off.

4 years is a good run, and I totally get wanting to move on to something new.

@csl316: as she said herself this was just a job for her and not a passion and most people that struggle to get into the game industry and then stay in it despite the relatively small area for advancement do so because they have a real passion for games.

Interesting interview

I hope abby does some more comedy stuff, I thought her youtube pee wee playhouse type show had a lot of potential.

Time goes fast. Going to miss Abby here, best of luck with whatever she does next.

Hopefully they'll literally do what they said on the Syndicate stream and next Halloween, it'll be Rorie & Vinny continuing Six Crazy Frights, with Rorie's face just poorly added into the intro.

some nice real talk in this one.

good luck abby, you'll be missed!

I think you're reading more into it than what is actually said. My read of her responses is much closer to ambivalence than dislike. I appreciate Abby's candour; I'd rather she share her honest position, instead of just going "Oh the Giant Bomb community is tremendous, and I definitely never received ongoing internet harassment about some shit I said on a video years ago."

Taking a step back, I've listened to several interviews with Youtube/Twitch people where they've brought up that reading the comments/chat ends up driving them insane. To paraphrase Abby from this interview, she just doesn't read the comments very much, positive or negative.

Some of Ben's interview questions around this were frankly amateurish and/or he's not a good enough interviewer to adapt on the fly, which ended up putting Abby in an awkward position with no obvious out. Like he asks "What was it like reading the comments about your leaving announcement?", Abby goes "I don't really read the comments, but I appreciate that people left kind messages, my family and friends saw some of them", then Ben follows up with "Which particular comments were your favourite?" which is a super insane followup given she has spent the last 60 seconds establishing she doesn't read them.

The GB community has positive elements and negative elements. If Abby's experience wasn't the most positive or she just doesn't have a lot to say about the community, that's fine.

@bisonhero: I wasn't reading super-hard into it, but I am pretty sensitive to awkward questions, so I bet that didn't help steer my thoughts away from the, "Well that was a bit weird..." ditch I found myself in. I felt some slight holding back on the subject, but it wasn't something I found dramatic or that I needed to address, it was something I worried about, because I'd feel shitty if I think someone might have had a less-than-ideal experience with an aspect of the site I've enjoyed so much. That's me, though, always been like that. I worry.

I have no issue about the lack of elaboration; I may have responded similarly to the questions thrown Abby's way. Pressuring yourself by reading comments both positive and negative about you can be very self-destructive. I just really hope overall it was a positive thing!

Seems like she wants to move on. She very frequently refers to her presence on GB as a job - not sure if I recall any of the other folks ever word it that way on streams. Seems like they more or less have a passion for what they do and they've been doing it for so long, I'm sure it's still very much a job for them behind the scenes but they don't really drive that point home as much as Abby did.

@hibikirush: Just on the Abby referring to this as a job thing- in the early days I remember Brad always left early (I think to catch a bus or something) literally on camera and never seemed like he wanted to be on any of the videos or even more so live streams. As a matter of fact a very old giant bomb meme was sleepy Brad because he would also quite literally go to sleep during live streams while on camera.

Brad is much much different now than he was when he first started on Giant Bomb and quite frankly how he was for many years in the early days of Giant Bomb. I often wondered if they had a talk with him at some point because it seemed almost like over night he became more engaged and started taking an active role. It was a fascinating turn as I recall.

Keep in mind this was many years ago so this is all from my memory over the last decade.

I very much got the impression Brad saw this as only a job back then. Just given his schooling maybe he expected something different for his career at the time, and had to come to terms with where he was going. I don't know. I can only speculate. He never openly talked about it, and I know a big part of some stuff was just because Brad is very shy. But, again, there was a noticeable and drastic change for him at one point.

That's just something your post made me think of I wanted to share. I don't know- seemed apt.

Lots of great perspectives on giant bomb, but Abby's were the refreshing take that brought me back after a couple years out. I'll miss hearing you on the bombast and wish you all the best!

Any job becomes A Job once you’re doing it. And honestly, nobody wants to stay at their first job forever, regardless of what it is. (I remember actively getting myself fired by the end of my first gig so I could at least collect unemployment.) All told, four years at a gig that thrust her into a spotlight (and made her subject to jerky comments from some of the dumbest people on the internet) is a pretty strong run.

@cornbredx: Jeff and Vinny founded the site, and I believe Ryan is considered a cofounder as well. I believe Brad was described as their first hire, although this was over 10 years ago so I might be misremembering. Point is that it was a job for Brad, while it was a business venture for Jeff, Vinny, and Ryan. So he behaved more like an employee because he was an employee. Jeff was in charge of editorial, Vinny in charge of production, and Dave Snider of Whiskey Media was in charge of the technical and design aspects. Ryan served as the emcee/host. They each were in charge of a portion of the business. When Ryan sadly passed away, Brad had to take over a lot of the hosting and emcee duties and at that point you saw both him and Vinny be far more present in front of the camera. With Ryan you just didn’t need that as Ryan was such a born showman and enjoyed hosting so much that you really didn’t have to do too much cause he would compensate. Like he would introduce the quick looks even when he wasn’t “driving”. He controlled the flow, and if something was boring him he would cut the driver off and push them to move along or just end the quick look. He had a brilliant knack for knowing when a bit was going on too long and when to stretch something out. Without him Brad had to learn when to cut something off. He had to be a lot more organized, as Ryan was just so good at finding the entertainment that Brad just had to drive. Then suddenly he had to do both and he had to host the Bombcast and he just had to grow into a much more senior figure at the company. It was really rough at first but he nailed it eventually.

@raven10: I think you are both reading too much into what we see them do on camera. Brad clearly has always had a passion for videogames. He always likes to bring up that he skipped his graduation to go to E3 lol. Also it was Jeff and Ryan that founded the site. Brad and Vinny were brought on at the same time as the first two hires.

@warihay: I think all three of you are wrong! It was Rorie and Alex that founded the site and then Jeff came on from New York to join as the first hire!

@raven10: you got your history wrong. Jeff and Ryan founded the site. Vinny and Brad were the first hires and came on at roughly the same time.

@demonsoul: Come on now.

@demonsoul: That's a wide-load of an assumption, bud.

If that interview confirmed anything it's that she was planning on leaving for a while now plus she has always viewed her position at GB as just a job. I get the optics of her departure being confusing to some people because she didn't exactly line something else up and is pretty much asking for job recommendations on twitter while taking on a twitch streamer interim job, but it says a lot that she would rather do that than stay on with GB.

I'm personally glad she's going if that's the kind of attitude she has had about her work here. I would prefer someone more passionate about games than anything else. And before the Abby Defense Force tries to misconstrue my comment, I have enjoyed a good bit of her content like 13 Deadly Sims and Crazy Frights. It seems like Sims and more recently Fortnite are the main game related things she fully enjoys but at some point that's too rote for me.

All in all I am hoping her replacement will be another woman. I disagreed with a lot of her personal opinions around social justice but this website is in absolute need of a woman's perspective on games in general.

I can understand why people want to speculate. This is the first time a GB personality has left the site for a reason other than chasing a passion project or dream job.

I am growing to love this very dumb theory that Red Ventures is forcing Abby to leave. You know, rather than do the normal, legally required thing of laying someone off. Real big brain energy with that one.

I’m going to miss Abby’s energy and viewpoint a less than super hard core gaming fan. It’s a bummer for the site because she has created some of my wife and my favorite features.

Edit: Also, this talk about passion for game and dislike for Abby saying it was just a job is really off putting. At the end of the day all the GB crew are just doing a job for a paycheck. We pay a subscription, but that is just to see premium content. Not to hear them praise how amazing the we are for playing them 30-60 bucks a year.

I enjoyed Abby’s content and contributions to the site. I don’t think anyone should look too far into any comment of hers as her job and life is her business first. As for performing an interview too early, I disagree. You don’t know what contract and public/social rules someone’s next employer will have.

As for the debate over someone seeing it as “just a job”, be careful what lofty or misplaced expectations you put on someone. A job puts food on the table, pays for your home, pays for your health, your savings and retirement, your social life and everything else. Never underestimate the stress, pressure, and priority of these things alone and the risks taken to move on to the next thing. Enjoying your job as more than a job is great thing (and i’m not suggesting anyone does or doesn’t) but depending on the circumstances it can also become unhealthy and its unreasonable to push that on anyone as it just doesn't help.

@plan6: Just to clarify what I said - since I am in the pool of folks contributing to that conversation - the key difference between a job and a passion is that you are willing to make sacrifices for one but not the other. People slave away in the game industry business because it is often a passion for them. This goes both for the media and development side. You hear very often how game developers could get much more stable and better paying jobs in other tech sectors but they remain as long as they can in the game industry business because they have a genuine passion for it. Same goes for media, where people work for gaming websites for years on end without great raises or possibilities to move up simply because it allows them to do what they love while also getting paid for it.

To be clear I don't bedgrudge Abby or think she is doing anything wrong. If you don't have the aforementioned passion to keep doing this then it's not such a hot look. Being fresh out of college, 4 years in a company without (I can only assume) any significant raises, no way to move up, podcasting from a literal broom closet while your friends are getting promotions or moving up in the world can definitely make you consider it's about time to move right on. I did the same thing despite working in a rather comfortable office at one point but it was a dead end job and I saw many peers outpacing me. I didn't have the passion to stay there, it was just a job, so I moved on and I am much better for it now as I work in a much better place, have much better benefits and earn way more.

So it's not an insult or casting shade in her direction. If anything it's a very good clarification for her moving on.

Boy... look at this thread. Literally, the first 5 minutes of the interview Abby mentions people who speak with authority who can't possibly have the insight to do so. I think she hit the nail on the head with that one.

Umm what? Who is asking for praise for being subscribers here lol that's a bit much. Also I don't think Jeff and then Ryan back in the day going out of their way to establish a brand new gaming site with the group that was then, Whiskey Media, should be summed up as an elaborate plot to merely collect a paycheck at the end of the day like you're generalizing over there. There's some real passion involved there to want to put the work into getting that off the ground.

And on a personal level I'm not looking for a Jeff-level video game, encyclopedia kind of person to pass this imaginary bar of "hardcore gamer" that you seem to be implying here. I just think it was clear from the minnmax interview how she felt about the job and that she has no interest in the "seriousness" that people in the industry place on games which I will only partly agree with if you're referring to the fanboy vitriol that surrounds GoTY discussions.

And if you disagree with that sentiment, power to you. I'm more than happy to agree to disagree and not try to discredit your opinion with some throwaway comment about people seeking praise just for being subscribers. That's some left field BS.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of people who speak about things as if they know the whole situation, especially strangers, but asking questions and polite speculation is natural. You feel connected to online personalities so much sometimes, it's hard not to wonder or discuss certain things.

I’m not really talking about anyone specific, but the tone that I have picked up on regarding Abby’s blunt assessment her employment.

Jeff and Ryan were really scrappy and invested in the whisky media days because they were the ones building a brand and were the ones running the show. There is a huge difference between an employee of a company and the founder of the company, both in investment and pay scale. I think folks should really temper their expectations for future employees, especially when industry seems to not hand out raises or promotions without someone leaving. Giant Bomb isn’t the only one with this problem. Patrick also talked about it being a problem at Kotaku, among with Giant Bomb. He was very blunt to say the only way to get a raise was to get a new job offer.

Don’t get me wrong, I love giant bomb. But I’m getting the impressions that the entire industry of video games coverage might be.....bad to new comers. Or bad to labor in general. And maybe, like we are finding out about a lot of video game developers, the video games media industry needs a kick in the pants. And giant bomb, as owned by CBS interactive, has not been immune to that. It is something that I keep in the back of my head when people talk about the pitfalls of covering games.

I am sad to see Abby go and I am curious about the future of GB under their new company which seems to make the bulk of their money through credit card offer tie ins. Hopefully GB's premium model generates enough revenue to make them mostly immune from meddling but time will tell.

As for Abby moving on, it seems like a good enough time given the changes. She obviously wants to pursue a comedy/entertainment career and has been building to that. Hopefully she takes the audience she has gained at GB and make ends meet via Twitch until her next job/project.

ha- it's almost as if there's a systemic concentration of wealth, power, and equity in the ownership class, across ALL industries- and that indulgence of fan passion for a product is being used as smokescreen for further concentration.

but i digress.

speaking generally: i think it's important to remember 2 things with abby and giant bomb- first, GB was fundamentally founded as a startup- so they're not immune to the pitfalls of that culture and/or structure. we know GB to be largely self-aware and agree their hearts are in the right place- but like most startups, those in ownership or 'in at the ground floor' have a completely different experience, perception, and relationship with the employer than the most recent junior hires. a red venture or cbs hire for GB likely lives on another planet entirely than a founder or pre-acquisition senior employee.

the second thing is- abby readily admits she didn't have a relationship with GB, gamespot, or the games press prior to hire. her stake was employment- not dream fulfillment from years of fandom. and perhaps unintuitively- to me that means she was an incredibly valuable addition to the crew, and proof-positive that her hire was done so from the correct perspective. a creative venture NEEDS outside perspective to grow, improve, and become a more inclusive space. hiring a fan more likely gives you more of the same rather than new opportunity. abby's voice and perspective was new- and GB will be lesser and more homogenous without it. i love em, but it's a blow.

i don't think her departure necessitates a exhaustive referendum on abby, the state of GB, or the state of the industry. everyone has their reasons. a bit of self reflection on all parties would probably be in order- that's natural, and should happen anytime a young employee departs (you have to ask the question- why are they leaving, and how can we improve).

and from a fan's perspective- the next time someone with outside experience shows up, we need to do our part to ensure we're always giving them the benefit of the doubt, and dropping any semblance of toxic 'prove it' attitude that's accrued over the years.

I think a large chunk of the fan base for this site tends to get a little defensive, which is fair considering how long they've been fans. I came to the site after Dan was hired because I was a fan of his, and subsequently became a fan of GB, so I don't have as much of that defensive mindset in me. Even if you take the shit she had to put up with out of the equation, Abby not being overtly endearing to the community during her departure doesn't strike me as too out of place for her. I'm happy to have had Abby as a voice on the site as long as she was and I'm very excited to see what she does in the future.

@cornbredx: Brad had to expand to fill the vacuum at Giant Bomb when Ryan passed away. Before that, it was very easy for Brad to be in the background because Ryan, Vinny, and Jeff were and are such large, outgoing personalities (Ryan especially).

I’m not going to miss Abby during GOTY content, but I will miss her talking on the Beastcast. Hopefully she can make a living streaming video games on Twitch like Dan.

I'll be pretty interested if/when she talks about it with some time and distance from the company... just seems like that would make for a more interesting watch/listen.

I like Ben Hanson a lot, but I find his podcasts and interviews unlistenable. It’s a weird paradox

I remember when Vinny announced they were looking for someone with a description, then at the end threw in something like "and they have to be super cool".

Then somehow they manage to find someone with a background in improv who fixes her motorcycle in the streets of New York :)

@mellotronrules: THIS!

SIMPLY STATED: THIS!

I'm happy they didn't hire another fawning fan (and don't get me wrong: I LOVE Jan and Ben's energy and their knowledge of inside-jokes and what-not) because have you SEEN what happens when a company/creator surrounds their executives with simpering yes-men?

You get Star Wars Prequels. (And for an object lesson on not reading the comments: see the Star Wars Sequels).

So here's to hoping: Giant Bomb hires another opinionated outsider who wants to entertain people first and foremost.

I can understand the distance that Abby has put between herself and the community because of threads exactly like this. Watching people obsessively deep dive into every statement and remark you make (as is being done here) is always going to be exhausting and alienating, and "not reading the comments" seems like the best way to stay sane in that context.

As moderators we've seen a fuller extent of misogynistic criticisms, offhand personal attacks, and general disproportionate grief that Abby has been subject to on our forums over the years, by both new accounts and old. Even the people that claim to be her fans often express their admiration in a way which feels obsessive or creepy, and you'd be amazed how many people feel a sense of entitlement to do so, becoming indignant when we ask them to stop.

Personally I'm impressed she stuck it out for 4 years.

I've just listened to the beginning of the show and Abby is right that coming into Giant Bomb as she did limits any room for upward movement in her career not because there is some sort of glass ceiling but the very nature of the structure at Giant Bomb. It is a relatively small work group with well defined roles and a newcomer is pretty much always going to be in their starting spot for the foreseeable future. I have no real room to comment on it as I actually worked for 31 years at the same job but had I wished I could have moved up into a management role but it never seemed to be a good fit for me. Someone like Abby who even after 4 years is really just starting out in her search for the perfect job and isn't invested in the gaming industry as a whole should be looking around and the buyout of CBSi is a good place to make a clean break and if there may be some sort of buyout bonus for her then all the better.

Best of luck to her and hope to hear how she is doing now and again, I don't actually follow GB alum when they leave the fold for whatever reason but do like to see them drop by some times.

It's not possible to be popular and have a "good" community at the same time. The US elections have proven that approximately 50% of people suck, so statistically, trolls are unavoidable. If a community prides themselves as being welcoming and positive, it's a guarantee that they're tiny.

So people suck if they don't follow your political views? Sorry but that's way too black and white. I know people hate centrist points of views these days especially on the internet, but the real world doesn't function in black and white most of the time.

For example, I didn't vote for either of the 2 parties, because for me as long as we are locked into this 2 party WWE match, cause that's all it really is... no real good change will come to this country. So for me with your same attitude I'd have to say that like 98% or more of the people in the US suck... there are a lot of very valid reasons why people can vote for a candidate, even one that does suck and they can still be amazing people even when they don't align with your own views.

This hardline division we are having more and more in this country and the world, if we can't do something about it VERY soon will be the destruction of this country and maybe more. I know that sounds really over the top... but I really do think it's one of the worst problems in modern society.

And guess what, the 2 party WWE style governing system we have currently sure does foster that hardline division of "your either with us or against us!"

Maybe it's time to opt out of the fight and work together sans political parties and get some actual stuff done.