A Change is Gonna Come...but I'm not worried

I watched the live-stream of Thursday's Pancake Party, and the outrage and immediate emergence of the pessimists and doomsayers wasn't surprising. I'll even admint that I"m highly disappointed that we'll see less Whiskey cross-overs, as I've come to love Will, Rorie, Gary, Norm, Joey, and a lot of people I'd never heard of before they showed up on a TNT or a Quick Look. While that's a big bummer for me (and probably the Whiskey vrew who appeared to love working together), I'm not worried about CBSI "sucking the soul:" out of Giant Bomb or muzzling the way Jeff, Ryan, Brad, Vinny, Patrick, and Drew cover games and the gaming industry. There are a few reasons for this, but the two most important (and related) ones are these: Jeff said things won't change much, and, presumably, we're here because we trust the Giant Bomb guys. That last part, so important it needs to be bolded, is worth repeating: We're presumably here because we trust what Brad, Jeff, Ryan, Patrick, and Vinny have to say.

I've said what I'm about to say before, but it bears repeating because I imagine a lot of people have similar stories. As a gamer in 2007, I knew about GameSpot and read them occasionally, mostly when I was looking for a review of a game I was on the fence about or looking for news about something that was coming out and I was super-excited about it. I didn't pay attention to the by-lines on reviews, and I tended to just look at the numbers and use those to help inform my buy/wait/rent/avoid decision. When Gerstmann-gate broke as news on Penny Arcade, it was a kind of a wake-up call in that it made me more aware of everything that went into games coverage, for better or worse: game publisher and developer input, the outlet's editorial work and management, and individual bias and opinions on games. Believing the rumors, now confirmed, that Jeff was fired largely over a poor score given to an advertiser made me aware of who Jeff was and made me want to see what he did next, because I appreciated that kind of integrity in reviews and coverage of any medium.

I've been a reader of Giant Bomb since it's founding, and a member for some time, and a paid subscriber since they started (I think) because I've found as I read and watch and listen to Giant Bomb's content that I trust what they're telling me is an honest representation of how they feel about a game. That doesn't mean I think the same thing or agree with every opinion - how could I when you have such differences on staff like how Patrick and Jeff had such different views on Catherine, or how Vinny fell hard for Dark Souls while the rest of the team mostly saw it as a masochistic exercise in futility? Even on this past week's Bombcaast, we had a rehash of Brad vs. Everybody on the greatness of Flower. While Jeff's firing and integrity were what brought me here, I find I'm closer in my gaming tastes to Brad and Ryan, with the COD-tendencies of Vinny to try to collect everything - and that means both in-game and in ridiculous and largely unneeded peripherals.

Giant Bomb has built an incredible community that I'm fortunate to feel like a small part of. I also feel like when one of the staff members gives an opinion or passes judgement on a game or an event in the gaming world, I know where their opinion is coming from and can make my own reasonably informed decision about how that's going to differ from mine and to what degree. Jeff, Ryan, Brad, Vinny, Patrrick, and now Alex are NOT my friends, but I feel like I know them (or at least their tastes and inherit biases*) well enough to trust them when they tell me that the site's content and approach isn't going to change. I'm not going to pretend to know the business situation of Giant Bomb or Whiskey media, but I'm willing to believe that when Jeff says things aren't going to change much, he's not just blowing smoke up or collective asses, and CBSI is genuinely interested in preserving the community and content of Giant Bomb because those are valuable commodities to them.

There are going to be changes, and I might not like them all. But before grabbing the pitchforks, torches, and red nWo Wolfpack shirts (if I can even still find mine...), let's give the Giant Bomb crew the same benefit of the doubt we given them when looking for gaming news, reviews and criticism.