State Of Sterling: Monday Is Coming

Hello you lovely patrons!

It’s a bit of a mild migraine day today, so I won’t make this a mega long update (note: it turned out way longer than I planned). Let’s just get to the important part right now…

A new video script is written, and the band (Zilla) is back together. Stephameat’s back on the menu!

Life is still incredibly busy and I have a ton of writing work continually on my docket, but the current plan is to have the video done and published by this coming Monday. The script’s not exactly a groundbreaking subject, but it feels needed. The game industry has only gotten grosser since I went on hiatus, and I’ve got a lot of poisonous resentment to flush out of my system (preferably all over the face of Android Wilson). I’m expecting this episode to be cathartic. It’s at least rather poetic.

With y’all’s approval, I would like to approach future video work more flexibly rather than jump immediately return to the “never miss a Monday” mindset. At the very least, I’d prefer to ease back into a schedule for a few reasons. I want to engage with this job in a healthier manner than I’ve done for the past ten years, because I do not have another decade of that schedule in me! I never practiced what I preached when it came to crunch and overworking, and it was a pretty ill-advised thing to do to myself. I also think being able to take more time on videos will result in better ones. This is especially true at the moment, with my work in games writing keeping me very busy, and you deserve to have videos that aren’t rushed out of the gate because I’m pressed for time but still have to pull “content” out of my ass by Monday morning.

Case in point - I wrote this new script over a two week period, fleshing it out as the thoughts came to me. I didn’t force myself to have all the ideas first and put them into words over the course of a weekend. The script is consequently much better written, I think. It’s hardly a revelation that taking more time leads to better work, I’m simply taking my own advice at last.

In other areas of work, my writing is a lot slower than it used to be. I’m still literally the fastest writer I know - my particular brand of ADHD’s lone benefit - but compared to five years ago I take far longer to finish a draft of something. Where I used to write a review within one hour, now I’ll draft one over at least a day, taking more time to consider my words. The finished product is undeniably better, containing far more thought and nuance than what I used to put out. The only part of my working life that hasn’t changed in this way is The Jimquisition - my scripts haven’t had the chance to evolve alongside my other writing.

Like I say though, this is all pending your approval. I read all the comments to these posts and I do my best to follow how y’all respond to my work in general, so if it turns out that most supporters prefer the old routine, or if the results of taking more time just aren’t evident, then I’ll adapt accordingly. You all allowed me to have this career, and you all allowed me to take such a needed but lengthy sabbatical, so you deserve to have these videos done in the way that ultimately serves you all best.

Regardless, December is about to kick off so you’re guaranteed at least three videos anyway! As well as the newly written episode, we shall of course be doing the Jimquisition GOTY Awards and the Top Ten Shittiest Games of 2025. I know a few people were concerned about those two videos (one more than the other), but I’ve always been 100% committed to making sure they got done.

Well… I say they’re getting done, and they are, but they might not be Jimquisition Awards this year. One thing I know for sure is that they’ll be presented in glamorous High Stephinition!

… or more likely Hi-Steph because we there’s no way of writing the full word in a way that doesn’t look bloody awful.

We’ll see how things go, anyway. That’s what I like about the upcoming return to videos - we can really fuck around and toy with ideas now. We don’t have any of the stakes or pressures that others on YouTube do, and I want to really lean into having nothing left to lose on the platform. As I said in the last blog post, the “Jim Sterling” channel is essentially undead - a corpse by every YouTube metric but nonetheless animated thanks to your funding. This basically makes you digital Necromancers.

I’ll be totally honest and say I’ve not always been relishing the thought of making YouTube videos again. Being a “content creator” has long been a soul crushing, negatively reinforcing endeavor, and any ambitions I may once have had in that area were dusted years ago. By the same token, however, no matter how badly the algorithm buries the videos and how low the subscriber count drops, the show doesn’t lose money so long as it still has the supporters who believe in what it does.

This, by the way, is one of many reasons why spreading a rumor that I’m utterly destitute is really fucking dumb. After my last blog post, I was informed that this is what the Nerdzis are spreading around, which is bizarre. People want to think that YouTube’s metrics directly reflect the rest of my life, and take pleasure in mocking a fictional suffering version of myself. This is despite an amazing group of patrons ensuring the show has never been a loss, and the fact I’m literally never not working.

It’s a surreal thing to work on some of the most successful indie games of recent times while randos call me a washed up failure.

Anyway, I want to make a point that using poverty to attempt to debase someone is pretty fucking sick. I’m no less offended by it being bullshit than I would be if it were true. It’s a gross thing to revel in either way, and it amazes me how anyone doing that could think they’re morally in the right.

With that self indulgence out of the way, I must of course thank you all again for the continued support. For a while after the YouTube channel first went sideways, it really was a struggle, a psychological blow that fucking hurt. Even at the lowest ebb, however, you stood by the work I was doing and ensured it could stay successful independent of any metrics. I’m still deeply disillusioned with “content creation” as a career, but when it comes to repaying your support with my videos and writing, I am as grateful as ever that I get to do that for you.

And honestly, the foundation for my continued living that y’all provide is something I can’t express enough thanks for. Writing for games is risky and inconsistent and under threat by AI. YouTube is constantly harming anyone trying to make a living from it and becoming actively hostile to video makers. That you have been here, funding my endeavors purely because you like what I do, allowing me to operate without these factors dictating or compromising my work, is something I still have to pause and think “holy shit” about sometimes because… holy shit.

Y’all are the best Necromancers I could ask for!

Monday is coming.

Love,

Stephanie.