James Stephanie Sterling, also known as Jim Sterling, is an English-American freelance video game journalist, critic, pundit,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

, and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

. Before becoming independent in September 2014, they were the review editor for ''

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ...

'', and an author for '' The Escapist''. Sterling is noted as one of the main examples of a YouTuber achieving success through

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...

Career

Video game critic

Sterling presents ''The Jimquisition'', a weekly

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

video series in which they discuss current issues surrounding video games, often involving consumer protection and ethics in the video game industry. The series originated on

's YouTube channel and was later moved to '' The Escapist''s channel, before being released on Sterling's own channel. Their main gameplay series are "Jimpressions" and "Squirty Play", where they discuss their impressions of a recently released video game while showing their own pre-recorded gameplay. They have often spoken against sexism in gaming, and have been open about the fact that their position on this subject has slowly evolved. In November 2014, Sterling announced that they were leaving ''The Escapist'' and intended to seek funding for their work independently through

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a com ...

. On a 2020 episode of ''The Jimquisition'', they stated that they had departed ''The Escapist'' after the publication had refused to publish their negative review of ''

Assassin's Creed Unity ''Assassin's Creed Unity'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia. It is the ...

'', citing that parent company

Defy Media Defy Media was an American digital media company that produced original online content for the 12–34 age group. Originally founded in 1996 as Alloy Online (later Alloy Digital), the final company was formed in 2013 by its merger with Break M ...

was afraid of damaging any sponsorship opportunities with

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...

. Sterling also stated their desire to go back to writing articles and recording podcasts, which they were not able to do since leaving Destructoid. They currently maintain their own website, ''The Jimquisition'', in addition to producing a podcast titled "Podquisition", which is shared with fellow British game journalist and founding host,

Laura Kate Dale Laura Kate Dale is a video game journalist, author and activist. She is known for writing about the transgender and autism communities in relation to video games and for her video game industry leaks. Many of her topics tackle accessibility f ...

. The third founding member/co-host, Irish musician Gavin Dunne, had his final permanent appearance on episode 250, leaving to pursue a musical career. Gavin was replaced on episode 251 with Conrad Zimmerman, who had previously worked alongside Sterling at Destructoid. In March 2016, a lawsuit was filed against Sterling by Digital Homicide Studios, seeking $10 million in damages for "assault, libel, and slander", following their negative review of their first game ''The Slaughtering Grounds''. They further accused Digital Homicide Studios of deleting negative feedback of the game on its

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

review page, and banning users who criticized it. The lawsuit was raised to $15 million, before it was eventually dismissed with prejudice in late February 2017. Sterling has been credited with coining the term "Chungus", which would later be part of the name of the " Big Chungus" meme. Sterling started using the term as early as 2012 on their channel in a variety of unrelated contexts with different meanings for humorous effect.

Wrestling

Sterling wrestles under the name Commander Sterling. Sterling initially became involved in wrestling as a joke, appearing as a character called Sterdust, parodying

Cody Rhodes Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes (''né'' Runnels; born June 30, 1985) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Rhodes is also known for his time in All Elite Wrestling (AE ...

’ character Stardust, later appearing as a heel

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

, before taking up wrestling themself, also as a

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exer ...

. They have wrestled for promotions including Pro Wrestling EGO, Ryse Wrestling, BadBoys Wrestling (BBW), and the PolyAm Cult Party. They co-founded and run wrestling promotion Spectrum Wrestling.

Reception

In 2011 Sterling was featured in a list of "the 25 raddest game journalists to follow on Twitter" by ''Complex''. They have developed into a controversial figure in the world of

video game journalism Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicati ...

, particularly for their criticisms of industry practices and focus on consumer protection. Fans of some highly anticipated games, including ''

No Man's Sky ''No Man's Sky'' is an action-adventure survival game developed and published by Hello Games. It was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in August 2016, for Xbox One in July 2018, for the PlayStation 5 and Xb ...

'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'', have launched

DDoS In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conn ...

attacks against Sterling's website following reviews that were believed to be insufficiently positive. Sterling's views on

art games An art game (or arthouse game) is a work of interactive new media digital software art as well as a member of the "art game" subgenre of the serious video game. The term "art game" was first used academically in 2002 and it has come to be und ...

have been criticized by '' Spelunky'' creator

Derek Yu Derek Yu is an American independent video game designer, video game artist, and blogger.Louis Leroy in 1874 of a

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

painting, which Leroy criticized for being unfinished, while the style of painting would later become a major art style.

Personal life

Sterling was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, where they lived near the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

for much of their childhood and were emotionally abused by their mother's partner. This abuse is what prompted them to take on the "Jim Sterling" name, saying that they would have had it legally changed, if not for legal issues. In a video from November 2015, while talking about the polyamorous relationship options in ''

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, ...

'', Sterling stated that they were "not a monogamous guy, nor ..a

straight Straight may refer to: Slang * Straight, slang for heterosexual ** Straight-acting, an LGBT person who does not exhibit the appearance or mannerisms of the gay stereotype * Straight, a member of the straight edge subculture Sport and games * ...

one either." They are openly

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofle ...

and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the l ...

. In June 2020, they became a naturalized United States citizen. In August 2020, Sterling came out as

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

. Sterling uses

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...

pronouns. In late June 2020, while discussing the Speaking Out movement and misconduct within the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...

, Sterling touched upon their own disorders:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Jim 1984 births 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people American people of English descent American YouTubers English expatriates in the United States English YouTubers LGBT entertainers from England LGBT people from Mississippi LGBT professional wrestlers LGBT YouTubers Living people Naturalized citizens of the United States Non-binary sportspeople Non-binary writers Pansexual non-binary people Patreon creators People from Erith People from Jackson, Mississippi People with acquired American citizenship People with bipolar disorder People with post-traumatic stress disorder Video game critics