I don't really find any gaming youtube personalities good outside of laughing at for being cringe so I'm probably not the guy to ask if he's "good" or not.
I think that's the problem. Regardless of whatever opinions and such we've stated, James's interest in film and movie making got him to know how to act, present a film based narrative, and pull it off well with AVGN. It's one part old knowledge of knowing how to make a film, one part knowing what and how to film about the topic you're aiming for, and the end result is something that is new and yet builds upon what we have come to know in terms of entertainment.
The others that exist out there can't really compare. I can't even call them competitors in comparison with James. Off the bat, the first ones that come to mind are the "game reviewers" themselves. Outside of even Pat the NES Punk, the lot of them are typical geeky looking people who have kind of no charisma, or have not cultivated or hit the right notes for their on stage presence, and they just drone on and on about video games. Seriously, if you put them together with some shitty video game publication top ten video or whatever or even spliced their videos together, you could fool me into thinking they worked under the same umbrella. I also personally believe they are lowlife bottomfeeders who contribute nothing back to society and video gaming as a whole. Also, why are the lot of them scrawny problem glasses wearing wojaks? As to quote AVGN, they make James look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Next we have streamers and let's players. I'm too old for this shit, but the lot of them who have gotten popular are super spazzed out people like Markiplier and Pewdiepie, and while I'll let them bathe in their money, I also don't really buy into them. They help give good face to the video game industry, which is a double edged sword. I know about Vinesauce, but I also can tell even their group has internal politics played out to a T. Joel used to be fun and had a variety of interesting games, while over the years I can tell that Vinny got angry that Joel had the better community presence and attitude, and eventually demoted him to playing less popular games and forced him to be a cringe monkey that wouldn't garner attention away from him. I also used to watch Azuritereaction, but he got so burnt out and became such a sell out trying to relive his glory days. While they can get they are popular and they're pleasant at times, they're also admittedly replaceable and they can't gnaw at their leash if their masters abuse them or if they want to make waves. That's all I can say on them, imo, all of that.
While this doesn't call for hysterics and doompilling, James and his legacy really does feel like he's the only pillar holding up the entire gaming youtube entertainment community/industry/circle. He has the ability to provide presence that can stand out from the game reviewers and the freedom that the streamers/let's players don't have. If he goes, so will the rest of them, I feel.
