Jim Sterling in court.

[elvor0]

I hope they sue the shit out of him. People forget he has lied many times before about things. Funny how the internet has a short memory. I remember reading his early reviews on websites where he made a name for himself by nitpicking every popular game with a high reviewer score. He would give them crappy scores just to stir up crap and get himself views. He's a fat liar who needs to be put in his place. He does not deserve the fame everyone seems to shower him with.

*sigh*

Liking or not liking the guy should have nothing to do with your desire to see this case thrown out. When will you people learn?! No good would come of being able to sue critics for not liking your thing.

Also, really? "The man wrote a review that I didn't like about the game I liked so he's a bad man and he's fat" is your argument? Really? Like, you're serious? And you're making this argument as someone who is an adult? You're literally a backwards example of "stop liking of what I don't like!" I know you're not supposed to judge others but...hoo boy.

Yahtzee also does this much more than Jim. Should he be sued?

Actually, lets bring up some examples that might hit a little closer to home: you have a "review" on your youtube channel where you call Dragon Age Inquisition "arsebiscuits". Because that game has high review scores all over the place with an 85% score on Metacritic. So should EA and Bioware sue you? Are you giving it a crappy review just to stir up crap?

I also bring up this quote of yours(my favourite by the way, it just screams..."look at my opinion"):

MINECRAFT. That game is pointless. Its like 'Hey look at this awesome world I build that looks like a shitty 8bit game. No thinks. I grew up playing games that looked like that and I do not want to play anything that looks as crappy and has no point as Minecraft.

Because Minecraft has high review scores all over the place with a 93% score on Metacritic. So should Mojang sue you? Are you giving it a crappy review just to stir up crap?

Your thoughts on Teltales The Walking Dead(I like the bit where you lord your victory above teh fanboys like a 15 year old defending his console purchase):

Its a great story but there is no game to it.it should of had a real company backing it. GOTY??? No it is not.

Telltale lost to a company that puts actually game play in with their awesome stories. No surprise there. I so love the smell of victory.So so sad that the Telltale fanboys and girls can't admit their indie company cant make a game with decent gameplay other then QTE's and on rail shooting. Great story's do not excuse lack of game play in a VIDEO GAME!

Because TWD has high review scores all over the place with a 92% score on Metacritic. So should Teltale sue you? Are you giving it a crappy review just to stir up crap?

You see where I'm going with this right?

Under your own logic, each of these companies not only SHOULD sue you, but would be in the right to do so. Especially if I don't like you. Because that's sound reasoning.

 

[IceForce]

I'd love to see the Jim Sterling persona in a courtroom. Too bad he'd probably just be a regular ol' sod

They should televise it, Judge Judy style. Now THAT I would watch.

EDIT: HAHAHA Oh my God, I take it back. I just read the full headline on Kotaku; they're suing him for Ten Million Dollars?

Yup. All that's missing is:

 

[Loop Stricken]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/LoopStricken/status/710819997128527873]

 

[elvor0]

I'd love to see the Jim Sterling persona in a courtroom. Too bad he'd probably just be a regular ol' sod

They should televise it, Judge Judy style. Now THAT I would watch.

Oh god yes.

 

[IceForce]

I'd love to see the Jim Sterling persona in a courtroom. Too bad he'd probably just be a regular ol' sod

They should televise it, Judge Judy style. Now THAT I would watch.

Oh god yes.

I can imagine the judge reviewing DH's "evidence", and being all ...

 

[Lightknight]

I'd love to see the Jim Sterling persona in a courtroom. Too bad he'd probably just be a regular ol' sod

They should televise it, Judge Judy style. Now THAT I would watch.

I don't know... Jim would work stained pogs into his defense somehow...

 

[elvor0]

I'd love to see the Jim Sterling persona in a courtroom. Too bad he'd probably just be a regular ol' sod

They should televise it, Judge Judy style. Now THAT I would watch.

Oh god yes.

I can imagine the judge reviewing DH's "evidence", and being all ...

I love that Judy gif. Shame they don't televise it here.

 

[Dantos]

I haven't watched any of his videos since he... left... the Escapist, but from what I remember he spends the beginning of an episode whining about Alien games, then half of it dishing out some pretty heavy criticism mixed with vitriol and hyperbole, then 15-20 seconds of "let's be real" talk and then a few minutes of "this can't be excused, because so and so".

Jim is an oddball. He knows how to be diplomatic and kind, but he is also adversarial; he lashes out at people and often does so for effect.

I have little doubt that the developer in question is someone who did a poor job, but at what point does criticism for entertainment stop being funny and start being outright defamatory?
Jim can make or break a small developer with ease. It's one thing if he flatly stated "don't buy this shit", another if he went on a tirade about them (I don't know, I stopped watching his videos a long time ago).
As funny as the Judge Judy court would be, I get the feeling she'd tell the fat guy to stop slandering people online, get a real job and start exercising (Not my opinion, just what I think she would say).

Well in this particular instance the developer repeatedly engaged Jim, reuploading Jim's 'squirty play' (10 min first impressions of generally bad greenlight games) with text overlaying it basically calling Jim an idiot and hack throughout the entire video. Jim re-uploaded THAT video laughing at the developer's anger throughout the run. The developer then uploaded ANOTHER video with more text and some of jim's audio in the background and more text on a black background calling him even more an idiot. It goes on from there to a copyright claim on a video. Then there was the horribly awkward skype debate Jim and the developer had /sigh (at the developer's request).

 

[CaitSeith]

I haven't watched any of his videos since he... left... the Escapist, but from what I remember he spends the beginning of an episode whining about Alien games, then half of it dishing out some pretty heavy criticism mixed with vitriol and hyperbole, then 15-20 seconds of "let's be real" talk and then a few minutes of "this can't be excused, because so and so".

Well, outside the Escapist he started to do "Squirty Play" videos. 10 to 30 minutes of his gameplay footage, while he describes how good or how bad the game is. It all started with the developer making an answer to one of those videos: the same video, but with subtitles saying how stupid and incompetent Jim was, and calling him "Jim Fucking Sterling Son". That was in 2014...

EDIT: Oh, Dantos beat me to it. Well, the point is that Jim still make gameplay videos, some featuring the new games from that developer.

 

[EternallyBored]

I haven't watched any of his videos since he... left... the Escapist, but from what I remember he spends the beginning of an episode whining about Alien games, then half of it dishing out some pretty heavy criticism mixed with vitriol and hyperbole, then 15-20 seconds of "let's be real" talk and then a few minutes of "this can't be excused, because so and so".

Jim is an oddball. He knows how to be diplomatic and kind, but he is also adversarial; he lashes out at people and often does so for effect.

I have little doubt that the developer in question is someone who did a poor job, but at what point does criticism for entertainment stop being funny and start being outright defamatory?
Jim can make or break a small developer with ease. It's one thing if he flatly stated "don't buy this shit", another if he went on a tirade about them (I don't know, I stopped watching his videos a long time ago).
As funny as the Judge Judy court would be, I get the feeling she'd tell the fat guy to stop slandering people online, get a real job and start exercising (Not my opinion, just what I think she would say).

Considering he hasn't actually lied, there's no real line where this crosses over into defamation, a rich man calling a poor man a bad artist does not suddenly become defamation just because one side has more money if the statement is true or at least justifiable, that's not how defamation works. If Jim was actively putting money into harassing or ruining their lives, their might be a stronger case, but releasing a public product to the masses opens it up to public criticism, you don't get special status just because one side has slightly more money than you, that's like saying that Steam should be liable for defamation because Gabe Newell got on social media and called that DOTA commentator he fired an "asshole" because Steam is so much bigger than him.

As for judge Judy, you can claim you'd think that's what she would say, but you've obviously never watched the show, so you are pretty clearly inserting your own opinion into this. Judge Judy didn't go around calling people fat and she certainly wouldn't tell Jim to stop "slandering" people online. The show was early reality TV, her character was there to encourage contentious stuff, also, the court cases were real but both sides were paid off and the winner decided before recording ever started, the producers would not have allowed petty personal insults about client's weight when they are trying to get both sides to play along with the mock trial format. She would have been more likely to make fun of the amount being demanded as she was generally portrayed as despising frivoulous compensation demands, like the 10 million dollars the devs want Jim to pay them. Not that a case like this would ever be on the show as the whole thing was small claims court specifically so they could pay off both sides easily.

EDIT: upon re-reading, this post came off as more aggressive than I intended it to be, so I apologize to smile for that, frivoulous lawsuits kind of tick me off as I have had experiences with family in lawsuits that have involved the other side knowing they're in the wrong but dragging things out just to waste as much money as possible in the hopes of bankrupting my family and having the case dropped before a decision is reached. Even knowing they had no case, they still managed to drag the case out over 3 years and 3 million dollars in legal fees, and even after winning, my family was almost bankrupt and my parents were forced to sell the house they had built for their eventual retirement. At least in this case, digital homicide isnt the richer party, so they hopefully won't be able to drag Jim for millions in legal fees over a multi year trial.

 

[Einspanner]

I hope they sue the shit out of him. People forget he has lied many times before about things. Funny how the internet has a short memory. I remember reading his early reviews on websites where he made a name for himself by nitpicking every popular game with a high reviewer score. He would give them crappy scores just to stir up crap and get himself views. He's a fat liar who needs to be put in his place. He does not deserve the fame everyone seems to shower him with.

So, people who lie, and you don't like deserve to be sued and "put in their place"? I hope that you're slim, honest, and likable.

 

[CaitSeith]

He is not only God's gift to gaming (thank God for him), but he is also one of the few bright spots to come out of Mississippi in the last few decades. He is not only the great hope of gaming, but also the one great hope of Mississippi.

Hold the phone. Is Jim based in Mississippi or Arizona? If it's the former, then how does this even get considered? Surely Jim would have to be in Arizona in order for it to matter. If I did something in my home country, I couldn't be sued based on the laws of another country.

EDIT
Just looked it up. Jackson, Mississippi.

I'm pretty sure you can have your case heard anywhere in America you want. They're pretty much doing it in Arizona because, even if you correct yourself on a mistake or "false claim" it can still be counted as defamation. These digital homicide people saw an opening and went straight towards it with no shame.

I wonder if they'll present the Jimquisition video fragment that they used in the Skype to try to get their "gotcha" moment. Do you think the court will accept that as evidence?

 

[K12]

I haven't watched any of his videos since he... left... the Escapist, but from what I remember he spends the beginning of an episode whining about Alien games, then half of it dishing out some pretty heavy criticism mixed with vitriol and hyperbole, then 15-20 seconds of "let's be real" talk and then a few minutes of "this can't be excused, because so and so".

Jim is an oddball. He knows how to be diplomatic and kind, but he is also adversarial; he lashes out at people and often does so for effect.

I have little doubt that the developer in question is someone who did a poor job, but at what point does criticism for entertainment stop being funny and start being outright defamatory?
Jim can make or break a small developer with ease. It's one thing if he flatly stated "don't buy this shit", another if he went on a tirade about them (I don't know, I stopped watching his videos a long time ago).
As funny as the Judge Judy court would be, I get the feeling she'd tell the fat guy to stop slandering people online, get a real job and start exercising (Not my opinion, just what I think she would say).

I'd strongly advise to do a bit of a dive into the DigiHom/Jim Sterling saga. It's fucking hilarious how those developer's acted towards Jim's criticism, constantly escalating it in a self-righteous but completely clueless way. There's even a full interview/debate thing that includes some of the dumbest things I've ever heard someone say and Jim just giggling and generally having fun letting them dig their own grave.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

My favorite bit of that is probably this:

"I have been falsely accused of: -[bulletpoint]- Being incompetent and unable to perform my job"

Sorry DigiHom, I wouldn't say that it was "falsely".

That part was good, but my favorite was:

I've been impersonated, and my name has been dragged through the mud not only by the individual being sued but by some of the over three hundred thousand of his subscribers who come to my game forum pages and other locations and say things such as this:

• 
  [li]You're shady[/li]

Now that's just cruel.

 

[DoPo]

There's a real "Divorced from reality" vibe that these guys put off.

Yeah, I sort of got that vibe when they claimed that Jim's Squirty Play video didn't fall under Fair Use (and was thus a copyright infringement) because...he wasn't fair when criticising the game. Yes, that actually happened.

That doesn't seem too sane to me, or at least, not too grounded in reality. If that's just something they were posting, I'd call it bullshitting, but in a legal filing? Sheesh.

It was part of why they issued a DMCA take down on Jim's videos. Or at least that was part of their claims why they did it - they were very adamant that it was totally not because Jim said bad things about the game. No, they had a legit reason to issue a copyright claim and part of the reason was that Jim's stuff didn't fall under Fair Use. For the aforementioned reason of him not being fair.

 

[TrulyBritish]

There's a real "Divorced from reality" vibe that these guys put off.

Yeah, I sort of got that vibe when they claimed that Jim's Squirty Play video didn't fall under Fair Use (and was thus a copyright infringement) because...he wasn't fair when criticising the game. Yes, that actually happened.

That doesn't seem too sane to me, or at least, not too grounded in reality. If that's just something they were posting, I'd call it bullshitting, but in a legal filing? Sheesh.

It isn't in this legal filling, it's from before.
During the original Slaughtering Grounds debacle they launched a Copyright Strike against Jim claiming (According to legal blogger Popehat) that in order to qualify for Fair Use the criticism had to be, well, fair. They took umbrage with him calling the game "an absolute failure" and a "worst game of 2014 contender" while having not played the entirety of the game (They argued it was akin to watching ten minutes of an hour long film and writing a review on that basis).

This current legal matter comes down to essentially two things:
1) In an editorial Jim wrote about Digihoms recent shittitude on Steam, he highlighted the fact that they had been publishing games under different names; most importantly one of the several names was ECC games. ECC games was the name of a Polish mobile game developer who were upset Digihom was publishing under the same name. Digihom claims that ECC stood for "Every Click Counts" and this made it different to the other ECC games. Jim also reported that the real ECC games had sent him an email saying they were looking to pursue legal action against Digihom, which it seems Digihom denies.
2) During this same editorial Jim at first said that it seemed Digihom and used someones DeviantArt work as promotional material without credit, which they have done prior. He later found out that the artwork was available on Shutterstock and issued a retraction saying that they could have bought it there, which they claim to have done. Apparently, in Arizona you can still be sued even if you retract the statement on the basis that not everyone who saw the initial article will read the retraction.
3) They claim that Jim has not done enough to tell his followers not to harass them, and that he has potentially been directing people to harass them.
4) They also claim that his actions have basically damaged other developers, hence their whole "We are the saviours of Indie-gaming" attitude.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Hah! ...wait no. Haha! Hahahhaha! Oops sorry! Heh. DH put out 17-18 games from assets all at once, now they are attempting to sue a self employed critic for doing what he has always been payed to do? For millions??? Ahahah! And now it sucks in all those embittered developers and gamers that felt hurt by this one man's opinion?? Oh behehehe! Can we collect the tears produced here? I have a fantastic business proposition!!