Jim Sterling Plays Terrible Game, Angry Dev Reposts Video With Response UPDATE 2

[Nosirrah]

I apologise for clickbaity title, couldn't think of a different one.

I couldn't find any other threads after a quick search so I'm sorry if there is one I missed. Jim posted a video on his youtube channel where he played a game called The Slaughtering Grounds, which he criticised for being generally awful. So the dev gets upset and re-releases Jim's video with rather angry and insulting captions.
Thoughts?

UPDATE: A response to the response of the response has now been added as well. Thanks to Jateca for posting.

Update 2: Electric Boogaloo: The Dev's response have been taken down. Thankfully, Jim F*cking Sterling reposted the second video, and you can watch Jim's response for the first video. Thanks to Uncanny474.

Jim's original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfI7pAaOH9c
The response (DELETED): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jhXMQ-oXUU
Jim's response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT0GSPxf0vw
The dev's second video (DELETED): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugqg3cbfETc&list=UUsgTnbnZfHU9TY1F9i2eucQ
Jim's repost of the second response:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfI7pAaOH9c&index=7&list=UUWCw2Sd7RlYJ2yuNVHDWNOA

 

[tippy2k2]

Embedded for your convenience

Spoiler: Original Review

Spoiler: Dev Response

Spoiler: Sterling Response

I get it developers; you pour your heart and soul (well...HOPEFULLY you do this) into your baby and then you have to sit back and watch as someone absolutely DESTROYS it. As someone who has done art in the past, I feel you. But...

Sometimes your baby is terrible. I know it hurts but you have to accept that not every swing is going to be a home run. You also have to accept that once in a while your swing is going to miss and then your pants are going to fall down and everyone sees the streak mark on your undies.

It sucks but lashing out at the people is not the way to handle it. Pull your pants back up, walk back over to your team and try again next time.

 

[Gizmo1990]

I just watched Jim's response and it was even better than the original. The way that Jim just completly losses it about 3 mins in and can't stop laughing. I was right there with him. How can the developer think that anything remotly good can come from this.

It is already backfiring on them because Jim now has a badass new nickname.

 

[Mezahmay]

Well...at least he didn't try to censor Jim's video? I guess that's good? Seriously though, some indie devs really need to just count to ten or something before responding to negative criticism.

 

[josemlopes]

To be honest they both fucked it up, the dev had no reason to do that and their game is indeed terrible and Jim really was playing like an idiot for the sake of making the video more fun but less informative.

I mean, that was some DSP action right there for most of the time.

I dont like TotalBiscuit but at least he manages to look at the stuff and understand it before starting a 12 minute long rant about framerate or some other master race shit (Jim doesnt rant but he sure as hell doesnt try to understand what is going on).


The game was shit already and he went with the mindset of making it look even shittier.

 

[1Life0Continues]

To be honest they both fucked it up, the dev had no reason to do that and their game is indeed terrible and Jim really was playing like an idiot for the sake of making the video more fun but less informative.

I mean, that was some DSP action right there for most of the time.

I dont like TotalBiscuit but at least he manages to look at the stuff and understand it before starting a 12 minute long rant about framerate or some other master race shit (Jim doesnt rant but he sure as hell doesnt try to understand what is going on).


The game was shit already and he went with the mindset of making it look even shittier.

I would argue that anyone who has seen Jim's YT channel would know most of his content is ripping on terrible indie games. He does play the odd decent game, but most of the time he sets out to display the absolute worst content Steam burps up onto its front page.

In this case, using stock blood effects (with poor alpha transparency), not explaining anything at all via gameplay (simply placing ammo for ALL your current weapons near the starting zone in easily recognisable pickups so the player understands what they are for example) and having a terrible UI and awful coding (at one point when dying, Jim had -9998% health. "What? Stack overflow? Nah I'll leave that in, it's cool.") and yeah, this game absolutely deserved the rip it got. Because no matter who you are, if you put your work out to be purchased, you better be prepared to have people tear it apart.

Making games is hard, sure. But that's not an excuse for making shit and expecting a free pass.

 

[communist gamer]

this, this looks like a 12 year old started yelling at someone for critisizing his "great work of art" that he put on the internet, or a political extremist yelling at someone who disagrees with their ideology

 

[Muspelheim]

Jim Fucking Sterling, Not Your Average Moron.

Sworn enemy of irritable babies with devkits.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Ludwik_Solski.jpg

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Dear god, that fucking 20 second music loop drove me nuts in the first video. I nearly died laughing when the developer angrily touted being able to turn that shit off as a feature!

More indie devs should make angry wall of text video responses to Jim Sterling. Certainly far more entertaining than a shitty zombie survival FPS with 2d blood decals and a gun that requires you to be carrying it to restock ammo.

 

[DoPo]

To be honest they both fucked it up, the dev had no reason to do that and their game is indeed terrible and Jim really was playing like an idiot for the sake of making the video more fun but less informative.

I mean, that was some DSP action right there for most of the time.

I dont like TotalBiscuit but at least he manages to look at the stuff and understand it before starting a 12 minute long rant about framerate or some other master race shit (Jim doesnt rant but he sure as hell doesnt try to understand what is going on).


The game was shit already and he went with the mindset of making it look even shittier.

I would argue that anyone who has seen Jim's YT channel would know most of his content is ripping on terrible indie games. He does play the odd decent game, but most of the time he sets out to display the absolute worst content Steam burps up onto its front page.

In this case, using stock blood effects (with poor alpha transparency), not explaining anything at all via gameplay (simply placing ammo for ALL your current weapons near the starting zone in easily recognisable pickups so the player understands what they are for example) and having a terrible UI and awful coding (at one point when dying, Jim had -9998% health. "What? Stack overflow? Nah I'll leave that in, it's cool.") and yeah, this game absolutely deserved the rip it got. Because no matter who you are, if you put your work out to be purchased, you better be prepared to have people tear it apart.

Making games is hard, sure. But that's not an excuse for making shit and expecting a free pass.

Yes, what he said. Also, I'd like to point out that I believe the developer was trying to do something in the fashion of Death Illustrated with with some tweaks

1. The Slaughtering Ground (TSG) is £7 (though currently 15% off), Death Illustrated (DI) is free.
2. TSG has no clue what "options" are, where DI has.
3. TSG looks like shit, DI actually looks quite gorgeous even though it's in black and white
4. TSG has a single stupid looped theme, DI has an absolutely amazing soundtrack I still listen to to this day.
5. TSG requires at least 2 GB memory and for some reason lists Windows 8.1 as recommended (minimum is XP), DI requires a toaster.
6. TSG also bizarrely asks for at least 2 GB of space (with 4 recommended), where DI is a 2 meg download and less than 50 installed. Most of the installation in DI is the music.

But aside from these minor five things, the two are really similar.

 

[Neverhoodian]

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/6/65/Spy_DominationMedic01.wav?t=20100625234619

I don't know what was more painful, the game or the horrendous grammatical errors in the dev's "response." No wonder the game is shit when he can't even be bothered to proofread what he types.

Laughter was the best possible way Jim (oh excuse me, "Jim Fucking Sterling") could have responded to this. Ridicule is all this person deserves for such an idiotic reaction.

 

[DoPo]

Laughter was the best possible way Jim (oh excuse me, "Jim Fucking Sterling") could have responded to this.

I really like "Jim Fucking Sterling" but I also like how there was "Jim Fucking Sterling son". It didn't make much sense, to be honest, but it's almost like some sort of tile "Jim Fucking Sterling son of Ben The Mutherfucker Sterling" (or however Jim's father is called). It's just like an awesomely badass title.

 

[Elfgore]

You know, all of these articles and stories about Devs, PR, etc. saying really stupid shit has lead me to believe there is a job that desperately needs filled in the gaming industry. Which I will gladly take the burden of doing. The job involves me walking into Devs' homes, offices, or wherever they may be when stupidity strikes. I clear my throat, put my mouth inches from their ear, and proceed to shout "Are you fucking stupid?!" right into their ear drum. Pay depends on how much publicity and game sales I prevent them from losing.

Being serious, this guy is acting like a fucking child. Not everyone is gonna like your game, you gotta deal with that. Don't go on the internet and make yourself look like a total immature asshole though because someone doesn't like your "masterpiece".

 

[Sassafrass]

You know, all of these articles and stories about Devs, PR, etc. saying really stupid shit has lead me to believe their is a job that desperately needs filled in the gaming industry. Which I will gladly take the burden of doing. The job involves me walking into Devs' homes, offices, or wherever they may be when stupidity strikes. I clear my throat, put my mouth inches from their ear, and proceed to shout "Are you fucking stupid?!" right into their ear drum. Pay depends on how much publicity and game sales I prevent them from losing.

Christ, imagine if you were hired by Ubisoft to do this with what they've been saying lately.
You could retire after about an hour's work. It'd be hard and crazy work, your voice will be gone but you'll be a god damned billionaire.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

You know, I'm with the dev on this one.

Clearly Jim Fucking Sterling is an idiot for not seeing that objectives box. I mean it's right there in the top right hand corner, written in tiny yellow text that's barely readable behind all the blood splatters that are covering it. The fact that the objectives box doesn't match anything else in the UI or the HUD is a clear giveaway that it's important and needs your full and immediate attention. All the HUGE icons in the MIDDLE of the screen don't matter, just the tiny box in the corner that's constantly obscured.

And really, what kind of person expects to pick up ammo for all their guns when they walk over an ammo box? Clearly it should only give you ammo for the gun you currently have out. I mean, it only makes sense for you to walk around with an empty gun and be unable to defend yourself if you want ammo for it. That's for game balance! It's a feature!

And of course the landmine works. You can clearly see that in the fact that the kill counter doesn't go up when a zombie walks over it, and the fact that the landmine wasn't even an inconvenience to anything. That's how landmines work in real life. It's realistic that it can't kill anything, it's a FEATURE!

Jim Fucking Sterling doesn't care though, because Jim Fucking Sterling doesn't care about journalistic integrity. Jim Fucking Sterling just wants to shit all over this masterpiece because he isn't as handsome or talented as the developer who created it. Jim Fucking Sterling son.

 

[Yuiiut]

You know, I'm with the dev on this one.

Clearly Jim Fucking Sterling is an idiot for not seeing that objectives box. I mean it's right there in the top right hand corner, written in tiny yellow text that's barely readable behind all the blood splatters that are covering it. The fact that the objectives box doesn't match anything else in the UI or the HUD is a clear giveaway that it's important and needs your full and immediate attention. All the HUGE icons in the MIDDLE of the screen don't matter, just the tiny box in the corner that's constantly obscured.

And really, what kind of person expects to pick up ammo for all their guns when they walk over an ammo box? Clearly it should only give you ammo for the gun you currently have out. I mean, it only makes sense for you to walk around with an empty gun and be unable to defend yourself if you want ammo for it. That's for game balance! It's a feature!

And of course the landmine works. You can clearly see that in the fact that the kill counter doesn't go up when a zombie walks over it, and the fact that the landmine wasn't even an inconvenience to anything. That's how landmines work in real life. It's realistic that it can't kill anything, it's a FEATURE!

Jim Fucking Sterling doesn't care though, because Jim Fucking Sterling doesn't care about journalistic integrity. Jim Fucking Sterling just wants to shit all over this masterpiece because he isn't as handsome or talented as the developer who created it. Jim Fucking Sterling son.

Actually, looking at the text, the dev gets annoyed that Jim Fucking Sterling had the audacity to not clearly point out the landmines didn't work (even though he did for the first one) and then suggest that the second one could have worked because he couldn't see when he had to run away from all the zombies due to not being able to get ammo for anything. I mean, clearly what the dev wanted was for Jim to pause the game (oh wait, that's impossible, isn't it?), then clearly state that the game is terrible and one of the few 'weapons' in there doesn't even work.

Also of note: that description of generic post-apocalyptic biker dude #483045 said that he like 'blasting shotguns and smashing heads' despite the lack of any melee functionality in the game (even a 'push' to get the zombies off you). Also, it'd apparently be 'unrealistic' to find weapons lying around, but landmines? Who doesn't keep some lying around?

 

[rcs619]

And this is how an indie dev studio dies.

Seriously, to all small, independent game development studios. The videogame development industry is not some sort of internet forum. It's a business, and there is a certain expectation that you handle yourself with the sort of poise that might be expected of a businessperson, or at least some sort of professional.

If a reviewer posts up a negative review of your product, even if it's a wholly negative hack-job, you do not respond to them in the same way that you would try to tear down someone's post on an online forum. There are classier, and more mature ways to voice your disagreement, like an adult, and like someone who would like for people to view them as a legitimate videogame maker. Re-posting a negative video, and then just subtitling over the top of it with your own rant where you call the other person a moron and an idiot for 10 minutes is just fucking childish. It makes you look like the worst sort of petty, obsessive man-child that you can find on the internet. And it's made even worse by the fact that you decided to target a fairly accurate first-impressions video from a fairly respected and/or liked games media person. Instead of taking your lumps and doing better next time, you've gone and turned your whole studio into a punchline that will be remembered more for how Jim Sterling annihilated you in the court of public opinion, than for your actual product.

That strategy has, literally (and I use the word in its actual meaning) never worked for anyone who's tried it. Take your lumps like a professional, do better next time, and thank God for Jim.

 

[Therumancer]

To be honest they both fucked it up, the dev had no reason to do that and their game is indeed terrible and Jim really was playing like an idiot for the sake of making the video more fun but less informative.

I mean, that was some DSP action right there for most of the time.

I dont like TotalBiscuit but at least he manages to look at the stuff and understand it before starting a 12 minute long rant about framerate or some other master race shit (Jim doesnt rant but he sure as hell doesnt try to understand what is going on).


The game was shit already and he went with the mindset of making it look even shittier.

To be fair I watched the videos in question, and even commented on Youtube (nothing major, just a basic comment), and I don't think Jim was being that much of an idiot. As far as the game was concerned it was a first impression video, and a lot of the stuff Jim was insulted for not mentioning was pretty obvious. I mean in doing a first impression video it would be kind of patronizing and ridiculous to the audience if you went out of your way to point out the health or ammo count, and honestly I never got the impression Jim was really unaware of there being an ammo counter. I'm not sure what there really was to "understand" in a game this basic that Jim seemed to be missing. Yes Jim did run around pretty randomly checking things out, but that's what you do with a first impression video your showing off. To be honest the way he was running around gave a pretty good view of the game given the size of the video he was doing and that was the entire point.

I'd probably be VERY critical of Jim if he did this in his role as all around honcho of Escapist reviews, but that's not what this was, it wasn't a review. I've seen Jim's actual reviews and they are quite different. What's more Jim showing off a game as pure crap as a first impression is not always something that comes across as negative. Objectively "Blackbay Asylum" (I think that was the name, and it was one of Jim's videos, its been a while) was absolutely horrendous, but it was also entertaining, and his let's play is what got me to consider buying it since it looked like fun (which it was)... unlike this game.

Jim doesn't really need me of all people to defend him, but I don't think he set out to make the game look even more crappy given the kind of video it was... or at least he didn't do that until he was a few minutes in and it was apparent what a piece of excrement it was, and he needed to find some way of entertaining us to fill out his 10 minutes.

That said one thing that does bug me about this is how unstable the devs were to pretty much unload on Jim so quickly. Right on the heels of the guy who threatened Gabe Newell over release timing (or whatever it was) I'm beginning to wonder not just about STEAM's lack of quality control with the games, but the people they are dealing with as developers... or are they not even paying attention to that either. I mean what's next, a point and click adventure game by some guy who runs through fields naked by moonlight and tries to disembowel cows with his teeth? Some dude who will threaten to shoot your dog if you don't like his white water rafting themed brawler? I said this on Youtube, but I figure I'd say it again here. It's probably coincidence but I don't like the trend it's showing.