Jimquisition: Go Fish

[Programmed_For_Damage]

You're ace Jim Sterling; stay strong brother.

That was a very honest video and I think that a puts a lot of online tirades into perspective.

 

[Griffolion]

Question about Phil Fish (I seem to have totally missed all this): What was this endless load of abuse everyone said he was getting? Honest question. Why was he getting the abuse? Fez was really good, it couldn't be for that? Was it for his fairly justified rant on MS regarding update charges?

Oh well. I hope he comes back, at least to put out Fez 2.

 

[Reyold]

I'm inclined to disagree. Lone Survivor dev Jasper Byrne went on record about receiving a 6-page email where someone threatened to kill his daughter... because he ported the game to the Vita

See, it's things like that make say, "That's enough Internet for me today."

I just want to know where all of this immaturity comes from. It's in the gamer community, it's in the publishers, and it's in some these devs...

I don't condone the bile spewed towards Fish, but he didn't help himself out, either.

 

[Smurf McSmurfington]

I'm glad someone with a fairly wide audience took the time to say this. It did need to be said.

 

[Looming_Shadows]

With those new glasses, Jim sorta looks like Bill Gates. Am I right, or weird?

 

[Oly J]

Fish doesn't necessarily need thicker skin, or at least wouldn't, if he's stop running his mouth off and actively trying to piss everyone off. If he wasn't notorious for comments like Japanese game devs suck, or my personal favorite "suck my dick, choke on it," this wouldn't have ever been a problem. Fish brought the abuse on himself, he has nobody to blame. And honestly, what Marcus said wasn't even that harsh, especially given some of the shit that comes out of his mouth. All he said was what most of us are thinking: If you didn't have a comment on the situation (Xbox One self publishing change), then just say "No comment right now," and leave it at that. Don't get indignant over it.

Also should point out, nobody forced Fish to respond to the abuse he got, but he did, constantly. I've never liked Fish personally, because he's only ever made Fez, and believes it was a revolution for indie games, when it's anything but.

I hadn't heard of Fish before except once, a while ago, apparently he was getting a lot of flak for something, I can't remember what but it may have been the japanese games thing, on that note, did he ever say precisely WHY he didn't like japanese games in a slightly more articulate manor than "they just suck"? I mean I take no issue with the man for having an opinion that doesn't coincide with mine, I've heard the same remark from plenty of people, but from a developer, who understands the ins-and-outs of games, I'd expect a slightly more in-depth analysis when he voices an opinion like that, at the very least to explain what about them he doesn't like, that would at least partially disavow the whole "racism" accusation, so did he ever elaborate?


OT: nice job Jim, from watching I get the feeling you've made these points many times

 

[berna1111]

I don't really understand why someone who insulted or provoked in any other way somebody else gets surprised when they get to ear a response. Isn't their own skin "thick" enough? Can't they take the "criticism" back? Aren't they the ones being childish and in need to grown in the first place?

And yes, good criticism is supposed to be an incentive to perform better and should be respected. But sometimes it gets frustrating and mixed up with all the rest. I mean, a lump of gold combed through a mount of manure is still going to be covered in some when it comes out.

Just learn to "deal with" the fact that sometimes all that anger is not really meant towards you and ignore it as best as you can - both sides.

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

I liked this video, the unprepared nature made it more sincere. While I don't know the full ins and outs of the situation in question, I do agree that "need a thick skin" argument is lacking an understanding of human reality and that there's no valid point to flaming people for flaming's sake.

 

[VI_Course]

I just can't sympathise with Fish because he was all too happy to deal out insults. He called gamers the worst kind of people. He called people "f***ing ingrates" because they didn't like the price of his game and told them to "shut the f*** up". He deserved everything he deserved everything that happened to him, in my opinion. He deserves no respect.

 

[klaynexas3]

To be fair, at least they did go on to explain afterwards reasons why they didn't like Japanese games, and even Blow admitted it was mostly an opinion. Though Fish still played the dick in that role when he started it off.

The community didn't start the problem by launching unprovoked attacks on Fish. He started the problem by acting like a conceited, bigoted, self-fellating ass.

Now that's actually wrong, people jumped down his throat just because he took awhile to make the game. Then he lashed out at the assholes that wouldn't get off his ass for taking so long to make the game. Then the rest of the internet joined in after that because they got pissed off that Fish was getting pissed and held him to a higher standard. My guess is he didn't start out as the ponce, but everyone else made him into the twitter ponce.

Now that's not to say he can't be a dick of his own fruition, the previous video was proof of that alone. However, that wasn't the start of the internet hating him, which started the moment he popped up on the internet. That's when he started showing that he, too, when having his buttons pushed, could play the part of the anus.

 

[MoeMints]

I feel like this quote is relevant.

*snip*

That logic is also a gigantic enabler of artists like TomPreston who can say any outright wrong (Samus and Link aren't blond), ironic (Japanese animation is dumb, that's why I reference my characters with it!), or just odd (hey guys, I didn't know tracing a photograph for profit could be highly illegal).

 

[Starik20X6]

The only time I ever heard anything from Fish was when he'd say something that would sic the journalists on him. As such, I currently don't have the highest of opinions of the guy. Have never threatened the guy, obviously, because I'm not a complete psychopath, but everything I hear about him makes him come across as a bit of a dick. I was unaware that he was apparently being picked on all day everyday, so... I dunno.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Really felt like this episode was coming from a very sincere, and personal place. Well done Jim.
Please don't leave us. We love ya, Jim. :3

As for the Fish thing? I don't really know what happened, and I don't think I really want to. I guess that I will be hoping that Fez 2 doesn't die over all this, though. Seeing as a lot of people liked the first game.

Thank God for you. Jim.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

Easily the best episode of the Jimquisition I've seen to date. I think you need to seriously think about doing episodes like this in the future. "Real talk" Jim is a very cool Jim.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

What leaves me with no sympathy for Fish over this is that he wasn't just 'snapping' at people who insulted him. When people call him 'outspoken,' what they really mean is that he was constantly starting the kind of shit he left complaining about. He would go out of his way to insult or piss off people who didn't do anything to him, sometimes who hadn't even interacted with him before. He was repeatedly guilty of the same sort of 'abuse' people were throwing at him, and Jim is just glossing over that. Hell, plenty of the people Fish 'snapped' at were 'snapping' at him over that delightful way he phrased his 'interesting opinions.' If Fish wanted to fling shit at people, he should have been tough enough to take it himself.

I put 'abuse' in quotes because of personal experience. I've experienced the kind of online 'harassment' that gets you a bunch of angry Youtube comments and a thread of people wishing you dead on 4chan, and I've also experienced the kind of harassment and abuse that leaves you black and blue every other day and locks you in dark, windowless rooms to teach you that you're inherently worthless and better off dead. The former was a minor annoyance that any decent humanities education (especially in the arts) teaches you to completely brush off, the latter was horrific and scarring.

 

[Something Amyss]

My problem isn't with Fish needing a thicker skin.
I just have no sympathy because every time I heard him make a statement, he's acting like a ponce.

Indeed. In fact, most of the time I sympathise with the people who get hatemail and threats because they probably don't deserve it.

Fish is, instead, a dickhead who is routinely on the offense. He didn't just snap, he had an outburst in a chain of outbursts. He didn't just have a bad day, he's had a string of bad days near constantly since he arrived on the scene, proclaiming his hipster ass superior to everyone else's. He didn't have his HP worn down, he's a One Hitpoint Wonder who's constantly on the verge of that KO.

Fish probably does need thicker skin, though. Not because he's a celebrity on teh interwebz, but because he IS that guy who's always on the attack, always making an ass of himself.

The guu doesn't deserve death threats, though, even if his shitty Futurama reference reads as telling someone to kill himself. Ridicule and insults? Well, I'm not sure anyone DESERVES them per se, but Fish makes it really hard to defend him if you're aware of his history.

Sure, no one is perfect, but most people aren't assholes.

Or, alternatively, we're all better at covering it up.

 

[lancar]

Thanks for this episode, Jim. It needed to be said. Especially after I read some of the spiteful comments in the original article about this event here on the Escapist.

I admit, I don't know the guy (Fish, that is), and I'm not particulary interested in his games either.
But even if I did, and even if I considered him the epitome of douchebaggery, I still would never send hate his way.

Why?

Because I know what being hated on feels like, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
And even though I can think up viable reasons as to why people are doing it, deep down I still can still never understand them.

And thats just from ONE source.

Imagine receiving it from thousands.


Somehow, I don't think it gets any easier.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

It's worth pointing out that Kevin Smith threw the mother of all hissy fits when critics tore Cop Out apart, yet was happy to ride the critical buzz of Clerks, Chasing Amy and all his other View Askewniverse films for all it was worth.

Artists are not wilting daisies. They don't need to be kept locked away where the nasty people of the world can't hurt them. They don't need special treatment. They're normal people, and at the end of the day, if they fuck up then they deserve a metaphorical arse-kicking just like anyone else.

If you do nothing but encourage an artist, you simply end up enabling them to produce whatever meaningless piffle they feel entitled to. The Star Wars prequels came about because people did nothing but encourage George Lucas.

Discourage an artist, criticise him, and you give him a challenge to overcome. Critics ripped the shit out of Cop Out. And you know what Smith did? He then went and made Red Tape, his best film in years.

curious, did you mean red state

i looked damn everywhere and couldn't find any information on red tape, as i wanted to watch the movie that is supposed to be good and by kevin smith.

although i do agree on this opinion, if you don't challenge and question an "artist", then their work has a higher chance of being meaningless junk. Plus people need to get it under their skin that opinions will come at you left and right no matter what you do in life, learn to observe and absorb if deemed necessary.

 

[s_h_a_d_o]

Kudos on showing a modicum of support for M. Poisson.
Pity you couldn't address the lack of professionalism demonstrated by your contemporary in the first instance... or would that perhaps cut a little too deeply, hmmm?

 

[Azaraxzealot]

I think it's no coincidence that what you said towards the end, Jim, is pretty much EXACTLY what I said on Destructoid and here on the Escapist. I'm glad to see we're on the same page.