bringer of illumination said:
What a load of shit. Being trained in how to deal with the media is by no means a requirement for making games. There is no reason for a indie dev to be held to a higher standard when his occupation is making games. Fish is only human, why should he be required to take the high road when so many other people don't take it? Is it okay for thousands of random people to constantly throws shit and bully someone simply because they're not public people?
Yes when the storm is to big to overcome one should back down, but when the storm follows you around everywhere you go whats the point? one can only take so many rainy days before one starts yelling at the clouds. I'm pretty sure you've done that at some point, it's not going to help, the sky is not listening, but at least it takes out some frustration.
I don't think Fish stuck with twitter just to spite the haters, he used it just like everyone else, because he wanted. The hate came with the package, and he managed to live with that for quite a while. And you don't want to ignore and look away from everything people say to you, we humans want to know what others think of us, what they say to us and about us. Even if we know it's all negative stuff we still read most of it, because that's how we work.
And he was aggressive, yeah I get that and I too think he should have calmed down. But so what? there's a lot of mindless hate and shit on the internet. If the masses is replying with the same coin maybe they too need some thicker skin?
I'm not gonna address your whole Will Smith thing because Will Smith is an actor in a completely different business who is experienced with the media and he has had training in how to respond to the media.
And I don't think death threats makes people scared that boogeymen from the internet will come and kill them. it's the knowledge that people out there want you, your friends and your family, dead that gets you. It's not a nice feeling when people you don't know want you dead for trivial reasons.
I'm gonna close of with a disclaimer here:
Of course I think Fish could and should have handled this better. He should have taken the high road and not replied to any hate, not because he is a public person but because acting like a prick isn't cool. I think it's wrong for him to call foul when he too is playing rough. However I don't blame him, receiving hate mail is a bigger deal than what people who hasn't gotten any might think. I have been in a position where I got a lot of shit thrown my way, to a muuuuuch smaller degree than Fish, but it is still a very unpleasant situation to be in.