Update: Fez Dev Tells Media Member To Kill Himself

[Colt47]

Not trying to convince anyone here that Phil isn't an abrasive human being, because he is.
But I thought I'd post this in the interest of balance.

Well, since viewership is important to news sites due to ad revenue they tend to try and make posts that are as eye catching as possible, which means they rarely look at a situation in a balanced light. The bee one stated earlier was probably one of the lesser cases of this entire situation, though in that case the research was basically inconclusive.

 

[SinisterGehe]

I've barely heard of the guy and I already want to slap him about the head and tell him to grow up.

That's never a good sign.

You know... He might really have some issues mentally and needs some help and time. I have seen few people to break down and ultimately take their lives due to public stress like this...

Stress + Depression + Feeling of vulnerability = bad mix which can lead to BAD things.

you should never judge anyone like that, you don't know what going on behind the scenes, maybe the Fish broke down totally and that the reason for the game being canceled.

People like you deserve a slap...

 

[Lovely Mixture]

He seems human at the very least. A bit reactive, but still human.

He's also the reason Judas in Binding of Isaac wears a fez, due to a past dust up with Edward McMillan, IIRC.

Edmund commented on that and says it was just playful
http://www.formspring.me/EdmundM/q/484835903995409239

 

[cidbahamut]

Developers with egos are a terrible thing. Twitter certainly doesn't help the situation.

Not gonna miss this guy. Not even a little.

 

[TomWiley]

Phil is probably unstable in some ways, and yeah he really crossed the line with some of his tweets, but his unprofessional behavior shouldn't cloud the fact that he has had to endure an unjustifiable amount of crap lately, for an extremely stupid reason at that.

 

[WanderingFool]

I think there needs to be a corprate bi-law or something, that prevents employees from having Twitter accounts. Cause nothing good ever seems to come from it.

 

[JoshuaMadoc]

I think there needs to be a corprate bi-law or something, that prevents employees from having Twitter accounts. Cause nothing good ever seems to come from it.

Might as well annihilate Twitter outright.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Why do people jump to insults so readily? I at least try to stay civil...

I've never understood why suicide is abhorrent while normal death is seen as border-lining a neutral act. The latter leaves us saying "oh well, it was his time, nothing could be done except a healthier lifestyle/learning not to pick fights/greater caution", while the former makes those "left behind" commenting that it's a horrible and disgusting selfish act. Then again, I'm getting the feeling my views on suicide will leave you somewhat offended so let's just stick with the topic.

Well... I was just seeing if you considered yourself nihilistic or not. That you took insult to it, hey, that proves you're not. So, cool.

Anyway, suicide is worse because it is directly preventable, basically. Depression is really simple to spot and manage, and its a matter of awareness, really. If more people who need help seek help... there'd be less suicide.

It is a selfish act. That's the thing. It's an individual act that only harms others; the person committing suicide gains nothing, everyone around them loses out. And they could so easily find help! That's the thing - suicide is so easily stopped! That it isn't is an awful tragedy, really.

 

[RA92]

Why do people hate Jonathan Blow again?

 

[karloss01]

"To be clear, I'm not cancelling Fez II because some boorish fuck said something stupid, I'm doing it to get out of games. And I'm getting out of games because I choose not to put up with this abuse anymore."

So he IS cancelling Fez II because some boorish fuck said something stupid that turned out to be the last straw.

 

[scotth266]

Why do people hate Jonathan Blow again?

Because he made those stupid stars in Braid, ruining a perfectly good game.

Being serious though, he says a fair amount of stuff, some of it stupid, some of it not. I tend to think the stuff he says is more on the stupid side, and a fair number of people agree. Phil Fish is another shining example of this, though he's a LOT more toxic than Blow's ever been, and consequently gets a lot more flack for it. Telling people to "choke on my cock" when you get criticized tends to make you a big fat target.

As far as this goes: Fez was a decent game, enough to make me wish that he hadn't cancelled Fez 2, but if this is going to be his reaction to a dude being abrasive, I honestly don't know if I would even want to support it. Telling someone to kill themselves - and no, I don't buy that "it's just a Futurama quote" bullshit, it's pretty clear from the tweets surrounding it what Fish's intent was - is way over the line in terms of being an acceptable response.

 

[evilneko]

So this [http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/roj70m/invisible-walls-everything-and-the-kitchen-sink] is the video in question. Relevant bit is in the first 2-3 minutes.

Even having never seen Invisible Walls before, I could tell: Beer is an asshole. Like Pat Condell, Simon Cowell, or The Amazing Atheist, being an asshole is his schtick.

Fish is an idiot for not being able to parse out the valid advice Beer was giving, albeit couched in vulgarity.

Oh, I guess he's gonna tell me to kill myself now.

 

[Neonit]

this is why people who cant deal with PR, shouldnt have twitter accounts.

meh, cant say i give a damn about him - seems like pretentious prick to me, i tend to avoid such people....

ps said text is a quote(by Bender Bending Rodriguez), im pretty sure it was meant as a joke.

 

[Ferisar]

Good on you, Mr. Fish. Do whatever the hell you like. Unfortunately the members of the Escapist (and the internet as a whole) believe they have some sort of moral superiority when the truth is they've all been cunts at some point in their life and many of them probably still are.

The "moral superiority" stems from not being a public figure. That's about it. When a certain group of players tries to look up to industry devs, especially if they're indie and supposedly a little more "down to earth" and they see a huge gaping douchebag, it rubs everyone the wrong way. IF YA KNOW WHAT I MEAN. EHHHHH

but seriously.

 

[tehroc]

Good luck finding a job dude. You're gonna need it.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

*facedesk*

Why must talent and being an asshat tend to coincide quite a couple of times?

I respect Blow (and, by extension, Fish) as great developers, and while I haven't played Fez, it looks like an awesome game and I feel like I need to go play it sometime soon.

But I always feel that some developers (or just talented people in general) start getting this ego and think they're above criticism, and start having more erratic and irrational responses.

 

[rob_simple]

Oh for god sake, here we go again. Does anyone else remember the days when you could say something, online or in the real world, and not have every single word scrutinised to ascertain the real truth? I'm surprised Fish isn't in Guantanamo as a result of this.

Yes, he is a complete dickhead, but so are most people; they're just not as open about it. Telling another grown man to kill themselves in a throwaway comment is not a big deal.

 

[PuckFuppet]

If he had a tantrum over a comment like that then it is probably best that he just fades back to obscurity.

 

[Nimcha]

Good on the man for going somewhere else. I wouldn't want to work in the game industry either.

 

[Ishal]

So... because he's honest, open, and speaks his mind that makes him a giant prick?

Yes, because... shocking as this may sound, you can speak your mind and articulate points w/o being a jerk.

I'm going to miss Phil, he may not have made a game I actually WANTED to play, but he was EXACTLY the kind of developer this industry needs to instill a positive change in this festering stagnation. One that was not afraid to actually be a NORMAL PERSON

"Normal Person" with a serious case of thin skin for someone making games. We must know an entirely different set of "normal" people, cuz the ones I know can function w/o being assholes all the time and possess some modicum of self awareness. Like, say, being inflammatory with remarks on twitter is a magnet for the kind of abuse that Fish claims to hate getting.

The AAA games industry may be stale and might need shaking up, and Fish has points about not being beholden to publishers for certain things and being allowed freedom. Valid points, I might add. But the indie games scene has an image too, and Fish is exactly the picture of what a lot of people think. Some unstable, pompous asshat, who goes off the handle when someone calls him or his art mean names. People like Marcus get paid to do what they do, doesn't matter if its right, its reality. Reality should be known and understood. Fish said he still liked twitter, but if the bad started to outweigh the good, he should have dropped it and left, especially if it was affecting hims so negatively.

I guess the industry is just not ready to accept that people with a bit of fame and credibility are actually people too who have differing opinions, emotions, and lives outside of their career.

Who cares about the lives outside their career? I hope they are happy and fulfilled, enjoying life, but as a consumer I want to know how the game I'm excited for is going along. This isn't E! You think most gamers care about that crap?

Developers aren't going back into their offices, the smart ones aren't anyway. They should be saying.. "hmm when people are assholes on twitter, bad things happen. Maybe I should be more on point when I talk to fans and watch what I say."