Phil Fish returns to offend gamers, but he has a point.
In an always questionable move, the universe has decided to make Phil Fish do a thing again. For those uninitiated, Fish is the creator of 2012 indie hit FEZ. Fans may also remember his outburst earlier this year, wherein he cancelled production of the sequel to his well-loved indie game in a fit of rage over, you guessed it, an argument on Twitter. Now he’s making waves on social media once more, and hopefully provoking a little more thought in doing so.
all you people attacking zoe are cowards. attacking a woman the easiest way you can. despicable cowards, all of you.
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
It all started with this, a tweet based on some genuine sexism getting thrown around. Sexism? Among gamer culture? Surely not! Speaking out for or against any side of any gender-related issue in the gaming industry is bound to catch you some flak from someone, no matter where you stand. In itself, though, this seems fairly clear, right? Calling out the assholes. Okay, Phil Fish, good for you.
and revealing yourselves as the subhuman little shits that you are. — PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
absolutely pathetic, ball-less manboobs.
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
…But then, as we’ve seen the man do on multiple occasions before, Fish immediately proceeded to take his foot, shove it in his mouth, take a picture, and send it to the email address of every single person on the internet. And boy, did they get pissed. This is another example of an unfortunate trend on Phil Fish’s Twitter, trying to articulate a genuine point but throwing a tantrum in the middle of it. Of utmost importance, however, is to understand that despite his tendency to wail like the text equivalent of a chorus of 100 crying babies, Mr. Fish does have a point that carries some weight. See if you can spot it.
“gnnuuuuuh don’t generalize against gamers, that makes you a bigot too!” gamers aren’t a people. gamers are shit. gamers are nothing. — PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
“gnnnuuuuh don’t generalize against people who like to eat spaghetti, that makes you a bigot too!”
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
The point Fish is attempting to make here, albeit with debatable amounts of success, is that treating “gamers” as a culture is problematic. You don’t hear people who enjoy movies, books, or any other medium try and define themselves by it. So why do “gamers” insist on defining themselves by that label? How much harm does that do? Of course, this doesn’t eman Fish’s argument was without its questionable moments…
caring about videogames is my CURSE because you people are involved and ruining everything. — PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
Throughout his time as a name within gaming culture, Phil Fish has been known to get more than a tad self-righteous when it comes to discussing his role within the industry. FEZ gained him a lot of fame, and suggesting that it may have gone to his head in the last couple of years is very justifiable. Some are using his more self-righteous moments within the whole debacle to try and debunk his argument in its entirety. That, though, seems like a leap.
videogames could be so much more, but instead being held hostage as masturbatory aids to witless manchildren.
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
So yes, Phil Fish’s message comes off as a bit preachy, and a bit self-righteous, but it also has weight. Do “gamers”, by definition, use their attraction to video games as a way to cling to their childhood, refusing to give up until every game developer cranks out a constant stream of perfectly nostalgic SNES-evocative experiences for men in their 30s to ogle for the rest of their lives? Or is the argument misguided entirely?
You can follow Phil Fish on Twitter for more on this. Stay tuned here for some more opinion on the subject in the near future, There’s a lot to be discussed, and if not now, than when? In the meantime, please, leave your comments below. This is absoplutely a people’s debate, after all. Do you defend your title as a “gamer” in the face of Fish’s argument, or do you dislike associating yourself so heavily with that one thing? Let us know!
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://www.heypoorplayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/011.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]If danger had a face…oh, if danger had a face. Jay Petrequin started writing at HeyPoorPlayer in the summer of 2012, but has always been a writer, be it in the form of articles and reviews here at HPP or in that of fiction and articles written over at PkMnCast.com. Jay has been a gamer from a young age, first finding his legs on a GBA and a copy of Pokemon Sapphire. He enjoys a game with a strong narrative and art design, but also appreciates the retro stuff from before his time. Jay also has a passion for comics, movies and anime. He likes to yell a lot on his Twitter @extremesalsaing, which is only the coolest twitter in town.[/author_info] [/author]
