Totalbiscuit breakdown?

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TheResidentEvil

[H]ard|Gawd
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http://www.reddit.com/r/Cynicalbrit...t_of_tb_abandonning_his_own_subreddit/cfe3rgc

"Verification that this is me - https://www.youtube.com/user/TotalHalibut/about

Right. See this is what happens when I try and quietly remove myself from the situation, people just make it worse and worse and worse. There's no winning. So apparently I should have made a final post saying why I don't want to engage on this subreddit anymore, so here we go.

People like you are the reason I dread talking to my audience on a daily basis. A long time ago I used to love waking up, logging in and seeing what the viewers was saying, replying to their comments, doing the whole interaction thing. It was great. But that was a long time ago. Now everytime I post a Hearthstone video I have get anxiety over the amount of horrible comments it will get. It keeps me awake at night. I barely play the game now because of it. I used to play it for hours a day, now I only play it for videos, maybe an hour or two a week at most. I guess I've associated what was once a fun activity with constant complaining. Everytime I make a mistake I don't beat myself up about it because I made a mistake, I do it because I just gave people another avenue to complain and say things like "It was painful to watch" or "it was cringeworthy". I've heard so much of it I'm rolling in self-doubt and the only reason I keep that series up is because it pays well now. It used to be through passion for the game but the audience killed that.

But it's not just that. It's when the audience stomps on my principles. I think that's what hurts the most. I made a career out of trying to protect my audience from bad purchases. It's hardly saintly, its still just videogames on the internet, but whats a little light entertainment/info for you is MY LIFE. That's what I get up for every day now, that's what I live for. I work that job 6-7 days a week and I do it because I believe what I'm doing is helping, that it's making gaming better even if it's just a little. Ignoring your blatant misrepresentation for a second, when you say something like "It's not the devs fault there's bugs", or you go after me because I don't support early access and I want to be consumer-first, dev second, that isn't just a debate point, you're attacking the principles that are at the core of my day to day life. This sounds really dramatic but this is my life, this is ALL I DO. I only exist to do this right now.

I've read so many people with their "advice", oh... you should get a thicker skin! You should just ignore it! Those people have no idea of the volume of it all, or how constant it is, it never stops, it's day in day out 24/7, no end in sight noise. So many people talking at once... It's death by a thousand cuts. That thick skin isn't invincible, occassionally it buckles and when it does I tend to react badly. I'm not sure you actually understand just how fucked up I am. My hair is going grey, not to mention it's falling out. Yeah, my hair is grey at 29. Great right? I'm pretty sure I have chronic health problems that have been made far worse by stress. I'm even worried one of them might be life-threatening and I'm getting really paranoid about it. I fucking eat because I'm sad or angry or whatever, I have days where what should be a dream job is something I don't even want to think about doing. I'm seriously fucked in the head and I have been for a very long time. I CANNOT stop reading feedback. I can't just leave comments. I gave my Twitter to my staff months ago to try and stop me from reading it, which actually worked surprisingly. Turning off Youtube comments was great and for a while the subreddit was small enough and friendly enough that I could actually handle dealing with it. Now I dread reading it every morning and I CAN'T STOP MYSELF. God how many times have I tried to "get better?" over the last few years? Every time it's fucking failed, every time and I hate myself for it.

But do you know how much it hurts to read stuff like this? That I think my audience is irrelevant? I live for my audience. I put myself on the line for my audience. Right now my livelihood is under threat because I said what needed to be said to make sure my audience stayed informed. I give everything I've got on a daily basis to try and make my audience happy. So imagine how I feel when they lash out at me. Yeah, you're right, I should handle it better, but I can't. I mentally cannot, I'm a mentally broken person who likely can never be fixed. I hate myself everytime for that, way more than you could ever hate me for the things I say here. I kinda hoped that some people would realize when I did that piece on the Flappy Bird dev that there was more than a bit of my own personal issues in there. When I asked people to understand what it's like to get a bunch of attention you're not equipped to deal with that maybe a few people would realise but that's my fault, I should have just come right out and said it. I'm in a bad place physically, emotionally and mentally. I am not equipped to deal with my audience right now and frankly I should have deleted my account weeks ago so I can try to recover and not have individual viewers bear the brunt of that process.

You are not blameless but you are not the root of the problem either. Understand what it is you do to the people you apparently like. Everyone you like feels this way to a greater or lesser degree. Some people handle it better than others. I handle it terribly. I probably always will, so it's best I do what others in my position do and put a wall between the audience and myself to prevent further damage being done to both.

I've always been a believer that professionalism and worth speaks through your actions not your words. So I'm going to take away my words for a while so there's nothing else to drown out my actions.

Sorry if you expect a better person behind your daily videos. What you've got is a fucked up, sad, balding, overweight guy who is good at one thing and is lucky enough to do it for a living. I guess things were better when it was possible to maintain the illusion, but these days people demand unprecedented levels of access to the people they watch and this is what it gets them. Sorry you don't like what you see behind the curtain"

Seems like he needs to fix some things
 
Not sure what this is about but I could do his job =) Reviewing videogames isn't a healthy life style...
 
I love totalbiscuit and his videos, but it sounds like he has become really self-conscious over comments he recieved. He knows this is the internet right, its full of scum that should just be ignored.

DONT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!
 
Yeah, if it's really affecting you this badly, you need to change your career/life.

Best wishes to him, and I hope he gets better, but quit complaining and make a career change. If your main source of income is from a job that requires mass amounts of people to view and comment on your work, and you can't handle random asshats making dumb comments, sack up and quit.
 
Not sure what this is about but I could do his job =) Reviewing videogames isn't a healthy life style...

And it's comments like this that make no sense. You COULD do it, but unless you have a personality that attracts viewers, you're just another asshat that thinks their gaming opinion matters to people.
 
totalbiscuit is awesome, WTF are people giving him so much grief over?
 
I love totalbiscuit and his videos, but it sounds like he has become really self-conscious over comments he recieved. He knows this is the internet right, its full of scum that should just be ignored.

DONT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!

he has a history of not being able to let things go
 
thats why i watch FrankieonPCin1080p

I heard he was having some medical issues. Hope he is ok because I really enjoy his videos as well.
 
If you read some of his past comments to people's questions, you can tell he generally doesn't interact with people that well on the internet. But, we all have our faults, and I personally really enjoy his videos. Hopefully he can find some solution where he can do what he loves without all of the stresses.
 
He needs certified [H] troll hard training. A few months spent with any forum will do wonders.

If he cant do it, find another profession. Thats as easy as this is, literally
 
That was actually a worrying thing to read. Somebody needs to, first, see a shrink and second, take a long holiday. Cant help but get impressions that he has a bad depression going on with a burn out on top.
 
That was actually a worrying thing to read. Somebody needs to, first, see a shrink and second, take a long holiday. Cant help but get impressions that he has a bad depression going on with a burn out on top.

I agree. It doesn't sit well with me. Unsettling.

You have to have Rhino skin when you're putting yourself out in the public domain like that.
 
That was actually a worrying thing to read. Somebody needs to, first, see a shrink and second, take a long holiday. Cant help but get impressions that he has a bad depression going on with a burn out on top.

yeah it's really too bad he has this issue. he has 1.5? million subscribers, so obviously he is beloved by more people than will ever even know that any of us exist, yet he cant realize it because of what are probably a couple dozen asshats. it's true that he really does just need to grow a thicker skin, because he is a smart and talented guy and the numbers quite clearly back that up. it's just too bad that he is having so much trouble doing that. i wish him the best.
 
I wonder how many hatemail he receive per day. Gamers are so self entitled on the interwebs its crazy.
 
I feel sorry for the chap, having to dreg through the crap of reading comments just to keep up with his customer base.
 
I don't get why he tries to read all of his mail or comments, and expects them all to be positive. This guy seems like another phil fish who is going to break under the pressure.
I think it was the youtube copyright enforcement program that is breaking these people. They now realize that their channel or current job could be coming to an end soon and there's nothing they can do about it.
 
Can't say I was a fan of him, ever. Always found him annoying to watch and wondering why he had that fanbase.

WITH THAT SAID, I do not wish anyone to go through what he is feeling right now.
 
I don't get why he tries to read all of his mail or comments, and expects them all to be positive. This guy seems like another phil fish who is going to break under the pressure.
I think it was the youtube copyright enforcement program that is breaking these people. They now realize that their channel or current job could be coming to an end soon and there's nothing they can do about it.

And I hope it does, actually. These people just seem to hit a critical mass on viewers and snowball into an inordinate amount of income for what they do. It's the same thing with streamers. I heard someone donated a WoW player $100,000 once. That's just absolutely disgusting. If you got 100k to blow, there's a few better causes to blow it on than some uneducated douche who streams WoW all day.

And what's crazier is there are a lot of really lonely people who will habitually sit and watch streamers all day every day and give them money. It's just really unfortunate all around, and honestly it pisses me off.
 
And I hope it does, actually. These people just seem to hit a critical mass on viewers and snowball into an inordinate amount of income for what they do. It's the same thing with streamers. I heard someone donated a WoW player $100,000 once. That's just absolutely disgusting. If you got 100k to blow, there's a few better causes to blow it on than some uneducated douche who streams WoW all day.

And what's crazier is there are a lot of really lonely people who will habitually sit and watch streamers all day every day and give them money. It's just really unfortunate all around, and honestly it pisses me off.

The money they make doesn't bother me, just the celebrity worship they get and the fact many of them aren't even good at playing games.

As far as money, the same could be said about a lot of people in the entertainment or sports industries. As long as companies will pay to advertise their products, you can be paid to do almost anything as long as other people are watching.
 
Sounds like the guy needs a break. A few months at least if he can afford it. It will work wonders.

Can't say I was a fan of him, ever. Always found him annoying to watch and wondering why he had that fanbase.

WITH THAT SAID, I do not wish anyone to go through what he is feeling right now.

Funny, every time I watch some of his videos (I've only watched about 10-15 or so) I end up thinking "this guy says exactly what I think and feel". Every fucking time. You a console crop, too young, or just a noob? Say it.
 
He just needs to go outdoors and interact with his family. Those people that he grew up with and understand him. Also hire someone to pick out comments for him to respond to. Creative people such as writers, painters, dancers, etc are very fragile mentally usually. When they learn to put on that iron skin they usually lose the love of the work. He just has to learn to set aside time with his loved ones by flipping the off switch on his fans.
 
Love his videos so I'm sad to hear this.

I always thought he seemed like he would be a no-nonsense kinda guy, but I guess he dwells on these comments more than I would have thought.
 
And I hope it does, actually. These people just seem to hit a critical mass on viewers and snowball into an inordinate amount of income for what they do. It's the same thing with streamers. I heard someone donated a WoW player $100,000 once. That's just absolutely disgusting. If you got 100k to blow, there's a few better causes to blow it on than some uneducated douche who streams WoW all day.

And what's crazier is there are a lot of really lonely people who will habitually sit and watch streamers all day every day and give them money. It's just really unfortunate all around, and honestly it pisses me off.

They are entertainers and it takes a certain type of person willing enough to open their home to criticism. Do you berate Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, etc for making a lot of money as an entertainer? Then why hate on a streamer? You don't have to work for FOX, ABC, NBC, etc to be an entertainer you know?

They do great advertising for games, which leads to them getting sponsored and paid by corporations as they see value in the streamer's ability to advertise their products. The people that watch them obviously are entertained by the person streaming and the game they are playing. In one month a streamer sold over $7,000 in mice and keyboards on Amazon because the people watching want so badly to be as good as him. Advertisers understand numbers and the fact he also has 50k Twitter followers helps also.

I think that people that drink, play poker, and go to parties are stupid. That they are completely wasting their lives away by doing so. My mom thinks that people that go to movies and concerts are stupid because they could just view it in their home when the DVD comes out. But both of us agree that if the person that is doing it is entertained, then why critique their choices of entertainment? What makes me happy might not appeal to someone else. It's these differences that make us unique snowflakes in this "me too" world.
 
And I hope it does, actually. These people just seem to hit a critical mass on viewers and snowball into an inordinate amount of income for what they do. It's the same thing with streamers. I heard someone donated a WoW player $100,000 once. That's just absolutely disgusting. If you got 100k to blow, there's a few better causes to blow it on than some uneducated douche who streams WoW all day.

And what's crazier is there are a lot of really lonely people who will habitually sit and watch streamers all day every day and give them money. It's just really unfortunate all around, and honestly it pisses me off.

Why do you care what people do and how they spend their money?

Comes off as just bitter jealousy, really.

Additionally, I enjoy watching streams and TB's videos, but I don't "throw money" at him. I subscribe to his channel, I watch his videos (with ads), and I "Like" his videos. All of that stuff gives him revenue, but I'm not spending a dime.
 
And I hope it does, actually. These people just seem to hit a critical mass on viewers and snowball into an inordinate amount of income for what they do. It's the same thing with streamers. I heard someone donated a WoW player $100,000 once. That's just absolutely disgusting. If you got 100k to blow, there's a few better causes to blow it on than some uneducated douche who streams WoW all day.

And what's crazier is there are a lot of really lonely people who will habitually sit and watch streamers all day every day and give them money. It's just really unfortunate all around, and honestly it pisses me off.

The money they make doesn't bother me, just the celebrity worship they get and the fact many of them aren't even good at playing games.

As far as money, the same could be said about a lot of people in the entertainment or sports industries. As long as companies will pay to advertise their products, you can be paid to do almost anything as long as other people are watching.

What does it have to do with either of you (and others like you) how many subscribers they have or how much money they make (via ads or donations)???

Also, is there a rule somewhere that says someone who wants to post gameplay videos has to be good at the games?
 
Creative people such as writers, painters, dancers, etc are very fragile mentally usually. When they learn to put on that iron skin they usually lose the love of the work.
I wouldn't limit that to artists. I think the majority of people don't handle criticism well. I know from experience that researchers go through the same thing when submitting a work to peer review. You've worked really hard on something for a year or more, often pulling 60+ hour work weeks, only to have it ripped to shreds by your colleagues. Eventually you gain the perspective that the work is improved by the process and it was good to get the criticism, but when you first get that feedback it's like a slap in the face and can make you feel like you suck at what you do.
 
I have been a subscriber for a long time, and I'm surprised he has been able to keep up the community interaction up for this long. At least in the "replying to individual comments on youtube/twitter/reddit/etc." form.
TBs drive has always been logical and objectively fair discussions of video games, and principles on top of that. But trying to have an objective discussion with thousands of people, some of which are brash and belittling since anonymity makes it easy, coupled with being one of those people who take to heart 1 bad comment out of a 100, it has always been an uphill struggle. TB occasionally explodes in a comment from this, which I understand, but which makes a lot of people ridicule him.
If he's going to continue interacting with his community, I think TB should make a community forum for the people that share his opinion - like Angry Joe has done with his "Angry Army" website. The tone on such a site might be biased towards TBs own opinion, but at least the fans would massively overwhelm the haters on such a site
 
What does it have to do with either of you (and others like you) how many subscribers they have or how much money they make (via ads or donations)???

Also, is there a rule somewhere that says someone who wants to post gameplay videos has to be good at the games?

My complaint is pretty simple. You can't review a game properly if you aren't good at it.
Also, I see no value in watching someone play a game if they are worse at it than me.

I'm not saying he should be shut down, I just choose not watch some of his videos because of it.
 
My complaint is pretty simple. You can't review a game properly if you aren't good at it.
Also, I see no value in watching someone play a game if they are worse at it than me.

I'm not saying he should be shut down, I just choose not watch some of his videos because of it.
That's an odd perspective to me. I see where you're coming from if you're doing reviews for the competitive gaming scene, but most people game just to have fun. You don't need to be an elite player to tell if a game is fun or not, or if it is properly designed (i.e. doesn't have game crippling bugs).
 
And I hope it does, actually. These people just seem to hit a critical mass on viewers and snowball into an inordinate amount of income for what they do. It's the same thing with streamers. I heard someone donated a WoW player $100,000 once. That's just absolutely disgusting. If you got 100k to blow, there's a few better causes to blow it on than some uneducated douche who streams WoW all day.

And what's crazier is there are a lot of really lonely people who will habitually sit and watch streamers all day every day and give them money. It's just really unfortunate all around, and honestly it pisses me off.

It pisses you off because you're jealous. It's pretty simple.
 
My complaint is pretty simple. You can't review a game properly if you aren't good at it.
Also, I see no value in watching someone play a game if they are worse at it than me.

I'm not saying he should be shut down, I just choose not watch some of his videos because of it.

this is 100% not true. i have played plenty of games that i wasnt good at that i feel i could give an accurate review of to a friend if i had to. doesnt matter if you see value in watching someone who isnt that good, 1.5 million people do, and we are the ones he is making the videos for, not you. yeah it is totally your right to not watch his videos, there are plenty of review channels around. i just find his views, tastes, and evaluations to be very poignant for me personally, and i enjoy his accent. :)

EDIT: and remember that most games he just isnt good at because his WTF reviews are first impressions, so he has only played half to 4 hours most of the time, not the 20 hours or more it usually takes to get good at a game.
 
I have been a subscriber for a long time, and I'm surprised he has been able to keep up the community interaction up for this long. At least in the "replying to individual comments on youtube/twitter/reddit/etc." form.
TBs drive has always been logical and objectively fair discussions of video games, and principles on top of that. But trying to have an objective discussion with thousands of people, some of which are brash and belittling since anonymity makes it easy, coupled with being one of those people who take to heart 1 bad comment out of a 100, it has always been an uphill struggle. TB occasionally explodes in a comment from this, which I understand, but which makes a lot of people ridicule him.
If he's going to continue interacting with his community, I think TB should make a community forum for the people that share his opinion - like Angry Joe has done with his "Angry Army" website. The tone on such a site might be biased towards TBs own opinion, but at least the fans would massively overwhelm the haters on such a site


That is true. Building a community where fans can gather and interact with each other AND the guy behind the community would weed out a lot of unnecessary criticism. Mods in forums and such would handle trolls and straight out haters. (keyword trolls and haters, not just guys giving criticism) That would be a lot of headache out of TBs mind who is clearly... well... obsessed with other peoples opinion of himself. Angry Joe, Video Games Awesome and couple of others which slip my mind ATM, have successfully created one and they thrive.

Though there is a risk that it will become a lair full of ass kissers and no constructive criticism, which every content producer needs to keep their egos in check, is allowed.
 
I enjoyed his videos a lot, hope he pulls through it.

I think if he lets it get to him like that he should simply cut off interaction.

Do not read reddit, turn off youtube comments (he already did this a while back), or twitter.

Just play what he wants, post the videos.

People will watch them still. I do not not to comment or talk in the comments to enjoy his content, and I think that'd be the best for both.

I never understood how some people can get so hateful in comments on video games. I mean it's just a game. How sad do you have to be to berate someone (which you enjoy watching, otherwise why keep watching) and talk bad about them.
 
Why do you care what people do and how they spend their money?

Comes off as just bitter jealousy, really.

Why do I care? I think I outlined that in my post, try reading it again.

As far as the jealousy comments... I don't know if it's your idea of a dream job or something, but I would feel like total scum, being essentially a money-grubbing beggar who doesn't want to work.

Finally, I'm a petroleum engineer at a major oil company. I make enough money.
 
Engineer? That's not work. You gotta work the land man. Manual farming is real work. Anyone else is a money grubbing beggar that doesn't want to do real labor.

See how ridiculous that sounds? He produces entertainment for a living. It's just as valid as someone who creates video games, directs movies, writes novels, draws webcomics, plays music, or does stand up comedy (etc.). In my mind, he's doing a lot more beneficial work than someone tossing a ball up and down a field for millions of dollars a year. Good on him that he's able to make a living doing it.
 
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Well, since we can't all make the world a better place as petroleum engineers at major oil companies, I'm glad there are money-grubbing people out there who are entertaining me most days of the week. I do believe you're not jealous, but you come off as a dick regardless. Just because you don't see value in it, doesn't mean he doesn't work hard at his job.
 
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