DarkSydeGeoff interview: Is a DSP showdown coming?

Last week, DarkSydeGeoff graced our site with his top tier approach to trolling and griefing videogame teammates. This week, I sat down with Geoff to learn more about his experience in the fighting game community and his thoughts on the future of competitive gaming.

T3: Geoff, you are well known in the FGC, but many competitive gamers from other circles may still not know who you are. What has been your background with competitive gaming?

DSG: I’m a long time supporter of getting people to try to pick up fighting games and to actually learn them. I do this through my own fun little gameplay videos with live commentary, as well as creating very simple yet fast-paced tutorials that break the game down at the most basic levels. There’s none other like it. It’s through this that we’ve influenced countless amounts of people to try playing the games at a more competitive level. I’ve always been more interested in leveling the playing field than dickriding the top for attention.

T3: In the past, you’ve worked on projects ranging from trollish strategy guides and trollish griefing videos to activities as diverse as trollish cosplay. What is your focus on now and why?

DSG: Yo, excuse me, my Dark Link cosplay was totally serious. Anyway, my focus has always been this– I make videos that make me happy! Lately I’ve been going crazy with releasing a full griefing video per day, but as the days count down on Christmas, I might return to what really boosted me to my popularity– my Street Fighter Live Commentary Madness series.

T3: Your handle is obviously an homage to legendary gamer and commentator DarkSydePhil. What about him interested you to the point of paying tribute to him in this way?

DSG: Alright~ I knew this would happen. The part that interested me the most about DarksydePhil is how hilariously ignorant he is to the truth, and how desperate he is to protect his delusional (petty) reputation within the gaming community. For example, if Phil ever runs into any trouble at all, he will always blame everyone except himself. It took him 7 minutes find out how to start the tutorial of Bayonetta. Instead of going forward like a normal human being, he threatens to quit the game, calls it “one of those dumbass games where you have to buy the strategy guide,” among all over kinds of braindead Dunning-Kruger shit.

His stupidity is endless. He also plays fighting games and complains that he was blocking and there was “nothing he could do,” when you hear obvious button mashing. He’ll ragequit a match because he got zoned out by a character that zones out. DSP calls Kojima a “fucking asshole” because he couldn’t understand that Metal Gear Solid is a stealth game, then goes on a cringe-worthy unfunny racist rant when he sees Mei Ling on the screen. He struggles on Skyward Sword and calls Nintendo a bunch of elitists that can do no-wrong because he didn’t know that he was supposed to slash the obvious mark on an enemy. It’s mind-boggling how he manages to turn on his camera, and that is definitely the most intriguing part about him.

Let’s break it down some more. DSP insists that everyone who hates on him is a troll and that he has done nothing wrong as a the sole representative of a real gamer. I’m sorry, but no. He is the furthest thing anyone wants to associate with. The only thing he represents are whiny entitled babies that think they are God’s gift to gamers by sitting on their fat asses complaining about having to play video games for a job. No, I wish I was kidding, those are actual words he managed to utter out. You know, while DSP is playing games that are made for fun for a “living,” most other people are busy working their asses off being productive members of society. The fact that DSP thinks that he considers himself a part of the working force is pretty disgusting, in my humble opinion.

T3: What would you say are the differences between what DSP represents for the gaming community and what you represent?

DSG: I don’t know. Maybe the fact that I actually care about the product that I put out, by spending time and effort? Err, maybe how I do it as a hobby and not complain about it? The fact that I just might be a little more accepting of publicly admitting mistakes, or maybe the fact that I truly do go out of my way to help the community out? Nah, I’m an exact replica of him.

No, in all seriousness, the idiots who actually look at both of us and say that one is copying off another still make me laugh, especially considering how vastly different the personalities, content, and quality are. Someone that I insulted at a local Tallahassee tournament thought it was a legitimate insult against me, so I changed my description to link to his post! He still hasn’t forgiven me to this day. :'(

T3: If you were forced to go back in time and murder any United States president while he was a child, how would you kill that child? (it’s assumed you’d pick Van Buren)

DSG: Are you trying to get me deported? I’m one of those wacky Canadians, I don’t want to go back home.

T3: The gaming community, at its heart, is terrible. Who do you think is to blame, and how should DSP be punished for it?

DSG: IT’S ENTIRELY DARKSYDEPHIL’S FAU– Oh. No, I think the only long-term damage he’s doing is raising kids to be stupid. Even if DSP disappeared, there’ll be another idiot that surfaces, somehow. You know he’s complaining that YouTube is pulling monetization on minimal transformation effort Let’s Plays? Never mind the fact that he put his entire livelihood on the line by making YouTube his entire career? No 401K plan, no benefits. I feel bad that some LPers are going to end up in trouble, but most of them have other jobs/are going to school and will be able to keep doing it. Instead of silently taking the blame, he has himself so convinced it is everyone’s fault other from his own that he went this pathway.

I’m sorry, what was the question? Oh yeah, the gaming industry is bad because it got popular, and stupid people that can’t be trusted by themselves make the majority of popularity. They are the ones who will complain about bad business practices, then buy all the DLC for such-and-such game, then buy Pre-Owned on games they claim they want to “support.” Then video game companies have to start catering to them because that’s where the money is. The end result is that we get endless games that fabricate replayability in true Skinner box format, the ones that copy/paste Call of Duty 4. Don’t get me wrong, Call of Duty 4 was great, but many companies (including Capcom) want to get in on that market by not trying to achieve originality, but by using tried-formulas. To each their own, though. If people enjoy that formula over and over again, who am I to say they can’t enjoy it?

T3: You live in Florida. We’re really sorry to hear that. (there is no question)

T3: What changes does the competitive gaming community need to make in order to be taken seriously as a legitimate sport?

DSG: I really don’t see games being a REAL SPORT even though it’s starting to happen. I see it more of their own category of competition. In any case, more discipline and stricter regulations. Honestly you pretty much covered it in your e-sports is bullshit article.

I might seem like “yay go heartless corporatism,” but thinking from a pure business standpoint, businesses shouldn’t be afraid to protect their brand. Especially when they are on the brink of really turning League of Legends into something the gaming industry has never seen before: A legitimate sport.

T3: Geoff, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.

DSG: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me! Hope I’ve provided an interesting, unique view on things, if anything. Bye!