The latest round of toxicity was aimed at America’s Game Master recently.
This clown on YouTube whom I will not name because I refuse to give this piece of sour garbage any free press, had the nerve to call me out, call one of my friends out, and then talk mad trash about Matt Mercer and Critical Role for about half an hour in total. I’m not down with anything that this YouTube idiot had to say about anybody. It’s not even the first video I’ve seen this particular idiot making fun of other YouTube Content Creators.
My own anxiety and personal issues aside for a moment, what this guy said was incredibly offensive to anyone who follows Matt Mercer or Critical Role. I wish the Critters would get as riled up at this guy on YouTube as they do some of the cast members. If the Matt Mercer fans only knew the smack talk that goes on some of these different YouTube channels.
Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.
Somebody has a very fragile ego on YouTube.
This whole stupid manupid escapade started on a friend’s video when I said, “[Redacted] can go kick rocks.”
This dude’s opinion of other YouTubers is always negative. [Redacted] is a toxic narcissist in my opinion and probably needs some serious help. Apparently, my assessment of the situation was correct. Nobody but him knows how to roleplay. He’s God’s gift to TTRPGs.
This guy literally went after me over my appearance, my YouTube Channel, my 46 second long channel trailer and my choice of playlists. He even said I’m not a gamer. (*40+ years in the hobby, you rotten fuckwit! 40+ years. Go kick rocks!) We won’t get into all of the mudslinging over whether or not I’m gay, retarded, or a Democrat. I have not been so insulted in almost a year now. He’s lucky I’m not more triggered.
If I say someone “can go kick rocks” it means their opinion literally does not matter to me one way or the other. [Redacted]’s opinions on politics, TTRPGs, and other YouTubers are notoriously hot garbage and yet somehow 2.5K+ people think he’s somehow worth listening to?
If me telling him to go kick rocks in the comments section was enough for this guy to get on air and try to teach me a lesson, his ego must be such a fragile state of affairs. I was trying to convey to my friend that this clown he was calling a “toxic clout chaser” was not worth the time of day. The numbskull in question can go kick rocks in the street, because I don’t care what he does. It doesn’t matter.
#CriticalRole or #MattMercer fans would have a field day with this guy.
Side Note: Please leave my friend the OG GM out of this. None of what I’m saying here has anything to do with him. He’s a great guy and I hope he doesn’t think I’m portraying him or his channel in a negative light. Matt Mercer should even cut him some slack for all the free press OG gives to him.
I’ve occasionally chided a bit about Matt Mercer and the cast of Critical Role on this blog back in the early days. The #MattMercerEffect was a big deal not too terribly long ago. After looking back again, I have a lot more respect for the show and Matt as a GM. They’re having fun and that’s what matters.
Matt did a terribly brave thing on X (Twitter) talking about his mental state and how it relates to what’s going on in the world. In my opinion, he’s got more clout than many of us out here in TTRPG land, on YouTube, or anywhere else short of finance, Hollywood, mainstream news or politics.
Matt Mercer spoke up against the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people. You can find those clips on X (Twitter) here. I highly recommend watching these two very short clips.
Mental Health is important.
I say it a lot around here that mental health matters. I applaud Matt Mercer for speaking up about his depression. People don’t give him enough credit for speaking up about gamer’s mental health. I think everybody focused on the political part of the message far more than the fact that he even related to many of us in the #ttrpgcommunity.
I watched [REDACTED] (*Sorry for no links. I will not give them views.) all rip on Matt Mercer and Critical Role over the last week. A couple of these guys went on three and a half hour YouTube livestreams just to complain about these two short Matt Mercer clips. I wonder if it occurred to any of them to use that time to talk about something they enjoy instead of running someone else down. There’s something seriously wrong when someone goes to the length of spending 100x the amount of time trash talking Matt Mercer than it did for him to make the videos they’re crying about.
Regardless of what one might think of Matt Mercer’s political views, it’s not cool making fun of the man’s fingernails and throw blanket. I doubt it’s a shawl, btw. I have a throw blanket that looks almost identical to the thing the idiots are calling a shawl. I also happen to think red is a lovely nail color regardless of who wears it. If that’s what the man wants to do, then that’s his business. Stop crying about it.
Matt Mercer does more for the TTRPG Community, specifically the Dungeons & Dragons crowd, in one video than some of us will achieve in our lifetimes of gaming. Heck, Critical Role is how many people were introduced to the freakin hobby! We’d all still be closeted nerds had it not been for Critical Role.
Sure, people are jealous of Matt Mercer. He’s got a million dollar franchise; amazing sponsorship deals; multiple TV and streaming shows; voice acting gigs some of us would kill for; and a beautiful, talented wife. I aspire to the million dollar TTRPG franchise. Half the people in the hobby probably do. Can’t blame them for being jealous of Matt Mercer and Co’s success.
Matt Mercer and his wife could end the whole series and retire tomorrow if they wanted to. Remember that because it may come up in the next few months. If it were me, I’d take Critical Role back to being my friends hanging out at my house on the weekends playing D&D again. No cameras, no franchise deals, just us playing the game and having fun again. Is it worth all the hassle, dealing with the fanbase and three and a half hour long criticism videos?
I think it would be cool to have 2,500+ subscribers on YouTube.
Imagine having ten times that many? Or even 100 times that many? That’s a lot of people!
No pressure on poor Matt Mercer to constantly put on a happy face while he carries the burden of his whole franchise, friends, fans, and political views around. I honestly have enough trouble with my regular day-to-day stress issues, much less thousands upon thousands of fans who think I’m the greatest thing since Gary Gygax first rolled dice. (*No, I’m not, but Matt Mercer kinda is that big.) I full-on imagine Matt Mercer has a lot of stress and depression is real for the guy. My anxiety ramps up just thinking about a day at the office for him.
We didn’t have the Internet during WW2. Imagine for a moment, that you, a well-meaning American, sent $50,000 worth of medical and essential supplies to European war orphans only to find out the convoy exploded en route to its destination. Would you be devastated? Would that be considered depressing? Yeah, I’d be bummed, too.
My stance on the Gaza conflict.
I have Jewish friends, at least two of whom live in Israel. I have Muslim friends who I hope are still alive and well in Iran. (It’s really hard to tell with the way communications are coming out of that country.) I don’t know anyone directly in Gaza, but I watch news reports, too.
I don’t stand with the governments of Palestine or Israel. I definitely don’t stand with Hamas. Who I do stand with are the thousands of innocent civilians who don’t want to get blown up!
Being a student of history and military wargames has taught me some things over the years. Unfortunately, civilian casualties happen in war zones. Gaza is a freakin war zone regardless of what they call it officially. Much like the US vs Vietnam, the Gaza conflict revolves around entrenched idealists (Hamas) vs a large, well-armed, well supplied fighting force (Israel.) The main problem is that Hamas is embedded deeply in a civilian population who is sympathetic to their cause, religion, and political stance. Israel has taken the aggressive stance of attacking the whole region instead of rooting out the terrorists the same way they did decades before.
I feel horrible for those Israelis who died in the rocket attacks that started this whole conflict. Likewise, I feel horrible for all of the innocent non-combatants who have been bombed repeatedly by Israel in some effort to eradicate an underground threat. Let’s not even get into all of the children on both sides who might be wondering where they’re going to sleep, where their next meal is coming from, and if the rest of their family even still exists. Yes, it’s quite depressing.
Only an unfeeling, heartless, cruel piece of shit, lacking any sort of empathy or reason would call someone out for sending aid to CHILDREN in a war torn conflict area like Gaza. Matt Mercer wasn’t “giving money to terrorists” as he was accused of in certain videos. I don’t think he’d do that. But I do certainly believe Matt and Marisha probably did sincerely donate to help kids caught in that brutal conflict.
Rewind and look at TTRPG YouTube now.
Sure, seems like a lot of petty bickering going on TTRPG YouTube when kids are being blown up on the other side of the world, doesn’t it? If I had Matt Mercer money, which someday I hope I do, I would donate to help children out. YouTube Content Creators bickering amongst themselves seems pretty ignorant in light of so many bigger issues in the world.
What can we “regular folk” do? We can talk about it. We can go about our daily lives because there’s not much we can do, and we have our own issues at home to be concerned with. All of us in other countries still have to work, pay taxes, raise families, and so on. TTRPGs are just a hobby for many of us. Watching Critical Role is just a pastime for some people the same way baseball and chess were for our forefathers.
We’re blessed to have TTRPGs, regardless of what one plays. We’re blessed to have YouTube and Twitch the same way our parents or grandparents had TV and radio. Many people wouldn’t have discovered D&D were it not for Critical Role, and for that we should be grateful.
I dare say the TTRPG hobby was stagnating in the face of video games and Internet livestreams just a short decade ago. The hobby was headed for a death spiral were it not for Pathfinder RPG, D&D 5E, and Actual Play podcasts such as Critical Role. We should be grateful for the thousands upon thousands of new players who have brought the hobby back to life. I think a lot of bitter, old, cranky, clout chasing Grognards forget to be grateful for what we have every time they pop off on Matt Mercer and Critical Role.
I’m not here trying to start arguments with anyone. I want to build my brand. I would love to have a franchise like Matt Mercer has with Critical Role. I’m really happy and grateful he seems to be taking care of himself. (Call me a “simp” all day. I don’t care.)
My end of all this.
I say do what you can for who you can. Please focus on the positives as much as possible. Don’t let the toxic nay-sayers get you down. Don’t listen to the crotchety old fartz of the world. Tell em to go kick rocks.
I’ll survive. My YouTube channel’s final fate is still up in the air. I’d rather focus my time on getting a submission or two ready for Chaosium’s Basic RolePlaying Design Challenge. I have my blog to think about, too. We’re closing in on a second consecutive year of posting. Also, apologies for WordPress is still being stubborn with letting me load images.
Thank you for stopping by. This essay went a lot longer than I originally intended. I appreciate you sticking around. Please embrace the things that bring you joy.
#MattMercer #CriticalRole
Jeff's Game Box 