Does Phil Fish deserve the hate?

Phil Fish-The man behind Fez

Recently, Phil Fish has come into media attention today when he tweeted to the effect that if you make money off of playing the game, Fez, you then owe him money. He later deleted his Twitter account completely and hasn't responded further. This isn't the first time that Fish has been in the media spotlight for his attitude and opinions. Fish left the gaming industry last year, quoting his reason being, "This is isn't the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win."

After the resent Twitter drama, I decided to finally break down and watch Indie Game: The Movie, remembering that Marcus Beer from GameTrailers had said Fish appeared whiny in the movie. In fact, Marcus has gone on record multiple times to denounce Fish's attitude and actions. When I saw the movie though, I wouldn't say he's whiny. I would say he's an extreme perfectionist. If things don't go his way, he begins to break down, kind of like a diva on a movie set. Only, instead of going back to his trailer, he quits development of a game or deletes his Twitter account.

Mr. Fish has the type of personality that if things don't go his way, then the world is going to end. That type of personality is not conductive to a design job, because things will NEVER go 100% your way. With an attitude like that, you will quickly drive yourself insane in a design job. As a student of design, I can attest to that better than most. I remember one time, I was tasked with making a virtual space in Torque only to be constantly defeated by the damn import tool. I didn't end up finishing the project and was forced to admit my failure. In doing so, I grew as a designer and realized what I could and could't do. I don't feel like Mr. Fish is capable of that yet. At least not at the capacity that he needs to,

Maybe some day we'll see Mr. Fish return to the game industry, but before he can do that, he's going to need to learn to accept failure and to accept that things aren't black and white. I would be happy to see that growth  in him and see him return as a successful and happy designer. However, I don't think we'll be seeing that any time soon.

As for whether he deserves the hate or not, I don't believe to the extend that he has suffered. However, he will need to take responsibility for his actions if he ever does intend to return to the game industry. Some of his actions were fundamentally wrong. If you're going to expressive and opinionated, you need to back it up and fight for it. Not doing so is childish and makes you look like a fool. You also need to be able to take criticism in any job, not just game design. If somebody calls you out on something, you don't just throw up your hands and say "I quit." You have to either defend your actions or you need to incorporate that criticism.

What do you think? Does Mr. Fish deserve the hate. Comment and shares are always appreciated.