I need to write a lot of stuff before I leave for London later this week, so I had to get in the mood. I figured what better way to do that than to do a post on an old friend-turned-hater? Yes, I’m talking about “GameDiviner” Paolo Munoz. The guy went nuts last fall from what he described as a social media-induced bout of insanity. In fact, we did a whole show on his epic meltdown stream earlier this year…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXbfgJOMp9k
Even if you believe his tale (and at this point, given his bizarre behavior, I do believe he had some sort of psychotic break), why has the guy come back to social media time and time again? Even today, when he sent out his “farewell,” he couldn’t help himself. He had to announce it in a flashy way, talking about how he gave the password of the account over to someone else.
Dude. Just delete the fucking thing and be done with it. This is flat out weird.
Oh, and he wrote a blog post…
I will be going on a deeper Social Media hiatus than I thought. I’ve been quietly watching things on the sidelines thinking that it would be enough space for me to create, but I see now that I need to go even further. I love all the people I’ve met in the past two years and I want to stay in touch, but even just checking Social Media to see how everyone is doing creates an overload of people’s emotions and thoughts.
I tried Silence. But now I know I need more: I need to embrace Darkness.
What this means is that I’ll be locking myself out of my Twitter account and giving the keys to a friend. I won’t be reading anything on Reddit and I’ve unsubscribed to a lot of channels on YouTube. On Facebook, I’ve either unsubscribed or unfollowed anything having to do with politics.
The reason for this is that there is simply too much… Rage.
Anger is a powerful emotion. It can be transformed into fuel and stir action. It is also addicting. Fueled by my anger and frustration at my job, I was able to create my first commercial level game. But because my game was born in anger, its design and final product was deeply flawed.
I realize I can no longer create out of anger. Most especially because I see how that anger reflects in the eyes of my children who are watching everything I do. To truly create, it needs to be from a place of joy.
For that, I need the Silence and the Darkness.
I’ve worked hard to encourage people to get into Game Development and to create the games, design the characters, and tell the stories they want to exist in the world. The technology to make any game you want is free and the knowledge is out there. If you truly want to make something, it is all within your grasp.
I’m done with words. I’m done telling others what can be done. It’s time to actually do it.
Till then, know that I love you all. I can’t wait to make you smile again.
But it’s time to live up to the name you call me by.
With all my heart,
Paolo Munoz
The GameDiviner
Um, OK. I’m not sure what I’m even supposed to say to all that, but it was strangeness personified. This is the same guy who told me he had built up the most “capital” out of all the known “e-celeb” voices in GamerGate at the meeting where he tried to sell me on ending the tag. I blew that plan out of the water and exposed it, but now I almost wish I would have just ignored it while letting them attempt their own thing. It wouldn’t have worked anyway and I would have gotten to stay out of the months of attacks on Twitter, Reddit, 8chan, etc. I still don’t have any regrets, though. Plus, the anti-Ralph people would have found a way to drag me into something else anyway. For some, I truly am the boogeyman.
I’m not sure why he thought he had all this capital, though. He made some flamboyant speech at AirPlay, which was a manufactured debate that didn’t do all that much, other than offer us some good entertainment the day it was aired. To be fair, at least it actually happened, unlike the AirPlay 2 disaster.
Oh, and he did record the footage of Brianna Wu having me removed from RavenCon. To me, that’s probably his most important contribution. Still, that’s not a lot. He always seemed to have this grandiose sense of his actual worth to the movement. Plus, he had a very nasty habit of clinging onto Jesus in public while acting more like Lucifer in private. I’m not religious, but I despise that two-faced sort of behavior. And if I was religious, I would despise it even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjIWxj9uCI
He also stole MisterMetokur’s famous farewell from back when he was InternetAristocrat…
https://twitter.com/GameDiviner/status/731662206907994114
He’s just a two-bit nut who got way too caught up in backstage politics. Eventually, it bit him in the ass in a major way. I’m almost certain he will be back, though. Guys like him can’t stand to stay out of the mix for too long. Hopefully, I’m wrong and he doesn’t return. We’ll all be better off for it if that’s the case.
But damn, that meltdown is one of the funniest (and simultaneously disturbing) things I’ve ever seen.
