Thoughts about DSP's Psychology - Dr Fred Freud's Office

[Prince Lotor]

So recently DSP went on his Pokémon cards rant, where he shit on middle aged men for collecting them or whatever, and he segued into the story about his dad standing in line to get him the latest Spawn action figures. He shit on the middle aged men also in line to buy them for themselves and juxtaposed this with him being a kid at the time and the reason he wanted the Spawn action figures was to play with them.

IIRC he was born in 1983 (correct me if I'm wrong) and the first series of Spawn action figures came out in 1994, which would make DSP 11 years old at that time. Let's also assume that his interest in collecting and playing with the Spawn action figures wasn't limited to the first series, and say he kept this up for at least another year. So from age 11 to age 12 he was collecting Spawn action figures to "play with" as opposed to displaying on shelves or whatever collectors do.

Am I just misremembering my own childhood or is that weirdly old to still be playing with action figures? Growing up I had the old Transformers toys when they were still made from metal and the TMNT toys, but I feel like by the 6th or 7th grade I was well out of playing with action figures.

One of the clearest psychological lines running through all of the DSP lore is how much of a late bloomer he was. Still playing with action figures in the 6th/7th grade, still living at home in his mid-20's, first girlfriend in his late-20's, I'm sure there are tons of other examples.

Phil was born April 1982. He was at least 12 when the very first run of Spawn toys came out. This puts him at 12 to 13 or older in his story about making his dad stand in line outside of toystores waiting for them to open so that he could get in physical altercations over plastic dolls he needed to buy for his "just a little kid" 13 year-old son to play with.

 

[Cistern Rumbler]

Holy shit it's worse than I thought then.

 

[Schmeckel]

Holy shit it's worse than I thought then.

Phil likely was camped out in front of the TV as a kid, watching ninja turtles and whatever other cartoons, never playing with anyone else his age. Maybe he DID get into comics, and his only clue to the outside world was seeing ads in the back for said action figures which often showed "cool" kids that were probably a bit older than the target audience (for extra cool factor, and all). He's like the physical embodiment of the wojak/"I wish I was home" meme where some asshole is standing in the corner, and users put the text like "they don't even know how cool I am, why am I so much better than everyone?"

 

[gettingthatgrooveback]

Phil has started to explicitly portray an autistic obsession over "progress". Lack of progress has become one of his go-to criticisms of video games. He gets visibly upset over this during stream sessions. But the more interesting thing is what he considers as "progress".

Advancing in a videogame without finishing something does not constitute progress to him. For progress to be made, a level, side-quest, task or goal has to be completed. And the videogame must make it explicit that a task is done or provide a reward. If that doesn't happen, Phil has wasted his time.
In addition, when a videogame is being difficult it prevents him from progressing therefore making him uncomfortable. It's not just that he hates video games.

The exact same behaviour is demonstrated with his tips goals. The vest streak has reinforced this type of satisfaction from hitting the tips goal. It's not necessarily just greed. A tips goal is just another goal, right? So it has to be reached. If it doesn't, he is disappointed and frustrated.

I am not entirely educated on the gameplay of WWE Champions but I'm sure it features countless of easy to complete tasks and goals.
He is hooked on that sense of completion that video games are able to provide. To him, having fun in a videogame is simply completing a task regardless of how easy and mindless it is.

Holy shit, I just thought of this: Phil very frequently cheers up after completing a level. "Very nice," he says. I even remember him clapping his hands sometimes. For some fucking reason finishing something in a video game makes him feel good about himself.

Rewards are detrimental to his enjoyment of video games. Progress is just another kind of reward.

What a sad and pathetic way for someone to derive pleasure in their lives. I can very easily imagine him becoming a gambling addict. The predisposition is there. He only needs an incentive to visit an online casino.

 

[TheGoutburglar]

Holy shit it's worse than I thought then.

A reminder that he was in college when he discovered that wrestling wasn't real, and has, for years, demonstrated his lack of awareness that being so immature while pushing 30 is not fucking normal. Phil has always been below average in psychological development, he should have been in special classes in school, and shouldn't be allowed to manage his own life now. He has thoroughly demonstrated that he needs a handler. Though as I say that, I realize that he's such a shit-head that he would reject them and keep being a stupid asshole. But he does need a caretaker of some kind. Someone with power of attorney over him.

He is hooked on that sense of completion that video games are able to provide. To him, having fun in a videogame is simply completing a task regardless of how easy and mindless it is.

Excellent example of what I'm talking about. Adults aren't supposed to be such slaves to need for a dopamine rush, which is what Phil's deal here is. It's especially nonsensical for him to care when his job is to entertain on stream, not necessarily complete an in-game goal. Also, we know the truth, as he dawdles and stalls all the fucking time, it's not about the game, it's his child-like brain throwing a fit over a lack of that sweet high he gets off certain things.

It is indeed not just about the money, Phil feels good when a goal, however arbitrary or inconsequential it is, has been met, and especially when he gets to congratulate himself over it and thank or credit nobody else. That's probably why his Street Fighter matches are so full of pattern play, and he gets so pissy when it doesn't work. It isn't about overcoming a hurdle, it's about going through a routine and seeing it to completion, completion in this case being a victory. Everything in his life has to be a routine, so he can more easily keep track of it all, and feel good about himself by doing so, because that in of itself is a goal he must meet.

This need has probably been made worse by the years of internet infamy, and doubtless contributes much to his stubborn insistence on "winning" against detractors, in spite of how much it damages his health, his rep, and his finances.

 

[Cistern Rumbler]

...he should have been in special classes in school, and shouldn't be allowed to manage his own life now. He has thoroughly demonstrated that he needs a handler. Though as I say that, I realize that he's such a shit-head that he would reject them and keep being a stupid asshole. But he does need a caretaker of some kind. Someone with power of attorney over him.

I don't know about this. Being a lazy greedy dickhead isn't a disability.

To his obsession with in-game progress, I honestly think it's just a representation of almost being done with a video game. This shit stopped being fun for him years ago, so obsessing over progress and checkpoints and completing quests is just his way of coping with the hatred he has for his job. Tips goals are similarly cynical, when he's wearing a vest it's physical evidence he has just made at least $100.

People who genuinely obsess over progress, goals, checking things off a 'to do' list tend to accomplish a lot more than pigroach does.

Then again I could be completely wrong, but that's my gut feeling. I know people with personality disorders that make them obsess over that sort of thing, one in particular is a very high achieving female with odd social skills. I wouldn't consider them to be similar at all.

 

[gettingthatgrooveback]

People who genuinely obsess over progress, goals, checking things off a 'to do' list tend to accomplish a lot more than pigroach does.

Then again I could be completely wrong, but that's my gut feeling. I know people with personality disorders that make them obsess over that sort of thing, one in particular is a very high achieving female with odd social skills. I wouldn't consider them to be similar at all.

Yeah, you're right. "Autistic obsession" was an exaggeration. Nevertheless, progress and rewards are the only things he cares about in video games.

 

[TheGoutburglar]

I don't know about this. Being a lazy greedy dickhead isn't a disability.

I was referring to how much he mishandles his life else-wise, thanks to being perpetually behind whatever his age indicates he should be. Even if he wasn't such an asshole, Phil would be fucking up constantly, because his brain just doesn't function at normal capacity. He can't keep his impulses in check, to the point where no matter what kind of money he makes, he's always broke because he constantly spends it without thinking about the consequences.

The dude had to have supervised play-time and his parents didn't make him do his own laundry even as a teenager. That's not normal. They had a responsibility to recognize that, and either cut him loose and let him become what he has, or set him up with a handler so he can have a retirement fund, because that's the only way he was going to avoid being one miserable old bastard in his 60's. They chose the former, and they chose poorly.

Funny enough, Phil, in a very unusual move, has not laid the blame on them for any of this. Not yet, anyway. When has driven off his whalechairs, he might go into a rant about his parents fucking him over, because that last wall has finally fallen.

To his obsession with in-game progress, I honestly think it's just a representation of almost being done with a video game. This shit stopped being fun for him years ago, so obsessing over progress and checkpoints and completing quests is just his way of coping with the hatred he has for his job. Tips goals are similarly cynical, when he's wearing a vest it's physical evidence he has just made at least $100.

I'm sure that's part of it, but only part. He has talked about his experience with Symphony of the Night, which greatly precedes his internet career, and his comments demonstrated a lack of tolerance for games going on "too long". Phil has had problems with patience since long before he started having to play video games for a living.

People who genuinely obsess over progress, goals, checking things off a 'to do' list tend to accomplish a lot more than pigroach does.

Then again I could be completely wrong, but that's my gut feeling. I know people with personality disorders that make them obsess over that sort of thing, one in particular is a very high achieving female with odd social skills. I wouldn't consider them to be similar at all.

That's because most of those folks, even while having such a fixation, typically don't simultaneously have serious issues with controlling their basic emotions. They're also not typically after some kind of high, like Phil. He's trying to feel good about himself, because deep down he knows his life sucks, because he sucks, and his only relief from that is opportunities for a dopamine rush. The easiest way to get one? Set up an easy goal and achieve it. So it's not so much about the goal, and it's especially not about accomplishing specific things, like any normal person sets out to do. He's not running towards something, he's running away from something else, that being reality. That's why he can stall like a motherfucker without it irking him, he's still accomplishing a goal, he just isn't being honest about what it is.

 

[twattycake]

From the "Phil is ruining his life with WWE Bejeweled" thread, thought my response was more appropriate here:

Forgot to link this earlier and am too lazy to clip it (luckily it's the very first part of the video), but DSP literally said that it was "disrespectful" to use money that you are given as a gift on bills and that it needs to be spent on "something nice." That's how he sees money.

He then claimed with a straight face that if his parents thought that DSP was going to spend his birthday money on bills, then THEY WOULDN'T GIVE HIM THE MONEY. Because that's what good parents do; they withhold gifts that they were going to give you if you DON'T spend it frivilously.

I have a theory, one that involves heretofore undiscovered levels of autism and manchild behavior:

When you're a kid, your parents cover all real expenses including Serious Adult Bills (tm). By extension, that means if you spend money they give you on Serious Adult Bills, that's insulting to them because you're implying they couldn't handle the Serious Adult Bills on their own. Accordingly, the only way to remind them of how successful they are/not imply they are failures is to spend the money on something frivolous. It's almost like flexing by proxy, you're reminding them that that money really was extraneous, all the real expenses were covered already.

I felt retarded just writing that all down but that's my best guess as to how Phil's gin addled brain works. Nobody explain to him that Mommy and Daddy aren't paying for everything else in his life anymore (at least, not yet they're not).

 

[TheGoutburglar]

To believe that, I would have to see more signs of Phil being moldable through words. I'm sure to an extent his upbringing contributed to him turning out the way he did, but from what I can tell, it was far more the actions taken or not taken by his parents, not anything they said to him. For example, whatever they told him about doing chores, they clearly still didn't make him do any, and he's naturally inclined to enjoy that, not feel shame over it.

I doubt his parents ever made comments about them feeling insulted if he spent money they gave him on important things. That's just weird anyway, and honestly reminds me way too much of Phil's bizarre sense of how a marriage works.