Indie game developer, if you can even call them that, Digital Homicide is suing Jim Sterling for "assault, libel and slander" and requesting over $10 million in damages.
They will be representing themselves in court and are currently crowd funding money to help them in the case.
This is honestly fucking hilarious. My opinions on Jim Fucking Sterling Son are mixed, but I'll tell you I honestly can't wait for the Jimquisition this week.
Thank God for him....
If nothing else "Jim Fucking Sterling Son" is complete gold
Will the argument of "the game is obvious crap, nobody would have bought it anyway" hold up in court? Lol. Anyway this is nothing but a ridiculous publicity stunt. It's best to ignore it and move on.
I can only imagine what kind of precedent this could set if Digital Homicide somehow won (assuming this ever actually does go to court), Garbage companies like Data Design Interactive (feel free to look them up if you never saw their shovelware during the Wii era) suddenly come back from the dead and sue hundreds of youtubers and game journalists for damages and lost sales.
Possibly given that most of Digital Homicide's games on the Steam Library have mostly negative reviews. I also find it funny that in the article it states several posts/videos/etc that Digital Homicide made in relation to Jim Sterling's content were almost always deleted at a later date. I find it hard to take a company seriously that will outline their stance on an issue and delete it at a later date. Although the angry video they made about Jim's reaction to Slaughtering Grounds should never of been made in the first place.
I'm going to give my legal perspective on this lawsuit. Just keep in mind I am a certified paralegal but a lawyer would be able to go into greater detail and give legal advice.
Digital Homicide's suing for assault, libel, and slander for $10 millionish is not going to go well for them.
A Legal definition of assault is [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/assault] :
Intentionally putting another person in reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. No intent to cause physical injury needs to exist, and no physical injury needs to result. So defined in tort law and the criminal statutes of some states.
With the intent to cause physical injury, making another person reasonably apprehend an imminent harmful or offensive contact. Essentially, an attempted battery. So defined in the criminal statutes of some states.
With the intent to cause physical injury, actually causing such injury to another person. Essentially, the same as a battery. So defined in the criminal statutes of some states, and so understood in popular usage.
Slander is going to be difficult to prove due to the fact that Jim Sterling is a critic and video game journalist. As a result he has all the same rights as a newspaper writer. Jim Sterling has also asked his followers to not go after those he has been critical of.
A Legal definition of libel is [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/libel]:
Libel is a method of defamation expressed by print, writing, pictures, signs, effigies, or any communication embodied in physical form that is injurious to a person's reputation, exposes a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injures a person in his/her business or profession.
Libel is hard to prove. Since Digital Homicide is a public company it is much harder to prove defamation.
A Legal definition of slander is [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/slander]:
A false statement, usually made orally, which defames another person. Unlike libel, damages from slander are not presumed and must be proven by the party suing.
Slander is really hard to prove in most case.
Basically Digital Homicide will lose this case.
They are representing themselves? That is insane. Abraham Lincoln once said anyone who represents himself has a fool for a client.
This is kind of amusing. The brothers behind digital homicide have probably reached a point in their lives where they have nothing to lose anymore and this is their final attempt at making money. If it fails, which it will, they'll probably just dissapear from the face of the earth.
I dont understand their weird obsession with Jim though. They obsess over him and Jim obsesses over them in return which creates this weird cycle where DH boys just keep getting more and more frustrated. They are quite immature and to be frank, Jim is in some ways too.
Digital Homicide vs Jim Sterling battle has now reached epic proportions and I think even if Digital Homicide doesn't think they can win maybe they just want to tie up Jim Sterling's time and take his attention away from his work, family and so on and just plain drive him nuts. Now yes Jim Sterling can ask for counter damages I assume at some point and make them pay for his legal fees. Would this be correct? If so Digital Homicide may add some turmoil to Jim Sterling's life for awhile and get some satisfaction from that but it may cost them a decent amount financially.
PS: I am still waiting on Jim Sterling to confirm whether or not he made a racist remark in his one video. I have asked politely for an answer and never got it. With that said I stopped giving him Patreon money. I like his content but I do not like him ignoring a fan when the person has a serious question even if what I heard was not racist. It would be nice if he could address things like this even with the common folk who allow him to take in over $100K per year just off Patreon.
Which video do you mean?
I can't remember which video it was right now but the point is even if he didn't say something racist again it would not take much time for him to address it with me. I messaged him in many different ways and never got a response. I know he is a busy man but c'mon.
Do you happen to remember what the rough topic of the video was? Jimquisition? Squrity Play? I'm currently re-watching all the Jimquisitions, so I might as well look for that one.
You got me curious because I never noticed anything that was downright racist in his videos.
Funny thing you just got me angry about that again and made a new post asking Jim on his Facebook if he could find the time to address my issue since he commented but didn't comment on someone's post related to the lawsuit. I will look for the video I was talking about and link it soon.
Update: I found it ...
"Jim are you racist? I am not impressed with what was said at the 7:48 to 7:50 mark or so. Turd nigger? Just when I started handing you money this had to happen. I have enjoyed your coverage for so long and I thought with you being a certain way in your videos you would be a lover of all kinds in this world. I don't even know what to say at this point."
Update #2: So glad this thread was started and that @TheDiddilyHorror asked me for the video because it led me to trying to get answers from Mr. Sterling and finally I heard all I needed to hear from the man himself today on Facebook in response to my post and then on a website where he answers questions. : ) I am happy that he indeed said turd linger and not what I thought he said so I can now enjoy giving him Patreon support and like all his videos. : )
free speech should be changed to butt hurt speech
I was actually a bit shocked to see this. I can't fathom the sheer stupidity that is inside the heads of Digital Homicide.
And I really feel sorry for Jim. He's been going through a lot of shit over the last year with various threats.
It's going to be interesting to see how this will evolve, and if Jim is doing an episode on it for Monday.
Thank God for Jim Fucking Sterling, Son!
Damn you Digital Homicide, why did you make me sub to Jim Sterling? Why!?
Geez, these guys are digging a hole deeper than what even Ubisoft could accomplished. They ask for $10 million for 'damages'? What damages, considering there wasn't much to destroy to begin with their terrible games and all. Can you even call these guys developers as they haven't developed much of their own crap to begin with?
This whole thing would have been forgotten if Digital Homicide had shut the fuck up and take the criticism. Jim Fucking Sterling Son has the right of freedom of speech to critique whatever the hell he wants to critique. If you keep making shit, expect critiques from people.
It won't even come to that. They won't be able to prove that Jim Sterling is responsible. It's not like Jim's review is the only negative review out there.