Well, since last time we ended up locked for a bit, guess I might as well participate this time!
Why not? He hasn't done anything wrong. The government has only helped him deal with his problems.
I am sort of dismayed by the people celebrating this as the FINAL NAIL. Or even hoping there will be a FINAL NAIL at all. They're just going to be disappointed. Phil's fans don't care.
Obviously it depends on the types of cows you follow. It's impossible to keep up with more than one or two, specially the prolific ones like Chantal or DSP. This site has some pretty fucking terrible people in it, Zoe Quinn, all the zoos, and that stuff is just heartbreaking.
Phil is not worse than Hitler, but he's still a harmful person. He makes his living by convincing dentheads that he's worse off than them and needs their help when actually he's living it up with his horsemaid and buying 50 dollar gifts frequently for his catson. You mention later on that grandmas still fall for Prince Abdul: Phil IS Prince Abdul, but for retards. Whether people want to moralfag over this or not is irrelevant, Phil's bullshit peddling business is harmful and dishonest objectively. Obviously people want it to stop, and people want plenty of shit on this site to stop: Zoe Quinn to stop scamming and recklessly baiting people into suicide, Alex Mahan to just hang up the gloves and take his patreon money into obscurity, Russ to stop creeping on girls...
With others, a big finale wouldn't be preferrable but it would be entertaining. Chantal/Amber explode because fat, more recently Chris facing consequences for his actions... Obviously many of us here would also like the cows to just clean up their act and carry on with a normal life, hell, you tried to steer Chris in this direction yourself, (And good on you for it) but that's not always on the menu. I for one would love for Phil to just do chill streams for ten viewers, cut the begging, the guilt tripping and the cult mentality and just ride out his fading fame until he can't do it any more. I'd stop watching, sure, but he wouldn't be a harmful, morally reprehensible person any more.
Not all of Phil's fans care. His fanbase is so gone into the lolcow scene that they bankroll him, but ocasionally there's the odd MoraMoria who doesn't want to bankroll a scammer.
What's more likely to happen is that someone less cautious than OP is going to be frustrated when DSP proves he can still turn on a camera and play video games for money even despite this. Then, because of that frustration, they'll commit some other crime and actually get caught out for it and get arrested.
In general DSP's trolls are pretty chill, and I haven't really seen any ops going on. Still, if someone wants to walk up to him at Fred Meyer's and go ARE YOU THE GUY I can't say it wouldn't be funny. As long as they don't plan it here... In any case, I just don't see people trying to commit crimes to take Phil down.
It's not really "trolling" to victimize someone through identity fraud. The financial sector is heavily regulated and he's not going to be hurt by this at all. Nobody cares. Banks factor in a fraud risk. Grandmas and lonely cat ladies are still falling victim to Prince Abdul in Nigeria. Kat doesn't read the Kiwi Farms so the theory she doesn't know how bad at money he is is silly and even if true she won't find out from here.
Oh, it's a coin toss with Kat. She's a benzo'd out gold digger, sure, but there is also this very good, very comprehensive, very well indexed guide to everything even remotely shady her husband's done and how much money he rakes in. I don't think she cares enough because their arrangement is clearly one of just roommates: Phil gets to larp as a mature, deffo not a faggot adult and Kat gets a roof and three squares, sometimes four squares, and presumably plenty of takeout and fun money. Kat keeps her own money and can try to take him to the cleaners. Not a bad deal for not even having to put out when your sister is blowing bbc at 20 bucks a pop. Doubt she wants more.
One of my biggest grievances with this board in particular is that, more so here than anywhere else, people are waiting for it to stop. That's unusual. Most people are just along for the ride. DSP is not hurting you by playing video games for money. He is not doing anything wrong. He is allowed to spend the money he makes however he pleases. It's not up to you to decide who gives money, who receives money, who marries Phil, where Phil gets to live, or whatever. It does feel like genuine jealousy and anger that Phil is able to enable himself through livestreaming games.
Well, it REALLY depends on what cow's your poison. I seriously don't think anyone wants the zoos to carry on. I don't think anyone wants Zoe Quinn to bait another mentally unstable woke gamedev into suicide. Some of the more eccentric and wholesome cows, sure. Momokun and her shitty nudes are just funny and mostly harmless, and her simps are just beyond help, but simp willingly.
Thing is with Phil, the show hasn't been good for several seasons. Everyone's looking forward to the finale because nothing happens any more. Phil is streaming games for toddlers to an ever shrinking audience of about 20 whales and wheelchairs, his chat is completely dead, for fuck's sakes, his regulars get more clout than he does nowadays. He's squeezing the remaining wheelchairs harder and harder. I'm not gonna moralfag and say these people need protection: Plenty of them are dumb as a rock and would probably buy the Brooklyn Bridge if you sold it to them, but it still doesn't make Phil's scams right, or even not wrong. Now, if Phil WAS 100% HONEST and just said "M'dudes, I need money to feed the horse. Ya, she fat, but she still wants the 1 AM McDonald's. Get on that paypal, natch." and people were cool with that? I'd have no problem with it myself.
Phil's only draw was that he was shit at games. Spectacularly shit, AND salty about it. Now he's just a beggar. If he sees the slightest speck of challenge he just ragequits or flat out ducks the game. He doesn't want to play Fightcade. All there is to talk about is his shitty begging and toxic personality. I'd be all for a return to form, Phil getting good and bitchsalty over fighting games, but I doubt that'll ever happen. He just doesn't have it in him any more. All he wants to do is bleed the dentheads dry and spend it on takeout.
It's the dishonesty. This guy's constantly at risk of losing his house, losing his wife, losing his life, losing his cat, and none of it is true. He just wants gacha, takeout and booze. Well just come out and say it, then we'll see if his fans want to keep bankrolling him. And if they still do? More power to him. Drop the sleaze and beg your little heart away, man. Just not under false pretenses.
You do merch runs, and you don't do them under false pretenses. You said openly that they do help financially. If on the other hand you told me that you needed to sell me this T-shirt because your cat has a UTI (Phil actually flew this idea before folding like origami, mind you) or try to get me to give you 2 thousand dollars to show me your cat, I wouldn't think you're a very cool dude. Crowdfunding is cool and part of the internet. Crowdscamming shouldn't be.
If you are one of these people who is rooting for the day that Phil has to resign and go work at Walmart or something, you're in for a very rough time. The loss conditions for Phil are very steep and out of your control. The only things which can prevent Phil from streaming and making money off his few hardcore supporters are things which Phil himself must action. The more you try to victimize him and compel him to stop, the harder the core fans will circle the wagons.
Alright, but anony's headshot got him canned from Twitch and he's now streaming to a dwarfed audience. This thing isn't gonna go over well either. I know it's hard to believe but a not insignificant part of his contributors actually believe that he's in hot water half the time. If his inner circle of braindead morons want to go on a third bankruptcy to keep supporting him, like Timbo did, I'll just cheer on and laugh. I'll even say that I've been owned and punch the air.
Phil will alienate his fans in time. Even supreme cuck and totally pignotized Brandon got fucked recently when he clapped back at the Roach, and he just straight up disabled his Twitter responses as retaliation. I don't think this guy can keep people who legit like him around. Keep in mind he managed to scare away a young super horny nympho who wanted his dick all the time simply by not giving her the dick at all. This is not a man equipped to keep any sort of relationship healthy. Not even the ones that offer him amazing benefits.
We've always said Phil won't go out with a bang. He will gradually fade into obscurity in a sea of dwindling viewers and contributions, all the while refusing to get a greenscreen or play Fightcade. Sure, he might still be here in ten years, being funded by OIC still, and streaming Ratchet And Clank: Ratchet Does Snatchet on Very Easy to an audience composed of Derich, Habib and Goken Jr. but he's not gonna ride into the sunset on his beloved horse bride with a suitcase full of denthead money under each arm, either.
In the end, everyone watches the cow they find appealing. I understand this whole "Aw, Phil's not so bad!" mentality compared to some of the other, FAR worse people on the site, but let's not forget he's still ripping retards off their money. If people want to look forward to the finale, I say that's a natural thing. And it will happen. I've been following Phil since 2016 and the decline is very noticeable. Doesn't help that he intentionally withholds fun content nowadays, because all it does is bring attention to how shitty he is as a person.
So all in all, those still watching Phil, and those new to fall into the snortsphere only get this sad show that's been going on for far too long. The writers are tired, the side characters are all out of the picture, the story arcs are dull and uninsteresting (We used to get Phil gets fucked in Tekken, look at my skeletons bitch... And now we get Bugsnax is GOTY material and I really really really love walking simulators) and the main character has devolved from a gamer to a guy who plays braindead games on easy while running his 419 scam. Much like the youtube channels that capitalize on this, the main point of watching a 419 channel is to pull it apart and watch Phil trying to incompetently spin a convincing lie. And if retribution comes? That only makes it better.