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.

 

[Iron Father]

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.

 

[Iron Father]

...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.

 

[UncleTusky]

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.

 

[Beverly Sutphin]

I broke out my fancy college psychology books to dust off some of that mentally ill brain of mine, so I can figure out what exactly does ill Philliam. Does he fall under what is known as the Dark Triad? I know, buzzwords! The dark triad consists of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Even willing to guess that Phil is a STRONG candidate for NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder). Narcissist's usually overblow their skills but in reality, they're below average or average at best, they can be very cocky behind closed doors in the safety of their own dwelling, but when confronted, they tend to shy away from confrontation into a shell. They come off as very confident and/or sometimes cocky, but in actuality, they suffer from extreme low self-esteem, because they thrive on the attention of others. They're constantly seeking outside validation, will go to lengths to receive that outside validation.

I do think that Phil does fall under both narcissism and psychopathy. A lot of people think that when they see psychopaths, they think Ted Bundy. Someone that has psychopathy traits isn't necessarily a psychopath on the scale of Ted Bundy, however, there is a HUGE distinction between psychopathy and psychopath. Dave is well known and documented to manipulate anyone that falls into his vortex of pignoisis, why I say that he does fall under the psychopathy umbrella of the dark triad.

Source, Dark Triad: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/understanding-dark-triad.htm
Source, psychopathy: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01596/full

 

[Wurstbrot]

Phil is a STRONG candidate for NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder).

Yes.
Space is black, circles are round, Phil is a narcissist in the psychological sense. The real triad of common knowledge.

I'm not here to stop discussion, far from it, but I'm glad we threw enough words against a wall to nail at least this one permanently.

And it's so easy to see because narcissism isn't just temporary and just partly in affect. It is the whole personality and always active around the clock. As if a really bad operating system is running, there is no fix, you have to start from scratch and make a new baby.

And since we experience Phil on a day to day basis, it's easy even for an armchair-therapist to make this diagnose. It's a fact and to be totally honest not a rarity in the modern countries. Instant gratification due to internet and social media might have their share in this. We may not know Phil's exact type of narcissistic disorder, but holy doodoo if there was ever a walking talking definition it has his face.

Of course NPD isn't enough, he shows even more weird behaviors which I sometimes try to connect to narcissism (naturally), but without proper education I can't really tell. It's more likely he's just a retard in some aspects. However, his unwillingness to fix anything is correlated to narcissism, because the narc does nothing wrong, everything correct and therefore needs no fix in any aspect of his life.

• Lazyness. This is just a normal human behavior, nothing out of the ordinary, right? And Phil streams 2 times, 6 days a week, providing khantent on demand, so he isn't even lazy. Well, not exactly. Yes, the narc is lazy regarding everything that's important and rather wants you to make his job, but he's very dedicated when it comes to fleeing from responsibility, defending himself and throwing you under the bus. It's the action of an overblown fragile ego that needs constant protection, because the narc isn't really lazy, he constantly fights against himself and covers his weak spots so only those aspects are important to him (Edit: Saying, the narc is in constant self-inflicted stress so he imagines himself as the uber-workforce when in fact he does literally nothing). Even in his easy job Phil flees from effort and abandons all autonomy. Look guys, imma doing muh job, you can't attack me, duhuhu. You poorly play videogames and are the worst steamer who ever walked the planet, but at least you do your job (which you technically don't do, Phil, you pretend). Or you could get a real job and stop begging. Conclusion: Lazyness works different for the narcissist, like most behaviors.

• SNORT. I'm flabbergasted by the combination of several problems. Not only a narc, but also post nasal syndrome and a herniated disc. And of course a "secret health problem", lol. You would think Phil would blow up this health problem (if it exists) to epic proportions ASAP to instantly gain profit, but the narcissist is quite good in delaying informations to profit at a later moment. Like holding in "fan letters". So if that's a real one then it's a minor and will be saved for hyper ultra rescue save the house missions, or he hasn't invented one yet, narcs also do that, they shockingly lie very shockingly. Anyway, his snorts and the herniated disc? Definitively real, hearable and quite rocking. But he hasn't done jackshit to cure that, because he's lazy where it matters and a victim position is always the prefered position for a narcissist, he can use that to gain psychological advantage and act nasty. If you don't like the snorts, too bad, apparently not Phil's fault.

• Uber-T-pose-rocking, expanding into Y-pose. Might have started with the release of his damaged back, but at this point it's retardedly learned behavior in combination with exaggerating explanations. The wider the arms, the bigger the fish was. It also makes him look big, menacing and therefore very convincing, if he'd be a bear and not an afraid piglet. The narc has lots of tools to make himself look convincing, he's an expert at it because he trained this all his life, every move is deliberately targeted to achieve a goal. Well, normally, thank God Phil is incompetent even in this regard so he's as transparent as the regularly fired up gaslight.

• Behehe. ACK ACK ACK. Duhuhu. Banshee noises. Ha ha ha. Phil is an insecure little man who goes so far to include the buggy laughing mechanics of other people. As many observed, some of those are laughes of his girlfriends and Phil adapted those when they entered his life. What a strong man of confident manliness, lol. His insecurities and thin skin show manifold and this is one of them.

• Talking with hands and arms, doing da WHooOOOP. Because he's an italian of course! It's in the genes, lol. To be fair, that could be true because the science on that isn't entirely clear. But because it isn't clear, it's also not necessarily true that Italians naturally express themselfs with big gesticulation. Think about it, he's maybe a quarterly Italian, his mom is partly Italian (was she?), they all reside in America for quite a while and Phil never visited Italy or speaks Italian. So, bullshit. He does the big whoops because this is what people do. Gestures can be linked to speech and it helps articulating and it visualizes additional informations. There is nothing special about it. Some people do it more, some less, and some countries also do it more or less. Why? Hard to tell, but who cares. It's not narcissism, except Phil's reasoning. And the extra-whoops might occur because his brain of excuses seeks for additional mental gymnastics. So it's narcissism?

• Kicking people who have a hard time, attacking people who do better than him, randomly turning toxic on people and calling them idiots for literally no reason. Narcissism. Look at Phil, he's the strong dominant guy, except his method completely backfires. Instead of being the actual Alola Alpha Chad and be above such pityful behaviors, he's a hateful brainless asshole and it shines through. In other words, a narcissist.

• Clowning up, talking down and no normal human conversation. It's all the same. He's way too insecure to just be himself, because his true self is embarrassing and tbh extremely boring. You can see that in his recent streams where he mimics narcolepsy in streamed form. He fought for too long against his ego that he never invented a personality on his own. Everything has to be exciting and meaningful, and this isn't bad for livestreaming, but DSP sucks at this, he has no sense of humor or comedic timing because narcissists lack empathy and don't know what makes people smile. He knows what makes him smile: Money, stereotypes and suffering. So he just suddenly clowns up out of nowhere and acts as if he did an entertaining thing (of course better than those streamers who aim at children). And because he's a big deal and meaningful person, his words have to carry meaning, like a daddy. So don't get surprised if he talks down as if you're an idiot.

The more I think about it, just as previously stated, in the end everything is related to his narcissism, in one way or another. He can't outrun himself, he can't do better. That's his curse.
So... Nothing he can do

 

[Michael Janke]

what does the wolverine story tell us about phil?

most people would have forgotten all about it, but here he is telling us how his parents were idiots and that you should just relent to your kids whining,
the odd thing is, if phil met someone who behaves exactly as he does, he'd likely call that person an asshole. lack of self reflection I guess. It seems to be something most if not all cows are afflicted with.

 

[Wurstbrot]

what does the wolverine story tell us about phil?

Narcissists never forget if they got wronged, that s a big because narcissism starts early. And some people grow physically and don't get wiser, turning into children in an adult's body. Both cases tell the same story: Phil is a spoiled child, even this moment as we text each other.

 

[Tears for T]

Think this picture in the best way sums up Phil.

 

[Iron Father]

DSP is basically Cartman, when his mom wouldn't buy him the iPad, and he kept going on about her "fucking him" etc. Like @Wurstbrot said, he's a narcissist that takes it personally when he doesn't get his own way.

 

[Michael Janke]

you know, dsp is a pretty weird guy and i think we underestimate how weird he is.
take one of phils videos, remove all the dead air and show the video to someone thats not accustomed to internet autism. they'd probably think he's a low level schizo or something.

 

[rubynutmeg]

To me, Phil smacks of a vulnerable narcissist. I don't think that's his only problem but it is his main problem. Narcissists are next to impossible to treat because, obviously, they can never admit that they're the problem - it's everybody else that's the problem.

 

[Fapcop]

I’m both fascinated and interested by what goes on inside Phil Burnell’s little head, and I think this video is an interesting watch:

The Worst Game I've EVER Played: Homefront: The Revolution (PS4)

With a YouTube career spanning 8 years, I NEVER thought I'd top some of the crap that I've played in the past. Today was that day. In this video I run down H...

m.youtube.com

Now this is one of the few examples of Phil actually editing his “kahntent” and the most viewed video on his channel, but what I wanted to discuss wasn’t the obvious laziness on display.

(Note how he constantly uses the same zoom cut, misspeaks several times, but just goes “meh this is fine! I can’t be arsed to do another take!)

Takeaways I find interesting:

1: His begacy/legacy is very VERY important to him. He starts right off the bat with introducing himself as “someone who’s been on YouTube for EIGHT YEARS”. And over the course of a 15 minute video, he brings it up AGAIN at a later point, and adds the fact that he has uploaded “OVER 50.000 GAMEPLAY VIDEOS!”

Does Phil Burnell know who he is, aside from “Khantent creator with an X year legacy on YouTube”? I doubt it. It’s his whole identity and why he’s extremely thinskinned about it. Well, about everything.

2: Phil is retarded. Maybe not in the clinically correct sense of the word, but his personality seems to stunted and stopped developing in his late teens.

Watching this video, it’s important to remember that this isn’t Phil just on the cuff riffing off stuff.

He sat down, wrote a script, patted himself on the shoulder (undoubtedly going “this is AWESOME Phil! Grade A material!”) and went and recorded it.

And what do we get? Constant swearing, cussing, dropping “Shit” and “ass” and “bullshit” at every possible opportunity.

Phil talks like an edgy 16 year old talking with his buddies at the bus stop. And seems to think it’s perfectly appropriate for a “professional” review video.

(Note his “salesman” voice, that’s probably the result of watching Eurogamer videos and going: “Oh, so that’s how you’re supposed to sound!”)

A ten year old would know that this kind of language isn’t acceptable in polite society, let alone in an “edited professional” video.

Phil though? Undoubtedly figures that his profanity and scatological teen speak, is just “being real”.

Thoughts? Am I way off base here?

 

[Flavius Anthemius]

To me, Phil smacks of a vulnerable narcissist. I don't think that's his only problem but it is his main problem. Narcissists are next to impossible to treat because, obviously, they can never admit that they're the problem - it's everybody else that's the problem.

Mmm yes tell us something we don't already know about this despicable specimen. Just recently during the final "10 minutes" of his latest stream, a stream viewer told him that he had to leave and attend to other things and Phil said to the guy and directed this at other people as well, "You know you don't have to leave, you can chill for a little bit". Now this first part of his little ramble sets his demeanour straight up, he expects people to watch him for the majority of the stream time on his terms and doesn't want to see the stream numbers fluctuate that much, especially well before the stream ends, but the big takeaway is what he says next, " I guess people have a very strict schedule, they have to leave right away".

Now I don't have to explain to you the level of thick-headedness and misapprehension someone else has to have in order to not understand why someone just has to get up and leave suddenly in order to attend having other responsibilities.

It's called having a fucking life outside of watching a fat 40 year old hermit sitting in front of a tv for multiple hours a day and attending to one's own responsibilities, like lets say, earning a living wage, or cooking dinner in order to survive, or spending time with your partner, to put things in an easy to understand perspective for dim witted Phil over here.

And just to show you how much of a hypocrite he is when you compare this to another recent incident, his soul-mare recently had something bad happen to her and Phil was in a state of semi panic mode feeling pretty pissed off that something truly terrible happened to her, and of course in typical Phil fashion he didn't say much to people in his stream that he had to take a call or take a break in order to talk to her, no he instead caused a bit of awkwardness and silence during the whole ordeal, and of course it delayed any sort of progress he made during that stream for a good few minutes.

If Phil was so adamant about his words towards that viewer who said he had to leave, then why didn't he take heed of his own advice and continue soldering on during his own stream instead of dipping out?

Simple, he's incapable of understanding that other people go through their own trials and tribulations just as worse, if not more so then him and doesn't see why that would bother them and therefore make people feel bad about themselves by directing his insecurities onto them instead.

Text book narcissism.