Is The Completionist a fraud and a criminal?

[Raging Justice]

I'm hearing a lot lately about a charity scam he is being accused of

https://www.ign.com/articles/youtuber-t ... -donations

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/t ... y-2409817/

https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/wha ... foundation

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread ... rity-scam/

https://clutchpoints.com/the-open-hand- ... d-of-fraud

[Ziggy]

I skipped through a couple of videos that Karl Jobst did. He's like the go-to guy on YouTube for scandals in the video game world.

His first video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0dMF1zHyA

His second: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ6tYkStri4

[Anapan]

Mutahar (SomeOrdinaryGamers) collaborated, and I've been following the drama from his videos as well. I only knew of The Completionist. I might've watched a couple of his videos over the years. The evidence is pretty damning. Certainly his family who run Open Hands is probably the most responsible, and perhaps he didn't actually know the full extent of the situation, but to not come clean immediately when he found out, and especially to keep running the annual event is totally negligent on his part. Crazy situation.

Reminds me that I should really update this year's RacketBoy Charity's status despite nobody asking:
One of the donations has a hold on it that will release in a few days (not unexpected or unusual).
I figured I should also wait to forward the funds until the donated items arrive and the winners verify that they arrived safely and functional in-case a refund is needed.

[Note]

I've heard of The Completionist, but I've never checked out his videos. Thanks for sharing those links, Ziggy.

This looks bad for him and his family, I'll be curious to see how it all pans out.

[Raging Justice]

I tend to rant about things in games that most gamers don't care about. When I talked about Sea of Stars in one of the threads here (think it was the Games Beaten thread), I had mentioned the cameo from The Completionist. A lot of people probably thought it was cool that he was in the game. I said that I thought it was kind of stupid and lame putting gaming celebs in video games (like another developer did with Jim Sterling in Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe). Well I feel like Nostradamus now because the Sea of Stars developers may regret it now. I wouldn't be shocked to see him patched out of the game.

This kind of stuff is tacky and feels like pandering. It also kind of dates your game. Personally, I would want my game to have a timeless quality to it. So no stupid, modern references.

[SpaceBooger]

This kind of stuff is tacky and feels like pandering. It also kind of dates your game. Personally, I would want my game to have a timeless quality to it. So no stupid, modern references.

The only thing I could think of while reading this was "Working Designs."

[Limewater]

This kind of stuff is tacky and feels like pandering. It also kind of dates your game. Personally, I would want my game to have a timeless quality to it. So no stupid, modern references.

Chris Houlihan or nobody, imo.

[PretentiousHipster]

How do you feel about nostalgic throwback references? They would both be the same to me.

[Raging Justice]

How do you feel about nostalgic throwback references? They would both be the same to me.

I think those age better than references to some random gaming celebrity who is a big deal when the game releases. The "John Gaiden" joke in The Messenger (referencing Ninja Gaiden) will age better than the Completionist cameo in Sea of Stars. They did a reference to Jordan Peterson in The Messenger that they got a lot of flak for. I have no comment whatsoever on Jordan Peter or what anyone should think of him, but it's another example of how those in the moment references to people are not a good idea.

On the other hand Guacamelee 2 goes so overboard on nostalgic throwback references it get ridiculous. Every 5 minutes you get some random, out of nowhere, retro gaming reference. Hey look, a section that plays like an 8-bit JRPG. Hey look, you have to smash a car like Street Fighter II. Hey look, we recreated the first boss fight of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Hey look, a Bad Dudes reference. Hey look, other random retro gaming thing.

On top of that Guacamelee 2 ALSO commits the sin of trying to be topical with a section that is a commentary on micro transactions AND a section that comments on criticisms they received for too many references in the FIRST Guacamelee.

Guacamelee 2 gets embarrassing with how much self indulgence and lack of restraint it shows from the developers...which is a shame because it is otherwise a great game.

Now, something like South Park Stick of Truth or South Park Fractured but Whole is another story entirely. I totally EXPECT a South Park game to be topical because it's frigging South Park. That's kind of what they do.

[Anapan]

$600,000 got donated to AFTD in November.
SomeOrdinaryGamers' Response
Clearly done only in response to the investigation, and this is only the money from The Completionist events and not including his last event this year. There is a lot more money in Open Hand's account from the golf tournaments etc. Up until this point no funds had ever been moved from their foundation according to their public records.