"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves..."
Will Durant

All the great success stories, it seems, are achieved against the odds. Indeed, there's nothing more powerful - or satisfying - than the desire to prove others wrong. This is especially true in the world of entertainment, where people are literally queuing up to see your downfall (or play their part in it). If you want to do something creative for a living - whether it's music, film, or games - you can expect to be opposed every step of the way. The heartening thing, in my case and many others, is that almost every critic is silenced eventually...  

Education, Education, Education
If you believe the education system then I'm an absolute "failure" when it comes to computers! Although I was an exemplary student in most cases, Computing has always been a contentious issue. At school it gave me my first 'E' grade - simply because I delivered work that was more advanced than what was required. At college I got a scarcely better 'D' - and was warned that "computers are not toys". And the less said about University the better! Within my first year I was more qualified than every lecturer in the department - and sure enough, that once again made me public enemy number one. I delivered work that was bigger, better, and more advanced than required. I did team projects single-handedly. I completed long-term projects in a matter of days. It came across as rebellious arrogance, but I had to challenge myself like that just to stay interested. My attitude invariably resulted in low grades and the odd failure. If they knew what they were talking about I would have been insulted! Thankfully, these people rarely do. Education measures how well you follow the rules, yet the most successful people are the ones that redefine them...

The Gift & The Curse
One University lecturer even went so far as to label me "the solitary problem". Quite why my solo work ethic has always been seen as a "problem" is beyond me. People assume that I'm making life difficult for myself, but the truth is that I'm making it infinitely easier! I don't have to explain myself to anybody, and I work lightning fast because I don't have to rely on anybody either. I do what I want, when I want, how I want - and on top of that, I get all the credit! Anybody who thinks that's bad business is gravely mistaken, but you'd be surprised how many do. There'd be raised eyebrows and sighs of disbelief whenever I vowed to turn in University projects single-handedly. But sure enough, when the time came, mine were the best in show. Even my own players are convinced that my games would be better coming from a team. The truth is that neither Wrestling MPire or Booking MPire would even exist if that was the case. The idea of a detailed Career mode that extends to contract negotiations would have been shot down on day one, and the whole concept of "booking" would have received a shake of the head before I had even finished saying the word! Sometimes an idea can be so innovative that nobody else understands where you're coming from. In that case, all you can do is make it shine bright enough for the whole world to see...

Smart Marks
Although wrestling is my claim to fame, it's also the weapon of choice for my critics. Everybody knows that the sport has its detractors - and by making games about it I've inherited them! My work with wrestling has attracted ridicule from my peers, dismissal from the gaming press, and many other drawbacks. I don't for a minute resent that fight, because I love the business and will always be prepared to defend it. In fact, I've already paid my dues. I was laughed out of the building when I pitched the idea of a "booking simulator" to my peers. A couple of years later, it's a reality in both 2D and 3D - and thousands of wrestling fans all over the world have got their dream game! My greatest title defence was face-to-face though, when one classmate got a little too vocal. I was studying some streaming video of Summerslam 92 (to which I was in attendance!) when somebody behind my back whispered, "What's his obsession with wrestling?". Instead of letting the remark slide, I confidently asked him what HE sees when he looks at the footage. "A load a fat men in tights!", came the predictable response. At this point a small crowd had gathered to witness my downfall, but all they got was this damning retaliation: "Yeah? Well I see a sell-out crowd of 80'000 fans idolizing those 'fat men in tights'...". To which he shuffled off in an embarrassed silence. Now those same fans are my fans, and the rest is history...

2D Or Not 2D
In the days when my games were all 2D, I had yet another battle on my hands. People mocked my out-dated graphics as surely as they did the wrestling content. What they failed to realise is that game development is a "gradual" process. You start with text, progress to 2D, and then end up in the glorious world of 3D. All too many wannabe game developers feel that the first 2 are beneath them - and funnily enough, they never get anywhere! That didn't stop my efforts being met with apathy and disrespect though. They no doubt convinced themselves that I had peaked too early, whilst they were saving themselves for better things. Now I'm at the top of the ladder - and they're still waiting for that magical day when they take their first step...

2D Standards
You'd expect that ignorance from novices, but in my experience it also seeps into the professional world. When the time came to publish my landmark 2D series, the project was met with apathy by the publishers. They claimed that "2D games aren't marketable", and proceeded to offer an embarrassingly cheap deal. Although that's understandable in most cases, here we had THE most popular game ever made in Blitz BASIC. It might not set the world on fire, but it was guaranteed to sell more than every other game on their books put together! Regardless, I had to sit back while they gave priority to a long line-up of 3D games that wouldn't even make a profit. Hell, my 2D game was probably funding those projects! Fortunately, when the sequel rolled around I was better prepared to shield it from a similar fate. I pulled out all the stops to get Federation Booker published independently. It was tough work, but the opportunity to fulfil the game's true potential was priceless. It was the better of the 2 games, it was uncensored, the concept remained intact, I got the credit (and payment) I deserved - and best of all, the game sold even better! As we speak, the 3D incarnation is enjoying the same freedom - and even bigger success...

The Truth Is Out There
Speaking of Blitz, that itself has been a popular weapon amongst my critics. As surely as people looked down on my 2D games, they looked down on the tool I used to make them. Within the mainstream, the barbaric C++ is the programming language of choice. Everything else, it seems, is dismissed as a childish substitute. In my experience, Blitz BASIC and Dark BASIC have been judged as such - yet so much more credit is due. While it's true that they're infinitely easier to use, it's often forgotten that they're still legitimate programming languages that require great mastery. My games are constantly being dismissed as some sort of forgery or trick. Apparently, I just type "wrestling" into a program and it magically produces a whole game! Strangely enough, it's quite similar to the "wrestling's fake" argument that haunts wrestlers. Just like them, my response has always been to challenge people to do it themselves. If my work is so lame how come nobody else on the planet can do it? Yep, that's right - a bit of work is involved. Get back to the drawing board and find another excuse. The one about "MDickie" being a team of 4 people is my favourite conspiracy theory!

Stone Cold Revenge
My battles have even been played out in the public arena of television. When the Teletext magazine "Digitiser" took a cheap shot at wrestling games, I went into defensive mode one more time and wrote in to defend the genre. I politely reminded them that wrestling was an integral part of youth culture, and was responsible for some of the most successful games of the year. My views were printed in the letters section - where they were arrogantly ridiculed, along with my vulnerable name "Dickie". Strangely enough, I wasn't that angry. I decided that revenge was a dish best served cold, so I poured my energy into an award-winning retaliation. They were asking for articles written by viewers, and I obliged with a fine submission about independent game development. Sure enough, it took pride of place in their publication - receiving 4 whole pages of attention. Somehow, I even managed to plug MDickie.com! So there we were; a few short months after they had ridiculed by name it was emblazoned on their screens 4 times over, proudly attached to a great article. Furthermore, they inadvertently promoted my work as a WRESTLING game developer - which made a mockery of their own ignorant views! As if that wasn't enough, my writing would return to their screens a couple more times before the magazine's demise. Now my "funny" name is respected all over the world, and theirs doesn't even exist. What goes around comes around... with a God damn clothesline when I'm involved!

The Crawl Back
Journalists aren't the only ones that have to stand corrected. The best thing about doing something creative for a living is that everybody suddenly looks up to you! You can be at the bottom of the ladder, but as long as you're on an exciting journey people will instinctively want to be a part of it. Friends you fell out with suddenly change their attitude, and people you were never even friends with in the first place try to rewrite history! I am, of course, talking about the fickle world of school. It's here that you meet some of your fiercest critics - yet they're somehow the first to topple. In my case, the people that mocked my name are sick that it's more respected than theirs - and those that mocked my studying are sick that it led to success. What's more is that you can bet those same people are the ones that ended up working in McDonalds! The lesson is this: school offers you a kind of short-term popularity - which goes as easily as it came. If you keep your head down and plot on long-term success, you'll attain a popularity that lasts forever. That's what my friends did, and now they run the city - from lawyers and architects through to journalists and writers...

The Ghost Of Jealousy
It's not all a blaze of glory though. When human beings are intimidated they can act one of two ways: they either respect what's before them and attempt to learn from it, or they lash out like an animal and try to destroy it. I've seen my fair share of the latter. Whenever I had achieved something whilst I was at University, such as a flattering magazine article, I would usually hang it up on the wall for all to see. Just a natural way to celebrate something you're proud of. However, one insecure housemate would regularly tear these things down and burn them in a fit of rage! What made it even more irrational was that this guy wasn't even a game developer, and had very little reason to be jealous. In any case, it was as if they could convince themselves it was all a bad dream if they destroyed the evidence! Personally, I prefer to destroy my enemies by overtaking them - not by dragging them down to my level. I had to do just that at another juncture in my University life. The denial continued with a whole new insecure housemate, who convinced himself - and anybody else who'd listen - that I was lying about my work. There were red faces all round, when just a few weeks later I had an entire page dedicated to me in the University paper! This thing caught the attention of every student on campus - leaving my accuser, and his gullible entourage, with a lot of explaining to do. At the end of the day, I love these people! There's no better inspiration than shooting these guys down. It's like shooting fish in a barrel nowadays though...

DNR: Do Not Respond
With all this adversity, it's no wonder that I appreciate my fans more than the average game developer. Bureaucracy would take that away from me if it could though! In this business, and indeed every other entertainment industry, there's a policy of "do not reply". Whenever you see a contact address in a magazine or on a website, you'll notice a disclaimer that states "personal correspondence cannot be entered into". In other words, "you're lucky we even read your messages!". Quite why this has to be the case in beyond me. Corresponding with my players is one of the very best things about my job, and an hour is dedicated to it every day. Sure, it's come back to haunt me on countless occasions. You give somebody an inch and they take a mile. I'm best friends with the Delete key nowadays though, and we've got a "one strike and you're out" policy that's working quite nicely! With me you're innocent until proven guilty - there's no need to tarnish everybody with the same brush. The main reason I do it is because I'm so sick of people ignoring my own contact attempts. I have to correspond with magazines and websites all the time, and you're always made to feel "honoured" that you got a response - even when you're in the damn things! Popularity isn't even an excuse these days, because my inbox has grown to be as busy as most others. At the end of the day it's a matter of integrity - and if you show me yours, I'll show you mine...

Shelf Life
Sometimes the fans themselves can be your worst enemy. After all, there's a thin line between love and hate! One such backlash followed my decision to turn pro in 2002. When it was announced that my latest 2D wrestling series would be published, there were cries of "sell out" and fears that it would be my downfall. Actually, it wasn't that bad - only about a third of my audience cared one way or the other. In any case, the criticisms were somewhat short-sighted. While it was questionable that Federation's Wrestling and Booker were "worth buying", the fact is that it was now or never. I had just finished University - my safety net for so many years - and would have to secure a job for the future. That job was either to keep going as a professional, or become Mr. 9-to-5 that hasn't got time to make games. I obviously chose the former, and began to earn from my humble games. Make no mistake about it; if I hadn't, Big BumpZ would have probably been the last game you saw from me. As it was, the funding from Federation Booker and co allowed me to turn a hobby into a committed profession - which produced epics like Wrestling MPire. Those that were open-minded enough to support my publishing finally have their reward - and they can rest assured that they sparked a whole new era of game development...

If You Can't Beat Them...
And the moral of the story is? Stop doubting me! Nothing good ever comes out of negativity. If you're jealous you end up looking stupid, and if you're ignorant you end up standing corrected. At the very least, by spending too much time hating you don't leave any time for creating! You've got nothing to gain and everything to lose. Whether it's a musician that's had too much plastic surgery, or a game developer with a ridiculous name, some people are made easy to hate. The reason? To prove that they're unstoppable! To separate the weak from the strong. If you've got the integrity to pass that test, congratulations - you're on the winning team...