Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/uhyeah to get 50% off your first Keeps order !!READ BEFORE COMMENTING!! ALSO: VIDEO CORRECTION: In this video I go on a little rant about how I don't think Smike was "directly profiting off artists". While I still stand by that for his Top 10 Facts videos, I failed to mention that he also used to make "Top 10 Fan Art" videos where, yes, he was indeed profiting off fan art. Keep that in mind while watching. VIDEO CLARIFICATION: You can like FNAF without playing it, that was never my point. It's a different case when you dedicate your entire online career to it. I think that distinction is pretty obvious.
I remember watching this guy and I *completely* forgot he existed. I didn't even hear about the controversies, he just disappeared from my radar and I didn't even notice.
cant believe in the past controversial meant that it was a split between some people liking something and others disliking it, instead of something being actually illegal or in some other way extremely bad
@aetheriox463 I mean, no, that was never the case, but edgelord bad faith actors definitely loved to paint it that way. They loved trivializing shit if it meant defending their love of something or someone and would blame the "FeMiNiSt FeMiNaZiS", "SoCiaL mArXiStS" and other 2014 terms for "CaNceL CuLtUrE" and "wOkE sCoLds" for their problems and everything wrong with the world currently because they stopped emotionally maturing at 12 and are incapable of critical thought.
I remember when Smike released the top ten FNAF videos, I watched every episode, but my biggest impression of him was when Game Theory talked about how much FNAF fans wanted FNAF videos, Matpat used Smike's "The Top Ten Facts About Cupcakes" video as an example.
I don't think there's anything wrong with liking something without having played it. I was into FNAF for years before I actually played it. You don't have to play the game to appreciate the character designs and it's fun to try to figure out the lore.
Same here, I’ve been a fan since FNaF2, and there’s not a secret character or screen you can show me that I haven’t seen before, yet I haven’t touched a single game lol
I remember how sad I was about his videos being removed! Mostly because a lot of them weren't Top 10's, most of them were theories and some of them were really good! I just feel like we lost such a large portion of pre-Sister Location FNAF history with the loss of these videos. The videos were so limited and not as crazy and convoluted as they are today. I remember him talking about the reflections in the original Marriotte's eyes and who the extra head on Mangle was from. Really great stuff that I deeply miss and think of often
I don't remember Smike being hated or even controversial. Sure, he stretched the ideas in videos. But really all them were harmless and everyone back then was on the fnaf bandwagon. He wasn't much different.
The entire fanbase labeled him "smilk" because they were so annoyed by his content. His comment sections were full of nothing but memes. Nobody took him seriously anymore, I guess that's hate?
I think calling Smike the "most hated FNAF RUclipsr" is a bit harsh. From what I remember, Smike was never really seen as a villain by the FNAF community. Sure there were controversies but it they were never enough to make him notorious and he seemed to be well regarded by other prominent FNAF RUclipsrs. Like when Matpat did a FNAF livestream, he invited Smike (along with other RUclipsrs) and they all had a jolly good time even thought this was after many of the controversies discussed had happened. Smike made a few mistakes, but some of it also comes down to how unmoderated RUclips used to be. We and most other RUclipsrs did not know about content id and theft to the degree we know about it today and a bunch of RUclipsrs actually took the success and mistakes of Smike and used them to create their own successful channels by repeating what worked for him while avoiding his mistakes.
@@cato3277 Matpat Isn't THE most hasted fnaf youtuber, he just does a few controversial theory that peoples actually agreed on after they look more into it. Just some peoples that dissagree with Matpat really dissagrees with him and attacks him without looking more into it. Most of Matpat's theory ending up being true. And Matpat Isn't actually a fnaf youtuber, he owns 4 channel and 3 of them doesn't even talk about FNAF. And mat is resting on fnaf theories for the time being because he knows he left so much other game lores. So mat doesn't fit in the most hated fnaf youtuber or does he even fit in the criteria of a fnaf youtuber.
I somewhat remembered his face at first, but when you played his voice it instantly released so many old memories. I also grew up watching his FNAF content when the games were coming out, he completely faded from my memory till watching this video and I respect your effort in bringing this to the light, especially for all of us who were too young to understand the behind the scenes of these kind of controversies Edit: Hey! Thanks for the 1.3k likes, I’m not used to getting many at all 😅 I’m glad many of you share the same thoughts I had~
His voice is probably the most distinct out of any of the RUclipsrs I have watched. Markiplier, Jack, Pewds etc are famous, it’s not hard to recognize their voices. Smike for a time was obscure, and then got big, then vanished for three years, Twitter and RUclips seemingly wiped almost clean. I forgot he existed until a year ago where I heard his voice and was like “wait was that *Smike*?” It was weird, that he was actually how I got into the whole FNAF and Skyrim-style games. It’s a wild world man. (Timestamp in video for the writing of comment: 4:39)
Controversy now: Roblox RUclipsrs holding shotguns, RUclipsrs going into jail, zoophiles, and pedophiles. Controversy before: milking video games I think we should go back to 2016.
@@snnnaaaaaakeeeee4470 For real LMAO, I feel like half of these people were not around doing 2016 youtube, it was honestly nostalgic for it also being the early day of commentary channels *cough leafy cough* but so many youtubers were being exposed as pedos or abusers.
Interesting videos, did wonder what happened to this dude. Although "most hated fnaf RUclipsr"... Maybe he is, but there is one other who is just as if not more hated over in the SFM community, I'd be interested in seeing a video done on that guy but the reasons he's hated are a bit different and I don't think it would be a smart play to talk about it
I get liking the franchise without playing the games. I was like that for like 4 years! But 8 videos of a let's play without even finishing the first game? WHAT THE HELL?!
There are games that I like watching people play that I personally don't find fun playing myself. FNAF was one of them. I like watching people's reactions to the game rather than actually playing the game.
Bro same for me cuz there's a lot of games that I'm not gonna be great at, not my style, and I couldn't handle horror games so that's why I watch people on RUclips so that way they can do it for me like for a few examples markiplier played just about half of the FNAF series and I've watched every single 3 scary games and I've watched jacksepticeye play elden ring and him playing a few resident evil games and also him playing far lone sails so 🤷♂️yeah 😅
well hey, I've been a fan of the series since before fnaf 3 came out, and to this day the only game I've played is help wanted, you can be a fan of a game series just fine without having played the games, as long as you've experienced them in some way, such as youtube let's plays
I don’t even remember this guy being controversial. He was just a genuinely fun channel to watch back when the lore was barren and obscure. Sure he used fan art without credit, but I remembered that he also made reuploads, and deleted the old videos, so his videos were without fanart so artists wouldn’t have their work falsely used again. Again, this was way back when being a youtuber was a new thing for most people; therefore, driving them to push boundaries and get comfortable with the site. There has been countless youtubers who have done such things in the past and delt with it much worse.
He also posted a video apologizing for using the fanart, and I remember in the description he added a long, LONG list of artists,which were the ones Who made that fanart, so he could apologize to the specific ones
Smike… now that’s a name I haven’t heard from in a while. Him, 8-bit Gaming, Treesicle, MatPat, Bazzmalam, and Razzbowski were the pinnacle of FNaF theory contents back in 2014-2016
TBH I never heard about any controversies involving Smike, and I never knew he was hated in any way either. Back in the day I actually used to love Smike, mainly because of his FNAF theory videos, which IMO were some of the best ones I've seen back in the day! In the early days of FNAF I used to click on pretty much anything FNAF related, especially theory videos digging deep into the lore and stuff, and Smike's were definitely some of the most interesting and memorable, from what I remember at least. Not to mention he seemed like a chill dude and had sort of an ASMR-ish voice, which I kinda preferred over a lot of the really annoying screaming FNAF RUclipsrs desperately trying to be funny but failing miserably at it.
idk if it was the case for smike, but i feel like there's a HUGE percentage of the fnaf fan base that hasn't played the games but loves em. a lot of people just got rly into the lore and watch let's plays / theories / fan content. probably the biggest amount of ppl in a fan base ive witnessed who havent partaken in the thing its about. it's kinda cool in a way bc the community is accessible to a lot more ppl. ive played all the games myself besides for help wanted and fnaf 3. i just never got around to em but ive seen my fair share of content about em so I can see how u can be passionate about the games without playing them!
I’m biased since I’m someone who got into fnaf without playing any of the games, but yeah, for the fnaf series, I feel like not playing the games while still making theories and faces about the game isn’t a big sin. Fnaf is one of those game series that you can love and know a lot about the games and the story without having to actually play the games yourself.
This video comes off a bit strong if I’m being honest.. Back then, I wasn’t even aware he was considered controversial. Also, you don’t have to touch the games to be a fan. Hell, the majority of the community hasn’t played a game. That’s the beauty of the internet. If you want a horrible “FNAF” RUclipsr.. take a look at Top 10 Gaming. Now _thats_ bad.
Top 10 basically just repeats what everyone already knows, and adds terrible thumbnail clickbait-- like the video on lobit had "Lolbit is a SISTER" on the thumbnail
That's pretty bad that a majority of fans in a game series have never actually touched the game. You can be a fan of the lore maybe, but you've never actually touched the gameplay mechanics whatsoever so I don't think you can truly be a fan of the games at that point, just the story/lore within them. You can watch another youtuber play and "like" the control scheme watching them, but if you never actually test out that control scheme yourself and the game mechanics then you can't really be a fan of them.
I remembered I didn't exactly dig this guy's voice, but I enjoyed his content because he did something A LOT of FNaF youtubers back in the day didn't: He always made it very clear what was speculation and what were solid facts in his videos. As someone who was into it for the lore (back in 2014-2015, way before books and shit got the lore completely off the rails), I noticed that the info Smike released on his videos was usuallly accurate. Also, he may have goofed big time on the fanart thing, but let's be honest, we've seen a lot of people deal with stuff like that in waaaay worse ways than him. He doesn't come across as especially ill-willed with that contract stuff either, he only seems to be VERY naive (and maybe a bit arrogant) by thinking people would actually be okay with just getting "free publicity" by having their fanarts exposed in his videos. Not a cool move, but props to him for taking down the videos, actually crediting the artists and apologizing to all of them, and for cancelling the contract thing for good.
I used to watch Smike all the time and kinda forgot about him. I didn't realize he was so controversial. I don't think it is really fair to hate somebody that made content over a game they have never played. They can like something without playing it but that is my opinion
To me, I can kinda get that. But I also feel like if you want to get into making videos about a specific game series and only that series, you should play the game so you fully understand what that game is about. It's like going to a restaurant and having the chef tell you" oh yeah, i've never actually made steak before. I've just watched people make it."
@@MythicMachina That's not the same at all. You can get basically the same experience watching a game instead of playing it yourself. The point about Smike's channel was the information you learn rather than the actual gameplay. Nothing wrong with it
Oh shit. That’s me at 14:35 with the cross. I clicked on this because I always wondered what happened to Smike since I liked his content back in the day. Seeing that old pic of me was a fun surprise. I still have that shirt in my closet. 😂
oh my god me and my friends used to call him smilk cause of how he milked fnaf, but i watched his videos anyway. something endearing about him, cause anyone could have made those top ten videos, but he's the one who decided to do it.
I don't think he can be considered the most hated FNAF RUclipsr, he just never thought to credit the art he used but his lists were really good. I miss the guy
I feel bad for Smike tbh, he literally got hated for literally showing fan art in his top 10s and he even apologized for it and people still find a way to consider him a bad youtuber Smike didn't deserved what he got, it was just a simple mistake
@Please enter a name the terms of that contract are abysmal. It essentially stated that he gets all rights to their work relating to FNAF with no compensation and no rights to use it themselves. It would have been fine if he'd asked more informally or, if he had a legally binding contract, offered fairer terms with some sort of compensation.
I used to watch him as a kid and when people said he was milking the series I didn't know what it meant so I googled the definition of "milking". And then for the longest time I just thought people didn't like him because he was milking cows or whatever
I mean I don't really get the point of not playing FNAF and being a RUclipsr on it, it'd be different if he like never even looked into it all that much or watched it but not everyone plays games. Security Breach is one of my favorite FNAF games to date, yet I only have 1 hour of gameplay, compared to my 42 hours on FNAF 2.
True, though wouldn't it be a bit harder content wise to make content based around something that he hasn't experienced personally? Like, as a fan it works but does it work in the space of content creators is the question
@@Its_Asteria I've done it for years and it's worked out fine, truthfully i've hardly played FNAF 1 and FNAF 6 yet know a lot of it, it's really not that hard as long as you know what you're talking about it. With that said i've watched a bunch of FNAF stuff on the games I haven't played much of. Most of the content smike was making was just facts about the games and characters, which is pretty easy to make even if you dont personally play the games just by doing some research Again it's just like Security Breach, if I was still into making videos like I used to be, i'd have made a millions of theory and other sorts of videos on SB despite only getting hardly 1/4 of the way done with the game.
i know 95% of the lore, easter eggs, facts, but i am far too scared to play the games myself. i can maybe get through night one of fnaf 1&2 but after that nooo
Everyone makes fun of his top 10 facts about the cupcake video, but nobody talks about how he made that video more interesting then many of his other top ten videos. Honestly, Smike was just a victim of his time. He didn't understand the ethics of using fanart (and to be fair, neither did Scott at the time). And he came out during a time when the internet was just ruthless about anything popular. He made a few silly choices, and stretched out fnaf fairly thin (although, this was just the norm for the top 10 genre on youtube). But overall still tried to add his own unique style and value to it all. I feel bad for smike, honestly, he really didn't deserve to be bullied off the platform. And from his rare tweets, you can really tell that it still bothers him to this day. The guy genuinely loved what he did, and all his "Milking" was at the direct request from his subscriber base. Hoping one day he'll make a comeback of some sort.
@@Sebastianator01 same I remember listening to him on my old I pod...yes that long ago. And he was awesome and his voice was relaxing especially for an undiagnosed aspergers kid like I was.
@@concept5631 "Source?" The guy literally just said it, the very first FNaF theory, clear as day. Right from the very beginning of the video he is playing the game. "Game Theory: Five Nights at Freddy's SCARIEST Monster is You!" if you need help finding it.
I don’t think he’s extremely controversial. Just someone who made a few mistakes. Let’s not forget Scott himself has also not credited fanart before. The thing with the games too is perfectly understandable. You don’t need to PLAY the games to understand them, plenty let’s plays and walkthroughs out there. Hell there’s even some I still haven’t played and yet it’s one of my favourite things to talk about. Why he left I’m just gonna assume maybe he got bored of RUclips or something
Scott DID credit fanart. The only time he "didn't" was a mistake that he didn't make (the creators of the teaser made that mistake) which he cleared up asap taking it down and remaking it with his own art..he never stole art on purpose. Smike is a very different case stealing art and profiting off free art on purpose!
I only played FNaF 2-3 through all the golden era. Just until Late 2019 i started playing FNaF 1, FNaF 4, World, Sister Location and i'm heading to FFPS.
Yeah, I've only ever played UCN, 6, and 1, and I never beat the latter two, and i havent completed a single night in UCN or 6, but I still love these games.
My fav thing to talk about is God of war. I like to talk about kratis alot and have read the books and comics toed to his lore, but I haven't played a single gow game lol.
As an artist, its still good to encourage big RUclipsrs to properly credit artists in my opinion. Obviously saying he was stealing art for profit like it was intentional was over doing it, but its still nice to credit artists when you’re using their content. This videos is a fun look back, just thought I’d mention it.
Lots of people can enjoy a franchise and story without actually playing it. I love the first few games but I never liked the jumpscares so I didn't play it personally. So yes, I think you're being overly harsh. You can can follow the games and love their characters and stories without playing it yourself. It's not a big deal
yeah i'm really easily scared so i at most made it to night 2 before it became too much for me. i still love the franchise, I just can't play the games myself
This dude used to be my favourite fnaf youtuber back in the day I swear. I totally forgot about him until a few weeks ago when I was watching a stream of a bunch of modern fnaftubers and wondered whatever happened to Smike since a lot of the other old ones are still around. Was surprised to see his channel dead and his content different, and a little disappointed tbh. He definitely wasn’t perfect but he sure entertained younger me - I hope he’s doin alright these days
He used to be my favorite FNAF RUclipsr as a kid, I remember basing all my old theories after his. It's a shame that cringe culture and all that "smilk" drama made him quit making FNAF videos :(
I'm from the first FNAF wave in 2014, I can remember being little and binge watching all the 10 fact videos. I'd Always wondered what happened to him and why the other FNAF RUclipsrs didn't talk to him much anymore, It's nice to know he did make amends for what he did wrong and tried to learn from and rectify the mistake (although I don't think even he fully comprehended how bad that one contract actually was when looking at it from the artists perspective) it's nice to know he didn't become a total scumbag like so many other RUclipsrs I use to idolize lmao.
I used to watch this guy's Skyrim content before he even did FNaF stuff, and was already subscribed by the time he started making FNaF content. I was already into FNaF by the time he started, so to me it was just cool. I never heard about any controversy. The dA post felt familiar, but I saw probably 100 others with the same title during my time there.
Ehh a lot of this is really dumb, I feel like the controversies were a bit moronic and could've easily been solved if someone informed him that he should ask for permission of the art. Idk, just feels a bit pointless, great video covering it tho!!
@@lifeoflonexia496 nowadays yes. This was 7 years ago, the rules of the internet were not necessarily 100% formed. And honestly even then, a simple tag of the creators name would’ve been the only thing he had to do
I used to watch Smike religiously back in 2014/2015. I remember when he had to remake videos to exclude fanart that artists didn't want him using. also congrats on all your recent success
The FNAF fandom is the first encounter I had with art theft, somebody stole fanart I made and reposted it - I asked them to take it down or credit me if they did want to trace my work for practice, and they were super apologetic and polite. I never took a hostile tone, and I'm glad I didn't, because it turned out they were still a kid and didn't realize it was technically not a great thing to do. I assured them that everything was fine and that I wasn't mad, they posted their own art from then on, it was all good. I definitely wouldn't go straight to a copyright strike. I'm not exactly a part of that fandom, but every time I've encountered and issue in it, people from it have been really cool and chill. Edit: The issue with art contracts is that a lot of non-artists don't understand how to write them, so they either undershoot on rights or overshoot on rights. If you search for advice online about how to write one up, it's really contradictory, so it's really hard to determine what needs to be protected and what's over-protective. To non-artists, I say probably just consult with the artist before sending the contract, and to artists, try to understand that your clients aren't always entirely certain what certain terms and rights actually mean.
Ahhh Smike, I remember that guy, he actually "stole" one of my own artworks back in the day (even my old DA name is in the description of his public apology!), I think I was only 14 years old at the time! I had no idea he gotten into so many controversies, the whole left field moment of being notified of being put into his apology was so crazy to me...
@@Goji01 I mean..I did grow up.. its been 6-7 years lol...I will say however, the controversy in that manner was overblown, I feel that going logically its about the way artists will forever stay under a radar while said creator benefits with using their work as visual cues for videos, my artwork that was used never even peaked past 10 likes or so if memory serves, but could've benefited greatly via credit and appreciation. Its like an equal exchange, I believe artists can feel frustrated when their work is snagged without asking and see said video its involved in reach thousands and thousands of views (i believe his content made well over 100k if memory serves it right!) So-- rather its about being disrespected, in conclusion. Coming from an artist POV :)! Incredibly valid emotions to have, it would suck if someone took your videos, mashed it into their own video and took the profit and views while you come out with nothing to show for it, right?
@@Goji01 yeah, smike never claimed the art as his own but that was never the problem. The problem was he used artists work without credit. Yeah the controversy was very overblown, this whole video is imo. I used to watch smike when I was like 11/12 and I never remember anyone actually hating him or claiming he’s this bad guy in the fanbase at the time… or really ever. The drama involving him was the fact he didn’t credit anyone for their work. It’s a very big issue in the art community and a lot of artist do tend to be very protective when it comes to their work. Smike was quite often using smaller artists work too. While yes I feel the whole copyright strike thing an artist did to get his videos down wasn’t the best approach but I do understand what it’s like to see your stuff being posted somewhere else without credit, it is a very shit feeling. Like imagine you’ve spent hours or even days on a drawing, post it to your small community and get like 12 likes then some random guy comes along puts your art in his video and gets like 100k views and he doesn’t even credit you. You see none of that attention, none of those viewers are directed towards you and your work and worst thing is he continues to reuse your art uncredited in future uploads.
I remember the time when I would sit there and watch every one of his hoax's videos and his secret character finding videos its almost scary how quickly time flies.
Had no idea about the controversy around him. I remember watching his top 10s from back around the FNaF 2 era. The nostalgia is hitting so hard, those were the cooler days.
Used to absolutely LOVE watching this guy back in the day, was my favourite RUclipsr at one point. I remember when the videos got taken down and I always found it sad that he left and no one really cared about it enough to make a video about it. Thank you, uhyeah. Also, if you are looking for a good playthrough of a game to watch, his Fallout 4 playthrough is really, really damn good and I remember having a lot of fun watching it as a kid. Haven't watched it since though so it could be bad who knows XD
I dont get the big hype over not playing the game before- Up until sister location, i hadnt ever played the games but i was still a HUGE fan of the story, the aesthetics, etc. I would watch my friends play it, watch Markiplier play them on repeat, be incredibly quick every time a new game theory was out- The games were my obsession and i hadnt even played them till the 5th game
I think at least 25% of the Fandom has never played a fnaf game, I only lasted the mobile ports up to 3 and quit on the first night for all of them, so I don't think it's too weird to not play it.
Smike was my introduction to FNAF. He kept it creepy for me, because at that time I didn't know much about FNAF so it had a creepier atmosphere. I kinda dropped my interest in FNAF since then but this is so nostalgic
To be fair to Smike on the whole "he never played the games before." point. I've been a fan of the games for years despite only playing FNAF 1 for 5 minutes, got spooked, and immediately closed the game. I've only ever experienced these games second hand by watching Markiplier's lets plays. Maybe that makes me a fake fan, but I would dive deep into the lore when I was younger and watched so many lets plays several times. So you can still be a fan of the games and know a lot despite not actually having played them before. That's just my opinion anyway.
I used to watch Smike a lot when I was younger, I literally didn’t care about the stolen art, I just wanted those facts. I stopped watching his videos before any were deleted or the “hey gotta delete old vids” was posted. He was definitely one of my favorites in my FNAF phase.
the contract thing, did he even know what he was doing? seems a lil too ridiculously corrupt to sign a contract with people allowing you full complete rights to their art. And at the same time the dust is still settling from a controversy surrounding that issue. to me it seems like he tried to salvage the situation and his series in a moral way that he saw possible but he just didnt know what he was even doing.
I feel it's clear he just didn't know Contract Language. This isn't evil. It's just being bad at Contracts. I doubt any young Teen or Early adult even knows how those things work historically besides the common meme of "read the tiny print."
I'm one of the artists on that list at 11:39 (spyke-the-artist). I didn't watch him a lot so I never actually realized my art was used in any of his videos until he sent out the mass apology on DeviantArt. At that point, all the videos that used fanart were gone. Back when this happened, I just thought it was cool that my art was used at all, given that I didn't really consider my art to be very good. I didn't care about being credited or not, but now that I'm a bit older, I kinda wish I was.
Well not playing it dosnt mean you cant care about the content. I've never played, ever. But i still liked the FNAF games, art, theories, videos based around it. You can still enjoy works without actually playing them. Its like sports, you dont have to go through the Olympics to enjoy it
I mean making lazy content and stealing intellectual property is enough of a reason to not like the guy. Yeah hating the guy in some over the top fuming way is ridiculous. But this IS enough reason to not like what the channel stands for.
I don't get why people were mad over how he never finished the playthrough, though it may be because I watch Alpharad Deluxe and they almost never finish a game
I've never played a FNaF game either, but I still love the series and can get facts from other people's gameplay videos and other theory channels to form my own opinions and theories. I really cannot stand horror games. They aren't for me. I wish I wasn't as anxious around them, because FNaF's lore is what attracts me, but the gameplay, the scares, while most people think they're cheesy, myself included to an extent, I wouldn't be able to stand playing the game myself. My anxiety would make me mess up so much or just make me quit.
This. I don't play the FNaF games much, and when I first got into the fandom, there are some games that I didn't even play. Which is OK! Plenty of people can enjoy a lore-driven game through watching other people play it.
upon the name change, i was confused seeing this vid in my recommended again, thought a little, and it finally clicked. he acknowledged the thieving monarch
Honestly the reason I loved this guy’s content not just because of FNaF but because it was hilarious and honestly his voice was just perfect, I don’t know what it is but it just sounds so nice.
6:04 Call me a literature teacher, but the box definitely gives the hint of the third game being in a decrepit setting where everything from the first two games is a mere broken relic I think it's aiming more for setting and time frame, but people went straight to the "Amalgamation" animatronic.
It really bothers me when people say that you can't be a fan of something if you haven't played it, I'm a fan of FNAF and haven't extensively played it
Calling him the "most hated" FNAF RUclipsr is way too harsh. Ik what he did was bad, but it's not really that bad enough to have a strong hatred towards him. I genuinely loved smikes videos back then, and I still wish he was here today. I'd love to see his reaction to FNAF SB, unc, VR, AR, and Scott's departure from the franchise. Tbh we can all agree the worst fnaf RUclipsr is Zajcu37
I remember Smike, namely how I was one of the artists he stole art from. I remember watching one of his videos (don't remember which) when suddenly I saw my Golden Freddy fanart. Few weeks later I got a message on deviantart with a shoddily written contract in it to use my art in his videos with a deadline involved. The biggest reason why artists made a huge stink over his theft was that he was making significant ad revenue from our art, and we never saw a penny from it. Not that I cared personally too much at the time, and i can't remember who made the strikes. Had to check whether I was ShadowToky at the time lol, but I can see darkreapertoky at the 11:40 mark
I remember this man. He was my Go-to FNAF RUclipsr when I first Learned about FNAF. Some of the first FNAF songs I heard were the ones Tryhardninja had on his channel (although I still don't get they were on Smikes channel 😅) I remember even seeing him in Game Theory's first FNAF Livestream. Stopped watching him after FNAF 4, but glad to see he's still doin well 👍
12:00 "When someone decides to watch a RUclips video, it's typically because the thumbnail and title are good and it makes them want to find out more" You're completely right about that. Seeing your thumbnail about a man who STOLE FNAF I was kinda curious about how one can steal a game/series. And the video turns out to be about some guy who used a lot of fanart without the artists' consent and made content based on games he barely played. And according to the comment section, he isn't even that hated. This video is a shitty clickbait.
I don't think he literally meant stealing FNAF, I think he meant more like stealing some of the spotlight/fame of FNAF for his own gain. And as far as "most hated," well that's certainly a questionable stance to take on this guy, I'll admit that.
@@horpuscorpus8299 I watched it. He didn't "steal" artwork, he just didn't know proper crediting. He's obviously just a kid who didn't understand what he was doing. The contract thing he probably also was just too new to how the world works to understand that it was wrong. Just a garbage clickbait video.
The fact you had to emphasize the worst point in this video is hilarious. You don't have to play FNAF to enjoy FNAF. You don't have to be a cook to enjoy the meal.
Enjoy it yeah thats fine but milking it until the end of time now thats shit and its hilarious how bad your example are Its more like getting salary but you never work or making contract there
I don't think I agree with this. If you dedicate your entire channel to milking videos about a game you've never played that's... understandable to be bothered by. You don't have to be a cook to enjoy the meal, but you gotta at least eat the meal
I forgot this dude even existed. His face seemed vaguely familiar, but until i heard him speak, that's when everything came rushing back. Last time i ever even heard him was before I moved to San Diego. That was just over 8 years ago.
Holy hell I remember this dude I would always watch his videos at lunch at school felt like he always had one out just in time for me to watch it. God so weird to think how long it's been
He wasn't the most hated for a majority of the community, but 100% was for the art community due to theft, lies, and crazy stuff like making contracts that said basically "sign this and I can profit on all of your work; past, present, and future art; for free". It was crazy!
There’s something petty about how a community will make someone the head of controversy for no other reason then “You don’t play the games but talk about the lore” or something like that. It’s almost like the argument of, “You’re not a real fan.”
I've been a FNAF fan veteran. When I revisited his channel I was always wondering why he haven't upload anything on his channel, it was odd especially his part of our nostalgia.
He probably just searched up the character's names on Google images and thought 'hey thats cool, I'll use that one' put it in the video, and then got backlash for it. Imagine going through every single video you made, finding every instance you used something that wasn't official from Scott, and then having to go back and ask permission, wait, and then re-upload, I'm not surprised he took em down..
I'm in the camp who was very angry about what he did to artists. Even if it's time consuming, asking is still the right thing to do. I am glad the apologized and remade those videos though. Seems like he learned his lesson and has gotten better about it.
It's interesting, I was one of the few people actually subscribed to Smike during his Skyrim era. I used his videos for help when I was stuck, and continued watching ones that caught my interest. I also happened to become obsessed with FNAF after watching Yamimash and Mark play it, and watched all his content surrounding this new series as well. I eventually became one of the people who hated his content and channel, despite really supporting his throughout his channels history. The main reason for this is probably similar to everyone else's, I could tell it was all for profit. There was no passion, interest, feeling, any emotion in these videos. It was an attempt to jump on a hot commodity, but that commodity was made hot due to passions, interest, and emotion. It wasn't the latest new thing to cover, it was a small series that exploded based on the passion of fans who wanted more. I think that's why all of this crumbled around Smike. It was a fanbase of pure passion being fed factory-produced content by someone who didn't seem to care at all. This is probably why people like MatPat and Dawko continued to thrive after this explosion, they had a clear interest in the series rather than the profitable fanbase supporting it.
8:47 yes and thats completley fine most from the fnaf community never actually played fnaf.Most of us just watch fnaf content on youtube or buy its merch and are still on fnaf discord,s and never played the game and thats kind of a bummer but its true (now i still played fnaf 1,2,3,4,6 and ultimate custom night and even fnaf world)
I wouldn't mind seeing a follow up video on xxProClassGamerxx. That dude just straight up vanished and for someone who was really big in the FNAF community back 2015. I rarely see him talked about, especially in retrospectives or talking about older community stuff.
About Smike "profiting" from the fanart. While you could say that he technically wasn't profiting in a traditional sense (making money through the art), he was still USING people's fanart as background noise without their permission, and as far as I can remember, didn't even credit them. While he wasn't DIRECTLY making money off of their work, he was definitely profiting in a way the original artist wasn't. The bottom line is that making art to be displayed in the backgrounds of videos, is a professional job, it's something you would usually PAY an artist to do, but Smike got their work FOR FREE. And not only that, It's also really hard for an artist to get noticed in the digital age, and a RUclipsr like Smike simply crediting the original artists, could've helped A LOT. In some of the screenshots, it's so zoomed in that even if a creator signed their work, you probably couldn't see it, which is an all around gross thing to do.
This 100%. That was the only point in the video that I heavily disagreed with, and even if I can tell this wasn't the intent, it comes off as downplaying the issues artists had with this dude. You can't really say it has no effect on whether people watched his content when visual design is super important to the polish of a video.
Yeah that's the only point a disagree with in this video. He could have easily paid some people to do some art for him or even ask and pay the original artists but he went out of his way to just copy and paste them. Idk it just shows how lazy Smilks videos were. I am a sprite creator and I like designing sprites and if someone used my sprite that I made on there game or video without asking me I wouldn't really care that much, but I can 100% see why someone would be upset if it were to happen to them.
That's the thing..he WAS profiting off their art! If you include someone else's things in your video, even if they aren't main focus of the video, and make money off said video you're technically profiting off the stolen stuff as it's part of the video giving them money. It's illegal and considered a copyright strike (which is why he had to remove the videos, they violated copyright). Even IF his videos weren't making money he still was illegally using stolen artwork he had no permission for. Including someone else's work in your video without permission or compensation is a bad thing..They either have to agree to give you free work basically for your benefit or agree to get a small amount of the profits for said videos their art is in, that's the only way to not violate copyright laws. Just crediting isn't enough, you have to actually get permission from the artist for your use of their artwork to make sure they're ok with it (some will not give away art rights for free).
I remember I used to love smike’s videos back when I was in primary school and being really sad when he stopped uploading. I hope he’s doing alright, apart from the art theft (which I obviously don’t agree with however was probably just because he didn’t understand the time and effort that’s put into fan art) he seemed like an ok dude.
I used to LOVE Smike as a kid, and had no idea what happened to him until now. I appreciate this video a lot, the nostalgia is something I kind of missed-regardless of the controversies
does anybody notice how the title is call "Update: Smike is NO LONGER The Most Hated FNAF RUclipsr" now im not sure if it has all ways been like this so but its still interesting.
I never even knew about his controversies, he was one of the first youtubers I ever watched all the way back in 2015, and I genuinely liked him, and thought his videos were funny. he was definitely a staple of the old fnaf community, I know he featured in theory thurday a few times- a fnaf podcast with 8 bit gaming, dawko, and razzbowski
i was trying to remmber his channel name, he was the "hallucination guy" to me because whenever he tried to theorize about something he would just say "x might be an hallucination"
I remember watching Smike a lot as a kid. But then I saw all the hate going to him and how many times he was called "Smilk". I remember seeing this one vid making a parody of his videos and found it funny. It was like a series, maybe 3 parts? But at the end, he was encouraged to do his old Skyrim videos, something he actually loves. The FNAF hate was great back then and where edgy humor was becoming cool. (Ignore my name lmao) But wow, funny to see a youtube I thought I forgot about all these years later.
Alot of ppl might not remember me but i used to run a fairly infamous smilk channel lol when i was younger like 11-12ish. Im 19 now and yeah looking back he hadnt such a bad guy as i made em out to be i was just an edgy 12 yr old who was making jokes at smikes expense lol
I remember the fan art controversy, and was one of the artists who got severely pissed off at him. He seemed to believe that anything he could right-click and save was his to do with as he pleased, with no thought to the rights of the artists, even to be credited. I also saw the contract, and it was exactly as absurd as Atlas-White described. I don't think anyone signed it. I remember Smike being called "Smilk" in the FNAF fandom because his "top 10 blatherings" videos, which added nothing at all to the information out there were seen as milking FNAF for views. I agreed. As for his never having played the game...well, I can't really fault him for that. There are people who get into a fandom for the fandom itself. I met people at cons who were FNAF fans, loved the characters and toys and videos, but didn't play the games themselves because they were too scary/difficult/not allowed in the home/whatever. Sure, it's weird for someone to be making video after video on a game without actually playing it, but I wouldn't disrespect him for that, if he had good, original content otherwise...oh, wait.
i mean i feel like he just made a very bad mistake. i don’t understand why people think that no mistake is forgivable on the internet. taking art is scummy but he deleted and reuploaded the videos with gameplay instead of the art, and while it doesn’t justify it, people probably weren’t watching his vids for the art anyway. i mean he was just 19 iirc so just a kid
I personally dont see any issues with loving a series without having played it at all for a year or so I was like that with fnaf and I was there as a fan from the very first markiplier video the day he uploaded it and im like this with many games because I dont have much money so its more cost effective to see other games on the internet and have other people play them and see info and reactions than wasting money on something I'm not sure I'll even like so I see it as forgivable as long as they enjoy the series and aren't bothering others who also want to enjoy the series
I’ve been in the fandom since the beginning, and I only recently got to play the games a couple months ago… I technically played the demo for Fnaf 3 back in like 2015, but I never actually played a full game. Just a few days ago I beat Fnaf 1. You don’t necessarily have to play the game in order to enjoy the characters or lore.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/uhyeah to get 50% off your first Keeps order
!!READ BEFORE COMMENTING!!
ALSO: VIDEO CORRECTION: In this video I go on a little rant about how I don't think Smike was "directly profiting off artists". While I still stand by that for his Top 10 Facts videos, I failed to mention that he also used to make "Top 10 Fan Art" videos where, yes, he was indeed profiting off fan art. Keep that in mind while watching.
VIDEO CLARIFICATION: You can like FNAF without playing it, that was never my point. It's a different case when you dedicate your entire online career to it. I think that distinction is pretty obvious.
nice
purchased
He is back
I was deadass wondering why I got a notification for the spam comment in this thread until I realized they replied it to every comment.
Vid was awesome, also we got the same birthday
I remember watching this guy and I *completely* forgot he existed. I didn't even hear about the controversies, he just disappeared from my radar and I didn't even notice.
Honestly same.
was gonna comment the exact same thing.
Same
Same lol
Same, I used to be big into fnaf, but really stopped watching all of the channels that covered it after it around sister locations release.
I used to love Smike’s videos back in the early days of FNaF, but I completely forgot about him. Never knew he was considered controversial.
Exactly. He isn't controversial at all.
Same here!
same here
I'm controversial 😎
Same
Ah yes, back when being controversial meant just being lazy and plagiarizing, and not being a criminal.
cant believe in the past controversial meant that it was a split between some people liking something and others disliking it, instead of something being actually illegal or in some other way extremely bad
@aetheriox463 I mean, no, that was never the case, but edgelord bad faith actors definitely loved to paint it that way. They loved trivializing shit if it meant defending their love of something or someone and would blame the "FeMiNiSt FeMiNaZiS", "SoCiaL mArXiStS" and other 2014 terms for "CaNceL CuLtUrE" and "wOkE sCoLds" for their problems and everything wrong with the world currently because they stopped emotionally maturing at 12 and are incapable of critical thought.
Plagiarism is a crime 💀
@@tjboulton2794 only if it interferes with copyright. if it doesnt, then its not illegal
@@aetheriox463
It’s nowhere as bad as the other thing though
I remember when Smike released the top ten FNAF videos, I watched every episode, but my biggest impression of him was when Game Theory talked about how much FNAF fans wanted FNAF videos, Matpat used Smike's "The Top Ten Facts About Cupcakes" video as an example.
Same tho same
That shit *was* hilarious, to be honest. Like, seriously, 10 facts about the freakin' Cupcake?! CUPCAKE?!?!
@@yohumanfrisk Ikr cupcake isn't that special she's just a prop for chica
@@Number1gnarpyfan Every fnaf character is special.
To TOP TEN FACTS ABOUT THE CUPCAKE. THE CUPCAKE! 10 FACTS!
I think the real worst thing he did was fat shaming poor Freddy. Dude has enough to deal with.
That's why he became a gamer in ucn
@@brendandoesgamez3154 to become fatter...?
@@Ξξκ No not only will he be fat he will have a bad relationship with his mother
@Shamerocity quite literally
@@Ξξκ bro hit a dark spot
Oh my God, I remember watching all of this guy's FNAF top 10's as soon as he would release them. I'm happy people haven't forgotten about him.
me too lol
Same.
i rememeber watching all the TryHardNinja FNAF songs there, still do to this day, there's something hella nostalgic in them
What is your profile picture and why is it?
Same
I don't think there's anything wrong with liking something without having played it. I was into FNAF for years before I actually played it. You don't have to play the game to appreciate the character designs and it's fun to try to figure out the lore.
Same here, I’ve been a fan since FNaF2, and there’s not a secret character or screen you can show me that I haven’t seen before, yet I haven’t touched a single game lol
Same
Yep yep, I had been a fan without playing the game for a super long time (until a few years ago when I played fnaf 2 for the first time)
Same here, love the songs, love and listened to the lore. I even tried playing it 1 to 6
I haven’t played ANY of them and I love fnaf so much
I remember how sad I was about his videos being removed! Mostly because a lot of them weren't Top 10's, most of them were theories and some of them were really good! I just feel like we lost such a large portion of pre-Sister Location FNAF history with the loss of these videos. The videos were so limited and not as crazy and convoluted as they are today. I remember him talking about the reflections in the original Marriotte's eyes and who the extra head on Mangle was from. Really great stuff that I deeply miss and think of often
I miss the old fnaf community. Before sister location the story felt more grounded and I felt like I was part of investigating a real unsolved crime.
Smike still has those videos. He just has to do some quick changes and he can reupload them
I don't remember Smike being hated or even controversial.
Sure, he stretched the ideas in videos. But really all them were harmless and everyone back then was on the fnaf bandwagon. He wasn't much different.
Same but I remember watching tons of his theories on fnaf after got know the games after discovering it
The entire fanbase labeled him "smilk" because they were so annoyed by his content. His comment sections were full of nothing but memes. Nobody took him seriously anymore, I guess that's hate?
Maybe you don't remember because you were a child when he was popular.
I do, I remember everyone called him Smilk
He was really annoying
I think calling Smike the "most hated FNAF RUclipsr" is a bit harsh. From what I remember, Smike was never really seen as a villain by the FNAF community. Sure there were controversies but it they were never enough to make him notorious and he seemed to be well regarded by other prominent FNAF RUclipsrs.
Like when Matpat did a FNAF livestream, he invited Smike (along with other RUclipsrs) and they all had a jolly good time even thought this was after many of the controversies discussed had happened. Smike made a few mistakes, but some of it also comes down to how unmoderated RUclips used to be. We and most other RUclipsrs did not know about content id and theft to the degree we know about it today and a bunch of RUclipsrs actually took the success and mistakes of Smike and used them to create their own successful channels by repeating what worked for him while avoiding his mistakes.
I’d call matpat the most hated FNaF RUclipsr tbh, most fnaf channels are super tame.
@@cato3277 I disagree with that
His theories are epic and he does talk about other stuff then fnaf
@Guy In RUclips Mat has my respect. All the pokes and jabs at him yet he keeps going strong. Mad respect.
I agree in the title part
@@cato3277 Matpat Isn't THE most hasted fnaf youtuber, he just does a few controversial theory that peoples actually agreed on after they look more into it. Just some peoples that dissagree with Matpat really dissagrees with him and attacks him without looking more into it. Most of Matpat's theory ending up being true. And Matpat Isn't actually a fnaf youtuber, he owns 4 channel and 3 of them doesn't even talk about FNAF.
And mat is resting on fnaf theories for the time being because he knows he left so much other game lores. So mat doesn't fit in the most hated fnaf youtuber or does he even fit in the criteria of a fnaf youtuber.
I somewhat remembered his face at first, but when you played his voice it instantly released so many old memories. I also grew up watching his FNAF content when the games were coming out, he completely faded from my memory till watching this video and I respect your effort in bringing this to the light, especially for all of us who were too young to understand the behind the scenes of these kind of controversies
Edit: Hey! Thanks for the 1.3k likes, I’m not used to getting many at all 😅 I’m glad many of you share the same thoughts I had~
His voice is probably the most distinct out of any of the RUclipsrs I have watched. Markiplier, Jack, Pewds etc are famous, it’s not hard to recognize their voices. Smike for a time was obscure, and then got big, then vanished for three years, Twitter and RUclips seemingly wiped almost clean. I forgot he existed until a year ago where I heard his voice and was like “wait was that *Smike*?” It was weird, that he was actually how I got into the whole FNAF and Skyrim-style games. It’s a wild world man.
(Timestamp in video for the writing of comment: 4:39)
I couldn’t have made a comment that described my feeling more than you just did.
Same
Controversy now: Roblox RUclipsrs holding shotguns, RUclipsrs going into jail, zoophiles, and pedophiles.
Controversy before: milking video games
I think we should go back to 2016.
Its was def prevalent as well back then
Bro I don't think you remember all the Minecrafters getting exposed as creeps back in 2015 - 16 lmao
@CoFFee-uw5sv Exactly lol that was around the time that Minecraft RUclipsrs getting exposed was at its peak
@@snnnaaaaaakeeeee4470 For real LMAO, I feel like half of these people were not around doing 2016 youtube, it was honestly nostalgic for it also being the early day of commentary channels *cough leafy cough* but so many youtubers were being exposed as pedos or abusers.
no we fucking should not, 2016 was a horrid year, just delete 2016 youtube
To be fair to him, a lot of the fan base has not played the games.
You aren’t wrong
Indeed I am a big fan of fnaf but I haven't played any of the games.
That is why we have markiplier
@@testedtwo indeed.
Glad I’m not in that group ( I don’t mean that in a bad way)
Interesting videos, did wonder what happened to this dude. Although "most hated fnaf RUclipsr"... Maybe he is, but there is one other who is just as if not more hated over in the SFM community, I'd be interested in seeing a video done on that guy but the reasons he's hated are a bit different and I don't think it would be a smart play to talk about it
I know that sfm community has big issues with sfm FNAF community alot
who is it
Ok so who is it?
isnt it typhoon cinema?
It's probably Zacju37 or whatever his name is.
I get liking the franchise without playing the games. I was like that for like 4 years! But 8 videos of a let's play without even finishing the first game? WHAT THE HELL?!
There are games that I like watching people play that I personally don't find fun playing myself. FNAF was one of them. I like watching people's reactions to the game rather than actually playing the game.
Bro same for me cuz there's a lot of games that I'm not gonna be great at, not my style, and I couldn't handle horror games so that's why I watch people on RUclips so that way they can do it for me like for a few examples markiplier played just about half of the FNAF series and I've watched every single 3 scary games and I've watched jacksepticeye play elden ring and him playing a few resident evil games and also him playing far lone sails so 🤷♂️yeah 😅
well hey, I've been a fan of the series since before fnaf 3 came out, and to this day the only game I've played is help wanted, you can be a fan of a game series just fine without having played the games, as long as you've experienced them in some way, such as youtube let's plays
I only played fnaf 2!
@@TriforceRaidenmeanwhile, I am merely a lore junkie. Things with complex stories have always interested me.
I don’t even remember this guy being controversial. He was just a genuinely fun channel to watch back when the lore was barren and obscure. Sure he used fan art without credit, but I remembered that he also made reuploads, and deleted the old videos, so his videos were without fanart so artists wouldn’t have their work falsely used again. Again, this was way back when being a youtuber was a new thing for most people; therefore, driving them to push boundaries and get comfortable with the site. There has been countless youtubers who have done such things in the past and delt with it much worse.
He also posted a video apologizing for using the fanart, and I remember in the description he added a long, LONG list of artists,which were the ones Who made that fanart, so he could apologize to the specific ones
He gave them credit, he just did not ask permission to use them.
Smike… now that’s a name I haven’t heard from in a while. Him, 8-bit Gaming, Treesicle, MatPat, Bazzmalam, and Razzbowski were the pinnacle of FNaF theory contents back in 2014-2016
Dawko too! Can't forget that "hidden secret in springtrap's voice" or "summoning shadow freddy and secret foxy" vids lol
Oh or his "everything you missed" and "ballora's deadly eyes" sister location vids
Mark?
@@ThatEnbyAkutagawaKinnie Oh yeah I forgot about him
@@memeleak2792 I said "FnaF theory". Mark was more into the actual gameplay
TBH I never heard about any controversies involving Smike, and I never knew he was hated in any way either. Back in the day I actually used to love Smike, mainly because of his FNAF theory videos, which IMO were some of the best ones I've seen back in the day! In the early days of FNAF I used to click on pretty much anything FNAF related, especially theory videos digging deep into the lore and stuff, and Smike's were definitely some of the most interesting and memorable, from what I remember at least. Not to mention he seemed like a chill dude and had sort of an ASMR-ish voice, which I kinda preferred over a lot of the really annoying screaming FNAF RUclipsrs desperately trying to be funny but failing miserably at it.
Tbh yeah. At least he's genuine and not a Damn Hypebeast saying Bruv every .5 seconds.
idk if it was the case for smike, but i feel like there's a HUGE percentage of the fnaf fan base that hasn't played the games but loves em. a lot of people just got rly into the lore and watch let's plays / theories / fan content. probably the biggest amount of ppl in a fan base ive witnessed who havent partaken in the thing its about. it's kinda cool in a way bc the community is accessible to a lot more ppl. ive played all the games myself besides for help wanted and fnaf 3. i just never got around to em but ive seen my fair share of content about em so I can see how u can be passionate about the games without playing them!
I’m biased since I’m someone who got into fnaf without playing any of the games, but yeah, for the fnaf series, I feel like not playing the games while still making theories and faces about the game isn’t a big sin. Fnaf is one of those game series that you can love and know a lot about the games and the story without having to actually play the games yourself.
This video comes off a bit strong if I’m being honest.. Back then, I wasn’t even aware he was considered controversial. Also, you don’t have to touch the games to be a fan. Hell, the majority of the community hasn’t played a game. That’s the beauty of the internet. If you want a horrible “FNAF” RUclipsr.. take a look at Top 10 Gaming. Now _thats_ bad.
I just remembered the fan art controversy. But I remember it wasn't that big after he deleted his FNAF videos.
Top 10 basically just repeats what everyone already knows, and adds terrible thumbnail clickbait-- like the video on lobit had "Lolbit is a SISTER" on the thumbnail
Or Mandopony-... *shudders*
What is wrong with top 10 gaming it's a.... okay channel in my opinion.
That's pretty bad that a majority of fans in a game series have never actually touched the game. You can be a fan of the lore maybe, but you've never actually touched the gameplay mechanics whatsoever so I don't think you can truly be a fan of the games at that point, just the story/lore within them. You can watch another youtuber play and "like" the control scheme watching them, but if you never actually test out that control scheme yourself and the game mechanics then you can't really be a fan of them.
I remembered I didn't exactly dig this guy's voice, but I enjoyed his content because he did something A LOT of FNaF youtubers back in the day didn't: He always made it very clear what was speculation and what were solid facts in his videos. As someone who was into it for the lore (back in 2014-2015, way before books and shit got the lore completely off the rails), I noticed that the info Smike released on his videos was usuallly accurate.
Also, he may have goofed big time on the fanart thing, but let's be honest, we've seen a lot of people deal with stuff like that in waaaay worse ways than him. He doesn't come across as especially ill-willed with that contract stuff either, he only seems to be VERY naive (and maybe a bit arrogant) by thinking people would actually be okay with just getting "free publicity" by having their fanarts exposed in his videos. Not a cool move, but props to him for taking down the videos, actually crediting the artists and apologizing to all of them, and for cancelling the contract thing for good.
I watched like 4 of his vids then just his vid with tryhardninja's fnaf 4 song skipping to the song. But damn was his icon...well, an icon
I used to watch Smike all the time and kinda forgot about him. I didn't realize he was so controversial. I don't think it is really fair to hate somebody that made content over a game they have never played. They can like something without playing it but that is my opinion
To me, I can kinda get that. But I also feel like if you want to get into making videos about a specific game series and only that series, you should play the game so you fully understand what that game is about. It's like going to a restaurant and having the chef tell you" oh yeah, i've never actually made steak before. I've just watched people make it."
@@MythicMachina That's not the same at all. You can get basically the same experience watching a game instead of playing it yourself. The point about Smike's channel was the information you learn rather than the actual gameplay. Nothing wrong with it
@@MythicMachina here is the thing, FNAF isn't an RPG game with like 20 different endings.
@@Sickcrazyneet well Security Breach have lots of endings based on how you completed the game and your choices
@@Yullen thats securiy breach dude
Oh shit. That’s me at 14:35 with the cross. I clicked on this because I always wondered what happened to Smike since I liked his content back in the day. Seeing that old pic of me was a fun surprise. I still have that shirt in my closet. 😂
oh my god me and my friends used to call him smilk cause of how he milked fnaf, but i watched his videos anyway. something endearing about him, cause anyone could have made those top ten videos, but he's the one who decided to do it.
@@1iknow ok
@@SawtoothWaves ko
SMILK that takes me back omg
Aye Sawtooth, didn’t expect to see you here
Sawtooth! Fancy seeing you here!!! I'm a fan of your MLP FIM theories!!
I don't think he can be considered the most hated FNAF RUclipsr, he just never thought to credit the art he used but his lists were really good. I miss the guy
True.
Not only did I watch smike growing up but i had no idea about the controversy.
Same
I also had no idea people hated him...
Same
* same
SAME
I feel bad for Smike tbh, he literally got hated for literally showing fan art in his top 10s and he even apologized for it and people still find a way to consider him a bad youtuber
Smike didn't deserved what he got, it was just a simple mistake
I agree
same here i agree
I agree :(
It was a stupid mistake but the contract he offered to someone was a blatant insult.
@Please enter a name the terms of that contract are abysmal. It essentially stated that he gets all rights to their work relating to FNAF with no compensation and no rights to use it themselves. It would have been fine if he'd asked more informally or, if he had a legally binding contract, offered fairer terms with some sort of compensation.
I used to watch him as a kid and when people said he was milking the series I didn't know what it meant so I googled the definition of "milking". And then for the longest time I just thought people didn't like him because he was milking cows or whatever
Wait what
So innocent, i must protect lol
I would refrain from looking up milking. Especially “human milking”
Lol I probably would have thought the same thing
this just in, fnaf fans hate farmers
I mean I don't really get the point of not playing FNAF and being a RUclipsr on it, it'd be different if he like never even looked into it all that much or watched it but not everyone plays games. Security Breach is one of my favorite FNAF games to date, yet I only have 1 hour of gameplay, compared to my 42 hours on FNAF 2.
i agree
True, though wouldn't it be a bit harder content wise to make content based around something that he hasn't experienced personally? Like, as a fan it works but does it work in the space of content creators is the question
@@Its_Asteria I've done it for years and it's worked out fine, truthfully i've hardly played FNAF 1 and FNAF 6 yet know a lot of it, it's really not that hard as long as you know what you're talking about it. With that said i've watched a bunch of FNAF stuff on the games I haven't played much of. Most of the content smike was making was just facts about the games and characters, which is pretty easy to make even if you dont personally play the games just by doing some research
Again it's just like Security Breach, if I was still into making videos like I used to be, i'd have made a millions of theory and other sorts of videos on SB despite only getting hardly 1/4 of the way done with the game.
i know 95% of the lore, easter eggs, facts, but i am far too scared to play the games myself. i can maybe get through night one of fnaf 1&2 but after that nooo
I've never played the games and yet I watch videos like these.
Everyone makes fun of his top 10 facts about the cupcake video, but nobody talks about how he made that video more interesting then many of his other top ten videos.
Honestly, Smike was just a victim of his time. He didn't understand the ethics of using fanart (and to be fair, neither did Scott at the time). And he came out during a time when the internet was just ruthless about anything popular. He made a few silly choices, and stretched out fnaf fairly thin (although, this was just the norm for the top 10 genre on youtube). But overall still tried to add his own unique style and value to it all.
I feel bad for smike, honestly, he really didn't deserve to be bullied off the platform. And from his rare tweets, you can really tell that it still bothers him to this day. The guy genuinely loved what he did, and all his "Milking" was at the direct request from his subscriber base. Hoping one day he'll make a comeback of some sort.
I'm totally on board with ya. I feel pretty bad for the guy
I totally agree too. I think this video paints him harsher than in reality. I loved his vids. His voice was so chill.
Agreed. It's kinda weird. Alot of this video itself is weird.
@@Sebastianator01 same I remember listening to him on my old I pod...yes that long ago. And he was awesome and his voice was relaxing especially for an undiagnosed aspergers kid like I was.
MatPat went a VERY long time making fnaf theory videos before ever playing the game himself.
I'm pretty sure he showed footage of himself playing the game in his very first theory.
He played the second game
@@concept5631 m.ruclips.net/video/th_LYe97ZVc/видео.html&pp=ygUbZ2FtZSB0aGVvcnkgZm5hZiAxc3QgdGhlb3J5
@@concept5631 "Source?" The guy literally just said it, the very first FNaF theory, clear as day. Right from the very beginning of the video he is playing the game.
"Game Theory: Five Nights at Freddy's SCARIEST Monster is You!" if you need help finding it.
@@KogasaTatara514 ty
I don’t think he’s extremely controversial. Just someone who made a few mistakes. Let’s not forget Scott himself has also not credited fanart before. The thing with the games too is perfectly understandable. You don’t need to PLAY the games to understand them, plenty let’s plays and walkthroughs out there. Hell there’s even some I still haven’t played and yet it’s one of my favourite things to talk about. Why he left I’m just gonna assume maybe he got bored of RUclips or something
Scott DID credit fanart. The only time he "didn't" was a mistake that he didn't make (the creators of the teaser made that mistake) which he cleared up asap taking it down and remaking it with his own art..he never stole art on purpose. Smike is a very different case stealing art and profiting off free art on purpose!
I only played FNaF 2-3 through all the golden era.
Just until Late 2019 i started playing FNaF 1, FNaF 4, World, Sister Location and i'm heading to FFPS.
@@sunsetnetwork ah yes 1-4 where the best
Yeah, I've only ever played UCN, 6, and 1, and I never beat the latter two, and i havent completed a single night in UCN or 6, but I still love these games.
My fav thing to talk about is God of war. I like to talk about kratis alot and have read the books and comics toed to his lore, but I haven't played a single gow game lol.
As an artist, its still good to encourage big RUclipsrs to properly credit artists in my opinion. Obviously saying he was stealing art for profit like it was intentional was over doing it, but its still nice to credit artists when you’re using their content. This videos is a fun look back, just thought I’d mention it.
Oh, I totally agree! I think he should have been crediting artists 100%
@@uhyeah tbh i think thats what everyone does, only if hes the type of youtuber that doesnt know much abt copyright like i used toi
If Smike wore glasses he would look exactly like Stampy.
Don't do this to me. I nearly thought that was Stampy in the thumbnail. ;;
Glad I'm not the only one who noticed.
Ah yes, Stampy
I thought I was the only one that saw the resemblance 💀
Smike and stampy were literally my two favorite youtubers in 2015, and yeah I absolutely thought that all the time
Lots of people can enjoy a franchise and story without actually playing it. I love the first few games but I never liked the jumpscares so I didn't play it personally. So yes, I think you're being overly harsh. You can can follow the games and love their characters and stories without playing it yourself. It's not a big deal
yeah i'm really easily scared so i at most made it to night 2 before it became too much for me. i still love the franchise, I just can't play the games myself
@@NotEmilio I love the fnaf series to death, but I don't need to suffer through every single mode in fnaf 4.
@@NotEmilio yeah i'm scared too so i only got past night 2
i dont play fnaf because i cant :(
If you want to make fact videos of a game, you should play it some first.
This dude used to be my favourite fnaf youtuber back in the day I swear. I totally forgot about him until a few weeks ago when I was watching a stream of a bunch of modern fnaftubers and wondered whatever happened to Smike since a lot of the other old ones are still around. Was surprised to see his channel dead and his content different, and a little disappointed tbh. He definitely wasn’t perfect but he sure entertained younger me - I hope he’s doin alright these days
He used to be my favorite FNAF RUclipsr as a kid, I remember basing all my old theories after his. It's a shame that cringe culture and all that "smilk" drama made him quit making FNAF videos :(
Me too
@alexiss it's sad how far scams got
I haven't heard Smilk in so long lol. I love the memories man
I'm from the first FNAF wave in 2014, I can remember being little and binge watching all the 10 fact videos. I'd Always wondered what happened to him and why the other FNAF RUclipsrs didn't talk to him much anymore, It's nice to know he did make amends for what he did wrong and tried to learn from and rectify the mistake (although I don't think even he fully comprehended how bad that one contract actually was when looking at it from the artists perspective) it's nice to know he didn't become a total scumbag like so many other RUclipsrs I use to idolize lmao.
I'm So Ashamed Of My FNAF Past.. What The Hell Was I Thinking?!?
This name change makes this video 10 times better from an already good video
I used to watch this guy's Skyrim content before he even did FNaF stuff, and was already subscribed by the time he started making FNaF content. I was already into FNaF by the time he started, so to me it was just cool. I never heard about any controversy. The dA post felt familiar, but I saw probably 100 others with the same title during my time there.
Ehh a lot of this is really dumb, I feel like the controversies were a bit moronic and could've easily been solved if someone informed him that he should ask for permission of the art. Idk, just feels a bit pointless, great video covering it tho!!
i saw you in another comment section once recently, i don't even think it was this channel
@@prayingmantisvideos227 LOL hey again x
Honestly, nah. He was/is an adult, even most late teenagers with any amount of common sense should understand art theft.
@@lifeoflonexia496 nowadays yes. This was 7 years ago, the rules of the internet were not necessarily 100% formed. And honestly even then, a simple tag of the creators name would’ve been the only thing he had to do
@@lifeoflonexia496 guess we should cancel every human being that has ever touched an editing program for art thief. The
I used to watch Smike religiously back in 2014/2015. I remember when he had to remake videos to exclude fanart that artists didn't want him using. also congrats on all your recent success
The FNAF fandom is the first encounter I had with art theft, somebody stole fanart I made and reposted it - I asked them to take it down or credit me if they did want to trace my work for practice, and they were super apologetic and polite. I never took a hostile tone, and I'm glad I didn't, because it turned out they were still a kid and didn't realize it was technically not a great thing to do. I assured them that everything was fine and that I wasn't mad, they posted their own art from then on, it was all good. I definitely wouldn't go straight to a copyright strike. I'm not exactly a part of that fandom, but every time I've encountered and issue in it, people from it have been really cool and chill.
Edit: The issue with art contracts is that a lot of non-artists don't understand how to write them, so they either undershoot on rights or overshoot on rights. If you search for advice online about how to write one up, it's really contradictory, so it's really hard to determine what needs to be protected and what's over-protective. To non-artists, I say probably just consult with the artist before sending the contract, and to artists, try to understand that your clients aren't always entirely certain what certain terms and rights actually mean.
Ahhh Smike, I remember that guy, he actually "stole" one of my own artworks back in the day (even my old DA name is in the description of his public apology!), I think I was only 14 years old at the time! I had no idea he gotten into so many controversies, the whole left field moment of being notified of being put into his apology was so crazy to me...
He stole a few others artwork as well. I was friends with a few people who he took from, and they had no idea
@@Vanished584 Yeaaah its crazy! there was a WHOLE giant list he put out in apology, never could expect such a thing to happen that way.
Yea he "stole" your artwork, it's not like he claimed he made it
Guys are so butthurt over it like grow up
@@Goji01 I mean..I did grow up.. its been 6-7 years lol...I will say however, the controversy in that manner was overblown, I feel that going logically its about the way artists will forever stay under a radar while said creator benefits with using their work as visual cues for videos, my artwork that was used never even peaked past 10 likes or so if memory serves, but could've benefited greatly via credit and appreciation.
Its like an equal exchange, I believe artists can feel frustrated when their work is snagged without asking and see said video its involved in reach thousands and thousands of views (i believe his content made well over 100k if memory serves it right!)
So-- rather its about being disrespected, in conclusion. Coming from an artist POV :)! Incredibly valid emotions to have, it would suck if someone took your videos, mashed it into their own video and took the profit and views while you come out with nothing to show for it, right?
@@Goji01 yeah, smike never claimed the art as his own but that was never the problem. The problem was he used artists work without credit.
Yeah the controversy was very overblown, this whole video is imo. I used to watch smike when I was like 11/12 and I never remember anyone actually hating him or claiming he’s this bad guy in the fanbase at the time… or really ever.
The drama involving him was the fact he didn’t credit anyone for their work. It’s a very big issue in the art community and a lot of artist do tend to be very protective when it comes to their work. Smike was quite often using smaller artists work too. While yes I feel the whole copyright strike thing an artist did to get his videos down wasn’t the best approach but I do understand what it’s like to see your stuff being posted somewhere else without credit, it is a very shit feeling.
Like imagine you’ve spent hours or even days on a drawing, post it to your small community and get like 12 likes then some random guy comes along puts your art in his video and gets like 100k views and he doesn’t even credit you. You see none of that attention, none of those viewers are directed towards you and your work and worst thing is he continues to reuse your art uncredited in future uploads.
I remember the time when I would sit there and watch every one of his hoax's videos and his secret character finding videos its almost scary how quickly time flies.
Had no idea about the controversy around him. I remember watching his top 10s from back around the FNaF 2 era. The nostalgia is hitting so hard, those were the cooler days.
I love how he changed the title after the theft king drama
Used to absolutely LOVE watching this guy back in the day, was my favourite RUclipsr at one point. I remember when the videos got taken down and I always found it sad that he left and no one really cared about it enough to make a video about it. Thank you, uhyeah.
Also, if you are looking for a good playthrough of a game to watch, his Fallout 4 playthrough is really, really damn good and I remember having a lot of fun watching it as a kid. Haven't watched it since though so it could be bad who knows XD
I dont get the big hype over not playing the game before- Up until sister location, i hadnt ever played the games but i was still a HUGE fan of the story, the aesthetics, etc. I would watch my friends play it, watch Markiplier play them on repeat, be incredibly quick every time a new game theory was out- The games were my obsession and i hadnt even played them till the 5th game
Cancelled 🤓
I think at least 25% of the Fandom has never played a fnaf game, I only lasted the mobile ports up to 3 and quit on the first night for all of them, so I don't think it's too weird to not play it.
Smike was my introduction to FNAF. He kept it creepy for me, because at that time I didn't know much about FNAF so it had a creepier atmosphere. I kinda dropped my interest in FNAF since then but this is so nostalgic
To be fair to Smike on the whole "he never played the games before." point. I've been a fan of the games for years despite only playing FNAF 1 for 5 minutes, got spooked, and immediately closed the game. I've only ever experienced these games second hand by watching Markiplier's lets plays. Maybe that makes me a fake fan, but I would dive deep into the lore when I was younger and watched so many lets plays several times. So you can still be a fan of the games and know a lot despite not actually having played them before. That's just my opinion anyway.
I used to watch Smike a lot when I was younger, I literally didn’t care about the stolen art, I just wanted those facts. I stopped watching his videos before any were deleted or the “hey gotta delete old vids” was posted. He was definitely one of my favorites in my FNAF phase.
the contract thing, did he even know what he was doing? seems a lil too ridiculously corrupt to sign a contract with people allowing you full complete rights to their art. And at the same time the dust is still settling from a controversy surrounding that issue. to me it seems like he tried to salvage the situation and his series in a moral way that he saw possible but he just didnt know what he was even doing.
I feel it's clear he just didn't know Contract Language.
This isn't evil. It's just being bad at Contracts.
I doubt any young Teen or Early adult even knows how those things work historically besides the common meme of "read the tiny print."
What I find weird is that there’s alot of videos that use possibly stolen fan art, especially old ship videos but nobody seems to talk about those.
And no one ever will
I'm one of the artists on that list at 11:39 (spyke-the-artist). I didn't watch him a lot so I never actually realized my art was used in any of his videos until he sent out the mass apology on DeviantArt. At that point, all the videos that used fanart were gone. Back when this happened, I just thought it was cool that my art was used at all, given that I didn't really consider my art to be very good. I didn't care about being credited or not, but now that I'm a bit older, I kinda wish I was.
Well not playing it dosnt mean you cant care about the content.
I've never played, ever.
But i still liked the FNAF games, art, theories, videos based around it.
You can still enjoy works without actually playing them.
Its like sports, you dont have to go through the Olympics to enjoy it
I know a lot about FNAF because of game theory but I've never played it.
Same
Or just accept u scared
@@harleydavidson06that right there was the main reason why i never played fnaf games but only watched em
Is that really why people hate this guy? Good lord, people will obsess about anything.
I mean making lazy content and stealing intellectual property is enough of a reason to not like the guy.
Yeah hating the guy in some over the top fuming way is ridiculous.
But this IS enough reason to not like what the channel stands for.
Also the whole contract thing IS slimy as fuck.
I don't get why people were mad over how he never finished the playthrough, though it may be because I watch Alpharad Deluxe and they almost never finish a game
Very ironic calling others obsessive but not smike. The person who made hundreds of fnaf videos. 🤦♂️
@@zorls YEAH to make MONEY. are you making money for obsessing over him?
I've never played a FNaF game either, but I still love the series and can get facts from other people's gameplay videos and other theory channels to form my own opinions and theories.
I really cannot stand horror games. They aren't for me. I wish I wasn't as anxious around them, because FNaF's lore is what attracts me, but the gameplay, the scares, while most people think they're cheesy, myself included to an extent, I wouldn't be able to stand playing the game myself. My anxiety would make me mess up so much or just make me quit.
This. I don't play the FNaF games much, and when I first got into the fandom, there are some games that I didn't even play. Which is OK! Plenty of people can enjoy a lore-driven game through watching other people play it.
breh
upon the name change, i was confused seeing this vid in my recommended again, thought a little, and it finally clicked. he acknowledged the thieving monarch
Honestly the reason I loved this guy’s content not just because of FNaF but because it was hilarious and honestly his voice was just perfect, I don’t know what it is but it just sounds so nice.
Dude his voice makes me wanna drink water idk man
6:04 Call me a literature teacher, but the box definitely gives the hint of the third game being in a decrepit setting where everything from the first two games is a mere broken relic
I think it's aiming more for setting and time frame, but people went straight to the "Amalgamation" animatronic.
I remember people used to call him Smilk back in the day because of how repetitive his content was.
It really bothers me when people say that you can't be a fan of something if you haven't played it, I'm a fan of FNAF and haven't extensively played it
Calling him the "most hated" FNAF RUclipsr is way too harsh. Ik what he did was bad, but it's not really that bad enough to have a strong hatred towards him. I genuinely loved smikes videos back then, and I still wish he was here today. I'd love to see his reaction to FNAF SB, unc, VR, AR, and Scott's departure from the franchise.
Tbh we can all agree the worst fnaf RUclipsr is Zajcu37
who is zajcu?
Wait, what happened to Zajcu37?
@@notlaodefinitely5435 Idk, I haven't seen him since 2016
Nah, the worst are those crappy cinema channels
zajcu37 is a good guy, also those channels who reupload videos are the worst
I remember Smike, namely how I was one of the artists he stole art from. I remember watching one of his videos (don't remember which) when suddenly I saw my Golden Freddy fanart. Few weeks later I got a message on deviantart with a shoddily written contract in it to use my art in his videos with a deadline involved.
The biggest reason why artists made a huge stink over his theft was that he was making significant ad revenue from our art, and we never saw a penny from it. Not that I cared personally too much at the time, and i can't remember who made the strikes.
Had to check whether I was ShadowToky at the time lol, but I can see darkreapertoky at the 11:40 mark
I remember this man. He was my Go-to FNAF RUclipsr when I first Learned about FNAF. Some of the first FNAF songs I heard were the ones Tryhardninja had on his channel (although I still don't get they were on Smikes channel 😅) I remember even seeing him in Game Theory's first FNAF Livestream. Stopped watching him after FNAF 4, but glad to see he's still doin well 👍
6:20
I don’t know why, but uhyeah’s voice fits perfectly for this type of humor
12:00 "When someone decides to watch a RUclips video, it's typically because the thumbnail and title are good and it makes them want to find out more"
You're completely right about that. Seeing your thumbnail about a man who STOLE FNAF I was kinda curious about how one can steal a game/series. And the video turns out to be about some guy who used a lot of fanart without the artists' consent and made content based on games he barely played. And according to the comment section, he isn't even that hated.
This video is a shitty clickbait.
Thanks for saving me some time!
I don't think he literally meant stealing FNAF, I think he meant more like stealing some of the spotlight/fame of FNAF for his own gain. And as far as "most hated," well that's certainly a questionable stance to take on this guy, I'll admit that.
This video is worse than anything that guy ever did.
@@occi3746 "Tell me you haven't watched the video without telling me you haven't watched the video"
@@horpuscorpus8299 I watched it. He didn't "steal" artwork, he just didn't know proper crediting. He's obviously just a kid who didn't understand what he was doing. The contract thing he probably also was just too new to how the world works to understand that it was wrong. Just a garbage clickbait video.
i feel like i used to watch smike constantly. and then just forgot he existed until now.
Same.
same here
The fact you had to emphasize the worst point in this video is hilarious.
You don't have to play FNAF to enjoy FNAF.
You don't have to be a cook to enjoy the meal.
Enjoy it yeah thats fine but milking it until the end of time now thats shit and its hilarious how bad your example are
Its more like
getting salary but you never work or making contract there
Facts
You have to be a chef to profit from cooking
Very true
I don't think I agree with this. If you dedicate your entire channel to milking videos about a game you've never played that's... understandable to be bothered by.
You don't have to be a cook to enjoy the meal, but you gotta at least eat the meal
I forgot this dude even existed. His face seemed vaguely familiar, but until i heard him speak, that's when everything came rushing back. Last time i ever even heard him was before I moved to San Diego. That was just over 8 years ago.
15:20 Smike also made *one* let's play video of FFPS a while after his Skyrim & Norse Mythology video, but for some reason it's deleted now
Yea I remember that
Why did he delete it? Any idea?
@@jinxyjangle I'm not sure honestly, probably so people wouldn't be in the comments asking for a part 2 when he started to upload again
@@KennyLastname True. It’s sad he had to delete it though. I can’t find a re upload.
Holy hell I remember this dude I would always watch his videos at lunch at school felt like he always had one out just in time for me to watch it. God so weird to think how long it's been
What an interesting way to end a paragraph.
@@omniscientbarebones why?
@@zorls it’s been so long
your flow is genuinely so entertaining, im excited to see more from you!
He wasn't the most hated for a majority of the community, but 100% was for the art community due to theft, lies, and crazy stuff like making contracts that said basically "sign this and I can profit on all of your work; past, present, and future art; for free". It was crazy!
Never knew smike was hated whatsoever, always loved how unique his voice was
There’s something petty about how a community will make someone the head of controversy for no other reason then “You don’t play the games but talk about the lore” or something like that. It’s almost like the argument of, “You’re not a real fan.”
It kinda is the same Argument. At least overlaps pretty nicely on a Venn Diagrahm.
I've been a FNAF fan veteran. When I revisited his channel I was always wondering why he haven't upload anything on his channel, it was odd especially his part of our nostalgia.
OH MY GOD THE NAME CHANGE
He probably just searched up the character's names on Google images and thought 'hey thats cool, I'll use that one' put it in the video, and then got backlash for it.
Imagine going through every single video you made, finding every instance you used something that wasn't official from Scott, and then having to go back and ask permission, wait, and then re-upload, I'm not surprised he took em down..
I'm in the camp who was very angry about what he did to artists. Even if it's time consuming, asking is still the right thing to do. I am glad the apologized and remade those videos though. Seems like he learned his lesson and has gotten better about it.
TBF it's what pretry much everyone did back in the day.
yeah, he got backlash because that's super lazy. just ask the artist if you can use their art in your video, that's just the bare minimum effort.
5:50 so that’s how toy Freddy got depression and retired
It's interesting, I was one of the few people actually subscribed to Smike during his Skyrim era. I used his videos for help when I was stuck, and continued watching ones that caught my interest. I also happened to become obsessed with FNAF after watching Yamimash and Mark play it, and watched all his content surrounding this new series as well. I eventually became one of the people who hated his content and channel, despite really supporting his throughout his channels history. The main reason for this is probably similar to everyone else's, I could tell it was all for profit. There was no passion, interest, feeling, any emotion in these videos. It was an attempt to jump on a hot commodity, but that commodity was made hot due to passions, interest, and emotion. It wasn't the latest new thing to cover, it was a small series that exploded based on the passion of fans who wanted more. I think that's why all of this crumbled around Smike. It was a fanbase of pure passion being fed factory-produced content by someone who didn't seem to care at all. This is probably why people like MatPat and Dawko continued to thrive after this explosion, they had a clear interest in the series rather than the profitable fanbase supporting it.
0:22 dude you brought back so many memories his voice is so nostalgic
8:47 yes and thats completley fine most from the fnaf community never actually played fnaf.Most of us just watch fnaf content on youtube or buy its merch and are still on fnaf discord,s and never played the game and thats kind of a bummer but its true (now i still played fnaf 1,2,3,4,6 and ultimate custom night and even fnaf world)
Haha early. He had a cameo in FNAC 3 and I always wondered where he went.
ah yes fnac
@@iamderp69 yeah five nights at candy's is a pretty good game
I wouldn't mind seeing a follow up video on xxProClassGamerxx. That dude just straight up vanished and for someone who was really big in the FNAF community back 2015. I rarely see him talked about, especially in retrospectives or talking about older community stuff.
I think he got tired of fnaf and quit.
Oh I remember him he also has a chicken name chica
Wish I could go back to a simpler time before I knew the Top 10 Facts about the Cupcake. I wasn't ready for such knowledge
About Smike "profiting" from the fanart. While you could say that he technically wasn't profiting in a traditional sense (making money through the art), he was still USING people's fanart as background noise without their permission, and as far as I can remember, didn't even credit them. While he wasn't DIRECTLY making money off of their work, he was definitely profiting in a way the original artist wasn't.
The bottom line is that making art to be displayed in the backgrounds of videos, is a professional job, it's something you would usually PAY an artist to do, but Smike got their work FOR FREE. And not only that, It's also really hard for an artist to get noticed in the digital age, and a RUclipsr like Smike simply crediting the original artists, could've helped A LOT. In some of the screenshots, it's so zoomed in that even if a creator signed their work, you probably couldn't see it, which is an all around gross thing to do.
This 100%. That was the only point in the video that I heavily disagreed with, and even if I can tell this wasn't the intent, it comes off as downplaying the issues artists had with this dude. You can't really say it has no effect on whether people watched his content when visual design is super important to the polish of a video.
Yeah that's the only point a disagree with in this video. He could have easily paid some people to do some art for him or even ask and pay the original artists but he went out of his way to just copy and paste them. Idk it just shows how lazy Smilks videos were. I am a sprite creator and I like designing sprites and if someone used my sprite that I made on there game or video without asking me I wouldn't really care that much, but I can 100% see why someone would be upset if it were to happen to them.
That's the thing..he WAS profiting off their art! If you include someone else's things in your video, even if they aren't main focus of the video, and make money off said video you're technically profiting off the stolen stuff as it's part of the video giving them money. It's illegal and considered a copyright strike (which is why he had to remove the videos, they violated copyright). Even IF his videos weren't making money he still was illegally using stolen artwork he had no permission for.
Including someone else's work in your video without permission or compensation is a bad thing..They either have to agree to give you free work basically for your benefit or agree to get a small amount of the profits for said videos their art is in, that's the only way to not violate copyright laws.
Just crediting isn't enough, you have to actually get permission from the artist for your use of their artwork to make sure they're ok with it (some will not give away art rights for free).
I remember I used to love smike’s videos back when I was in primary school and being really sad when he stopped uploading. I hope he’s doing alright, apart from the art theft (which I obviously don’t agree with however was probably just because he didn’t understand the time and effort that’s put into fan art) he seemed like an ok dude.
I used to LOVE Smike as a kid, and had no idea what happened to him until now. I appreciate this video a lot, the nostalgia is something I kind of missed-regardless of the controversies
does anybody notice how the title is call "Update: Smike is NO LONGER The Most Hated FNAF RUclipsr" now im not sure if it has all ways been like this so but its still interesting.
Yeah, I noticed that as well. I wonder if it's referring to theft king.
I never even knew about his controversies, he was one of the first youtubers I ever watched all the way back in 2015, and I genuinely liked him, and thought his videos were funny. he was definitely a staple of the old fnaf community, I know he featured in theory thurday a few times- a fnaf podcast with 8 bit gaming, dawko, and razzbowski
i was trying to remmber his channel name, he was the "hallucination guy" to me because whenever he tried to theorize about something he would just say "x might be an hallucination"
he's like the burger king foot lettuce guy of fnaf
NUMBER FIFTEEN BONNIE IS FREDDY'S BASTARD SON
@@Jawny00 "burger king foot lettuce guy"
bro how do you not know who Chills is 💀
@@Mate_Antal_Zoltan who?
@@Mate_Antal_Zoltan bro is above names ong
I remember watching Smike a lot as a kid. But then I saw all the hate going to him and how many times he was called "Smilk". I remember seeing this one vid making a parody of his videos and found it funny. It was like a series, maybe 3 parts? But at the end, he was encouraged to do his old Skyrim videos, something he actually loves.
The FNAF hate was great back then and where edgy humor was becoming cool. (Ignore my name lmao)
But wow, funny to see a youtube I thought I forgot about all these years later.
“NO SMIKE! STOP PLAYING SKYRIM! NO! NOOOOOOOO!”
Alot of ppl might not remember me but i used to run a fairly infamous smilk channel lol when i was younger like 11-12ish. Im 19 now and yeah looking back he hadnt such a bad guy as i made em out to be i was just an edgy 12 yr old who was making jokes at smikes expense lol
@@Nohea66 Oh shit, are you The Smilk? I do remember you lol, i remember you from the 2015 Anti-Fandom days. Back when Google Plus was a thing
LETS GO HE ACTUALLY CHANGED IT 💀
I remember the fan art controversy, and was one of the artists who got severely pissed off at him. He seemed to believe that anything he could right-click and save was his to do with as he pleased, with no thought to the rights of the artists, even to be credited. I also saw the contract, and it was exactly as absurd as Atlas-White described. I don't think anyone signed it.
I remember Smike being called "Smilk" in the FNAF fandom because his "top 10 blatherings" videos, which added nothing at all to the information out there were seen as milking FNAF for views. I agreed.
As for his never having played the game...well, I can't really fault him for that. There are people who get into a fandom for the fandom itself. I met people at cons who were FNAF fans, loved the characters and toys and videos, but didn't play the games themselves because they were too scary/difficult/not allowed in the home/whatever. Sure, it's weird for someone to be making video after video on a game without actually playing it, but I wouldn't disrespect him for that, if he had good, original content otherwise...oh, wait.
i mean i feel like he just made a very bad mistake. i don’t understand why people think that no mistake is forgivable on the internet. taking art is scummy but he deleted and reuploaded the videos with gameplay instead of the art, and while it doesn’t justify it, people probably weren’t watching his vids for the art anyway. i mean he was just 19 iirc so just a kid
If it makes you feel better, all the art he stole looked like shit anyways.
Wasn't the stolen art work like some kind of FNAF porno from Tumblr
@@laz981 No.
Digital art has no value and no one owns it
I personally dont see any issues with loving a series without having played it at all for a year or so I was like that with fnaf and I was there as a fan from the very first markiplier video the day he uploaded it and im like this with many games because I dont have much money so its more cost effective to see other games on the internet and have other people play them and see info and reactions than wasting money on something I'm not sure I'll even like so I see it as forgivable as long as they enjoy the series and aren't bothering others who also want to enjoy the series
I’ve been in the fandom since the beginning, and I only recently got to play the games a couple months ago…
I technically played the demo for Fnaf 3 back in like 2015, but I never actually played a full game.
Just a few days ago I beat Fnaf 1.
You don’t necessarily have to play the game in order to enjoy the characters or lore.
I honestly loved his videos years back, but I haven't watched any of them in quite a while.