Facebook John TotalBiscuit Bain
John “TotalBiscuit” Bain, a popular gaming critic, has died at the young age of 33. He bravely fought a hard battle against cancer and had just retired in early May, saying he didn’t have much time left. Now people are coming together on social media to say goodbye.
1. John ‘TotalBiscuit’ Bain Was One of the Most Well-Known Gaming Critics in the World
John Peter Bain
July 8, 1984 – May 24, 2018
John “TotalBiscuit” Bain was known as one of the most popular and well-known gaming critics in the world. His YouTube channel had more than 2 million subscribers, and his TotalBiscuit Twitter account had more than 700,000 followers. He first gained popularity for his coverage of World of Warcraft. He said that YouTube became an employment life raft of sorts for him during the recession when he lost his job from downsizing. He began producing commentary while looking for a new job.
He was a British gaming commentator and critic, and also did professional casting for games like StarCraft II and PlanetSide II. Part of his popularity came from video commentary on new indie games, along with analyzing gaming news. But a great deal of his popularity came simply from his willingness to give candid critiques of popular games, including the popular “WTF Is…?” series.
He rose in popularity very fast. In 2012, Will Porter wrote about him on Eurogamer, saying that people’s viewpoints of him were mixed. But, he wrote, Bain’s “rise to prominence” was a fascinating rise.
Porter asked him about his appeal in 2012, and Bain said: “YouTube commentary of this style relies on the cult of personality. It’s, sadly, not really about quality, it’s about the person delivering the content – the guy behind the microphone. Strong personalities succeed because they attract large numbers of followers, enough to sustain a reasonable income. Just like other commentators, I reckon this is why people watch me: because they like (or hate) my personality. They certainly don’t enjoy watching me for the skill demonstrated in the gameplay, because that’s just not there.”
In 2012, Bain was the runner-up for the Greatest YouTube Gamer award in the People’s Gaming Awards. He won the Battle Royale in 2012 and donated his prize money to the non-profit Charity: Water. In 2014, he won the Trending Game of the Year Award at The Game Awards
2. He Was Diagnosed with Cancer in 2014, a Condition that Ran in His Family
Bain was diagnosed with a precancerous mass in his bowel in 2014 that measured 2 centimeters in diameter. Two of his grandparents had been diagnosed with the same condition. It was later determined to be bowel cancer. At the time, he said the cancer was one of the more treatable forms and wasn’t too advanced yet. However, the first scope missed it because it was obscured by a mass.
took too long. It’s full blown cancer. Starting chemo soon, then surgery. Doctors optimistic. Don’t make my mistake. Get checked.
By April 2015, CT results showed the cancer was in remission. But by October 2015, he revealed that the cancer had returned and spread to his liver. There was no cure. He said the life expectancy was three years, but he hoped to live past that.
In late 2016, targeted treatment had shrunk his liver tumor by 50 percent. In October 2017, he described his condition as stable, but it was stage 4 cancer.
In November 2017, he shared that the chemo had stopped working.
3. He Had Just Retired Earlier This Month
Sad to hear TotalBiscuit lost his battle with cancer. He will live on forever in his emote. 😔
Bain had just retired from his video gaming commentary career earlier this month, Newsweek reported. He said at the time that the chemotherapy was no longer working and his liver was failing. With his liver failing, he no longer qualified for clinical trials.
“My body has become resistant to all forms of it (chemotherapy) according to my oncologist,” he wrote on Reddit, adding that he had been on 48 different chemo treatments. “Let nobody ever say I wasn’t stubborn.”
He shared the post on Reddit less than a month ago, when he announced his retirement. He said that most of his pain was caused by pressure on his spine from hardened nodules in his liver and in his lungs. He said dealing with the pain was top priority so his quality of life could improve.
“That will most likely be my last health update, unless some miracle happens or we do indeed find a trial that can do something despite the damage to my liver,” he wrote. “I’d ask people not to speculate about how long I might have left. I’ve deliberately left out some details to try and reduce the behavior, though it might very well have the opposite effect. All I do know is that kind of thing is upsetting to some of my viewers that read it and I’d rather not encourage it. I’ve already exceeded the ‘usual’ lifespan of someone with my condition so whatever numbers people come up with are just that.”
He said he planned to continue streaming content online, but he was on too much medication to give detailed coverage as a game critic. Trying to keep up for the past year had been very stressful on him, he said.
4. He Was Married to Genna Bain & They Had a Son
Rest in Peace my Dearest Love
John @Totalbiscuit Bain
July 8, 1984 – May 24, 2018
Bain’s career began when he was only 13. He was one of the founders of Live365 and a beta tester. He obtained a law degree from De Montfort University and jointed the university’s radio station, Demon FM, where he hosted a music show about the extreme metal genre. Bain was also known by the alias Cynical Brit and TotalHalibut. In 2015, he started a Steam group known as The Framerate Police.
John Bain was married to his beloved wife, Genna Bain. She posted a heartbreaking goodbye to him on Twitter, which you can read above.
He and Genna met in 2005 when he was covering Blizzcon. They have a son.
When he announced his retirement, he said that the podcast Co-optional would be sticking around. The show would be shortened to two hours an episode. His wife Genna planned to take over the production and hosting role when he couldn’t. It’s not clear if she will still be doing that, but he did say that he would be comfortable with Genna taking over his channels and assets, and he would be delighted if she chose to do so. “I’ve been encouraging her for years to create more content for Youtube, hopefully as we make a bunch of fun videos together over the next however-long, that confidence will grow.”
5. He Tweeted About Dogs to Fight Some of the Negativity of Returning to Social Media
it’s not all bad
John Bain wrote a lengthy post explaining why his Twitter account focuses so much on sharing photos of dogs and retweeting dogs. You can read the full explanation here. At the time, he explained that he had a many-years-long unhealthy relationship with social media that started back in the days of forums, ICQ, newsgroups, and IRC chats. He cut himself off for a while, and even went to therapy. But he had to return to social media when his friend who managed his accounts lost his mother. “His bereavement leave is as long as he needs it to be, I took his duties over in the meantime,” he wrote. “He is my dear friend and trusted colleague. He gets as long as he needs and maybe, it was time for me to take this role back, perhaps for good.”
So, he said, he realized he needed coping mechanisms so he wouldn’t just confront and argue and insult online. “You can’t completely alter a persons personallty (sic),” he wrote “Thats not therapy that’s brainwashing. These traits make up who you are. I am a confrontational, brash, confident to the point of arrogance person. I will fight when I perceive wrongdoing. I will confront behavior I deem unethical head on without concern for being polite about it. I will go after a person of stature who I think is abusing their position and I won’t apologize for it. That is who I am. That is who I have accepted that I will be.”
So dogs, he concluded, were important as a form of positive reinforcement.
“Twitters (sic) terrible, but you can make it a bit less terrible. I love dogs. Grew up with them, only briefly lived without them. Dogs make me happy. Sharing pictures of my followers dogs makes me happy and it makes them happy too. Doing it makes Twitter a place I want to be, rather than a place I have to be. It keeps my impression of it positive, it associates positive thoughts with it constantly. It is coping, it is conditioning. It is rewiring parts of a broken circuit, bypassing others.”
“As long as I’m still ok and still here, I’m gonna keep retweeting viewers dog photos. Always, couple at a time. It’s not going to stop unless the photos stop coming in, which I hope they won’t. I’ve been sent over 2500 dog photos in 2 days, which means I can only feasibly retweet a small fraction. But I see em all and feel free to resend them after a couple of days if I don’t retweet yours, maybe you’ll get it next time and I hope that makes you happy. I also hope you don’t take not being retweeted as a slight. Your dog is lovely, all dogs are.”
“I am fine. I am mentally as well as I think I’ve ever been. Despite continuing to fight a disease you’re not supposed to win against (oh sorry, you picked the wrong man to f*** with if you wanted an easy fight), the pain, the side effects, I may be the happiest I have been in a long time. I appreciate the concerns, but you have little choice but to trust my account of how I’m feeling and what my brains doing. For the time being at least, this is what you get and you can choose to go with it, or go elsewhere. For maybe the first time, I think I’m truly ok with either outcome.”