LowTierGod/Ego

To say that LTG has a high opinion of himself would be like calling the ocean somewhat damp, for in nearly every instance where you can see him interacting with people, whether they are his chat or other players, you will find behavior that shows a level of self-centeredness and confidence bordering on the narcissistic. Although the remainder of this article is devoted to documenting and analyzing the egocentric behavior for which he is well known, it should be noted that Dale is entirely comfortable with this egocentrism, and the exact details of that comfort will be taken up later on.

Main

Throughout most of his talks on the subject, Dale treats narcissism as far from a bad thing, although the way he goes about discussing it shows a confusion between confidence and narcissism. Most will agree that a degree of self-love is needed to function well, but an overt sense of it will either damage one’s social life or at least negatively impact one’s life choices. He seems to view it as a shield behind which he can ignore all criticisms against him, be they harsh or constructive. A measure of confidence in oneself is hardly a bad thing for a public figure who will handle every degree of criticism and mockery, but it is an unhealthy way to view criticism in general, since it irresponsibly tars everything with the same brush of “hate” and so blinds one to even the best and fairest criticism that might be levied against them.

The delusion wouldn’t be complete without the Stalinist paranoia Dale has put on display throughout his streams, where anyone even suspected of “treason”, a spectrum of behavior that runs from laughing at him to logically questioning one of his many poor decisions, gets purged from the chat and community. Dale can even be credited as a pioneer of what has since become commonplace among Twitch streamers, which is to single out individual users and stage their bans as public executions. This has, if anything, only bred more trolls and treasonous cloaks, since he will never accept that people find him and his behavior pathetic, which in turn gives them all the reason they need to keep toying with him in chat and in games.

One question worth raising about these bans is how Dale even has a fanbase at all given how self-centered he is. The most obvious answer is that every dissenting voice gets shut out the second it speaks, so the only space left is a toxic one full of sycophants who will hunt for any excuse to report a user to their almighty cult leader. This will only get worse as time goes on, since trolls keep invading his games (which shouldn’t be a problem by itself) and Dale keeps getting more paranoid that anyone with a kernel of criticism is a troll-in-waiting or a troll in disguise. To return to his use of the word “treason” earlier, it’s even funnier that Dale’s dream of becoming a millionaire shrinks with every ban and time out, since his ego can’t stomach the idea that someone might dislike him, and yet anyone with a modicum of foresight would carry themselves maturely in order to change that user’s mind and maybe pull in a little more money in the process. But since he wants to seem cool to his audience while still being his usual spiteful self, he has to give each user his own special hateful attention before banning or timing them out, in case anyone needed more proof that Dale is his own worst enemy.

Dale does concede that there is a “healthy” level of arrogance, though he then adds without irony that it is perfectly fine for him to think himself the sexiest black man on the planet. He has also admitted to being a narcissist, but he sets himself apart as a “healthy” narcissist, and the distinction he seems to have in mind is that he is a “competent” one. If this is not evidence enough of his narcissism, he has admitted to having a God complex as well. Though slightly unrelated, he has also flirted with the idea that he is a sociopath. Lastly, he refuses to regard NPD as a disorder, since he takes his callousness and egocentrism to be perfectly normal, and he treats any criticism of people (read: himself) with the condition as evidence that the critic is a “beta” who lacks confidence.

Beyond this, he has displayed numerous instances of his Ego acting up:

(i) Disregard for sportsmanship in games by rage quitting and shit-talking.

(ii) Inability to take criticism, viewing it as just another attack/slander against him.

(iii) Dictator-like control of his community; treating fans that fall out of link, or outcompete him in fighting games, with disdain.

(iv) Obsession with attaining wealth and power above all else, including relationships.

(v) Thinking all trolls are just watching him for “being sexy,” and/or are secretly in love with him.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Though he has not been officially diagnosed, since he claims to be in “control of his shit” and does not believe in treatment, he has self-diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and connects it to his personality. He has even taken a test, which placed him in the 95th percentile of Machiavellianism, a measure of traits such as high self-interest, manipulativeness and deceitfulness, cynicism, disregard for morality, and a tendency to regard people as a means to an end. It should also be noted that these tests deserve a grain of salt for more reasons than the questions being loaded or online tests being nowhere close to rigorous, since Dale, who sees narcissism as a good thing, is probably posing as a tough guy while answering them just to save face with his audience. Put differently, Dale might be “overplaying” the “cold, emotionless villain” persona to come off as cool to his audience, and not because it’s how he’d actually answer these questions in a professional setting or how he genuinely feels about them.