31 replies to this topic

[mik]

http://www.kickstart...rcade-sells-out

Honestly if this Kickstarter doesn’t work nothing here will change.

"We just wanna see if we can score a quick quarter-of-a-million bucks from some absolute rubes (I'm pretty sure we can)."

[Tron]

Yeah, they';ll definitely hit 250k. Kinda sad. The rewards are a show. They won't even fly you out if you pay 5k to eat lunch with them!

[PlayerOneCJ]

This and Ouya hitting on the same day is hilarious.

I get why they'd do it, but it's ridiculous for Gabe to say on Twitter "if this works it could work for any webcomic" - no it couldn't because most webcomics don't have your following.

[I AM JOHN!]

I've seen worse ideas than this. Like the Ouya. God wow, who in their right mind would think an Android-based console would be a good idea?

[Kirbutashi]

But everyone loves free to play, John.

But it is pretty ridiculous that an entity as large as they are is getting up on Kickstarter to do this.

[PlayerOneStewy]

That penny arcade one already has two 5k backers and one 10k backer.

[Wenny]

The rewards are stunning in their uselessness, even if you like the comics.

[levitynyc]

Love when people try to tell other people how to spend their money.

I've gotten countless hours of entertainment from the Angry Video Game Nerd. In thanks for that, I bought all his DVDs and made a small donation to his movie project.

Whatever.

I'd you don't like them, then don't donate.

[Wenny]

I've gotten countless hours of entertainment from the Angry Video Game Nerd. In thanks for that, I bought all his DVDs and made a small donation to his movie project.

You shouldn't have spent your money that way.

[mik]

Love when people try to tell other people how to spend their money.

I've gotten countless hours of entertainment from the Angry Video Game Nerd. In thanks for that, I bought all his DVDs and made a small donation to his movie project.

Whatever.

I'd you don't like them, then don't donate.

No one in here said a single foul word about the useless tosspot sycophants who will gleefully contribute to this--only the miserable opportunistic cunts who are exploiting them.

[I AM JOHN!]

Opportunistic cunts? They're a webcomic that relies on advertising and merch sales. They would like to not have to run ads but also want the financial security that running ads affords them, so they turn to the fans. If no one's into it, nothing changes.

Seriously, where is this unbridled rage coming from, aside from the usual place of "mik comes up with another reason to bag on something he doesn't like"? If donating to them so they can focus on doing things other than trying to make sure they have ads is worth it to you, then do it; if not, then don't. Penny Arcade means nothing to me so I won't. Who fucking cares.

[MojoBox]

Yeah I don't really get the hate. If you had a successful ad based business and wanted to remove the ads, would you just do that not knowing the consequences? Probably not. This is an interesting experiment and I'm curious to see where it goes.

Of course, Kickstarter will benefit those who already have a name and a following more than the anonymous startups, but that's a truism in every aspect of business. Having connections and a reputation is way more important than having a good idea.

[ConanOBrien]

Asking 1000$ out of a die hard fan to put them on your xbox friends list for a year just seems exploitative.

The small donations to remove ads don't bother me that much but giving people no value back for the large donations is gross.

[I AM JOHN!]

The small donations to remove ads don't bother me that much but giving people no value back for the large donations is gross.

Double Fine has spent over $400,000 of their Kickstarter money on the prizes and giveaways and shit for the donation bonuses they promised. That's $400,000 I would much rather see go towards the game, even if it meant I don't get the stupid shirt and artbook or whatever I'm getting for giving them a Franklin.

The kind of people who would donate to this at such an extreme know exactly what they're getting. I'm not going to cry for them because the spent their money to get a goofy donation prize and it was lame.

[Wenny]

Who knew John was part of the PA Defense Force?

Poke around Kickstarter for even five minutes. The rewards are opportunistic at best, disrespectful to their fan base at worst. Sure, rewards cost money from a project, but they offer a tangible something for your hard earned money.

However criticizing anything PA does is fraught with danger. Their rabid fans vacuously defend their every move.

[eznark]

Everything Penny Arcade ever does screams "we've never had any friends and we need you to validate our existence."

This fits into that, so I applaud them in their complete embrace of their pathetic-ness.

[Raughn]

Eh, they're pretty up front about this being an experiment of sorts. I read their site, but I don't care if it has ads, and I see no reason to participate in this kickstarter. I don't see how this is a trick, or an indictment against Kickstarter in general.

[Enchy]

They hate Jordan, Jesse, Go!, so they can go fuck themselves. Seriously, fuck those guys. Jesse Thorn is a classy guy, and they were dicks to him because he was wearing a bowtie.

[famousmortimer]

A friend of mine used to do a lot of the art for the strips during the first year of PA a long, long time ago. Gabe never paid him so he quit.


I haven't liked PA since then. They have never given me a reason to either. What a bunch of a fucking twats.

[I AM JOHN!]

Who knew John was part of the PA Defense Force?

Isn't there some shitty IGN Nintendo editor you should be staunchly defending or something?

Edited by I AM JOHN!, 12 July 2012 - 01:05 PM.

[Raughn]

A friend of mine used to do a lot of the art for the strips during the first year of PA a long, long time ago. Gabe never paid him so he quit.

That really happened? I'm surprised because the art was really rough for the first year, and with three strips a week, how on Earth did Gabe need help to produce that? And why would he offer to pay anyone when they weren't really making money back then? And why would anyone believe they would be able to pay in that situation?

[rafterman]

So you can pay them to not have ads? What the hell? I find this a pretty disgusting ploy. They're a successful business that uses advertising. The ads are not obtrusive at all. What would you be getting out of this? No ads on a free site? To hell with that.

[Raughn]

IIRC, way back when they first added ads*, they took some shit for it, so maybe they still think it's something their readers hate.

If they meet the goal, and the ads go away, then the kickstarter funds must have replaced the ad money, so I don't see how it's a ploy for extra money.

Most importantly, it's all spelled-out and no one has to do anything they don't want to.

*lolz thats fun 2 say

[Cambot]

So other people work at Penny Arcade? I haven't visited the site for a while, but why do they need a huge staff?
Also, the rewards are dumb. Pizza and games with the creators (pay for your own airfare, sucker)? Wee. And the fact that some have already donated over $5,000 just so they don't have to see ads on a site which exists soley to display a web comic is beyond stupid. I'm not telling people how they should spend their money, but some one apparently needs to.

[sabin1001]

It's funny to see how some sites think the Ouya kickstarter is evil and don't mind the PA kickstarter, while other sites think the PA kickstarter is vile and don't mind the Ouya kickstarter.

As for their rewards, I felt they were perfect fanservice rewards. Keep in mind this is targeted towards the hyperfans, people who just want these guys to know their alive and love them. Selling the following of your twitter account is damned ingenious. It's like they know exactly what internet fans with too much cash in their pockets would most respond to.

So while I personally will continue to use adblock to surf their site adfree, it does seem rather fine for a site to offer a way to fund it so they don't need ads. It's going to be a lot more common as CPMs continue to fall into nonexistence for niche sites.

[BeauRosser]

I think it's an interesting concept - the tiered Kickstarter. Someone has to test to see if it's viable. Might as well be Penny-arcade.

Bunch of negative-nancy peeps here. Yes, I DID just say peeps. Deal with it.

Edited by BeauRosser, 15 July 2012 - 11:57 AM.

[Wenny]

Bunch of negative-nancy peeps here. Yes, I DID just say peeps. Deal with it.

Weirdo.

[Kazriko]

I wonder if there would be this sort of rage if it were a much smaller webcomic going ad free? I've been a fan of Schlock Mercenary for a decade, and when they put their kickstarter up, I'll likely donate to it even if I don't get much in the way of rewards because I want to get more Schlock Mercenary comics.

Though, there's a huge gap in professionalism between Schlock and Penny Arcade... Schlock hasn't missed an update in its entire run and publishes 7 days a week. Penny arcade seems to spend less time making comics and more doing all sorts of other things... I probably wouldn't donate to Penny Arcade myself.

[minus_273]

WTF is this shit? WTF is the ouya? i disappear in the Mediterranean for a few weeks and the whole world goes to hell

[Kazriko]

WTF is this shit? WTF is the ouya? i disappear in the Mediterranean for a few weeks and the whole world goes to hell

http://www.kickstart...onsole?ref=live

Some silly people decided to make a home console based on Android, sadly, by the time it comes out it will assuredly be the weakest home console on the market. It's not even more powerful than the Vita. I suppose it will be marginally faster than the 3ds.

[minus_273]

A friend of mine used to do a lot of the art for the strips during the first year of PA a long, long time ago. Gabe never paid him so he quit.


I haven't liked PA since then. They have never given me a reason to either. What a bunch of a fucking twats.

My friend was ranked 4th in the state in ninja gaiden. He had an uncle that worked at nintendo and got to play super mario 4. He was so cool he even got sheng long as a playable character in street fighter at the arcade.

P.S. since he was a 4th degree blackbelt he had to register his fists as lethal weapons.

on an unrelated note, fuckstarter is a great name for an adult dating site.

Edited by minus_273, 25 July 2012 - 05:56 PM.

[TheKurichan]

My friend was ranked 4th in the state in ninja gaiden. He had an uncle that worked at nintendo and got to play super mario 4. He was so cool he even got sheng long as a playable character in street fighter at the arcade.

P.S. since he was a 4th degree blackbelt he had to register his fists as lethal weapons.

on an unrelated note, fuckstarter is a great name for an adult dating site.

My dad used to keep a massive death star at his work, or so my brother kept telling me. I never did get to see it, I guess he sold it?