Sigh

[yendi]

A few weeks ago, when emilytheslayer pinged me to let me know that Penny Arcade Expo East tickets were available, I told her, "Alas, aside from my issues with whether I want to give money to them in light of their behavior, that's also likely to bump up against Elayna's birthday festivities, which would make it a non-starter even if it was organized by the Dalai Lama. Although the whole "don't give money to assholes" thing would probably win out on another weekend, anyway."

This was, of course, in reference to their handling of the infamous "dickwolves" strip and (more significantly) the reactions that followed (not linking, but if you can't use Google by now, I'm sure you have a helpful neighbor who can assist you).

That said, I figured there was at least a chance that they'd moved on, even if they clearly hadn't learned anything. No such luck.

(And yes, it's not like Gabe and Tycho hadn't established themselves as royal assholes before this, but there are types and degrees of assholes. Also, I've never been a PA regular, so have likely missed some incidents, thankfully.)

So, yeah. Even if Elayna's birthday festivities aren't a conflict, no way am I tossing money towards PAX. And yeah, I'm pretty much convinced at this point that, no matter how much I love video gaming -- something that's been a part of my life for over thirty years -- that video game culture is just made of suck (see Electronic Arts at Comicon '09 for another lovely example). I don't have the slightest doubt that they'll sell lots of Dickwolves shirts, possibly even to folks who aren't thirteen-year-old boys who get on XBox Live and call everyone they frag "gay." I'll get by just fine without them, thank you very much.

(And yes, I know this is old news for some folks; since I haven't followed PA in ages, I missed this when it happened.)

Comments

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

*deletes PA book-mark*

How is not being an asshole for no reason hard?

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Aw geez. I haven't followed them in months, so I had no idea what you were talking about until I went to the link you provided. That is....I don't have the words right now. But my disgust is considerable.

[gardenfey.livejournal.com]

I never particularly liked PA anyway.

But here's something I had to pass on to you because of the bacon: http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/10/bacon-mac-cheese-with-wisconsin-gruyere/

[spoothbrush.livejournal.com]

I stopped following PA about 2002 or 2003, when the asshattery to entertainingness ratio got too high for me to take. But now, I have spent the past few hours reading about the whole mess and getting righteously angry, which would be fine if I wasn't supposed to be composing an exam. So now I have to stay at work late to calm down and write questions about memory. Which is seriously interfering with my desire to go home and fall asleep. Dammit.

[kenakeri.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading Penny Arcade on a regular basis when Gabe posted that tasteless breastfeeding joke Scott made about his wife, then blissfully posted that "she went quiet" when she saw it. Before I thought it was because my culture's a little different I got uncomfortable with some things...but disrespecting the woman you say you love for a cheap joke really squicked me out.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

I've never liked Penny Arcade.

I wish the Idea of PAX, which is a great idea, could be done by someone else.

I'm half glad so much video game stuff comes to NYCC even if it distracts from everything else... it's my only local opportunity to see early builds and MAYBE procure videogame swag designed to be given away at places like E3 and PAX.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Mrfl. That's really disappointing. I mean, I knew about the dickwolves joke and was disappointed by it, but the breastfeeding strip and the context for it and making it super public for LULZ really squick me out.

(That's not to say I don't have a bawdy sense of humour, but some stuff is best kept private and treating your friends' objectification of your wife as high-larious and fodder for public amusement, ick.)

[swashbucklr]

I like Penny Arcade about 80% of the time. I like the charity work, I like that they are encouraging gamer culture and events, I like that some of their strips are hilarious.

But things like the dickwolves piss me off.

I'm going to PAXEast, because I enjoyed last year's, will have lots of friends there, and because I feel like completely disengaging from that culture will only leave the douchebags who continue to do bring it down. I may even take a chance and call out Gabe and Tycho on their shit, or at least support someone braver than I.

But I may get kicked out after punching out anyone cosplaying a dickwolf.