The stupid nerds from Penny Arcade made a Kickstarter asking for a quarter of a million dollars in funding for an already hugely popular webcomic, promising to take the banner ads off their website if they reach the goal. Kickstarter exists to help fund the projects of people who are unknown, not to help established, successful businesses make slight changes to their financial structure while continuing to offer the same exact service. It overshadows the projects of people who actually need the funding and arguably violates the Kickstarter guidelines because it’s not “kickstarting” anything at all.
That’s not even getting into the incredibly lazy and formulaic comic these pieces of shit create, relying on predictable references to whatever video game just came out and little else. These guys don’t deserve whatever they make from merchandise sales or ad revenue as it is, yet they have the nerve to ask for charity to fix the non-issue of having easily-blockable ads on their website. Jesus fucking christ
I don’t think it’ll do anything, but do me a favor and report this project at the bottom of the page. Best case scenario, it’ll get taken down and the Penny Arcade manchildren will have a public meltdown
a gross abuse of Kickstarter. SRSLY. This is not is what kickstarter is for. You’re paying a CRAZY amount for the most absurd things: 75,000$ to PAY to be an INTERN, 500$ to be RETWEETED, 300$ to be FOLLOWED ON TWITTER. AND Kickstarted is for PROJECTS, this is for funding a SUCCESSFUL site which does FINE on ads and merchandise and conventions. A QUARTER OF A MILLION dollars to get rid of ONE ad. They HAVE merchandise but SO much money for something INTANGIBLE like this?
I like Kickstarter and all, I’ve funded comic and game projects that I’ve taken an interest in, but this is really an abuse of you and your money and a gross abuse of power and popularity. This isn’t even a project, this is just a grab at your money. More successful and BETTER gaming related websites, like Giant Bomb and Rooster Teeth, run subscription only services and they’re worth it for their content. This, THIS is just taking advantage of people with disposable incomes for something you can easily do with ADBLOCK.
FUND INDIE PROJECTS: There are many many GOOD creators on Kickstarter who are barely reaching their goals and many with prizes worth giving to. These people NEED the money for their creative pursits and often need this money to make their living. TAKE SOME TIME AND REPORT THIS “PROJECT”: scroll to the bottom, click report this project, and report that it is NOT a project by the Kickstarter (if you want some guidelines, here’s a list of their violations of the Kickstarter rules by my friend Beth). And lastly, be SMART with your money: fund honest creators, not landgrabbers
