Penny-Arcade Kickstarter

[Ste]

Zero, again you are missing the point. They have 14 employees right now. Say half of them cover advertising and design work and earned a million dollars a year in turn over and this is what paid everyones wages. The other half create the comics and stuff which is provided for free. Now if those first 7 dudes didn't have to do the advertising or design work then they could then concentrate on producing more cool free stuff which people enjoy more and what PA is actually about (well originally). That's what they are trying to achieve.

[MarkuzR]

if those first 7 dudes didn't have to do the advertising or design work then they could then concentrate on producing more cool free stuff which people enjoy more and what PA is actually about (well originally). That's what they are trying to achieve.

Not really mate... for a start, it wouldn't be free because a certain portion of their readership would actually have paid for it all in advance. The rest of their readership, those who don't participate in the KS project, would be getting it for free. It's hardly fair though.

[MarkuzR]

If they want to step away from advertising and have their fan-base contribute towards the running of their site and the content therein, they should just switch to a very basic subscription model. Show the first panel of the comic(s) to anyone who visits and the entire comic (or other content) is only available to paying subscribers. That way, every single reader is on equal footing and they don't have to worry about advertising.

[Spad]

Well, arguably it's only free because of the advertisers. Just bear this in mind, most sites that offer subscription services for "premium" member status, still run adverts all over the place (even if the premium members are spared them).

Like I said, in terms of principle I don't see this as being any different to what Ars or Giant Bomb or the Escapist do in terms of asking their users for money to support their site - in fact it's probably better because they're looking to remove the adverts for everyone rather than just those who pay - I just don't think that Kickstarter was the right way to go about it.

Also, it's not just the visualness of adverts that are a problem, they also slow down site loading, are a common vector for malware injection & frequently do all sorts of user tracking; there's a reason I run Adblock, Noscript & Ghostery at all times.

[Ste]

OK so there is a cost to those who backed but its their money and they want to see more content plus they get the backer rewards, even if some are shit, so I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Anyway I think its a good idea if they can make it work. Good luck to them.

[Ricass]

They're not really making readers pay for it, from what I've read it sounds as though people would like to help in some way other than buying t-shirts and stuff, so they've opened this up. If you don't want to donate, and they don't hit their target, then hey ho, they asked, and the site carries on as normal.

Personally I don't find the ads to be a problem, and their commisioned work from games companies is usually spectacular, so it would actually be kind of a shame to lose that. Still, if they want to do this, than that's fine. They seem like pretty swell chaps (although I'm definite that they have some savvy businessmen working for them who can see the potential for profit with the Kickstarter) and I'm sure it's not totally all about getting money. But hey, what do I know.

I'm still gonna read the comic, either way.

[ZeroMark]

Wait they have more than one person producing the the comics? They should really be doing more than three a week.

[PhantoM]

Not that I use PA, but I really can't believe more people don't use ABP like me. It's a Firefox add-on called Ad Block Plus which disables all pop-ups, ads and even stops Youtube ads. I didn't even realise there were Youtube adverts until I used someone else's PC... that's how long I've had this add-on

[Spad]

Not that I use PA, but I really can't believe more people don't use ABP like me. It's a Firefox add-on called Ad Block Plus which disables all pop-ups, ads and even stops Youtube ads. I didn't even realise there were Youtube adverts until I used someone else's PC... that's how long I've had this add-on

Browsing the internet on a client site, which is usually running something horrible like IE7, makes me realise just how god-awful the internet is in terms of adverts, pop-ups, tracking cookies & 3rd party Javascript garbage when you're not running Adblock/Noscript/Ghostery.

[UselessJack]

I have to admit, I never really read any PA comics and I just know them by hearsay. To be honest, that sounds like a very greedy move to make, like selling elite access or something. I'd be surprised if they'd need 250k $ to keep the site ad-free for a year.

But then again, they do seem to have lots of fans that back this idea and it's your own free choice. Hell, if you want to spend 9999 fucking dollars for a lunch with those guys, sure. Go and be the free spirit you want to be. Live your fandom to the fullest.
I wouldn't back it since I need my money for other, more important stuff* and, as I said, I never read their comcis and probably never will.

*like unmachined high precision gaming dice for 30$... I'm a hypocrit.