The escapist is mentioned in a Penny Arcade comic

[Parivir]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/6/20/

Yeah... make of it what you will. I guess it's funny?

Maybe this is another example of the bystander effect?

EDIT: Just to point out that I do find most of there stuff funny (they are one of my bookmarked webcomics after all).

EDIT TAKE TWO: Also I do get the comic it's just a bit... "off" I guess.

 

[Broady Brio]

I don't get it.

I've never read a Penny Arcade comic. And now it's put me off forever. Seriously, only 3 boxes?

 

[Cheesus333]

I don't get it.

I've never read a Penny Arcade comic. And now it's put me off forever. Seriously, only 3 boxes?

Their hook is that they were among the first VG comics on the internet, they've been going since the late nineties. Also, they're hilarious, personally.

EDIT: Having just read today's, I can say it's an exception. Not exactly their best work.

 

[Weaver]

I don't understand the comic.
Did we get in trouble for talking about hacks?

 

[Sudenak]

Pretty much what I thought of it, really. Although what's funnier is all of the people who continue to post about Lulzsec, gaining large numbers of inflammatory responses that were right on par with the reason why they DDOS'd us in the first place.

It's smarter to just say nothing. Especially when a group is out for the lulz.

 

[artanis_neravar]

I don't understand the comic.
Did we get in trouble for talking about hacks?

we got hacked for all of the negative views on lulzsec

 

[Zechnophobe]

For those of you who need help understanding, in the first panel they are noting that normally they talk about things like this.

In the second we have an allegorical scenario where 'the escapist' is getting beat up in an alley, and they are given the option to help or not.

In the last panel they choose to be cowards because they are scared of the bullies in the alley.

The humour is that as reputable as they may seem, they are apparantly still afraid of .. those hackers.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Did we get in trouble for talking about hacks?

No, they're talking about how people should stand up against it, then ignore us being hacked, or beaten up in the comic.

 

[artanis_neravar]

I don't get it.

I've never read a Penny Arcade comic. And now it's put me off forever. Seriously, only 3 boxes?

What's wrong with just 3 boxes? Seriously it put you off because it only has 3 boxes? That is how you judge quality, buy quantity?

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

I get it!
May I please have a prize for being a clever little boy?

 

[Weaver]

I don't understand the comic.
Did we get in trouble for talking about hacks?

we got hacked for all of the negative views on lulzsec

I guess I was away. Was there a news release on it?

 

[A Tasty Burger]

I think the joke was that they didn't remember any insightful articles so they walked.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Did we get in trouble for talking about hacks?

No, they're talking about how people should stand up against it, then ignore us being hacked, or beaten up in the comic.

Um... on LulzSec's Twitter feed, they mentioned how the Escapist community was complaining about the attacks and later that day, we were attacked. So they're implying that if they said anything bad about the hackers, they'd come after them as well.

 

[JJMUG]

I think the joke was that they didn't remember any insightful articles so they walked.

That is what I thought also.

 

[artanis_neravar]

I don't understand the comic.
Did we get in trouble for talking about hacks?

we got hacked for all of the negative views on lulzsec

I guess I was away. Was there a news release on it?

No the site was just down for most of the day under lulzsec's DDOS attacks

 

[Katana314]

I don't get it.

I've never read a Penny Arcade comic. And now it's put me off forever. Seriously, only 3 boxes?

What's wrong with just 3 boxes? Seriously it put you off because it only has 3 boxes? That is how you judge quality, buy quantity?

To be honest, I sometimes feel like they miss out on a bit of proper pausing or change of expressions with only 3 panels. It's like, someone's mood swings from ambivalent to furious in one panel, and they can only draw him with one expression in that panel. They can also never have panels in which no one says anything (to pause for effect)

 

[artanis_neravar]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/6/20/

Yeah... make of it what you will. I guess it's funny?

Maybe this is another example of the bystander effect?

EDIT: Just to point out that I do find most of there stuff funny (they are one of my bookmarked webcomics after all).

EDIT TAKE TWO: Also I do get the comic it's just a bit... "off" I guess.

Maybe I can help, they were speaking out against the hackers when the come across The Escapist getting beat up for doing that very same thing they were just doing, so instead of helping and speaking out more, and running the risk of getting attacked themselves, they pretended they saw nothing. (remember Penny Arcade is their source of income)

 

[MightyRabbit]

The point of the comic is that Penny Arcade are pretty big cheeses in the online gaming community, and they yend to address topical issues and controversies in gaming. But here they're playing off the fact that they're being quiet by joking that they're scared of the same kind of attack happening to them. The reference to the Escapist is because it's more effective to have a sympathetic, non-evil corporate person asking for their help than some industry giant like Sony.

Also, grass is green and sky is blue.

 

[shrekfan246]

I don't get it.

I've never read a Penny Arcade comic. And now it's put me off forever. Seriously, only 3 boxes?

What's wrong with just 3 boxes? Seriously it put you off because it only has 3 boxes? That is how you judge quality, buy quantity?

To be honest, I sometimes feel like they miss out on a bit of proper pausing or change of expressions with only 3 panels. It's like, someone's mood swings from ambivalent to furious in one panel, and they can only draw him with one expression in that panel. They can also never have panels in which no one says anything (to pause for effect)

On the last part of your post, they actually do occasionally have the middle panel as a "Pause for impact" panel on some occasions when Tycho points out Gabe's naivety or some such similar effect (I'd link proof but I don't feel like sifting through their site).

OT: I think a few people have got the joke, when I first looked at it, it seemed like PA was saying they didn't care about The Escapist, but after a second look it appears that they're really trying to avoid getting hacked themselves by skirting around and avoiding the whole "hacking" fad that's going around for Lulzy - Because the Escapist got attacked after being very vocally against said group.

EDIT: That being said, however, I do have to say that I didn't find that comic nearly as amusing as they usually are, and not simply because this is one of the few websites I visit more than once a week. It just didn't really have a message other than "Oh, usually we'd talk about this, but we don't want to be beaten up."