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Penny Arcade launches Kickstarter for more podcasts (lol) [110K Funded]
- Thread starter partyphone
- Start date
RedNumberFive
Banned
Then perhaps they should cut the pretense and say that instead of pussyfooting around it. If they think that their opinions on video games are significant enough for a paid podcast, then they should come out and day that.
EscoBlades
Ubisoft Marketing
If they were already going to do it, then they could just go ahead....and actually do it.
Supply and demand is pretty easy to understand, basic economics. The demand is clearly there. Strong demand. That will pay for the podcast. So do it through the site. There's no need for Kickstarter.
unless you care to explain why it is a better platform to get money from their fans.
I wont disagree there. Its clearly not a scam. Theyre telling us exactly what they are doing.
Yeah, this is how I feel.
They fuzz seem about
a) it isn't actually Kickstarting, which is valid.
b) the 10$ goal, which some people care to explain as: they are sure of the money, but I explain as: we're going to do it anyway, so pay for it what you like
Jon of the Wired
Member
I'm mostly surprised that, given that kickstarter usually has pretty strictly enforced guidelines, that they let this go forward with a $10 goal.
Who says Kickstarter can only be used by projects that NEED it? The people that run Kickstarter certainly don't.
flatearthpandas
Member
The best part, if you read the Kickstarter, is that they're actually planning on doing that as well. When the episodes are hosted, they will be pay-what-you-want.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
Well its a good thing I don't bother with the site anymore then. They're just asking to be exploited and lose credibility.
The problem with this KS is that the $10 goal basically makes this is a donation drive rather than an actual project. Penny Arcade is a profitable company that doesn't need donations. They are just abusing their fanbase at this point. This is really no better than that "Gabe makes a KS where people give him money for no reason" strip, incidently with a $10 goal as well.
graywolf323
Member
the goal was only $10? so it really is just donation drive
Relaxed Muscle
Member
I don't see any money going to charity.....
Except for the fact that before donating to Kickstarter, people look at the amount the requester needs. In this case, they'd see they only need $10. If they want to give them more money beyond that, that is the decision of the individual donors, as well. Again, no one is forcing them to donate, let alone donate above and beyond the goal that's already been met.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
I don't know why anyone is taking this so seriously. A $10 goal instantly seems like a joke about Kickstarters to me.
This is just typical PA. Telling a joke that no one asked for that ends up not really funny about a subject other people have covered better.
This is just typical PA. Telling a joke that no one asked for that ends up not really funny about a subject other people have covered better.
Duane Cunningham
Member
Haha, I think it's funny. They're pretty much making fun of Kickstarter conceptually.
And making $18k and counting.
AND... I get to hear some more of their podcast (which I loved). And will enjoy despite the fact that I'm not donating to the KS.
And making $18k and counting.
AND... I get to hear some more of their podcast (which I loved). And will enjoy despite the fact that I'm not donating to the KS.
Uncle Rupee
Banned
I stopped reading PA years ago.
Don't really see how they can get away with this.
Don't really see how they can get away with this.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
This is how they positioned their first Kickstarter. It makes sense really. They do have limited hours in a week to do the comic, all their commissioned stuff and planning for the boatloads of other things they produce.
Neko Mimi Mode
Member
Cashing in at your gullible fans' expense and then enjoying a good ol laugh about it/them? Oh nothing really.
Bollocks. That's not what Kickstarter is all about.
They have a $10 nebulous goal and a $20,000 stretch goal for basically nothing. They have reward tiers that promise such wonderful things as a special song written by a faceless dick from the internet in five minutes, that only the hapless moron who forks over the money can download. They make comics laughing at people for being so dumb. All this from people who have more money than all their backers combined.
They are screwing people over and you are defending them. You should be ashamed.
It it on Kickstarter? Yes.
Should it be? No.
Except this isn't some shitty car but premium content, you know you are getting.
Also this isn't "you get 20 podcasts for $10", this is: "we are making 20 podcasts no matter what, pay for it what you like, BUT if you pay $10 you are going to get them 2 weeks earlier."
Principate
Saint Titanfall
No it doesn't a rip off is something that that is overpriced in comparison to the product in question. If I see a game in a shop for £1000 that's £20 everywhere else that game is a rip off. The reason that phrase has negative conations is because the person in questions knows the regular price for the game but chooses to overprice for larger profit knowing some suckers out there will buy it due to various reasons (e.g they are the only local retail shop selling it, another great example is charging to use a toilet when toilets are generally free in most institutions).
The guy doesn't have to be a con artist to rip you off.
Karak
Member
KS is notorious for allowing known entities to slip through with some questionable stuff. Also the bigger company KS's don't have to wait 24-48 hours to become staff picks like all other KS's. They can be instantly put up regardless that the information you get as a KS creator that it will be at minimum the next business day. But it makes sense. They make a huge profit, hell anyone would probably do that.
Fair enough. If this was just a thing in their store that was "Downloadable Content Podcast Season 2" for 10 bucks it'd certainly be more palatable.
That said I'm considering the 10 dollar level because their first series of comic making podcasts was actually really enjoyable.
That's not your call to make.
I've never donated to charity on humblebundle. I see giving the money to the devs and humble bundle itself as goals that benefit me more in the end.
jakonovski
Member
Yeah, but on the other hand you could get a nice Patek Philippe for that money if you just kept it...I mean they're all willing payers, right?
You missed the part where I said "If you want to donate $200, then go for it." That wasn't supposed to be sarcastic. People can do what they want with their own money. But I absolutely do not think Kickstarter was the venue to fund a project that would have been funded anyway without crowdsourcing.
SomeOrangeGuy
Neo Member
What, seriously, no one thinks this is hilarious, and that they're just trolling Kickstarter?
I'm pretty sure they're only doing this to prove a point, and not because they need the money.
I'm pretty sure they're only doing this to prove a point, and not because they need the money.
When will people realize in these situations that the debate is not whether people have a choice to donate or not?
The debate is the ethics/morality of someone asking for money under certain conditions and creating a precedent that will be exploited in the future by others. We are already seeing this trend with kickstarter, after all...
The "people have a choice" rebuttal doesn't apply because that is not the issue. I won't argue that people support a project or want to see it be successful. However, in some cases there is a strong need for others to point out legitimate concerns.
Squashing those concerns with the "their money, their choice" argument is counterproductive for fruitful discussion.
Zombie James
Banned
Well clearly they only need $10.
Paranoid much? Who cares, I gladly pay them $10. They can do with that whatever they want. I get the product I pay for and I'm happy.
Who cares about the reward tiers and stretch goals? For me it's simple: do I want the podcast earlier? Yes? Give them 10$. Everybody can make up their own mind, nobody is being mislead.
They aren't screwing anyone.
I don't mind, but that is a valid point.
RedNumberFive
Banned
Gabe and Tycho gotta eat.
Get away with not doing anything wrong? Lol what?
It's also my right to discuss the ethics of the project and to show why I believe it's shameless. I'm not sure putting all your confidence on the free will of people is the only valid way to look at the situation. People do dumb and support awful things on their own accord all the time but even then there are laws in place you must follow. Kickstarter don't even follow their own guidelines as the Susan Wilson kickstarter showed.
Shutting all discussions because they have the choice to support the project or not basically means being blind on purpose to every exploits that could happen on the platform. Seems rather non nonsensical to me.
jakonovski
Member
Premium content my ass, it's a few podcasts worth 10 bucks.
I saw that, I'm just saying it's a strange thing to be bothered by when ultimately, any and all money PA gets from this is from people who by all means should've bothered to look at the goal and whether it'd been met and, if the goal -has- been met and they still decide to contribute -anyways-, let it be assumed they felt it worthwhile and they wish to simply support the benefactor. No harm done.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Dosn't mean that money is not going to charity and that is one of the purposes of the whole thing. At least the platform is very clear in their objectives. But Kickstarter wasn't created for this....
No, but I know that there is a large enough segment of fans that will donate no matter what due to the sheer power of their reach. They knew that the $10 was just a technicality. There are things that I would pay for as a fan. If I'm using KickStarter I wouldn't donate to someone like Valve or EA to make a podcast. I wouldn't donate money to PopCap to make a PopCap podcast even though I'm a huge fan of Jeff Green.
They already have the funds to KickStart this project and if you take the amount needed at face value, there is nothing stopping them from making what they wanted to make if $10 was their need. There is no outside entity that could hurt the product if they handed PA $10.
They can do what they want, but I'm going to call them out for abusing the trust and goodwill their audience on average has for them. PA doesn't need this funding to make the project that they want to make.
They want an easy and deceptive way to monetize their podcast. It's easier to get people's money when you are telling them they are supporting arts or a KickStarter than to put a $10 subscription on their site.
Fleecing their fanbase I suppose by abusing kickstarter. Kickstarter is perfectly fine with it of course as we learned with Susan Wilson.
Pureauthor
Member
So from what I understand the biggest debate point here isn't whether PA should have asked for money but that they should not have done it on Kickstarter specifically.
True, but on humble bundle, you specify what your money goes to. If they do something else with it, THAT is misleading.
Not that I'd care. Cheap games!
derExperte
Member
I would say PA is more like a shitty car than anything else these days.
RedNumberFive
Banned
We've finally reached the logical conclusion of all this Kickstarter nonsense - groups who don't need the money taking advantage of the situation. Congrats to everyone who got us this far. I fully expect EA to begin crowd funding the next Mass Effect at this point.
That's for you to decide, they price it at free, they are doing it, you are going to be able to download it for free.
You can show your support by backing the kickstarter.
If you support 10$ you'll get early access.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Somebody donated $500? fucking madness.
To me the biggest issue is this:
PA is a big enough entity to fund their own products/services. I don't see what's stopping them from producing the content normally and charging people after it's been made.
Aquamarine
Member
Well yeah.
Kickstarter is showing a disturbing trend of allowing projects through that directly contradict their rules and guidelines.
Apparently the owners just don't give a shit about the integrity of their own platform.