The graph cited in the strip shows that Penny Arcade ranks higher in traffic than Kurtz’ PvPonline – counting down from #1. Kurtz responds the same day:
And Penny-Arcade points out that this joke was already made by themselves:
Except, there was more to Kurtz’ jab than just the use of swear words.
This was as of Friday. Suddenly, on Saturday, Penny Arcade has this to say:
What the fuck is Tycho’s problem? Kurtz’ criticism is funny and apt, and just the day before Gabe and Tycho were supposedly deleriously happy to be bandying insults, and suddenly they’re being big thumb-sucking babies about it. Is Tycho manic-depressive? It’s like he was a completely different person on Friday than on Saturday. There have been other occasions in which Tycho has lashed out at someone, although to his credit he has been mensch enough to own up when he’s been a prick.
What started out looking like a potentially hillarious exchange devolved quickly into cattiness, and from all I can tell it’s because the guys at Penny Arcade can’t take a joke, though they feel free to shit on anything they don’t like, and because Tycho suffers from violent mood swings.
All I know is that PvP occasionally amuses me, but Penny Arcade never does.
And that comeback from PvP cracked me up, and I knew what it was talking about, even before I read this rant and found out it was some sort of mutual war.
Although my favorite parody making fun of Penny Arcade-style strips has to be the April Fool’s strip from Adventurers. “Gamer Roomates!” Thank goodness it was April Fool’s Day.
See, the difference between PvP’s strip and the PA backlash is that the PvP one is actually funny.
PvP: “This strip is really topical, you have to know a lot about the subject before you get it.”
PA: “Fuck you. We’re popular.”
I admit that I am the geeky sector of the population who generally gets what Pa is going on about, but this responce is not the best subtle exchange of barbs.
I like both comics (though I hardly check PvP) but I think alot of people are reading in vemon when to them it’s just a joke. It just happens PA thinks jokes involve alot of the words ‘pee, wang, and fuck you’
It’s topical humour for the gaming realm. Just as some people don’t get Doonesbury at all, other find it rather hilarious (heck, I don’t play that many games, but PA leaves me in stitches most times). Think about it, I bet anyone who doesn’t read random SDMB threads often enough would find all the Og/1920/Hi Opal stuff pretty annoying. (Wait…)
And anyone thinking that was a “geeky” thread, be happy most Dopers keep their slashdot and SDMB separate.
Sounds to me like this is a manufactured feud intended to drive up interest in each other’s board. “Scott Kurtz is an asshole! Check out how lame is comic is on www.pvponline.com!” isn’t a fight, it’s an advertisment. I’m sure the artists on both strips are busting a gut over the whole thing.
Hey, I like gaming humor just fine, and enjoy several game-themed strips. Mostly I dislike the fact that a lot of their humor isn’t gaming humor, but gaming fandom humor. Plus I get annoyed at self-insertation and non-stop snarkiness and bitchiness. And the wang jokes. I can do without wang jokes.
PvP isn’t all that funny, but it’s funny sometimes. I never find Penny Arcade funny. Okay, once, there was an FF-themed strip that involved the concept of “sword tail,” but that was it. And when it was first recommended to me, I read the entire archives (I’m obsessive compulsive like that) just to make sure. No sirree, don’t like it.
This very thread is the intended result of both comics’ actions.
Nothing at all is easier than to gain notoriety by pissing people off. Limbaugh ain’t in the news right now for his insightful, reasoned dialogue, now is he?
Scott Kurtz and the PA crew might not be close personal friends, but they’re known well enough to each other that most jibes and insults are taken in jest.
However, the majority of readers will see the exchange as angry and malicious, get righteous and indignant, and suddenly go out of their way to tell other people just how nasty or evil that damned comic artist is.
