Re: Penny Arcade ravished by the PC police

No wonder they got ravished….
 
Non Playing Characters are NPCs not NPOs.   Any MMORPGer know’s that….
 
:-)
 
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Johne Cook
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 2:16 PM
To: DADL (off topic)
Subject: [DADL-OT] Penny Arcade ravished by the PC police
 
In October of 2010, Gabe and Tycho at Penny Arcade penned a comic poking fun at
a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG) game (possibly WoW, but they make
oblique comments about oblique games, and it may well be from something else).
They were  having some fun with the very specific missions ordained by the game
in which the player isn't actually interested in the welfare of the NPOs. NPOs
are non-playing characters, the computer-generated ciphers who populate the game
but otherwise exist only for actual human players to interact with as they
undertake missions of various kinds. One of the strips paints a bleak picture
for the NPOs and the cavalier attitude of the player as represented by his
avatar for the session, a talking humanoid wolf creature. Instead of showing
compassion for the NPO, the character's toon turned a blind eye and ignored what
would only be considered a horrific fate if the NPO had been an actual person.
But context is everything. NPOs aren't real, and the torture they supposedly
endure isn't depicted, merely mentioned in passing. The real joke is about
MMORPGs and the way players deeply understand the mechanics of the game and are
oblivious to the thin backstories of the NPOs in the game. Those backstories are
there to suggest richness and history but really add nothing to the
accomplishment of the specific mission.

This is the strip that started the firestorm:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/11/
 The Sixth Slave <http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/965474677_7etTF-L.jpg> 

So this mythical creature started as an drive-by reference, but boys being boys,
the gamers seized on this animal and wanted it to be commemorated on a t-shirt,
and lo it was so:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5013963906_13beb7dc5b.jpg

 photo <http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5013963906_13beb7dc5b_z.jpg> 

As you can see, the actual logo is inoffensive - it looks like a sports mascot,
which is sort of meta in itself.
It may not surprise you that this offended some people, so PA published a
follow-up strip to explain that they get that rape itself is bad in the real
world, and that gamers aren't immune that that horror. It also indicates that
they know that it is funny when people are take offense at things that weren't
intended to be offensive in a jolly 'above-the-fray' kind of way:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/13/
 Breaking It Down <http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/967761811_miT38-L.jpg> 

But this wasn't enough. If anything, the 'explanation' served only to fan the
flames of righteous indignation, and something kind of unprecedented happened...

Gabe pulled the shirt from the PA store.

It was probably the right thing to do. PA as a comic strip operates in a bit of
a vacuum, however, PA the strip creators also operate at two very heavily
trafficked conventions (which have come to rival the old E3 videogame shows in
size and scope) and they realized that a mass of gamers sporting the Dickwolves
t-shirts might not make for the most family-friendly environment, so they pulled
the shirts from the store and figured they'd done a good deed and were prepared
to call it a day.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/1/28/dickwolves/
It’s true that we have decided to remove the Dickwolves shirt from the store.
Some people are happy about this but a lot more of you are upset. You think
we’ve caved into to pressure from a vocal minority and you’re not entirely
wrong. let me at least break down why we did it though.
First of all I would never remove the strip or even apologize for the joke. It’s
funny and the fact that some people don’t get it, or are offended by it doesn’t
change that. People complained about the strip and that’s fine with me, my
response as always is “if you don’t like it don’t read it.” It is very easy not
to log on to Penny Arcade and read our bullshit. We’ve always made offensive
comics and that’s not going to change anytime soon. If jokes about
violence,rape,aids,pedophilia,bestiality,drugs,cancer,homosexuality, and
religion bother you then I recommend reading a different webcomic.
PAX is a different matter though. We want PAX to be a place were everyone feels
welcome and we’ve worked really hard to make that happen. From not allowing
booth babes to making sure we have panels that represent all our attendees. When
I heard from a few people that the shirt would make them uncomfortable at PAX,
that gave me pause. Now whether I think that’s a fair or warranted reaction
doesn’t really matter. These were not rants on blogs but personal mails to me
from people being very reasonable. It’s how they feel and according to them at
least, removing the shirt would make them feel better about attending the show.
For me that’s an easy fix to the problem. I really don’t want to have this fight
and if not having it is as simple as not selling a shirt then I’ll do it.
Contrary to what they might think I’m not a complete asshole.
Now for some people removing the shirt isn’t enough. They don’t want to come to
PAX or support PA because of the strip or because they think Tycho and I are
perpetuating some kind of rape culture and that’s a different matter. First off
it assumes a lot about us that simply isn’t true but more importantly it’s not
something I can fix. I’ve gotten a couple messages from people saying they are
“conflicted” about coming to PAX. My response to them is: don’t come. Just don’t
do it. In fact give me your name and I’ll refund your money if you already
bought a ticket. I’ll even put you on a list so that if, in a moment of weakness
you try to by a ticket we can cancel the order.
So there you go. It’s not a simple decision. No matter what we do we’ll have
people mad at us. If you want to talk more about it we can chat at PAX.
-Gabe out
And that's when the death threats started.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/2/2/okay-s-enough/
I think this has really gone too far. We have people on both sides of this
ridiculous argument making death threats and worse. Kara was certainly upset to
see someone mention on Twitter last night that it would be funny to come to my
house and murder my wife and children. I know there are people who see
themselves as being on our side that have made equally disgusting comments in
the other direction. I want to make it very clear that I do not approve of this
kind of bullshit.
I am certainly guilty of being snarky, sarcastic and rude. I apologize if that
gave anyone the impression that I would ever condone this sort of behavior. If
you are out there making these sorts of threats thinking that you are somehow
doing our good work, please stop. I never should have engaged them at all much
less the way I did. Obviously Courtney Stanton has been very vocal about her
dislike of us and our behavior. But she is not censoring us, she has not
stripped away our freedom of speech. She didn’t even have anything to do with
our decision to remove the shirt. I’m sure she is just as upset with the threats
being made by people who consider themselves her supporters. So I’m asking you
to please leave her alone.
Personally I’m done with this argument and I’m asking you all to be done with it
as well. Don’t go read the blogs, don’t respond to the Tweets, just let it go.
Thank You.
-Gabe out

Through all of this, Tycho, the verbose communicator, had been silent. When he
did weigh in, he was, as he usually is, thoughtful and pedantic. It is his way.
His very wordy way. One sympathizes. ; )

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/2/2/matter-dickwolves/
One of the most important essays I’ve ever read is by Philip K Dick, entitled
“How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later
<http://www.penny-arcade.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp:/deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm%E2%80%9D
> .” In it, he describes his idea that people can experience reality in such
different ways that they lack a common language and therefore can’t relate to
one another. He’s talking about schizophrenia, but he’s really talking (as is
his way) about all people, everywhere.
The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too differently,
there occurs a breakdown of communication... and there is the real illness.
If I haven’t been seen to discuss The Matter Of Dickwolves, this is the reason
why. I’m not entirely certain that a conversation is possible. This isn’t mere
cynicism - this is a fully rational assessment of the situation. The
perspectives in play, the lenses, are too different: one side believes that not
according the issue of rape the proper respect fuels a kind of perverse,
perpetual engine called rape culture. There is a vast, specific lexicon and
hundreds of tacit assumptions that gird it. The other side (that’s me, but not
just me) believes that when it comes to expression nothing is off the table. It
is the creator’s prerogative to create something - even something grotesque -
out of anything they can find.
The fact of the matter is that the strip
<http://www.penny-arcade.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp:/www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/11
/%E2%80%9D>  that started all this is about how empty, amoral, and borderline
vile electronic heroism actually is. When I look at it now, it’s hard to imagine
the chaos this comic stands at the center of. To the extent that it discusses
rape, it is in the context of men and an imaginary creature. It’s certainly not
the “joke.” The depicted scenario seemed so ridiculous to us, so unmoored from
reality, and its indictment of player “morality” so complete, we felt like it
was worth doing.
I have to tell you that we could never have conceived that people would construe
the comic as pro-rape; this unfortunate fact may help you to understand
everything that followed. I have a daughter who is not yet two years of age, and
I am flooded with hormones every time I look at her which say “this, this is why
you are here.” I don’t have any intention of going into specifics, but
speculating about my own sexual history or the sexual history of the people we
know is profoundly unwise. I will also tell you that people deal with horror of
this kind in different ways, and one of them is with humor. There’s no
monolithic “woman” just as there is no monolithic “feminist” just as there is no
“man,” no “true” way of dealing with tragedy. We think of the strip as one of
those glass tanks with the gloves that reach in, a safe place to experiment with
dangerous ideas, which we’ve more or less been doing continually for twelve
years.
We make disgusting, immoral comics on occasion to be sure; we’re used to
correspondence in that vein. But when mail started to come in to the effect that
we were perpetuating a fundamental social conspiracy to rape, we couldn’t
believe what we were reading. That is the entire point of the second strip
<http://www.penny-arcade.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp:/www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/13
/%E2%80%9D> , which some people took as a literal response or apology, neither
of which was its intended purpose. The only people who are pro-rape are rapists.
The idea that you would have to specifically enunciate an idea like that is
almost overwhelming. It’s self-evident. Hence, the comic.
I’ve received an incredible education during the ordeal, and been exposed to an
amazing range of thought, from so-called “radical feminism” to a wholly opposed,
Lewis Carroll, through-the-looking-glass mode of thinking called Men’s Rights
Activism. It’s my default position to figure out what is wrong with me so that I
can make peace, and the web has been very good to me in this regard. I have
learned many new words and been altered irrevocably by the months long process.
I’m not certain we’ll ever see eye to eye. But they’re not evil, or mendacious;
I understand their intent, why this happened. I’m not interested in a repeat
performance.
The other reason I didn’t speak about it is because I didn’t want to draw
unwanted attention to the sources of complaint. Apparently, there are people who
imagine they’re doing us some kind of a favor being jackasses and saying
terrible things to critics of the site. Well, I’m a big boy, and I can handle my
own shit. If you’re a reader, and not somebody just out for a scrap, if you love
me at all you’ll put an end to that kind of bullshit. When someone believes
something about you that isn’t true, the optimal strategy isn’t to prove to them
time and time again that they were actually right all along - that you may be
dismissed out of hand, that you have no merit. I assume that’s the opposite of
you want.
Can we all agree that threatening to kill someone’s wife and children, as
happened yesterday, has no place in any fucking society? This is why I had to
say something: because people who imagine themselves to be “agents” of each side
have now graduated to threats of actual, physical violence.
I don’t expect to mollify anyone with this - I think we’re long past that. When
I look at the state of play now, dialectically, I don’t even recognize it: in
the absence of my participation, in the abdication of my responsibility to
communicate, the entire dialogue is based on a sequence of assumptions about
each party so long that it’s impossible to untangle. It’s entirely possible that
we will have lost readership, or worse, we’ll acquire a unique new demographic
hungry for rape material that will be profoundly disappointed by jokes about
tabletop wargames or treatises on forks. As I said, so much of this happened
because I assumed that a genuine dialogue was impossible. Maybe I was wrong.
It’s certainly happened before.
But I am who I am, in the end; the comics I make are the result of my damage. I
can’t put it any more succinctly than that.
Perhaps they are now understanding that using ironic humor to address
incandescent indignation isn't a high percentage play. In a sense, this strikes
me as the situation unfolding in Egypt; the adherents of one philosophy has
taken it upon themselves to torment the adherents of the other philosophy on
behalf of the moment's founders, even though the now-violent mob does not, in
fact, represent the wishes of their leader. In short, the mob gets out of hand
and instead of improving the reputation of their candidate, they destroy it.

In a way, this discussion seems very similar to the aforementioned 'triggering'
discussion from yesterday. I'm not sure how things got out of hand, but I do
know that we all have choices, and it is very easy to go along with the crowd as
they descend from well-intentioned resistance into full-out anarchy and mayhem.
At some point, you would think that some would stand up and buck the crowd and
try to represent some clarity in an increasingly unsettled situation. 

Which leads me to the picture Lance posted:
http://yfrog.com/h02gvclj

This is a picture of Christians joining hands to protect Muslims at prayer in
the midst of the demonstrations and counter-attacks.
 2gvcl.jpg
<http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg612/scaled.php?tn=0&server=612&filename=2gvcl.jpg&
xsize=640&ysize=640> 

It is gratifying to me that some are able to do just that, be the heroes in the
midst of unrest, and act in a mature and selfless fashion while everyone else is
giving in their baser impulses. 

Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |

“I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have inside
your head.”
Attributed to Teresa Nielsen Hayden

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