Now, I’m coming to this late. Somehow I completely missed this, though I have to admit to not being a close follower of PA. Their fault for not having an RSS feed the last time I checked their site (though I see it’s been added since). Anyway I’m rambling.
Firstly let’s have a bundle of links and then I’ll waffle a bit before wandering off to do something productive.
http://fucknopennyarcade.tumblr.com/
http://webcomicoverlook.com/2010/08/17/penny-arcade-and-jokes-about-rape/
http://debacle.tumblr.com/post/3041940865/the-pratfall-of-penny-arcade-a-timeline
http://jimhines.livejournal.com/556143.html
In short what we have is a comic regarding the way MMO quests work, and the mismatch between how quests work and how the real world works. Very simply we “go do $something for X number of $mob having $problem”, at the point we reach “x” we no longer care about the souls being killed / mugged / locked up for experimentation etc etc and wander back to collect our gold.
PA dealt with this using rape as a vehicle (dickwolves), probably because they think it makes them “edgy” etc etc, which to my mind is a cop-out for “Let’s see what happens here”. Dark Legacy dealt with the same issue (DLC 275), but without the need for the rape reference.
To be frank I think the DLC one is funnier, the PA comic lands squarely in the “oh yes, being edgy, that’s so impressive, now can we have a decent comic please”. There were complaints, and PA apologised, well assuming you can agree that this is an apology. Personally I count it as an apology in the same way politicians make them “I am sorry for any offence this might have caused”, which is really weaselling and not an apology. It’s really a way of saying “yes you didn’t like this but I’m not really sorry I said/did it”.
From there we escalate, the PA guys have dug themselves into a hole where they have to defend being offensive and just keep digging determined to prove how they’re not being censored and their rights are being held to and so on.
Then we get the fanbois who see this and push the limits even further.
The underlying problem with this is within the gamer community, where there is a feeling that calling something ‘rape’ isn’t that bad, it’s not really a problem. “We raped the horde”, “We got raped by that boss”, “Let’s go rape… ” and so on. It seriously is a problem and it’s one the community has to deal with, by slapping down the morons and by those who are seen as leading the gamer culture (sorry guys, you’re no longer a sub-culture, it’s mainstream these days) such as PA giving a lead and an example rather than being, not to put too fine a point on it, brainless morons.
In summary, a comic which was at best “Meh”, followed up by a stupid passive-aggressive apology and then not realising just what they were starting.
My message, grow up and admit that your handling of the whole situation would shame a telephone salesman and move on.