Really, Escapist? You guys are seriouly asking for donations? Just to send Yahtzee to PAX!?!?!?

[Blunderboy]

I'm not interested in donating simply to get Yahtzee to a gaming convention, either, so I simply won't. No need to make such a fuss.

Once again, I check a thread to see that someone has already posted my opinions succulency. If you don't want to donate, don't. No one is forcing you.

 

[vrbtny]

And the guy in that video is a kind of a dick.

Yeah, he wasn't funny, informative, smart, smart comedic or comically informative. Just a dick. Yahtzee was at least funny often. Just go watch his review of Just Cause 2, Any Star wars game, Halo 3, Halo Wars, Halo Reach, Wolfenstein, Spiderman, Painkiller, etc.

 

[Macrobstar]

I am kinda tempted to donate $15,000 just to see guy in that video throw a shit fit.

Oh, did I mention I'm made of money?

Do it man, would love to see that **** get himself worked up again

 

[Macrobstar]

That guy in your linked video is a massive arsehole, you're asking to get hit with the banhammer linking to something so blantly attacking the escapist. Last time I checked the rules say you need to back up anything you say against them, he doesn't really do that given he's pretty much calling them scam artists.

But it shouldn't be an issue at all, because if you don't consider it worth your money, keep your money.

What do you mean? He said it doesn't cost 20k to fly to where they wanted to go from Australia. Then he proved it with a simple search. Even if he was 100% wrong about everything else, he's right about this and it should give you pause. Even for 3-4 people, even last-minute, it DOES NOT cost this much to fly round trip. The problem is the escapist wants to fly him in business class, probably stay at a nice hotel (not to mention the other, unnamed employees who will also go). On your dime.

And you know what? Why should his fans pay his business expenses? That's the job of his employers. If they can't afford to send him somewhere, they shouldn't. Last I checked, Bill Gates wasn't asking people who buy PCs to finance his trip to the tropics or some trade show. Professionals either pay their own way or operate at their means. For a website that claims professionalism like it's a mantra, this is not a professional way to conduct business.

As for claims of scamming, when you offer "products" where many of them are a) not tangible b) contingent on spending money for entrance to an event nobody can get tickets for and c) overpriced as all get out, some will inevitably suggest that a desire for money has overwhelmed the basic concept of giving value for cash.

But hey, whatever. It's your money, guys. Probably a lot of local charities that could use that money instead, but whatever.

This.

I'm struggling to understand why a business that throws ads at us every five seconds needs us to help them pay their expenses. And $20000 for flights is stupid. Save everyone some money and stick his ass in coach like the rest of the world.

I just can't get my head round them needing $20,000 for this.

I'm planning a Holiday in America in a few years for a month, and all I'm going to be paying is around £5000 for travel and a hotel, and far far less for food. And that's for a month, not for like 3 or 4 days or whatever.

Can't help but think that you're getting ripped off if you donate, because unless their putting him up in in a luxery room a $5000 dollar a night hotel, something fishy is going on.

Someone said that they're using the extra money to pay for extra stuff at PAX. Well, simple answer - Can't afford to put on a show? Then don't do it. Give us a month of add-free time with the money you save, we'll all love you for that.

I love the Escapist, I really do. But this is just low. I also like Twilight Sparkle, but if she skinned Spike and sold his hide for costume props, I'd be pissed.

He needs that much because he's gpt a business to look after in melbourne

 

[Jyggalag]

Who would pay $5,000 to have their indie game reviewed by a critic that is renowned for his negative reviews?

 

[mjc0961]

I'm frankly a bit annoyed by all this "If you don't like it, don't donate!" pablum. That kind of "just ignore it and it'll go away" mentality puzzles me. The inescapable truth is that people send messages through their actions. Crazy, right? These messages are often up for interpretation - cf. racism in Resident Evil 5, homoeroticism in 300, so on. Things have subtexts and connotations - that's your lesson in common sense for today.

And here's yours: If people don't like it, and don't donate to it, and it fails miserably because people don't like it and don't donate, they aren't going to bother doing it again. And it failing miserably would be a far more powerful message than some people ranting on a forum could ever deliver. Ever hear the phrase "vocal minority"? If they raise all of the money that they want to raise, then it will mean that enough people didn't have a problem with this fundraiser to make it a success and it sends the message that it's worth doing again in the future despite a handful of people ranting about the fundraiser like it was the most evil thing anyone could possibly do. And if it fails, they won't do it again because it failed, and all this ranting won't really mean much.

So common sense tells me that there's no good reason to get this worked up over a fundraiser. Simply don't contribute if you don't think it's a good cause. If there are enough people who think like you, it will fail. And if enough people do think it's a worthy cause, nobody is going to care about how mad this fundraiser made you.

All you're really doing is drawing more attention to the fundraiser and possibly bringing in more money. Hell, I hadn't heard of it until I found this thread and learned about it. And I'm not going to PAX so I have no reason to care who isn't or isn't there, so I'm not putting anything in. But maybe the next guy who finds this thread and hears about the fundraiser for the first time from this thread is going to PAX and would love to see Yahtzee there, so he puts in $100 after learning about the fundraiser from angry people like you. Good job, the fundraiser was now slightly more successful due to you and others like you talking about how shit you think it is.

 

[my_ledge_ends]

Maybe someone has already stated this, but just in case someone hasn't, the money that the Escapist is raising isn't just to get Yahtzee to PAX. It's to make whatever they're going to do at PAX better. I'm not going, I'm not going to go see Yahtzee, and I'm not going to be able to enjoy whatever it is that the Escapist wants to do, but if I was going I wouldn't mind sparing a few extra dollars to make my visit to PAX all the more enjoyable.

Could the have better prizes? Yeah, probably if it takes 100 dollars to get anything more than a poster, but that doesn't mean they trying to scam you. They're asking for financial help to show their fans a good time. If you're not going, then there's no point in donating, unless you just want to be that nice, but otherwise, stop complaining. They asked for money and either you are or aren't going to donate. Simple as that.

If webcomic artists can ask for money to make their convention rounds easier and more fun, why can't the escapist?

Equating webcomic artists - the vast majority of whom struggle to scrape by - with a million-dollar-plus news institution like The Escapist (an institution that could easily foot a 20k bill) is hilarious.

Also hilarious: the mentality that, when confronted with things you don't like, you should just ostrich it up and stick your head in the sand.

 

[Macrobstar]

One the comments on the article about this someone pointed out that RocketHub is not a charity page, it strictly forbids charity, the idea is that you sell products or services for "Rocket fuel" that helps your projecct get kickstarted. The money is not just going towards yahtzees flight, its so the escapist can organize a big meet up for all the escapists who show up, which if they open the bar can be $50 a head, plus yahtzee has a business that needs to be looked after while hes away

Spoiler

Archon:

If users were willing to contribute enough for us to publish The Escapist without ads, I can assure you we would be willing to run the site without ads. Perhaps we could do a $250,000 Rockethub project - if we hit the target we'll turn off ads for a month?

Anyway, regarding other concerns here:
1) I was the one who recommended that Extra Credits use RocketHub. RocketHub's attorney is a close personal friend of mine. We have been monitoring crowdsourcing as an opportunity for a long time.

2) Suggesting that this idea is somehow "wrong" because its not for charity tells me you have no idea what RocketHub is actually for. RocketHub is not meant to be primarily for charitable causes. In fact RocketHub specifically rules out using RocketHub for charity.

If you don't believe me, read RocketHub's official FAQ:
http://rockethub.org/profiles/blogs/your-project-description
"#5 - Disclaimers: It's important to explain that RocketHub is neither an investment nor a charity. It is an exchange - Rewards for RocketFuel. Trade, not aid."

REPEAT: RocketHub is not a charity. Traid, not aid. We're not asking you for your charity for Yahtzee. We came up with some things we thought you might like, such as an exclusive poster. We're offering those things for sale. If enough of you take those offers, then we're promisng to use the funds to send Yahtzee to PAX and do a big meet-up with his fans. if not, then... we won't do that.

Put another way: The Escapist might have just offered signed exclusive ZP posters for sale, like we normally sell our merchandise. Rather than offer to use the money to send him to PAX, we might have used the money to just throw ourselves an office party with bacardi and strippers.

Are you seriously going to argue that (a) selling posters while promising to use money to send Yahtzee to PAX is NOT acceptable, but (b) selling posters while making no promises is acceptable?

 

[my_ledge_ends]

I'm frankly a bit annoyed by all this "If you don't like it, don't donate!" pablum. That kind of "just ignore it and it'll go away" mentality puzzles me. The inescapable truth is that people send messages through their actions. Crazy, right? These messages are often up for interpretation - cf. racism in Resident Evil 5, homoeroticism in 300, so on. Things have subtexts and connotations - that's your lesson in common sense for today.

And here's yours: If people don't like it, and don't donate to it, and it fails miserably because people don't like it and don't donate, they aren't going to bother doing it again. And it failing miserably would be a far more powerful message than some people ranting on a forum could ever deliver. Ever hear the phrase "vocal minority"? If they raise all of the money that they want to raise, then it will mean that enough people didn't have a problem with this fundraiser to make it a success and it sends the message that it's worth doing again in the future despite a handful of people ranting about the fundraiser like it was the most evil thing anyone could possibly do. And if it fails, they won't do it again because it failed, and all this ranting won't really mean much.

So common sense tells me that there's no good reason to get this worked up over a fundraiser. Simply don't contribute if you don't think it's a good cause. If there are enough people who think like you, it will fail. And if enough people do think it's a worthy cause, nobody is going to care about how mad this fundraiser made you.

All you're really doing is drawing more attention to the fundraiser and possibly bringing in more money. Hell, I hadn't heard of it until I found this thread and learned about it. And I'm not going to PAX so I have no reason to care who isn't or isn't there, so I'm not putting anything in. But maybe the next guy who finds this thread and hears about the fundraiser for the first time from this thread is going to PAX and would love to see Yahtzee there, so he puts in $100 after learning about the fundraiser from angry people like you. Good job, the fundraiser was now slightly more successful due to you and others like you talking about how shit you think it is.

I like how you only quote part of my post, then come at me with several variations on an ad populum argument. The sophists are cheering for you, but Spock is not impressed [http://spockisnotimpressed.tumblr.com/post/8288251877].

If you had bothered reading the rest before firing off this little response of yours, you would have seen that the rationale for discussing (and deriding) this little stunt of The Escapist's is not only is it insulting their readership, but that ignoring it will not make that insult go away, and discussing it reveals its status as an insult (hence the line about "subtext and connotations").

What I didn't explicitly go into in my post was that this stunt also speaks to the larger, equally-dismissive tendencies of The Escapist towards its audience, expressed primarily in the growing ubiquity and obtuseness of its ads but very noticeably right here. Believe you me, there will be other stunts, even if this one fails.

And really man, I'm not angry. That's a straw-man argument, and not even a particularly good one. What, being mad somehow invalidates the argument? Geez, I feel sorry for all those passionate people getting worked up about, like, actually serious things - and I happen to agree with you this isn't all that serious, and isn't worth getting worked up about. It warrants a dismissive and condescending sneer, not a fuming roar, and I didn't even work my way up to dismissive.

Also, if someone's on The Escapist he wouldn't have heard about the fundraiser through my (really not angry) little post. Hell, if it was fairly recently he would seen the gaudy yellow background ad that filled up the site's sidewalls.

 

[Fugitive Panda]

This is getting really old and really stupid.

Of course they can afford to get Yahtzee to PAX. Hell, Yahtzee could probably get there with the spare change he keeps in his hat. What the money is going to be used for is to increase the Escapist's presence there, and organize more events for the fans. Dragging Yahtzee out is just to get your attention, although it apparently backfired because all of the Escapists fans are too short-sighted and suspicious to look deeper than "Hey, I already gave money to someone last week! This is a scam!"

 

[V8 Ninja]

I think the problem is that you're focusing too much on the "This is for Yahtzee only!" factor that The Escapist seems to be boosting, when really the donation money is going to bigger things, such as getting a venue at PAX, paying the lodging and trip expenses for every official, well-known Escapist writer/reviewer/video-making contributor, and making merchandise for not just Zero Punctuation. However, I still see this as a stupid move since it's a "Pay for us to have fun while you stay home!" statement, but if The Escapist can use Yahtzee's fanbase in such a way, then so be it. I'm not responsible for everyone's stupidity.

 

[JohnTomorrow]

Yahtzee, like it or leave it, brought the majority of people to the Escapist. Over the years, its flourished under its own steam, but as it is, he is one of the forerunners.

If people want to give the Escapist their money, who are you to question why? The Escapist never told anybody to do it, they are appealing to their generosity, something which is very lax in this day and age. Personally, I won't give them any money, simply because I dont have any to spare. But if i did, I think slinging ten bucks Yahtzee's way so he can fly the flag isn't a bad thing. Its certainly not going to make the newspapers, but i dont see why not.

Allison was nothing like this. We all made an investment in her. We enjoyed her product, and when she was made unable to provide that product, we put in some money to get that product back, in the interest of our own selfish want. Nobody (besides us and probably Allison) is going to lose sleep over it, because they never knew about it. How many other artists have had to give up their passion for something like RTS or somesuch? We'll never hear about them, but in this instance, we made a difference.

 

[LuckyClover95]

Well, Yahtzee did put the escapist on the map; so why not?

Because there are people starving all over the world, millions of fatal diseases, natural disasters and environmental problems. If people have money to spare to charity, it should go to them, not getting Yahtzee to freaking PAX. Who care's if Escapist is on the map or not, compared to the worlds problems? And even so, why should we repay him with donations when he already gets paid for what he does?

 

[Sparrow]

On one hand, I really don't care about Yahtzee of PAX so I'll keep what little money I have in my pocket. On the other hand, there are folks who have money to spare and an undying urge to see Yahtzee so I can totally see why folks would want to dish out the money.

Kind of agree with the charity side of it though - I know the 'Pist doesn't have to support charities, but it'd be nice to have more money going to a charity than the Escapist.

What the money is going to be used for is to increase the Escapist's presence there, and organize more events for the fans.

I hope you don't feel I'm singling you out here, but at no point did the 'Pist say they were ever going to do that. You can't just blow up at people over an assumption.

[sup]Actually, they kind of said it. It was never as clear cut as "More money equals more stuff at PAX!" though.[/sup]

 

[James Crook]

Well, Yahtzee did put the escapist on the map; so why not?

Oh, you frickin' ninja. I have to give credit to you for being the first one to post a relevant point, that is:
Yahtzee is probably the guy who brought to most people to The Escapist, and also to sign up for an account and overall increase the traffic on the site, thus generating a lot of money.
However, the magazine has servers to run and pay for, the staff's salaries to pay, paperwork to organize, the content creators (i.e. Yahtzee) to remunerate for their efforts... and keep in mind that a 20-hour flight from Australia to Seattle must be really expensive, and that The Escapist might be on a tight budget, unlike other big gaming-related websites such as Kotaku or PC Gamer.

 

[Kalith]

Coming from Australia that paid 2.3 million to have Oprah Winfrey and her rabid audience fly and stay here.. I'd much rather spend $5k and see Yahtzee.