I’m back from vacation and while I was away it looks like the internet focused and combined its rage onto a single entity that, in all honesty, appeared to deserve it for once.
The events I’m speaking of involved a maltreated customer, a horrible PR rep, and Penny Arcarde. Now, I tend to keep my mouth shut when it comes to Penny Arcade. While they have become a major influence on the video game landscape, I always felt they were primarily a part of the webcomic movement more than anything else. I say that because both videogames and webcomics are tied together on a level that I’m not sure I could properly decipher, and Penny Arcade far more so than others. As a site, they have carved out both a large home and community on the internet, and if I ever get the chance I’ll ask them if they ever could have conceived of the results.
It is for these reasons that Penny Arcade is not only a polarizing entity, but one capable of tearing apart another’s existence if they so choose. Mike Krahulik, the artist behind the comic and part owner of Penny Arcade, is usually the vanguard in these sorts of situations and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love to watch him work.
Brief recap so we are all on the same page:
A man named Paul Christoforo was hired as an independent PR representative for N-Control’s Avenger Controller – a specialized controller for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 pictured above. (Please note that Mr. Christoforo was not an employee, but rather a contracted PR rep running his own one-man PR company. It’s worth mentioning, however, that he did know the Avenger’s maker personally.)
Dave, a customer whose Avenger Controller order had missed it’s delivery date, contacted Mr. Christoforo to ask if his order would arrive in time for Christmas. Mr. Christoforo provided little information over a series of emails and eventually began to personally and repeatedly attack and belittle Dave for pointing out how poor Christoforo’s service had been. Dave threatened to send the rude emails to popular gaming websites such as Penny Arcade, Kotaku, IGN, and others. Christoforo then proceeded to name drop connections with those websites, told Dave he was a nobody, and then repeatedly claimed that no one at any big site would ever listen to him.
Unfortunately for Christoforo, Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade took notice and decided to intercede on Dave’s behalf by sending Christoforo an email. Christoforo, unaware of Penny Arcade’s size or influence, made several disparaging remarks about Penny Arcade and the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), all the while making largely false claims of connections to powerful people (such as the mayor of Boston). Mike responded by publicizing the whole ordeal on Penny Arcade. In less than 24 hours, the people of the internet, seeing just how much of a jackass Paul Christoforo had been, have basically made his life hell ever since. At the time of this writing N-Control has fired Christoforo, his company is out of business, and he has insinuated that his identity has been stolen.
Now that we are all communally up to speed, you can read the emails on Penny Arcade as well as Mike’s updates, if you’d like to get some back story. Here are some links to the numerous articles and reactions that have followed what is likely the most phenomenal professional collapse I have ever witnessed.
After reading both Paul Christoforo’s emails as well as his responses to much of the controversy, it is really hard to identify with him on any sort of level. Since Mike posted the emails on Penny Arcade, Christoforo has been nothing but dismissive of his own actions and has done all he can to shift the blame to both Mike Krahulik and Dave, the customer he treated so terribly.
The plain and simple truth is that Paul Christoforo is just a bully, but like all bullies, eventually you run into someone a bit bigger than you. It was like watching Casey Hines pile drive Richard Gale in slow motion, and I applauded all the same.
During much of my scholastic career, save college, I was bullied. If I learned anything from those experiences it is that bullies don’t fade from existence, but rather they adopt a less overt means of persecution. Paul Christoforo is one of those bullies. He found an outlet to lash out at people, and has done it time and time again.
How Christoforo SHOULD have responded, being PR and all and image being his job.
I have no sympathy for Christoforo. He’s had multiple opportunities to apologize for his behavior, but it seems that he would rather sling arrows at Mike Krahulik rather than man up. He essentially stated in an interview with Kyle Orland that had he known that it was 1/2 of the Penny Arcade duo on the other end of that email chain, he would have rethought his actions. That’s not being sorry, that’s being sorry you got exposed.
My main concern in all this is the collateral damage. The Avenger was developed by David Kotkin, the design of which came about as a way to help one of his students who suffered from Epidermolysis Bullosa, a condition that makes the skin on his hands extremely fragile, better able to play games. It is unfortunate that Christoforo’s arrogance may make it so that someone who may really need this product may not get it.
If I’ve learned anything about Penny Arcade in the eleven or so years I’ve been following the site, it is that the community surrounding it is one of the most supportive organisms in existence. It is capable of great good, but few are prepared for the ire and vitriol that it can conjure and concentrate in their direction. Unfortunately, even controlled floods can destroy. The reviews on Amazon for the Avenger have plummeted, and it is difficult to contain the beast once loosed. If this product could have made a difference in even one disabled person’s ability to enjoy games, and it doesn’t reach them because of this debacle, then this will have truly become a tragedy. That will be our failure as a community. Paul Christoforo deserves everything he is getting, but the Avenger does not.
Finally, I would like to say that I am from Boston. I grew up here. Once a year I get to watch 60 thousand people with my same videogame likes, interests, and all too similar experiences, converge on my home with the intent of sharing what they love.
Paul Christoforo is also from Boston. He mentioned that he’d like to attend PAX East this year. I have a three day pass and he’s welcome to it if only to try and sift his way through a community comprised of many who spent their adolescent lives being bullied by people like him.
Related posts:
Can we now do the same to support a product that clearly deserves it. It this device fails because of one bully, that bully has still won. Surely Penny Arcade could use it’s substantial clout to make sure the device gets the recognition it deserves.
Awesome article, it’s nice to see everyone coming together and making a difference as a community against a guy that clearly deserved it.