Now maybe it’s because I live in Seattlethat I know the power of Penny Arcade. Maybe it’s that I’m a gamer, married to a gamer, so I know the cliquishness of the gaming community when it comes to standing up for one another in the face of bad games, bad service, bad end user agreements, etc.

But really, if you’re going to make a product for the gamer community, these are things you should understand. Bad press on Penny Arcade can, in fact, kill your product. And threatening a smear campaign against Penny Arcade? That’s just stupid, and unrealistic.