There was some Discourse about them, so I did my yearly routine of randomly going through their comics to try to find a funny one. Not a single one in like half an hour. At best they felt like jokes I would politely smile at if someone told them in a conversation. Are Gamers just so lonely that they think that is worth reading the comic for? I genuinely do not get it.
Also, I challenge you to find a funny comic from them.
They’re big because of the conventions rather than the comic. It likely would have died off a while ago if they hadn’t branched out into PAX, child’s play charity, D&D, video series, etc.
Also you’ve made me think critically about why I read the comic; and I don’t seem to have a great answer other than “I have a weird parasocial relationship built up over a few decades.” Like, I probably am lonely like you said, I don’t really read the comic for jokes. I’m also about the same age as the creators so maybe I just find things more relatable?
One of them unironically said we should eat the rich, so that’s kinda cool.
I mean, it isn't like reading a comic strip every couple of days is a huge time comittment either. I stopped reading it about a decade ago when I purged all the webcomics I followed other than order of the stick.