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 just got in on the ground floor. It was I think, mostly the penny arcade forums that provided a backbone for community organization. They were there before myspace really. it was a large generally well moderated community and that was rare at the time. So if you didn't have an SA account, and you weren't a full chud or a full weeb it was one of the few good places on the internet at the time.
Gamefaqs also existed. It was kinda ok.
oh fuck, I tried to block that most of the way out. Yeah, people making old obscure games into weird little general interest or pirvate boards. Fucking, LUE man. That was web 1.0 4chan for sure.