Is Erfworld funny?

[agentx42]

Ehhh, I've chuckled at a few things but overall, no, not really funny.

[Chunklets]

I confess to having been somewhat puzzled after the first couple of pages, but as the story's gotten going I've found it funnier and funnier. And the orlies were hilarious!

[Tussy the Druid]

Well, for me, it's just too random. At this point, i'm not going to judge it, but there's not enough humor for me. If it updated every day, it would be better, because sometimes it takes a week to get a good joke (imo)

[Begle1]

First of all, Erfworld is unique. Very, very unique. It gets credit for that alone.

Now, I wouldn't call it funny. It hasn't made me laugh once. But, it is highly amusing. It's fun to read, and it has lots of fun stuff in it, but it doesn't really have the comedic structure to set up gags and punchlines. And I'm pretty sure that's highly intentional.

It is humorous and fun, but in a "The Graduate meets Dennis Miller" kind of way, not a "Spaceballs meets Robot Chicken" kind of way.

And the humor is infectious.

[F.H. Zebedee]

It's brilliant. I actually enjoy it more than Order of the Stick, I'm ashamed to admit. It's a lighthearted romp that is just plain fun. ORLYs and the Arkenhammer are my personal favorites so far. (I need a T-shirt with that ORLY? panel) It's not D&D, but not everything in life is D&D. As an avid player of FF:Tactics, Fire Emblem, etc, I'm thoroughly enjoying this outing.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I... really don't know.

It kinda reminds me of I Love Lucy. I hate the show, but when those in my family who love it are watching the marathons I can't help but find myself guffawing from time to time as I'm passing by.

Same with Erfworld. Some of it cracks me up, but at least as much makes me want to grit my teeth.

[D'Artagnan]

I've seen much worse, but it's definitely nowhere near OotS.

[Deepblue706]

"Crude, immoral,vulgar, and senseless"
-Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) on Shakespeare Erfworld

[Bluesilver]

Hm. It doesn't "click" for me. Who knows if later on it will, but so far, it hasn't. Sorry!

Yeah, me neither. I don't find it funny and I don't get it.

[Retales]

I'm propably not getting like 90% of the jokes, but the Crap Golem joke was awesome :D . I'll propably start using it as a phrase :P

[Allandaros]

"Crude, immoral,vulgar, and senseless"
-Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) on Shakespeare Erfworld

Whose side are you coming down on - Shakespeare, or Tolstoy?

(I'm liking the Shakespeare perspective. :) )

[Baltek Grimm]

I think Erfold is funny... but i think, that you have to wait until a few pages are ready. The reason for that is, that the jokes will build up over a few pages of the comic and the story will be revealed very slow (until now). But we will see what the next pages are going to give us...

[Legendary]

I think it's good. Not great, but not exactly average either. It hasn't made me laugh out loud much, (twice, maybe) but I enjoy it. And I'm gonna keep reading.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Unlike some people here, I like how the humor is drawn from so many sources. It's like there's something meant for everyone. Don't know what flaking is? Perhaps the O RLYs will amuse you. Or maybe you've heard about Hoffa.

And I for one enjoy looking up what people are talking about, and THEN letting the joke hit me.

[Penguinizer]

In my opinion its good (silent laugh funny) but not laugh out loud hilarious.

[Vorkuta]

OK, I've read every strip thusfar in an effort to make sure my opinion was as broadly based as possible, but aside from a few minor chuckles (I can't really remember about what, sorry!) I have to say I'm not a huge fan. I might still read it though, in efforts to understand it a bit better, and there are some things I like about it (and who doesn't need another webcomic?)

The pros:
- The world is unique. It's definitely different and fresh.
- The artwork is some of the best I've seen. Action packed, cute, clear, unique, love it.

The cons:
- I only understand some of the colloquialisms (sp?). This isn't necessarily a criticism, as me not understanding something doesn't make it bad, just me stupid, maybe. :)
- I think the "world" draws from a few too many only-slightly-related themes. This makes it seem a bit disjointed, and even with the jokes I DO get, I have trouble jumping from one to another. Looking at the "gwiffons" now, after reading forum material, I do understand that they are marshmallow peeps. I didn't get that the first 10 times I saw them, I regret to say. Why? I think it's because I couldn't fathom why a peep would be in a RPG comic. The "orly" thing completely escaped me until I read about it here, and again, I don't know how this contributes to the "funnyness" of the comic, but again, this is probably just a personal preference thing.

Making a webcomic successful is a difficult thing, made more difficult by basing it on a narrow fan-base. This isn't a bad thing, but if you'll indulge me for a moment, let's take:

1) PVPonline: Theme is gaming culture, especially as regards to publication. This is a topic just about every geek knows about, so the fan-base is huge. There aren't a lot of "WTF?" moments.

2) OotS: Theme is D&D parody. This makes it a narrower niche than PVPonline, but wide enough to still have a fairly large fan-base. A few WTF moments, but all are quite easily explained.

3) Erfworld: Theme is... satire of... assorted relatively obscure gaming/pop-culture... "stuff"? This makes it the smallest niche of these 3 examples, and therefore there's a relatively generous amount of people who "don't get it."

Now, none of that means that Erfworld is "wrong" or "bad". For all I know, the author may not care whether his/her comic has mass appeal or not, I run an on-line "game" that appeals to a certain subset, and I understand it's not for everybody. No harm, no foul.

On a somewhat related note, I also must comment on a certain sensitivity to criticism I'm noting in some of the posts below... maybe some of the criticism was a bit blunt, but I know that personally, as a developer, feedback, good or bad, is welcome, as long as it contains useful information and isn't needlessly inflamatory.

I think the author would find this especially useful this early in Erfworld's "game", when he/she actually has some wiggle-room to use it, if he/she chooses to. None of that sensitivity was on the part of the author, that I could tell, I must say, but in people who thought Erfworld was being "attacked" in some way. I think opinions, good, bad or ugly, at this point should be welcome, but of course, that is also just an opinion.

[Ulicus]

At first, I thought it was absolutely dire yet, when I came back to it a week later and read through it, everything just... clicked somehow.

I think it's pretty darn hilarious now.

[The_Old_Fox]

it is funny, not in the beat you over the head with a punchline funny, kind but the kinda of funny that comes from the situation and all the little things.

[Medieve]

I definitely enjoy it for the little things. The few jokes I miss don't phase me at all and I think the unique world that erfwood comes in is just awe-inspiring. The moment I realized that all of the spell casters were called -mancers I was just laughing my head off.

[r23r5]

i dont like it as much now than befor,

[Taffer]

The problem for me is that jokes like the orlies seem somewhat lazy. Woohoo, you managed to bring an (somewhat) annoying internet meme to a webcomic. Truly, the pinnacle of humor. I do like the art of Erfworld itself, and some of the small touches are interesting, but it just feels like it is trying to hard for my tastes.

[Xerillum]

meh. that's all I have to say.

[KithKunabi]

Erfwolrd isn't as funny as OoTS, but then again, OoTS is supposed to be funny, it's mostly the main point.

Efworld is something more serious... a point which is often lost amid swarms of Teddy-golems and baby toys. It's funny... but the funniness is often in the background, or small lines of dialogue, because it humor is not what the creators focus on producing. It's a bit like the real world.... not always a barell of laughs, but there's often an occasion for amuesment.

While it's not as funny, I'd say Erfowrld is just as enjoyable.

[onasuma]

I quite like it but so far it hasn't clicked for me, hopefully now that we're into the, Drum role please, plot, (thats funny cause its in the latest strip), i will start to pick up

[Jorkens]

The problem for me is that jokes like the orlies seem somewhat lazy. Woohoo, you managed to bring an (somewhat) annoying internet meme to a webcomic. Truly, the pinnacle of humor.

I've had varied feeling about the Orlies. Initially it seemed like another quite good silly throwaway reference - like the minty mountains, Prince Ansom, Wanda Firebaugh and so on. The actual "O RLY?" panel seemed a bit unneccessary - I don't know how many people hadn't got the joke until that panel and then suddenly slapped their thighs and went "Aaaaaaah I see - it's the O RLY owl! Ha ha!" But then the death scene "OMGWTFBBQ / PWNED" was a nice touch.

I guess that I thought Orlies were - like a number of the jokes in Erfworld - a funny idea but not in a 'badum - tss' sort of way, and the "O RLY" panel was trying to find rimshot moment that wasn't there...

[Erk]

I think the O RLY panel was amusing just because it fit the comic: it did not feel tacked on... she called her orlies to take off, they looked up and called their catchphrase, and up they went. We all knew it was coming panels in advance, and the buildup made it amusing when it hit. Maybe not LOL funny, but amusing.

I love Erfworld immensely. I found myself getting into it from the first comics posted. However, I would not say it is "funny", not in the sense that OOTS or Penny Arcade are funny. What I find interesting is that the reactions we are getting to it are almost the same as the reactions to a major comic with cerberus syndrome. In a way it is like a cerberus syndrome for OOTS, I think, because OOTS fans are assuming Erfworld is going to be the same style of comic, and the silly turn-based strategy world reinforces that... but it is not the same kind of world. It is serious people carrying out a serious mission in a very silly place; pretty much the opposite of, say, OOTS. The place is silly and lightens the story (good thing. There are too many "ooh dark forboding" stories in this vein, and that is tedious), and holy crap is it ever original. I don't think in the long run it will harm Erfworld to be hosted on GITP, but in the shortrun I think that is why it is getting such flak. It is a very different story, and diehard fans of OOTS will not necessarily like it. I can't think of any webcomics with a similar style... the closest I can come to is platinum grit, and that is still very different.

I am digressing. Doh, sorry, I have a flu and I am a bit scatterbrained.

Erfworld is not funny. It makes me laugh sometimes and smile most of the time, and it is definitely humourous, but on the whole it is not funny, nor intended to be that way. I'm not sure the best term for the humour. "Cerebral" sounds pretentious (and crap golems are not cerebral), and "subtle" is not strictly accurate (O RLY was not particularly subtle). It is multifaceted, I suppose, but the majority of it is not a particularly in-your-face humour. I guess the best word for it is "dry". It is incredibly dry, and I find it incredibly witty.

Kudos to the creators. To the detractors, my advice: don't read it for a few weeks. Let it hit strip 30 or so and come back to it, and then say what you think. Erfworld is clearly still revealing itself... the last 3 comics have diverged hugely from the first 13.

[Taffer]

I'm not so sure I would refer to it as "dry" as much as I would say "lost". Not that the humor isn't there but that the comic hasn't seemed to settle on what the humor should be. Should it be neat, subtle humor like the Hoffa/Livingston magic words? Or should it be pop culture absurdity ala the Elvis Titans or the O RLY owls, perhaps target the Adult Swim audience? I have no doubt that once the comic finds its voice I will enjoy it. But until then, I'll just follow for the plot and see how it goes.

[Erk]

I don't find it lost; to me, anyway, the different types of humour make it multilevelled. Some days a poop joke or a funny sound effect, some days a well-couched historical reference or barely noticeable quirk in the background. I find almost all of them interesting, and I even like most of the jokes that I don't get until after research. To me, it seems like a matter of taste.

Look at how many different types of humour are employed by Monty Python, Terry Pratchett, or Douglas Adams. Sure, they all have a distinct style (as does erfworld, though it has not had time to be fully realised yet), but they all employ numerous types of joke within that style.

[aanimo]

It isn't laugh out loud funny, but it is enjoyable.

[The Dirge]

It has its moments like the 'Plot' sound affect but otherwise it seems like the deliberately made it bad to be funny but went a bit too far.