Tobold's Blog
Friday, October 05, 2012
World of Warcraft enters politics

The Republican party is attacking a Democrat candidate for the Maine state senate, Colleen Lachowicz, for playing World of Warcraft, and for being a forum warrior. Some analysts say that attacking somebody for playing WoW as "living in a fantasy world" might backfire for the Republicans, because there are already so many people playing games that such attacks seem out of touch. But Britain's prime minister got into trouble after declaring that he had finished Angry Birds, with journalists asking whether he hasn't got anything better to do with his time. So that line of attack on gamer politicians seems to work better than claiming they live in a fantasy.

The whole thing might also turn out to show that it isn't the actual playing of games which is unacceptable in a politician, but rather the typical behavior of a gamer on a forum. Apparently Colleen Lachowicz used the same tone and style you would find on a World of Warcraft forum for discussing her political opponents on a political forum. Most non-gamers find that sort of language not appropriate. Somehow it is perfectly okay to tell outright lies about your political opponent, but not okay if you make the sort of personal attacks that are so common in game discussions on the internet. Now if we just could work a bit on the lies part, maybe we could move towards a culture of a more polite exchange of ideas, and that not just for politicians.

That might be a really effective campaign. People (well, non gamers at least and even a lot of gamers hate MMOs) are suspicious of playing a character in an online game in a way they really woulnd't be if she just bust heads in CODBLOPS.

And being a woman who plays computer games is even worse, compare with the american diplomat who played EVE which didn't seem to raise any comments.

Maybe the republicans checked out her linked character

Look at this horrible thing! She has 345 ilvl, but she didn't stop playing 2 years ago, but spent time idiot fishing achievements and holiday nonsense.

She is indeed living in a fantasy world if she thinks she is a WoW players. She is an awful noob! Don't vote for noobs, especially socialist ones!
As a (relatively) republican voter, let me say that I think this is ridiculous. Pretty sure that Warcraft is, for the most part, politically neutral. Now granted one might ask if she's spending time during the workday cruising MMO-champ or or chatting with the mobile app but I think one could use the litmus test "Is she getting the job done?" then yes/no = which way your vote goes.

So so SO tired of video games being vilified or denegrated as hobby of the pre-teen. Guess what? Average age of gamers is something close to 30/35 now. I'm almost 40 and I proudly tell people I'm a gamer and I'm able to hold a solid middle wage IT job (yes I know, reinforcing the stereotype), don't live with my mother, father of 4 (doing my part to overpopulate the planet), and happy to say that my games don't tell/compel me to kill anyone. Can we move on now???
I thought the same as Gevlon. I don't care that she plays. I do care that she plays terribly.
I disagree that a majority of the likely adult voters play video games. The elderly are disproportionately weighted in US politics because they disproportionately vote.

I think thus is not an uncommon tactic.
The classic, iconic song from the Music Man. Ya got Trouble, is about similar but was written before video games exist.

Besides playing a MMO strongly suggests poor time management choices. Posting online is an even bigger waste of time. :-)
The gamer snob in me fully understands why playing Angy Birds carries greater stigma than World of Warcraft.

Mind you I am eagerly anticipating the juicy stories when the press discovers a politician who plays EVE online.
The press wouldn't write about that. Everybody knows that EVE isn't a game but a CIA hangout to exchange secret messages!
Of course none of us cares. We're gamers.

I guarantee you that a candidate known to play a game like WoW would lose many more votes than they would gain. At worst it's not far from a satanist cult, at best it's an addictive waste of time. And that's just my wife's opinion!

@Spinks I think the reason the diplomat didn't catch grief is because he was killed. IMO the only reason mainstream picked it up was the massive Twitter explosion which provided a unique opportunity to reach our demographic.

Had the story been "security weak because staff were playing online games" we would have been thrown under 4 busses.

It may all seem unfair, but TBH, the thought of my elected officials playing and thinking about MMOs as much as I do is not very uplifting.
If she played golf a lot, she'd probably be lauded for her choice of activity. Since, you know, all the movers and shakers play golf, and deals are made all the time on the golf course.

Perhaps if the GOP knew how many military and ex-military play video games and MMOs, they'd sing a different tune.

As for her play style, no big deal. I know a lot of people who dabble with this and that when they don't have the time to do other things. It's not like she got banned or something.

Yea, until someone shows the republicans that Chuck Norris WoW ad ...
Chuck Norris : Hunter

and then switch to his anti-Obama campaign

Even though Chuck most likely on did it for the advertising money, i'd think he wouldn't associate with WoW if it was politically incorrect to do so...

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