Among Prez Hopefuls, Ron Paul Leads WoW Name Race

Among Prez Hopefuls, Ron Paul Leads WoW Name Race

January 3, 2008

He may not win today's Iowa Caucuses, but Republican candidate Ron Paul is the clear favorite among World of Warcraft players.

Joystiq's Kyle Orland reports that 48 WoW realms (servers) have an avatar named Ronpaul. Running in second place are 36 characters named Barackobama. No other candidate's full name has more than 9 WoW imitators.

Orland notes, however, that the name "Clinton" is apparently restricted by WoW's character creation application. Those who would emulate Dems Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich are hampered by WoW's 12-letter character naming limit.

Is there any value in this information? Hard to say, but Orland points out:

While tracking WoW's presidential naming race is fun and all, it probably has very little actual value in predicting nationwide voting preferences. After all, there are 71 characters named Trogdor, and no one really expects him to burninate across the 2008 elections.
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Comments

Submitted by Conejo - January 3, 2008 at 7:18 am -0500
nobody expects burninating, sure. but sometimes we hope there would be a purge of the political system.
Submitted by Unrated - January 3, 2008 at 7:33 am -0500
If trogdor ran, our presedential race would become the greatest one ever. And I could breathe easy knowing that the world is in good hand.
Submitted by Black Manta - January 3, 2008 at 8:45 am -0500
So the name "Clinton" is restricted? How interesting. Guess we know how Blizzard feels about her and her views on gaming legislation.

Apropos of nothing, every time I hear about Ron Paul, for some reason I want to think of singer Sean Paul, if only because their names sound fairly similar. And then I keep thinking of that monotonous, sing-song style he uses with songs like "Temperature" and how is stuff all sounds the same. :P

"Oh! Oh!"
Submitted by the1jeffy - January 3, 2008 at 9:00 am -0500
I believe 'Clinton' is banned because of Hil's hubby. No pols are supposed to be allowed, and I'm sure that in future patches, Obama, Ronpaul, etc. will be not allowed too. They want no character name to be modeled after a real life, well-known figure.
Submitted by Overcast - January 3, 2008 at 10:28 am -0500
I think Most Americans would prefer Ron Paul - but 'electronic voting' should fix that...

It's not about who casts the vote, it's about who maintains the database now, right?
Submitted by Boffo97 - January 3, 2008 at 11:13 am -0500
Actually I'd say Clinton is probably just banned because WoW's naming policy includes that *all* references to real world people are not allowed, and probably that one was popping up a lot.
Submitted by mogbert - January 3, 2008 at 11:37 am -0500
OK, now see how many have the name Drizzt, Drizt, Dritzz, or Dritz.

Based on that, I think I'll kick off my campeign:
Do'Urden '08!
Submitted by Diane - January 3, 2008 at 12:42 pm -0500
Every time I see Ron Paul's name, a small piece of my heart dies.
Submitted by steelcobra - January 3, 2008 at 12:49 pm -0500
Would've been much more entertaining if the majority of the Ron Paul characters were trolls...
Submitted by lumi - January 3, 2008 at 12:54 pm -0500
"After all, there are 71 characters named Trogdor, and no one really expects him to burninate across the 2008 elections."

Best line about this whole event to date.
Submitted by JustChris - January 3, 2008 at 1:28 pm -0500
Ron Paul needs general charisma. Right now his charisma is highly focused on the Y-generation.
Submitted by x(wai)x - January 3, 2008 at 3:14 pm -0500
While tracking WoW’s presidential naming race is fun and all, it probably has very little actual value in predicting nationwide voting preferences. After all, there are 71 characters named Trogdor, and no one really expects him to burninate across the 2008 elections.

This and those names are just as likely to be used to mock the presidential candidates as they are to be supportive. I remember a year or so ago during Children's Week someone made a Night Elf with a misspelled/shortened version of "Michaeljackson" and ran around Stormwind asking in general chat why the orphanage wouldn't let him show a kid around.
Submitted by Ron Paul For President - January 3, 2008 at 3:16 pm -0500
Just another example of the variety of people that Ron Paul is reaching with his message. So many people who have never cared about politics before are excited about Ron Paul. Why? Because he makes sense. His views are the real mainstream! People don't want war and a fascist government! They want peace & freedom! It's time to end the war on drugs, bring home our troops, and lower our taxes! Vote For Ron Paul in 2008!
Submitted by TheGreg - January 3, 2008 at 4:37 pm -0500
If our votes actually mattered, I'd vote Ron Paul. I'm not sure I'd want to run around in a game campaigning for the man though. That seems a bit much.
Submitted by DarknessDeku@yahoo.com - January 3, 2008 at 6:07 pm -0500
Why can't WoW players realize that Ron Paul is just an attention whore.
Submitted by Ron Paul For President - January 4, 2008 at 1:31 pm -0500
What does that mean? "Attention Whore" ? Man. I really worry about our education system in this country. So many people just have no rational thinking ability.

DarknessDeku - Do you believe in freedom or do you think the Government should be able to tell you what to do with your own life on your own property?
Submitted by E. Zachary Knight - January 4, 2008 at 1:36 pm -0500
@ Ron Paul for President

If Ron Paul is the best candidate for president, why was he unable to even place in the Iowa Caucus? You would think that such a perfect candidate would be able to convince enough people to make an impression in the primaries.
Submitted by UR MR GAY - January 4, 2008 at 7:37 pm -0500
@ Ron Paul for President

Stop being dumb, it's better to have elected officials in control of services necessary for life than greedy businessmen. Everyone who isn't a child or extremely aged knows that we tried that once before and we got the Gilded Age.
Submitted by Setesh - January 8, 2008 at 2:43 pm -0500
There are many different motives in play when people pick their names, given the personality of many of the people I met on WoW (Soilant the obnoxious paladin, for example) I suspect RonPaul is being chosen only to increase the frustration of other players they kill. Not only did someone "gank" you, but they were a night elf rogue... named RonPaul. If anything, I'd say it's a guarantee that at least half of the people picking the name, wouldn't vote for him. But, that's just my experience from WoW :)
Submitted by Kris - January 8, 2008 at 11:37 pm -0500
I don't know where I heard this, but isn't Ron Paul a bigot and homophobe?
I dunno, that's what I heard.
Personally, I'm hoping Barack wins.
He's my anti-Bush.

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