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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 07:18.

nobody expects burninating, sure. but sometimes we hope there would be a purge of the political system.

Submitted by Unrated (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 07:33.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 08:45.

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 on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 09:00.

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.

~~All Knowledge is Worth Having~~

Submitted by Overcast (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 10:28.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 11:13.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 11:37.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 12:42.

Every time I see Ron Paul's name, a small piece of my heart dies.

Submitted by steelcobra (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 12:49.

Would've been much more entertaining if the majority of the Ron Paul characters were trolls...

Submitted by lumi (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 12:54.

"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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 13:28.

Ron Paul needs general charisma. Right now his charisma is highly focused on the Y-generation.

Submitted by x(wai)x (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 15:14.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 15:16.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 16:37.

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 (not verified) on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 18:07.

Why can't WoW players realize that Ron Paul is just an attention whore.

Submitted by Ron Paul For President (not verified) on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 13:31.

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 on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 13:36.

@ 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.

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

Submitted by UR MR GAY (not verified) on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 19:37.

@ 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 (not verified) on Tue, 01/08/2008 - 14:43.

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 (not verified) on Tue, 01/08/2008 - 23:37.

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.

Poll

Shout box

ZippyDSMlee: Something I did by hand on my convertiable laptop, http://zippydsmlee.deviantart.com/art/Cotlop-zelda-unfinished-sketch-WIP-finish-373937163 forgot if I posted it befor.06/19/2013 - 7:44pm

Conster: Also, I guess The War Z changed its name so they can scam some more people?06/19/2013 - 7:44pm

Conster: AE: when even HuffPo makes the same joke, it's not something you want to take credit for. :P06/19/2013 - 7:43pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey look! The War Z changed its name to Infestation: Survivor Stories. http://infestationmmo.com/06/19/2013 - 7:23pm

Andrew Eisen: You're going to have a lot of company in prison, RedMage. Most of the internet has stolen MY joke. Bastards!06/19/2013 - 7:06pm

RedMage: The cover art thing points to an industry trend of only wanting to appeal to teen boys despite the talk of "broadening the appealz"06/19/2013 - 6:17pm

RedMage: I'd like to turn myself in for unintentional theft of a joke. Ignorance of the law is no excuse :o06/19/2013 - 6:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Remember the fight to get Last of Us's Ellie on the game cover? Check this out: http://cheezburger.com/758618624006/19/2013 - 6:12pm

Andrew Eisen: RedMage - Thief! You stole my joke! You're a horrible, loathesome person! Or you simply had the same idea and didn't read my earlier shout!06/19/2013 - 5:35pm

RedMage: Maybe they're going to rename it the Xbox 18006/19/2013 - 5:26pm

IanC: Bet EA are pissed.06/19/2013 - 5:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Ah, James is just a little quicker on the keyboard than I!06/19/2013 - 5:07pm

Craig R.: Too little, too late.06/19/2013 - 4:52pm

DorthLous: PWAHAHAHAH, the MS spinning sound woke me up :)06/19/2013 - 4:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Microsoft's new console shall now be known as the Xbox One-Eighty.06/19/2013 - 4:17pm

Andrew Eisen: I imagine we were typing our respective shouts at the same time.06/19/2013 - 4:14pm

MaskedPixelante: So Andrew... is there going to be a new poll now? I mean, the one about the XBO DRM is kinda no longer relevant.06/19/2013 - 4:13pm

Andrew Eisen: In light of Xbox One's furious backpeddling on its DRM policies, I'm closing the poll for now. I'll probably write a new one later today or tomorrow.06/19/2013 - 4:11pm

IanC: Found three people whining about this so far. Saying that its because of cheapasses and that its going to be horrible online now. W T and indeed F.06/19/2013 - 4:09pm

Andrew Eisen: Technogeek - I agree but: "After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again." Why do I need to connect online to set up a system I'm not going to use online?06/19/2013 - 4:07pm

All shouts

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