Does World of Warcraft Have Election Year Fever?

April 2, 2008

Although the only notice we've taken of World of Warcraft in relation to the U.S. presidential election was an unoffical rally for Republican Ron Paul (left) in January, USA Today reports that WoW is a hotbed of presidential politics - especially on the Democratic side:

The primary race between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is so competitive, it has even barged into the online universe of the World of Warcraft game. Millions of players are supposed to be fighting dragons, raiding enemies and performing magical quests — not discussing superdelegates.

USA Today quotes 36-year-old WoW devotee Sean Goldman:

Here we are, logging into a virtual world to escape the grip of the real world for a few hours, but this election has brought the real world closer to the virtual world...

Hillary and Obama have created quite the buzz with the race, and it's created a buzz everywhere. I'd say 99% of the people talking about this (in the game) are the types who would usually stay away from talking politics because it wasn't cool. But now it's definitely roused a lot of people in World of Warcraft.

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Comments

Submitted by Mulk (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 14:31.

Guess guild politics isn't enough for some people.

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 10:47.

it should say fight the alliance since..well.... the horde is the population the alliance is gov/politicians...

Submitted by Zerodash (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 10:47.

All I can say is Thrall wouldn't be where he is now if he was born a Troll instead of an Orc.

:)

Submitted by DCOW (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 10:57.

@zerodash

wouldn't that make him zul'jin?

Submitted by Altair (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:04.

Next thing you know theres gonna be NPC's in the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion bearing the likeness of all the candidates who ran this time arround! xD

Submitted by mogbert (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:06.

I didn't get deep enough into the WoW story line to be able to make a political joke about it.

Druids rock. That is all.

Submitted by ApokalypseNow (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:09.

From the picture with the article:
"Grab your sword and fight the Horde"
For porn, porn porn!

Submitted by jadedcritic (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:14.

Remind me how people who wouldn't ordinarily discuss politics, discussing politics, is a BAD THING. WoW especially, is notorious for a poor quality player base. Because of its sheer size it attracts just about every repulsive and immature human being far as the eye can see.

Yes, I know that people play games as an escape, but as I see it, the loss of that (at least temporarily) is a small price to pay for anything to raises the level of discourse on WoW.

Submitted by attackgypsy (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:14.

Hrm... on my server (The Venture Co - Horde) I nearly never see any of this.

It's all Murlock and Chuck Norris jokes.

Submitted by Loudspeaker (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:24.

LOL yeah it's the same on the Muradin server...

I'm wondering which servers the political geeks are populating?

Submitted by Azhrarn, Death-of-Faxmachines (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:32.

Glad europe doesn't have this "issue", many countries playing together means that you will rarely if ever find a suitable person to discuss politics concerning your home country with. (atleast, among those who don't band together in nation based guilds)

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 12:32.

Yeah there may be a "great big ole' buzz" on WoW. But lets be honest lets for arguement sake 1000 people are going to do another march. But lets be honest in recent years more and more people aren't voting so maybe of those 1000 people 200 might vote.

BEsides didn't EQ2 prove just how lazy people are when they made the ability to ORDER PIZZA THROUGH THE GAME, instead of just picking up the phone and calling in the order.

Submitted by deejus (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 13:42.

I haven't seen 1 person even mention the election in game. The most political people tend to get is the old, aussies are better than Ner Zealanders and vice versa. Only to have the argument end by both agreeing that at least they are not Americans.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 13:49.

@ Deejus

Hmm, for us American's just go "Eh, at least your not French"

Submitted by Overcast (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 14:14.

Yeah, I agree with others - I rarely see much brought up about politics in WoW. Usually it's met with a 'STFU' - many times, I could possibly be the one typing it.

Politics are a sickening display of a person's ability to lie, really - it's the last thing I want pervading an otherwise decent world :O

lol

Submitted by Gurei (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 14:53.

thats actualy one of the things i liked a lot about wow,the social aspect meeting others,killing some mobs and talking about real stuff,looting the blues and making our points.

I say liked,because as many others,i quited it...couldnt stand the constant changes and updates in BC.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 15:16.

@ Gurei

Those updates are because no one likes glitches.

Poll

Shout box

E. Zachary Knight: If the videos are of sufficient quality that people subscribe and watch regularly, then those let's players are providing a service that people want. That is the heart of capitalism. That is not something that should be shamed.05/17/2013 - 8:06am

E. Zachary Knight: I have no idea who either of those people are. However, I still don't see why making a business out of creating let's play videos is somehow evil or wrong.05/17/2013 - 8:04am

MaskedPixelante: It sure is if you're just doing it for the money. See Tobuscus and/or Pewdiepie for what happens when people get into it just for the money.05/17/2013 - 7:30am

E. Zachary Knight: Why is it wrong to make money doing LPs? Why should that be something that should be shamed?05/17/2013 - 6:20am

MaskedPixelante: https://twitter.com/PsychedelicSA/status/335183893214924801 Now here's an interesting, glass half full thought about the Nintendo LP thing. It outs the people who are just doing LPs to make money.05/17/2013 - 5:56am

E. Zachary Knight: I responded in writing to all this "let's play" stuff Nintendo Started. No need for my permission, I won't give it. It's not mine to give. http://divineknightgaming.com/?p=29205/16/2013 - 2:21pm

E. Zachary Knight: Lars Doucet of Levelup Labs has a Reddit going on game companies that allow monetization of Let's Play videos. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1egayn/lets_build_a_list_of_game_studios_that_allow/05/16/2013 - 1:04pm

Sleaker: @Imautobot - yah I wouldn't use an emulator as a good first run test of how stable the console is, haha.05/16/2013 - 11:47am

E. Zachary Knight: The 50th person to jump off a bridge is just as dumb if not dumber than the 1st.05/16/2013 - 10:03am

MaskedPixelante: Yeah, let's all jump on Nintendo for doing this, even though they're hardly the first company to do this...05/16/2013 - 9:47am

E. Zachary Knight: Wow Nintendo, this is wrong. http://kotaku.com/nintendo-forcing-ads-on-some-youtube-lets-play-video-50709238305/16/2013 - 8:44am

Imautobot: @Sleaker, further gameplay has revealed that the controller button do stick under the faceplate. Also, The NES emulator (Emuya)keeps crashing on me, though I think a bad ROM is causing it.05/16/2013 - 7:10am

Papa Midnight: AE: I wonder if any other publishers will follow suit.05/15/2013 - 8:12pm

Andrew Eisen: EA is ditching Online Pass. http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/15/ea-kills-its-controversial-online-pass-program/05/15/2013 - 7:20pm

Avalongod: @Zach and quicnkold...I've read the bill and the intent of it is to fear-monger. It's not a balanced message. I don't recall the ESRB being mentioned at all. It's more "keeps your kids away from these movies/games or they'll become violent"05/15/2013 - 4:35pm

E. Zachary Knight: quiknkold, The big problem with that legislation is the amount of misinformation out there. Who is going to ensure that the information in the pamphlet is accurate?05/15/2013 - 3:25pm

quiknkold: REBeardogg : I'm on the fence about this. on one side, I want parents to be aware of the ESRB, and even Movie Ratings. On the other hand, I feel this will be used for nothing but Propaganda. The ESRB does a good job.05/15/2013 - 3:07pm

IanC: Frostbite is coming out on iOS devices. Yet the Wii U cant handle it? *coughbullshitcough*05/15/2013 - 2:31pm

BearDogg-X: http://www.politickernj.com/65515/lesniak-ruiz-bill-limit-children-s-exposure-media-violence-clears-senate - Bill requiring schools to publish pamphlets with anti-fake media "violence" propaganda clears NJ Senate05/15/2013 - 2:03pm

quiknkold: I am thinking of writing a musical about videogames, violence, and the first amendment. Would need a collaborator though and would kickstart it after the script is written. was thinking off broadway.05/15/2013 - 2:00pm

All shouts

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