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.

Shout box

Cecil475: @PHX Corp - The dude's a moron who wouldn't know crap if it came up and kicked him.05/19/2013 - 6:36am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/ea-sports-developer-calls-wii-u-crap-and-nintendo-wa-508481261 EA Sports Canada Moron calls Wii U 'Crap' and Nintendo 'Walking Dead'05/18/2013 - 11:42am

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

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