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.

Shout box

Monte: trolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm

Monte: Papa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm

Papa Midnight: Monte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm

Avalongod: I think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm

Avalongod: @Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm

Wonderkarp: Zippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm

Monte: Seirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm

Monte: We have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm

ZippyDSMlee: Wonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm

MaskedPixelante: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm

Matthew Wilson: the sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm

MechaTama31: So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am

Monte: I feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am

quiknkold: and we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

quiknkold: The whole thing is Futile. Both sides are so buried deep in their trenchs that there isnt a conversation. Its just Finger Pointing, Name Calling, Doxxing, Threats. there needs to be a serious conversation, and GG isnt it.10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

quiknkold: I thought it was a good article. Jeff is right. I feel like GamerGate did destroy its message. I am for Ethics in game journalism, but man. so much hate. and its on both sides. I've seen some awful stuff spewed on twitter. Its a big reason why I exited..10/17/2014 - 7:34pm

Matthew Wilson: while he focused on gg, he did call out both sides crap.10/17/2014 - 7:18pm

Papa Midnight: That was a damn good read offered by Jeff Gertsmann.10/17/2014 - 7:17pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/letter-from-the-editor-10-17-2014/1100-5049/ deferentially a nice write up.10/17/2014 - 6:44pm

james_fudge: I think Evan killed it. He's a great guy and super smart.10/17/2014 - 6:38pm

All shouts

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