Hopefully, you found time to watch Friday's presidential debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Perhaps you even viewed it from within Second Life.

Over at The Click Heard Round the World Rik Panganiban checked out the SL presence of both camps during the debate:

The McCain viewing party was held in a beachside setting at the "Straight Talk Cafe" build... It was a festive event, with avatars dancing, sipping beverages, and lounging on beach chairs as they watched the debate from their TVs and laptops at home.  About 25 avatars were in attendance...

 

The Obama camp's debate watching party took place at "Obama/Biden Lounge at Hope Beach...  About 30-some avatars were in attendance. Their impressions were nearly opposite those of the McCain camp...

 

Obviously this was a very small subset of both candidates' supporters.  What I observed was a lot of preaching to the choir and one-sided views of their candidates.  There was no real dialogue across the aisle, nor was there intended to be... I think it's a useful reminder that no matter the political figure, one person's angel is another person's demon.

Over at BlipTV we found this:

"Swift Kick Moms for Truth" is a one-minute “machinima” video featuring virtual versions of Obama’s grandma and McCain’s mother scolding the candidates for their deceptive ads. Lead-in by virtual Tom Brokaw.

 

Created in the Second Life virtual world by Machinima by Silver and Goldie, with voice artist Mark Winston.

The title, of course, harkens back to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group, which trashed John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid. The term "swiftboating" has since become part of the language, denoting a smear campaign.

This video, however, is both non-partisan and just for fun.

Over at The Click Heard Round the World, Second Life devotee Rik Panganiban wonders why Democrats seem to far outnumber Republicans in SL's online world.

Panganiban, who goes by Rik Riel in-game, is a self-identified Obama supporter and notes that the Democratic presidential candidate topped a recent SL poll by a 2:1 margin over Republican John McCain.

Panganiban also notes that McCain's SL presence, "Straight Talk Cafe" is usually deserted and seems to be malfunctioning. He writes:

Looking at the Second Life resident-organized groups, there does appear to be a larger support base for Obama, with 1,300 residents in the "Obama for President" group, compared to only 300-some residents in the largest McCain for President group...

 

Given the fact that Obama and McCain have been in a virtual deadheat in the real world polls, what is the deal with Second Life?  Are there more progressive, liberal folks flocking to the virtual world?  Is it the age group that tends to dominate SL, the late-20s / mid-30s demographic? 

 

I found this all kind of sad.  Although I'm an Obama supporter, I would love to talk with McCain boosters about his policies, particularly his positions on foreign policy and the United Nations. Does McCain support closing Gitmo?  Would he fully fund efforts to stop the scourge of AIDS in Africa?  I really want to know, and I would want to know if his supporters care about these things.

Although neither the McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden tickets have especially significant track records in regard to video game issues, one of them will win in November and thus be in a position to influence the course of the public debate over games.

With that in mind, it's clear that some bloggers can't resist sending a bit of parody the candidates' way.

Kotaku yesterday ran What Can Games Teach Us About the Election?, recommending that the would-be presidents study titles like WoW (leadership), Missile Command (foreign policy) and Trauma Center: Under the Knike (heath care). Here's a sample:

Far from condemning video gaming, McCain and Obama would do well to embrace gaming culture in the hope that some of our collective wisdom will rub off...

 

Worried that you may not have traveled extensively enough, or had enough experience on the world stage?

 

...Chillax, just grab a PC and binge on Civilization... A few Civ campaigns should be enough for a basic grounding in the subtle nuances of international relations. The tech progress tree might also give a greater understanding of science although beware — if the candidates heed the game's advice too closely, Wall Street may reel from the unexpected national investment in Pottery and Burial Rituals.

 

A Civ player quickly learns the importance of a stable economy to a war effort. It's no good throwing phalanx after phalanx at a conquered land if your advisors are telling you to build more granaries, after all. Better to focus on diplomacy, and maybe build a colossus or two to keep the plebes happy back home.

Meanwhile, Daily Game has a two-parter with a slightly different twist on the subject. If Barack Obama and Joe Biden Were Video Games and If John McCain and Sarah Palin Were Video Games strains the metaphor a bit to relate the candidates to a half-dozen or so games.
 

A press release touting Xbox Live's partnership with Rock the Vote notes that Barack Obama has a 12% edge over John McCain among participants in an XBL poll. 100,000 users took part, which, according to the press release, makes the XBL sample larger than Gallup, NBC and CNN combined. Of course, as Giant Bomb notes:

...they aren't pretending that it's actual science, because there are so many holes in this poll that it's impossible to take it as anything other than sort-of interesting. For example, as someone who has more than one Xbox Live gold account, I probably could have voted twice...

Still, it is a fascinating use of what started out a few years back as a space designed strictly for online gaming.

As far as the results, Obama's big lead is not especially surprising, given that XBL users likely skew significantly younger than the population as a whole. Here are the numbers:

• Obama \ Biden:                  43%
• McCain \ Palin:                    31%
• Undecided:                         13%
• Other:                                13%

Of more value than the polling is the impressive level of political engagement engendered by the XBL / Rock the Vote partnership. As the press release points out:
 

In its first two weeks of the program, more than 55,000 voter registration forms were downloaded through Xbox LIVE and xbox.com. Additionally, videos from the recent Democratic and Republican conventions were downloaded nearly 25,000 times.

 

To-date, the Xbox LIVE community has downloaded more than 350,000 pieces of program-specific content, ranging from candidate gamerpics to videos and Rock the Vote logos. That’s nearly five times the amount of people present at Barack Obama’s acceptance speech during the Democratic Convention in Denver.
 

A new ad from the Obama campaign employs a virtual roulette interface in an effort to paint John McCain as a politics-as-usual, Beltway insider...

A new video trailer which shows off the cooperative mode in the upcoming Saints Row 2 features likenesses of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama engaging in full-on gameplay.

And in Saints Row, of course, that means full-on violent gameplay...

In an article titled, Who Is The Gamer's Candidate?, Edge Online has recapped the positions of both parties' presidential tickets as they relate to video games.

It's good to know that none of the four candidates have ever gotten behind a video game ban, although Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin gave consideration in the past to censoring books. Of the four, Barack Obama has said and done the most in regard to games.

While the EO piece offers no new information, it is a worthwhile summary.

CNN is now reporting that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be John McCain's running mate.

Palin, 44, who has been governor for only two years, appears to have little track record with video games - or much of anything else.

She was a city council person in Wasilla, Alaska from 1992-1996 and was later mayor of that town. She failed in an attempt to become Alaska's Lt. Gov. in 2002, and won the top seat in 2006.

Palin has two sons and three daughters. Her oldest son, age 18, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq later this yer.

Tim Pawlenty? Mitt Romney? Tom Ridge?

With Republican presidential candidate John McCain's VP choice due later today, these three names have been bandied about in recent days. While Ridge has historically been quiet on video game issues, Pawlenty and Romney (seen with McCain at left)come with major baggage as far as gamers are concerned.

That said, Ridge seems an unlikely choice, since he adds little to the McCain ticket. For one thing, he's older than the other two and McCain would seem to need some youthful balance in a running mate. For another, as former Homeland Security Director, he's too closely associated with the Bush Administration in a time when the electorate craves change. And although he is from a key state, he doesn't seem likely to swing Pennsylvania red in November.

That leaves Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts as potential VP choices. As we said, both have a negative history with video game issues.

Pawlenty signed Minnesota's notorious, 2006 "fine the buyer" legislation into law. The bill, which would have fined underage buyers of M-rated games $25, was quickly overturned by a federal judge. Minnesota also lost a subsequent appeal on that decision. Pawlenty, who has owned up to playing NHL2K5 with his kids, brings youth to the McCain ticket.

For his part, Romney (who apparently thinks torturing real people is okay) made the cartoon violence of video games a theme of his failed 2008 presidential bid. Romney is a favorite of the religious right, a group which is not particularly fond of McCain.

UPDATE: CNN is reporting that Pawlenty is out of the running and is also speculating that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is in the VP mix...

A San Francisco-based game designer is among a subset of Hillary Clinton supporters who can't seem to get their minds around the notion that Barack Obama is the presidential choice of the Democratic Party.

As reported by Newsday, Toni Alves was among several hundred Hillary backers who marched through the streets of Denver on Monday shouting, "Honest Roll Call!" and "Yes We Can!"

Alves, whose design credits include Heroes of Might & Magic V , told Newsday that she has voted as a Democrat for 40 years and traveled to Denver on behalf of her local chapter of Party Unity My Ass (PUMA). She claims that she will vote for Republican John McCain should Obama secure the nomination.

A new YouTube video spoofs Republican presidential contender John McCain with a Mario Bros. flair.

In John McCain - POW Bros. video game journalist Jared Rea depicts McCain as exploiting his five years spent as a prisoner of war to counter just about every issue.

Jared, clearly not a McCain fan, writes:

John McCain uses his prisoner of war status as both sword and shield. It’s the entirety of his foreign policy experience and ultimate defense against legitimate questions and concerns rolled into a single onomatopoeia.

The campaign of Republican presidential contender John McCain has taken an oddly-worded, RPG-themed shot at supporters of Barack Obama who questioned a story the former P.O.W. told during a weekend forum at high-profile pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church.

From the CNN account:

During a presidential forum at Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church on Saturday, McCain told a story of a guard who wordlessly drew a cross in the dirt one Christmas, describing it as a moment that gave him strength.

 

Critics in the blogosphere said that McCain, who was released in 1973, had not mentioned the incident until shortly before his 2000 presidential bid... They also pointed to similarities between McCain’s account and a similar story in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, his account of life in the Soviet labor camp system.

 

McCain aide Michael Goldfarb, in a message posted on the campaign’s Web site Monday [wrote] “It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others...”

At one time, Second Life was viewed as having great potential for promoting political campaigns.

However, the Houston Chronicle points out that in the current presidential election, Barack Obama and John McCain have largely ignored the SL metaverse:

Campaigns haven't figured out how to reconcile the all-important image and fundraising with a world in which a Gothic nymph can sit in on a congressional hearing - or a Teddy bear might try to donate to a political campaign.

 

So for now, the Second Life campaign headquarters of Barack Obama and John McCain are pristine, glistening and completely vacant most of the time...

 

Fundraising is still not an option in Second Life, as there is no way to monitor where the donations are coming from, and the majority of players are from outside the U.S.

Julie Germany of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet told the Chronicle:

It's been written about in fiction and cyberpunk, this idea that these online worlds could actually be used for political purposes, whether it is to recruit supporters, or train people to take action or to fund raise. It just hasn't exploded the way other online tools have exploded.

Former congressional aide Nancy Scola, who was involved in former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's much-discussed 2006 visit to SL (screenshot at left), added that options like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace are dominating the online side of politics:

All the air's been sucked out of the room... If you're working inside a campaign, your single goal is to get your guy in the White House.  It doesn't leave a lot of room and motivation to play with new technology. Why mess with what's working?
 

The 2008 presidential campaign is getting ugly, what with a John McCain TV spot that paints Barack Obama as a celebrity lightweight in the grand tradition of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and the Obama campaign fighting back with sharp words about McCain.

Given the nasty political climate, Darren Gladstone of PC World (who clearly has too much time on his hands) decided to use Soul Calibur 4's custom character creator to let martial arts versions of the prez candidates go mano-a-mano:

Barack always struck me as a Jeet Kun Do master: nimble, deadly with his words--and with a pair of nunchucks. McCain? This guy's tough as nails. I don't know if I could've made it through half the stuff he did, so, of course, I have to equip him with the biggest mallet available.

 

Barack has youth on his side, so of course he's dancing rings around McCain... But stand still too long, and the cagey Vietnam vet is gonna deliver a haymaker: his mile-long service record.

Although they were bitter enemies during the primaries, recent reports - like this one from Reuters - have Republican presidential candidate John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney getting rather chummy.

And that could be bad news for gamers.

Among possible Republican VP choices, Romney has been far and away the most outspoken on video game content issues. GamePolitics readers may recall Romney making comments like this on the campaign trail:

It's time to clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I've proposed that we enforce our obscenity laws again and that we get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence, that we go after those retailers.

Romney also released a campaign video which played to this theme.

Host Jon Stewart has some fun with Pork Invaders, the Facebook game app released by the McCain campaign last week.

Stewart's comments on the McCain game come at about 4:25 into the video segment.

Steve Napierski of DuelingAnalogs has created a fun graphic which mashes up the presidential election and Mortal Kombat.

Catch the full strip along with the artist's comments at the DuelingAnalogs site.

GP: Big thanks to GamePolitics correspondent Andrew Eisen for the tip...

CNN's Political Ticker is reporting that the McCain campaign has launched a new game app on Facebook.

The game is called Pork Invaders. In order to succeed, players must avoid being hit by projectiles (pork-jectiles?) launched by flying pigs. From the CNN piece:

How do you kill the flying pigs? By shooting off vetoes. With each pig killed by a veto, users rack up millions of tax dollars as their score, and progress to the next level — but only after the game lays out campaign talking points like comparing the respective records of Sen. McCain and his rival, Sen. Barack Obama, on earmarks...

  

McCain currently has approximately 150,000 supporters on Facebook while Obama now has roughly 1,020,000 supporters on the site.

If the background music for a recent McCain campaign commercial (see video) seems familiar, there may be a good reason. 

The piece featured is, in fact, from EA's Medal of Honor: European Assault – undoubtedly the first time music from a videogame has been used in such a manner.

As it happens, though, this has caused the game's composer no little chagrin.  Christopher Lennertz, an ardent supporter of Barack Obama received many calls and letters regarding the campaign ad.

So how did Lennertz's music find its way into McCain's commercial? The composer told GamePolitics:

It turns out that there was a mix-up as to which company controlled the rights to the music. The McCain campaign did nothing illegal. I do think however, that they should have checked to see if the creators of content that they are using to promote their views are in fact in sync with them…

Lennertz also released a statement on the McCain ad:

I have been receiving many emails and calls for the past week regarding the use of my music in a national television ad for John McCain's presidential campaign. The ad is called "Safe" and prominently features a track entitled "Casualties of War" that I wrote for Medal of Honor: European Assault. While I do not control the ownership of this piece, I am extremely disappointed its placement in this commercial. I did not authorize the use and was not made aware of the situation. Regardless of party affiliation of support, I would like to think that someone who believes in the American ideals of business and creativity like Sen. McCain supposedly does, would not want to disgrace or inflict any hardship or ill-will on the artists who create in this country by using their works to promote products and agendas which with they disagree.

 

As an American, I have the utmost respect and admiration for our troops and all of their sacrifices. In fact, much of the inspiration for my music in this piece came from having a grandfather who served this country honorably as an officer in World War II. I respect John McCain for his service to this country, both in the military and in Washington, but I do not and have never supported his candidacy nor his agenda for this country. I am dismayed that my music has been used to promote his platform and even more disappointed that a candidate who claims to be the best voice for American entrepreneurs and business owners in this troubled economy so flagrantly ignored the most basic values and tenents of copyright and intellectual property. What, I ask, does such an action or oversight say about Mr. McCain's regard for the intrinsic value of American products, services, or creations? Where does the line get drawn? Is it reasonable to use my music to sell tobacco, alcohol, or pornographic materials? Is it reasonable to use it to promote a religion in which I do not believe? Is it legal?...yes, perhaps, is it ethical?...I don’t believe so. Is it American?...definitely not by my standards.

 

 

As an artist, business owner, and patriot, I proudly support Senator Barack Obama for the Presidency of the United States of America...

GP: This special report provided to GamePolitics by: Alex Van Zelfden

Congrats to Lori Ingham and her ConChrist blog for scoring Republican presidential candidate John McCain's reaction to the video game violence issue.

Ingham caught up to McCain during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire yesterday. From her blog:

I did get to ask him two questions from the audience. Once I FINALLY got the microphone, I introduced myself, where I lived, and as a segue way into the questions mentioned that I used to be a reporter but now ran this blog. These are somewhat paraphrased from the actual questions I asked him.

Question #1: With the current controversy over video game and media violence, what is your stance on allowing parents to make the decisions for their children on what they can see and watch? (This question was rolling around in my head primarily because of the recent posts that I had on Jack Thompson)

McCain's Answer: He felt that parents should be the ones to decide for their kids on a case by case basis (which I was satisfied with). He then did a weird segueway into the evils of child pornography from there, which kind of had me shaking my head.
 

GP: We're proud to say that Lori Ingham is also a GamePolitics reader. It's great to see a blogger going the extra mile for original content.

Last week, GamePolitics reported on Yahoo! Games' recap of where the major presidential candidates stand on video game issues.

Cnet's Declan McCullagh has now penned an insightful article which outlines how the top candidates view some critical technology issues. While not game-specific, some of these issues will certainly affect gamers in a significant way. Writes McCullagh:
 

Who would be the most tech-friendly president?

The short answer: it depends. Do you like the idea of Net neutrality so much that you'd hand the Federal Communications Commission the authority to levy open-ended Internet regulations? Do you support pro-fair use changes to copyright law, which many programmers and computer scientists do--but which practically all software and video game companies oppose?

McCullagh sought the candidates' positions on seven key tech issues: Net neutrality legislation; Telecom spying immunity; DMCA fair use reform; Supports Real ID Act; ISP data retention required; Permanent Net-tax ban; and Increased H1-B visas.

Of these, Net neutrality and DMCA fair use reform are probably of the most immediate interest to gamers, so we'll look at those.

On Net neutrality, the question posed to the candidates was:
 

Congress has considered Net neutrality legislation, but it never became law. Do you support the legislation that was re-introduced in 2007 (S 215), which gives the FCC the power to punish "discriminatory" conduct by broadband providers?

Those strongly in favor of Net neutrality: Clinton, Obama
Those opposed: McCain, Paul
"Maybe": Huckabee
Ducked question: Romney

On DMCA fair use reform, the question posed to the candidates was:
 

The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act's section restricting the "circumvention" of copy protection measures is supported by many copyright holders but has been criticized by some technologists as hindering innovation. Would you support changing the DMCA to permit Americans to make a single backup copy of a DVD, Blu-ray Disc DVD, HD DVD, or video game disc they have legally purchased?

Those probably in favor: Obama, Paul
Ducked question: Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Clinton

Read McCullagh's full article here...

Where do the leading presidential candidates stand on video game issues?

Ben Silverman of Yahoo! Games summarizes the positions of the top three candidates from both parties. Included in the recap is Democrat John Edwards, who announced yesterday that he is dropping out.

Of the remaining candidates, Silverman writes:
 

Compared to his more conservative opponents, [John] McCain is a viable option for Republican gamers, although his ties to [frequent game critic Sen. Joe] Lieberman are worth noting.

Obscenity laws? Societal cesspools? Unless you're wracked with gamer guilt, [Mitt] Romney is one hard sell.

[Mike Huckabee is] no Mitt Romney. That's gotta count for something.

Despite her good intentions, Hillary's scary track record might be enough to dissuade gamers from putting another Clinton in office.

[Barack] Obama is more skeptical of how violent games affect behavior than his rivals, and in turn seems less inclined to legislate right off the bat. That should ring true with gamers.