Senator Accused of Playing World of Warcraft!?

[Deleted]

Good morning mmo-champion. Today I woke up to my girlfriend reading me this bizar news story.
since im not allowed to post links yet, here's the story: (Source: BBC world.)

"The gaming hobby of a political candidate has become an issue in a state senate race in New England, US.

Maine Republicans have created a webpage revealing that Democrat candidate Colleen Lachowicz plays an orc rogue in World of Warcraft (WoW).

Ms Lachowicz's liking for back-stabbing and poison in WoW raise questions about her "fitness for office", they claim.

Ms Lachowicz has hit back saying the attack showed the Republicans were "out of touch".

Weird focus
The state senate seat known as District 25 in Maine, is currently being contested by Ms Lachowicz and incumbent Republican Tom Martin. Voting takes place on 6 November.

As part of its campaign efforts, the Republican party in the state created "Colleen's World" - a website that compiles information about Ms Lachowicz's orc rogue Santiaga. An orc is a mythical human-like creature, generally described as fierce and combative.

In a statement that accompanies the webpage, Maine Republicans said playing the game led Ms Lachowicz to live a "bizarre double life" that raised questions about her ability to represent the state.

The page also detailed some of the comments Ms Lachowicz has made while talking about her orc rogue, in particular it highlights her affection for Santiaga's ability to stab things and kill people without suffering a jail sentence.

"These are some very bizarre and offensive comments," said Maine Republican Party spokesman David Sorensen in a statement. "They certainly raise questions about Lachowicz's maturity and her ability to make serious decisions for the people of Senate District 25."

The site also lists many of the 400 comments she has posted to left wing political news and discussion site Daily Kos. Maine Republicans have also posted leaflets that reproduce the information on the website.

"I think it's weird that I'm being targeted for playing online games," said Ms Lachowicz in a statement. "Apparently I'm in good company since there are 183 million other Americans who also enjoy online games.

"Instead of talking about what they're doing for Maine people, they're making fun of me for playing video games," said Ms Lachowicz.

It is not clear what effect the Republican tactic will have on the state senate race in Maine. However, many messages of support have been left on Ms Lachowicz's own webpage with some pledging cash to her campaign.

Gaming researcher Ladan Cockshut said the row revealed how gaming can be seen as a bad thing to do.

"In my work, I've spoken with many people who in their regular lives have roles of significant responsibility (as doctors, managers, or educators) but who choose carefully with whom they disclose their gaming activity," she told the BBC. "And disclosing their gaming activity is often accompanied by a degree of apology or embarrassment."

But, she added, having a gamer run for office was a "heartening" development.

"This would seem to run contrary to the other stereotypes that we love to assign to gamers: that they are lazy, antisocial people who don't have a 'real life'," she said. "Maybe this will trigger some dialogue about our perceptions of gamers and the role that games can and should play in modern society.""

It got me laughing so hard, but let's hear it from you guys, I understand the political climate is completely different over in America so is this a big issue for you guys? Do you actually care about this? Personally it feels like they are just extremely desperate and grasping at straws.


Please refrain from continent bashing or stupid political flamewar, just some good ol' discussion!

[Rotted]

Thats just laughable, so what if she plays any game as long as its not having any influence on her work

[Deleted]

Please... Pretty please. Guys and girls, when making threads, please check if there's already one talking about what you want to talk about. There's already a thread on this!

And this is the third being made for no reason!

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...aft-witch-hunt

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...or-playing-WOW

[Ryuukon]

Old news is old news. Not just WoW players, but gamers in general, have been flocking to her Facebook page supporting her.

But really, playing WoW has been a travesty in the US for some time now. "Facebook profiling" has been in use for at least 2 or 3 years now, probably longer. There's a reason why a lot of people have either avoided adding just about ANYTHING to their Facebook page, or just abandoned their Facebook page all together. And one of the first things employers have looked at on a Facebook page of a possible employee is if they play WoW, because apparently WoW players are lazy and addicts.

It's just another peg in the social acceptance of doing something that the REALLY rich people don't, just because some people find enjoyment in video games instead of sailing around the world 20 times on their 120 million dollar yacht.

[Cliff]

This will ruin any chance she had at being elected.

They do this shit because it works, most gamers are seen as immature, fat, lazy neckbeards. Eventually, when games become even more massive, everyone will technically be a gamer, and this kind of bullshit will cease to be spewed.

Until then though, burn that (fat gamer) witch!!!

[Bethrezen]

So? Politicians aren't allowed to play games?

[vindicatorx]

Yeah about a week late on this topic since the other guy already linked the other identical threads I'm not going to. I will say it's just sad that politicians have nothing better to do than bring up shit like this as fuel against someone.

[Deleted]

I would be insulted as a voter if I lived in the States, how stupid do they take the average person for?

[Elegiac]

J'ACCUSE!

/10char

[Deleted]

As others have mentioned, please use one of the existing threads to discuss this subject, and remember to use the Search function in the future