JCC State Senate Candidate Bashed for Playing WOW

Courtesy of, of all things, the BBC.

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," saidMs 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."


I know there's a general wacky news thread but I thought this deserved its own discussion. The attitude towards gamers displayed widely is ridiculous, even though a huge number of people game now. It's downright hilarious to me that someone would think that because you are happy your Orc is good at stabbing things that you are dangerously, violently disturbed.

If they were going to focus on anything, they should examine how much time she spends playing WOW, because that can be a timesucking leech that destroys jobs and lives. But obviously not necessarily for everyone.

 

PvP or RP?

 

I feel like this is basically just going to help by making a politician more relatable.

 

The first, I suspect, of many such smears to come, as gaming becomes more and more of a thing that regular people just do, while politics continues to be the realm of out-of-touch old white guys.

 

Unless she's playing it during congressional sessions, this is a big deal WHY?

 

"Because only crazy people still play video games as adults! She probably can't tell the difference between the video game and real life."

 

Because she likes stabbing people. And by people I mean pixels.

 

wth is going on in Maine....

 

Pixels don't kill people, people kill people!!

 

Because video games cause teenagers to be come violent and if she's still playing video games as an adult, she must be a serial killer! /sarcasm

UGH! I hate that "Video games cause violence" logic.

 

Wow, this reminds me of the old days when playing D&D meant you were a budding Satan worshipper.

 

Why hello, bigotry towards rpgs, I've missed you!

 

Why is Luke Skywalker from Dark Empire in the back?


...

 

Somebody used playing D&D as a defense here in Virginia 20 years ago when they brutally murdered two children.

 

Santiaga: lfg GOP HQ. raid need strong mdps. prefer pally off tank.

 

She should be mocked for rolling Horde.

 

I don't see the problem. I can't speak for the person in question, but killing and harassing people in-game is the only thing keeping me sane in real life. My guildies and I used to pick random people in Warsong Gulch and farm them in the graveyard. We got this one Orc shaman 32 times between two consecutive BGs.