Examining the Role of Video Games In the US Election

Gamasutra is running an article discussing the influence of games and gamers on the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. The connection, while minor, is continuing to strengthen, from allowing people to register to vote through their consoles, to in-game advertising, to games about and involving the candidates. However, it may still be an uphill climb as media-sharing becomes easier. From Gamasutra: "There are reasons games have grown slowly compared to other technologies for political outreach. The most important one is also the most obvious: since 2004, online video and social networks have become the big thing, as blogs were four years ago. Instead of urging voters to 'play my game,' as Loftus and I surmised, candidates urged their constituents to 'watch my video.' Online video became the political totem of 2008, from James Kotecki's dorm room interviews to CNN's YouTube debates."

Comments

Oh no, not again

[Anonymous Coward]

Why oh why must the online media trot out these "gamers change the world" stories. Gamers are not special. The games they play are not special. Some gamers are geeky recluses, but they would still be geeky recluses without their games. Some gamers are not geeky. The games don't have any magic special effect on people, and gamers certainly don't have any effect on society as a whole. This stuff is all just hype.

When you play a game, you play a game. THAT'S ALL. You don't suddenly develop special "cultural zeitgeist" powers. You remain what you always were: an insignificant converter of oxygen and food into energy and poo poo. Gaming does not rock society. Society plods along, wars still happen, booms and busts, new bosses that are the same as the old boss, never ending one-hit-wonder girl bands etc etc

Just because we can game on the internet nowardays doesnt mean gamers are plugged into national or international current affairs and just because you can save your game doesn't mean any gamer ever made history. Gamers, get your right hands out of your pants, and get over yourselves. If you cannot enjoy your "duke blastem" or whatever without contriving megalomaniac/oninistic fantasies and spilling them all over the web, perhaps you should try another hobby. How about doing some charity work - that might help you regain some persepctive.

Re:Oh no, not again

[genner]

Why oh why must the online media trot out these "gamers change the world" stories. Gamers are not special.

My mom says I'm special.....*sniff*

Re:Oh no, not again

[Aladrin]

Wow, you seem really, really disturbed over this. Have you ever considered that maybe your attitude is the problem, not theirs?

Re:Oh no, not again

[gnick]

Exactly - The reason is obvious. Most people are right-handed so, when not on a computer, the right hand is the most convenient for recreation. However, since the poster is referring specifically to the masturbatory habits of gamers, because most right-handed people keep the mouse on the right, and because the right hand can be used most flexibly to control both the keyboard and mouse when the left hand is otherwise occupied and the mouse is to the right of the keyboard, the left hand is the one most likely to be found in a gamer's pants. OP should think through these things before making silly statements like that.

Karma bonus abandoned for obvious reasons.

Re:Oh no, not again

[rarity]

I use my left hand for that.

Amateur. When you can use both hands and swap without missing a stroke, you'll have something to boast about. Assuming you can find someone to boast to.

Re:Oh no, not again

[ztcamper]

Are you going to support your argument? Do you have any credentials? Does "doing some charity work - that might help you regain some persepctive" make you more special? It's an obvious move. Like in business they are trying to tap all possible markets. Why are you so upset about it? Are you an optimist?

Re:Oh no, not again

[philspear]

I agree that it is often overstated, but the answer they're looking for right now is much simpler:

Games may affect the election when people play them and forget to vote until the polls close. No need to freak out about overstating the impact of games, some are just very addictive, and you look up and "oh crap, it's 4AM, I forgot to go into work... or vote... or eat."

Re:Oh no, not again

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

I use my left hand for that.

Amateur. When you can use both hands and swap without missing a stroke, you'll have something to boast about. Assuming you can find someone to boast to.

When you need both hands to begin with, then you'll have something to boast about...

Re:Oh no, not again

[Quothz]

gamers certainly don't have any effect on society as a whole.

Your point is well-made, although y'might put a moment's thought into cutting down on the caffeine.

Still, I think you're at least somewhat overstating it. While gamers aren't a driving cultural movement with far-reaching, powerful influence - in the manner of, say, the strong churches or the hippy movement - the subculture has had indisputable effects on society.

For example, a great deal of home computing technology advances are driven by the gaming market. The gaming market -itself- is a phenomenon which has its effects on society. Aside from the direct economic effect, the existence of this market affects educational choices and offerings, increasing demand for computer science and graphics technology degrees; in turn, this impacts public curricula.

And so forth. Again, while I agree that gamers as a subculture are far from a coherent political force, to say they have no societal impact is naive. That said, I totally encourage folks t'do a little charity work on the side, as well.

Re:Oh no, not again

[Nefarious Wheel]

while I agree that gamers as a subculture are far from a coherent political force, to say they have no societal impact is naive.

Agree in part. In one game alone (World of Warcraft) there is a community of 10 million people with something in common to talk about. Now 10 million is a very small fraction of 6 billion, but still it's an example of large numbers of people talking to each other, forming groups -- not just the "duo" up to "raid" parties, but the various chat channels. I'm an Australian, and I found myself having a good long conversation with someone in Florida with whom I share a common medical affliction, but who is diametrically opposite me politically (My main is Horde, his Alliance -- but it goes deeper than that ;P ). During the time we were arguing politics (and happily living too far away for fisticuffs) we were helping each other along the leveling path and becoming, as a completely unexpected side effect, close friends.

Think about it -- two people in different countries, radically different in certain core philosophies, becoming friends. Now multiply this friendship by however many sub groups, similar to this one, are likely happening across a 10 million strong group of players grouped by non-geographic boundaries ("Realms", individual servers). People who are gradually coming to the understanding that all borders are necessarily arbitrary and can be crossed.

I think that's a good argument that there's a lot of societal impact. This is a new medium, available only in the last few years. Writing, then newspapers, then radio, then television, then email, then YouTube and games. As the world grows, communications evolves -- must evolve -- in order to provide some coherence to society. And at its base, the economy itself depends on communications. If you don't believe that, spare a moment to think of the enormous battle for your eye space that goes on.

The Campaign Game (General Election Edition)

[Jainith]

Awesome turn based strategy game, it used to let you pick any of the Candidates running in either primary, I dont know when they changed it, or what else they changed.

http://www.kongregate.com/games/thup/campaign-game

Re:The Campaign Game (General Election Edition)

[MindKata]

If they change the name from Candidates to End Of Level Boss, then more console users are likely to vote in an election, to get their favourite End Of Level Boss.

Re:The Campaign Game (General Election Edition)

[tuxgeek]

There is potential to this game concept. But it needs to be extended to allow the player to win an election and rule as president.

The objective could be to see how quickly you, as president, can destroy civilization.

Re:The Campaign Game (General Election Edition)

[infonography]

ok

I vote for Donkey Kong for President!

Speaking of politics and videogames...

[Sibko]

http://kotaku.com/5071682/sarah-palin-to-shoot-moose-obama-in-mercs-2

Pretty clever advertising, I must admit.

Why games?

[Xtense]

Doesn't seem to me like games are a good medium to spread your political messages - after all, games are... well, games. You play them to have fun, not to be fed loads of political horsecrap. Those so inclined may as well analyze, event after event, the ideological backgrounds of each turn taken by the game's story, but seriously, that's not where the "entertainment" bit is at. And gamers are there for entertainment.

Looks to me like a non-story.

Re:Why games?

[stinerman]

Meh.

Too many people these days demand to be entertained while they get their news or political spin of the day. I see a market for this, but I don't know how large of one.

Re:Why games?

[utnapistim]

You play them to have fun, not to be fed loads of political horsecrap.

... which is why this is efficient.

The problem you have here is that while games are indeed entertainment, while a player is focused on the game play, the messages (billboards or whatever else) go easier into the subconscious.

This is much more efficient than making the image the focus of the player's attention, as it doesn't engage the player's prejudices/opinions/critical thinking and goes directly into the subconscious. It is the same principle of subliminal suggestions and some hypnosis therapy techniques (using multiple voices speaking over each other, with the actual message not being the loudest of the voices).

That said, I'm not sure how many of the electorate are gamers or how many need that message: if the candidate advertising himself is technology-savvy he probably already has more appeal to gamers (they being closer to technology anyway) so in a way it sounds like preaching to the choir.

Re:Why games?

[somersault]

Exactly.

"There are reasons games have grown slowly compared to other technologies for political outreach. The most important one is also the most obvious: since 2004, online video and social networks have become the big thing, as blogs were four years ago.

Whoever wrote that must seriously have no life, if they really think that everything in the world has to somehow revolve around their little election.

Re:Why games?

[ThisIsAnonymous]

Actually, the degree to which a spectator can resist the ideological forces of the text is one of the most studied, and controversial, areas of spectatorship studies. You seem to indicate that gamers can simply "be there for entertainment" but there are quite a few people that disagree. Try reading about Interpellation and Louis Althusser.

As a side note, I'm aware that the interactivity inherent in all games challenges the notion of the passive spectator of apparatus theory...I just wanted to say that there are differing opinions on this issue, though almost all sides agree that all texts are ideological.

Re:Why games?

[jollyreaper]

Doesn't seem to me like games are a good medium to spread your political messages - after all, games are... well, games.

Depends on the game. The best modern one I saw was one where you got to play the US military. You had a little animated city street full of civilians and a few terrorists -- civilians wore white turbans, the terrorists wore black ones. You had a missile with a large splash radius to kill the terrorists with. If you hit a terrorist, he died. If you hit a civilian, they died, too. If the civilian was only wounded, he turned into a terrorist. After a few minutes of play the entire street was swarming with terrorists. A pretty effective demonstration of what happens when you use hand grenades to swat flies.

There's also Monopoly.

The history of Monopoly can be traced back to the early 1900s. In 1904, a Quaker woman named Elizabeth (Lizzie) J. Magie Phillips created a game through which she hoped to be able to explain the single tax theory of Henry George (it was supposed to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies). Her game, The Landlord's Game, was commercially published a few years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(board_game)

Because games are so interactive, they can do a better job of explaining an idea than just reading it in the book or having someone lecture about it in front of the classroom. Of course, since we're talking about a game, it's very easy to skew the rules to enforce your point of view. One could just as easily create a Christian game like monopoly where all the squares represent sins and demonstrate that it's impossible to get all the way around the board to heaven without pulling the Jesus card. Sort of like how Ayn Rand would use her books to justify Objectivism. "But Ayn, people don't behave that way in the real world!" "Well, they should!"

I think that the Obama campaign has pushed the envelope on new media efforts but they've still only scratched the surface.

Re:Why games?

[Hatta]

As someone who plays games to escape all the BS on TV and radio, political ads would not slip more easily into my subconscious. In fact, political ads, or any kind of ads in my games would elicit a "WTF is this shit doing in my game" response, and probably cause me to choose another game. When I watch TV, I expect ads and readily ignore them. When I play a game, I pay attention to the game environment, and any sort of ad would break the illusion.

BTW, there is no real evidence that subliminal messages have any efficacy at all.

Re:Do as I say, not as I do

[joss]

So, your argument is that it's hypocritical of Obama to use the donations people have sent to his election campaign to try and get himself elected as opposed to giving it to other candidates ?

Is this really an argument that you think will impress anyone ? If you really want to prevent Obama being elected, I recommend you argue on his behalf.. you're about as helpful as an Al Qaeda endorsement. Things are stacked sufficiently against McCain without your help.

Doom..

[onion2k]

I'm voting for a Cyberdemon to be president!

This joke fails on so many levels. Firstly, I'm English so I can't vote. Secondly, there aren't any cyberdemons standing. Thirdly, even if a cyberdemon were to stand they'd probably be an independent standing for a niche Military/Satanic party so it'd be a bit of a waste. I can't imagine cyberdemons are very interested in environmental or economic policy. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, cyberdemons aren't real so you can't vote for them anyway. Mind you, nor is Sarah Palin. I don't know who thought her up but that joke has gone way too far already...

Re:Doom..

[somersault]

cyberdemons aren't real so you can't vote for them anyway

I beg to differ. Clippy is real. I have seen him with my own eyes. I enlisted the help of a monastery of technopriests to smite him into the fiery pits of disabled preferences.

Re:Doom..

[Aladrin]

I disagree. I think cyberdemons would be very interested in environmental and economic policies. It might be the exact wrong kind of interest, but then, how could we tell the difference between them and the current government when it comes to that?

Idiocracy moves one step closer...

[Joce640k]

Politics be damned, just vote for the coolest dude and get him representin' the people.

Young people too easily distracted

[theaveng]

>>>James Kotecki's dorm room

It's good to see teens and college-aged persons getting involved, but the facts remain, they are the smallest group in terms of voting. They are too easily distracted by other things (homework, classes, parties), and often skip going to the booth on Election Day.

"I'll give you free beer if you don't vote."

"Dude I am so there!!! I can vote when I'm old; where's the keg?"

They let gamers vote????

[lee n. field]

We're doomed.

Register to vote?

[jav1231]

The thought of people registering to vote through an XBox is frightening.

But the thought that most such voters will be too caught up in GTA to actually leave the house makes me feel much better!

Re:Register to vote?

[Robyrt]

The thought of people registering to vote through an XBox is frightening. But the thought that most such voters will be too caught up in GTA to actually leave the house makes me feel much better!

Why is it frightening? It would definitely be more convenient than the rigmarole I had to go through, involving snail mailing multiple forms in order. A system message reminding me to register, or even one on Nov. 4 to go vote, would be wonderful in terms of increasing turnout among the younger demographic. I don't see that there's any reason to suppose that hardcore gamers are less informed or trustworthy than the general populace. On the contrary, the more gaming websites you check, the more likely you are to stumble across some actual news while you're there. It's better than trusting the ads on TV, that's for sure.

Re:Register to vote?

[Swanktastic]

The thought of people registering to vote through an XBox is frightening.

1. Please enter your Full Name and Address below.
2. What is your political affiliation? (Please Check Only One)
- Enjoy Screaming Racial/Homosexual Epithets (Republican)
- Teabagger (Democrat)
- Spawn Camper (Libertarian)

Re:Register to vote?

[geobeck]

But the thought that most such voters will be too caught up in GTA to actually leave the house makes me feel much better!

They'll be so caught up in GTA that they won't notice the third instalment of GTE.

Re:When I see election video games on CNN...

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

I can see it now: "The Secret Black Negro Muslim Socialist Brigade from Planet Marx vs. The Moose-Shooting Rogue Hottie and the Grizzled War Hero in: DEBATE DEATHMATCH!"

"What we need... is change!"

"You're a terrorist!"

"What?"

"Don't make me pull out my Moosekiller 2012 BFG!"

"No, what I'm trying to say is..."

"Maverick!"

Obama reels from the blow

"If that's not Marxism, then I'm not a soccerbull pitmom!"

Obama staggers, his shields are failing

"Hockey!!"

he drops to his knees, his HUD awash in alarms

"And now I'd like to tell you about..."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"JOE SIXPACK, DON'TCHA KNOW!"

the Red Team has captured the base. Respawn in four years.

Re:Do as I say, not as I do

[Andr T.]

Yesterday I was reading the Fox News comments on the video of an American military vet voting for McCain. I like reading the comments, well, because... people are so stupid that it hurts. But it's funny.

And then there was people saying the US are in Iraq to 'free' the people. I couldn't help myself from registering to the site and posting a comment about Saudi Arabia - which has a very, very, very, very bad regime but, since it does what the US economically wants, nobody says anything about it. The US doesn't need to 'free' them, while they keep the cheap oil flow. I didn't want to hide so I openly posted as a foreigner watching the news.

What the people said? 'you third world bastard, get back to your (bleep) (bleep) country.'

I can't argue with that.

Super suits!

[Troll14]

Whoever can get me one of those Crysis nano-suits first wins my vote!

Re:Do as I say, not as I do

[IchNiSan]

After these last 8 years, it will be refreshing to have a president that can admit he lied, or at least admit he made a wrong decision before he had all the facts.

Thanks for making me more comfortable with Obama!

Gerrymandering - Win by rigging the field

[jonaskoelker]

A really interesting game, where you get to fight for your side no matter what it is, and get to win the election not by having the better message but by rigging the game is this:

http://www.redistrictinggame.com/

You have a 2d grid of squares; for each square, you have a population count and a distribution between blue, red and white. You have to form n connected components (n is given, typically 4), with roughly equal population counts, such that:

- in level 1, true
- in level 2, your guy wins (you pick either red or blue at the outset)
- in level 3, the red and blue have enough votes to shut everybody else out
- in level 4, you have 65% blacks in one area
- in level 5, you learn how it all can be fixed.

Think of it as a "Help America Vote For Me Act" :)

Tron Paul

[DanTheStone]

Just wait for next election's ramp up, when the Tron Paul video game is released. Then we'll all find out whether these people were right. http://www.xkcd.com/497/

both politicians and gamers live in fantasy worlds

[peter303]

Except for gamers it doesnt affect anyone, save their immediate families.

Re:When I see election video games on CNN...

[Kingrames]

You seem to have forgotten that Sarah Palin has "gone rogue." that translates into teamkilling.

C64 election game?

[MMC Monster]

There was a great game for the Commodore 64 about running a presidential election.

It was pretty simple, but it involved putting money in various states and campaigning and stuff.

Anything remotely like that available nowadays? Or should I just go back to yelling at kids that are on my front lawn?

Re:When I see election video games on CNN...

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

Aah, but that's her devilish plan! First you beat the opponent, then you get the office, *then* you TK, then you're the president!

And then, of course, you get the women...

(and curse you for thinking of that. it's so blindingly obvious I'm embarrassed to have missed it. tip of the hat.)

US political spectrum in WOW

[Al Al Cool J]

This may be pants, but here is an amusing look at the US voter preferences inside World of Warcraft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Kg-K7em20

It was produced by Sandeep Parikh, who plays Zaboo on the YouTube hit The Guild, and has his own game-inspired web video comedy, The Legend of Neil.

I disagree

[Trepidity]

Gamers as some sort of social group may not be particularly special, but the use of game-like setups for rhetorical purposes has been greatly underexplored. Like most media, it will probably eventually differentiate into different areas, like how you can currently watch films designed for entertainment, films designed to inform, films designed to persuade, and many other kinds of films.

In fact, the author of this article has a book-length treatment of the subject (Persuasive Games, MIT Press, 2007).

why are games inherently entertainment?

[Trepidity]

You could rewrite your post to say "films" or "video" also. People go to YouTube to be entertained by silly videos about cats, not to be fed loads of political horsecrap. People see films to be entertained by Hollywood special effects and love stories, not to get some sort of political message. Oh except those aren't true. People do go to YouTube to be entertained mostly, but that doesn't mean they (or other people) can't also go to YouTube to watch political videos. That a medium s primarily used for entertainment doesn't mean that nobody can ever use it for anything else.

not what I expected

[PrebleNY]

I was sure this was going to examine voter participation among gamers given the proximity of the release of WotLK to the US elections in November...

Difference in perspective

[LrdDimwit]

Your perspective is skewed. It would actually be more accurate to say everyone else's perspective is skewed, but perspective is one of those weird things that's defined by mass perception (since it reflects public opinion).

You know this. I know this. It still needs saying, because there are a lot of people out there who hold outdated stereotypes. You know the ones, too -- all gamers are 13-year old boys -- and once upon a time (say 10, 15 years ago) they were more true than not. Problem is, too many non-gamers haven't got the message that things have changed.

Well, how are they supposed to find out about this? Thru video game communities? They don't play video games. The fact that many gamers are politically active is news to some people, and they need to be told this or they come to antiquated "get off my lawn" type conclusions. And everyone loses when that happens.

Of course, it IS a good question why this belongs on Slashdot. Arguably it isn't "news for nerds" (it isn't news to us) but it is "stuff that matters". Unless you think it's great that Jack Thompson is one of the only voices on this subject.

No longer eligible

[LrdDimwit]

Unfortunately, he is not eligible to be on the ballot. His second term expires in January, and he's not allowed to run again.

Re:No longer eligible

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

He is donkey kong. Much like Chuck Norris, one does not tell him what he may and may not do.

Forgive LrdDimwit sir Kong, he knows not of what he speaks.

Onanistic?

[GameboyRMH]

Gamers don't get to do it with anyone, especially their dead brother's wife, and if they did they wouldn't pull out. They'd keep it in for MAXIMUM PWNAGE!!!1one

Re:FIRST TROUT!

[NoobixCube]

He should have linked to an image of a hand print. That, or copied "I AM A FISH" a few hundred times.

Re:When I see election video games on CNN...

[syousef]

Thank you. At least 3 people didn't decide my little joke was a troll. It's not like I picked on just one political party. I'm not even American.