• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Maine GOP attack Dem for playing World of Warcraft!

Loki97 said:
Even comparing reading to playing video games isn't black and white. Some games teach analytical skills and planning while reading trash romance novels isn't likely to greatly expand your horizons.
Click to expand...

The excuses never end. At least be honest, the games we're talking about here are the on-screen equivilent of bodice rippers.
 
clownboy said:
The excuses never end. At least be honest, the games we're talking about here are the on-screen equivilent of bodice rippers.
Click to expand...

I don't play WoW so I can't really comment on the nuances of it's game play. It's incredibly popular, so are romance novels. Most forms of entertainment that appeal to a wide audience aren't known for their depth or educational value. I'm serious when I say I would be hard pressed to think of a bigger waste of time and money than golf. It just has zero appeal for me but I acknowledge that it is extremely popular in some demographics. One of my cousins not only plays whenever he can but watches it on TV, something I can only see myself doing as a cure for insomnia. As long as someone's choice of leisure activity is legal, why should it be any business what they choose to do? I really don't understand the thinking behind the ad that started this whole thread. My guess is that while it would appeal to a certain voter profile that is probably already firmly in the Republican camp, it would garner little enthusiasm from moderates and independents and might alienate some of them.
 
Loki97 said:
I don't play WoW so I can't really comment on the nuances of it's game play. It's incredibly popular, so are romance novels. Most forms of entertainment that appeal to a wide audience aren't known for their depth or educational value. I'm serious when I say I would be hard pressed to think of a bigger waste of time and money than golf. It just has zero appeal for me but I acknowledge that it is extremely popular in some demographics. One of my cousins not only plays whenever he can but watches it on TV, something I can only see myself doing as a cure for insomnia. As long as someone's choice of leisure activity is legal, why should it be any business what they choose to do? I really don't understand the thinking behind the ad that started this whole thread. My guess is that while it would appeal to a certain voter profile that is probably already firmly in the Republican camp, it would garner little enthusiasm from moderates and independents and might alienate some of them.
Click to expand...

Again, and again, it wasn't about the video game but the time she spent playing it. Had she spent 22 hrs a week reading bodice rippers or anything that was a couch surfing activity, that may have been highlighted instead.
 
Loki97 said:
Even comparing reading to playing video games isn't black and white. Some games teach analytical skills and planning while reading trash romance novels isn't likely to greatly expand your horizons.
Click to expand...

Let's be honest. The majority of the time, even the most dedicated games teach relatively minor amounts of critical thinking. Sure, some puzzle solving here or there, or whatever, but these things are usually isolated to each game's systems of reality. I'll grant you this, however, a great many novels are trash. I even have some quarrels with the virtue of reading novels as well.
 
Last edited:
Loki97 said:
[...] I really don't understand the thinking behind the ad that started this whole thread. My guess is that while it would appeal to a certain voter profile that is probably already firmly in the Republican camp, it would garner little enthusiasm from moderates and independents and might alienate some of them.
Click to expand...
That's the scary part; it's a given that the GOP is a party of xenophobes, and that therefore the party apparatchiks would try to appeal to the base (of xenophobes). However, to do it so clumsily and stupidly means that, in addition to be a party designed to appeal to xenophobes, the people running the party are stupid.

Now one would find it hard to believe that the people running a national political party are simply stupid, but there is tons of evidence supporting that -- this ad, which will insult anyone of intelligence, including gamers nationwide, attempts over the years to privatize Social Security (which the vast majority oppose), the recent attempt to privatize Medicare (which the vast majority oppose), calls to bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran, Sarah Palin, etc. So we already have the party of stupid running the House of Representatives, and if we're not careful they'll be running the White House too -- balancing the budget by closing tax loopholes.... :lamo
 
Republicans and Democrats should join and all play WOW. That way, they won't get to screw up the nation further.

Republicans should play Horde because its red and the dems should be the Alliance because they're blue. Also, orcs ride those kodo things that look like elephants and elves like to have intimate relations with donkeys. o_O
 
clownboy said:
Again, and again, it wasn't about the video game but the time she spent playing it. Had she spent 22 hrs a week reading bodice rippers or anything that was a couch surfing activity, that may have been highlighted instead.
Click to expand...

It was about the video game as well. Don't forget the quotes she associated with the game: fulfilling fantasies, breaking crimes without them being actual crimes, killing without actually killing, and so forth.
 
clownboy said:
Again, and again, it wasn't about the video game but the time she spent playing it. Had she spent 22 hrs a week reading bodice rippers or anything that was a couch surfing activity, that may have been highlighted instead.
Click to expand...

Gonna have to call for a source that shows she played 22 hours a week. Aside from the fact she hasn't played much at all in nearly a year, the only reference I can find thaat mentions 22 hours is this one and that is what the average WoW player puts into the game according to unidentified studies. The real crux of the matter still is what right do you have to judge what constitutes an acceptable leisure activity and what doesn't? Mitt Romney lists "American Idol" as one of his favorite shows. Should we judge his strength as a candidate based on that example of poor taste? I just find it ironic that some of the same people who scream "nanny state" when a locale wants to restrict fast food think they have the right to sit in judgment of what someone does for recreation.


Colleen Lachowicz: Maine state senate candidate outed as World of Warcraft player | Mail Online
 
clownboy said:
Again, and again, it wasn't about the video game but the time she spent playing it. [...]
Click to expand...
1. They don't know how much time she spent playing it, so their/your argument is based upon a lie.
2. In a free country, what one does legally during their spare time -- all of it or part of it -- should not be used to judge them or their abilities.
 
Loki97 said:
Gonna have to call for a source that shows she played 22 hours a week. [...]
Click to expand...
The right makes it up (or misrepresents) as they go... in fact, they do it so fast you can hardly keep up. Just ask Obama after that last debate.
 
Fiddytree said:
It was about the video game as well. Don't forget the quotes she associated with the game: fulfilling fantasies, breaking crimes without them being actual crimes, killing without actually killing, and so forth.
Click to expand...

Have you any clue how close you are to endorsing the concept of "thought crime"?
 
Loki97 said:
Gonna have to call for a source that shows she played 22 hours a week. Aside from the fact she hasn't played much at all in nearly a year, the only reference I can find thaat mentions 22 hours is this one and that is what the average WoW player puts into the game according to unidentified studies. The real crux of the matter still is what right do you have to judge what constitutes an acceptable leisure activity and what doesn't? Mitt Romney lists "American Idol" as one of his favorite shows. Should we judge his strength as a candidate based on that example of poor taste? I just find it ironic that some of the same people who scream "nanny state" when a locale wants to restrict fast food think they have the right to sit in judgment of what someone does for recreation.


Colleen Lachowicz: Maine state senate candidate outed as World of Warcraft player | Mail Online
Click to expand...

Well, we ought to criticize the public for demanding its representatives catering to its lowest common denominator simply to fulfill America's overly-obsessive democratic spirit.
 
Fiddytree said:
Let's be honest. The majority of the time, even the most dedicated games teach relatively minor amounts of critical thinking. Sure, some puzzle solving here or there, or whatever, but these things are usually isolated to each game's systems of reality. I'll grant you this, however, a great many novels are trash. I even have some quarrels with the virtue of reading novels as well.
Click to expand...
Let's be really honest -- your generalization is no better than the one you were trying to debunk :mrgreen:

Assigning value to a person's recreational activity, then using that to assign a value to the person, is a road that I would think one would not want to travel down. GOP excepted, it seems....
 
Loki97 said:
Have you any clue how close you are to endorsing the concept of "thought crime"?
Click to expand...

I'm reminding Clownboy about what the advert actually criticized her for. He said it was just about the hours, not about the content of the satisfaction she gains.
 
Loki97 said:
Have you any clue how close you are to endorsing the concept of "thought crime"?
Click to expand...
The GOP, in that it is heavily influenced/controlled by the religious right, has endorsed that concept for decades now (by said association/adoption).
 
Karl said:
Let's be really honest -- your generalization is no better than the one you were trying to debunk :mrgreen:

Assigning value to a person's recreational activity, then using that to assign a value to the person, is a road that I would think one would not want to travel down. GOP excepted, it seems....
Click to expand...

It's been a rare feat to find a truly exceptional game that truly transcended its simplistic entertainment value. A "thinking man's game" exists in so far as it can be tolerated by the gamer.
 
Fiddytree said:
I'm reminding Clownboy about what the advert actually criticized her for. He said it was just about the hours, not about the content of the satisfaction she gains.
Click to expand...

That does seem to be what their current claim about her playing centers on. What it translates to is just another reason to ridicule the ad since it is accusing her of thought crime in a "fantasy world". Maybe they can continue along this line and organize a good old fashioned book burning of any fiction with such content. They can start with Stephen King, I'm sure that will go over like gangbusters in Maine.
 
Loki97 said:
That does seem to be what their current claim about her playing centers on. What it translates to is just another reason to ridicule the ad since it is accusing her of thought crime in a "fantasy world". Maybe they can continue along this line and organize a good old fashioned book burning of any fiction with such content. They can start with Stephen King, I'm sure that will go over like gangbusters in Maine.
Click to expand...

Video gamers have to come to terms with their benign sadism, just as the public does, I agree.
 
Karl said:
Let's be really honest -- your generalization is no better than the one you were trying to debunk :mrgreen:

Assigning value to a person's recreational activity, then using that to assign a value to the person, is a road that I would think one would not want to travel down. GOP excepted, it seems....
Click to expand...

This is what the Democrat candidate said, not just thought.

"I love poisoning and stabbing," "I can kill stuff without going to jail" and "I like to stab things and I'm originally from New Jersey, what's your (expletive) point?"

Would you be equally content if Mitt Romney had made those statements?

The Death of the Grown-Up | Diana West > Book
 
Karl said:
1. They don't know how much time she spent playing it, so their/your argument is based upon a lie.
Click to expand...

Typical, go off half-cocked because your favorite political team has been insulted. Here you go:

"Colleen is playing at level 85 -- the highest level one can attain," says a recent press release by the state party. "Studies have found that the average World of Warcraft gamer is 28 and spends 22.7 hours per week playing."
Click to expand...

Karl said:
2. In a free country, what one does legally during their spare time -- all of it or part of it -- should not be used to judge them or their abilities.
Click to expand...

Welcome to reality and political campaigns where EVERYTHING you do, or have ever done, is used to judge the candidate for office.
 
Grant said:
This is what the Democrat candidate said, not just thought.

"I love poisoning and stabbing," "I can kill stuff without going to jail" and "I like to stab things and I'm originally from New Jersey, what's your (expletive) point?"

Would you be equally content if Mitt Romney had made those statements?

The Death of the Grown-Up | Diana West > Book
Click to expand...

Well since Mitt wouldn't be talking about video games , I would be very concerned.
 
0bserver92 said:
Well since Mitt wouldn't be talking about video games , I would be very concerned.
Click to expand...

Right.

I doubt Mitt Romney will be talking about video games during this campaign, though perhaps Barrack Obama might. He has to play to his constituency.
 
clownboy said:
I saw this in a few other places, but they didn't have the same omissions this one did. Apparently in order to reach that level you have to play the game an average of 22hrs a day for months. That's what was highlighted by the Maine republicans, which game it was is beside the point.

The ad uses her admission of loving the game to imply she will be spending half an average workweek in game play if elected.
Click to expand...

Someone else probably already hit on this, but i stopped here to comment. You can hit 85 in WoW without hardcore gaming. In fact if she had been playing since the beginning she could be 85 probably playing 1-2 hours a week. I don't see the issue here.
 
Tigger said:
Ever think that might just be one of our problems, Higgins?
Click to expand...
Would we be better off if they went back to playing bridge, dominoes, Risk, or w/e else people played before these games came about?
What difference does it make that the game involves a computer/console?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom