Harris Campaign Hires Gamer to Play 'World of Warcraft' Next to Tim Walz Rally on Twitch

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MEDIAite

Oct 9th, 2024, 9:46 pm



Kamala Harris/Twitch


Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign hired a gamer to play World of Warcraft next to a speech by Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz on Wednesday. On Harris’s official Twitch page, professional gamer Preheat played the popular fantasy MMO next to a livestream of Walz speaking at a rally in Arizona.

At its height, the livestream received nearly 5,000 viewers. After Walz left the stage, and the livestream transitioned to just World of Warcraft gameplay, it dropped to around 3,500 viewers.

“The Harris campaign’s goal in combining the rally with World of Warcraft gameplay is to increase the Harris’ and Walz’s visibility to young men who make up a majority of Twitch’s user base,” reported Wired, citing a spokesperson for the Harris campaign. “Over the past few weeks, the campaign has intentionally been trying to reach young men by advertising during major sporting events and on gaming sites like IGN.”

The Harris campaign described Preheat – who specializes in World of Warcraft and writes guides for the video game – as a “volunteer” for the campaign in a statement to Wired. According to the magazine, Preheat instructed viewers “on how to defeat one of the more recent raid bosses from The War Within expansion” ahead of the campaign rally on Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/harris-campaign-hires-gamer-to-play-world-of-warcraft-next-to-tim-walz-rally-on-twitch/

[spudspud]

1. Very cool.

They need to continue to reach out to where these pontential voters are.

[displacedvermoter]

9. Do you really think many of these young game players will actually vote?

[BumRushDaShow]

14. 45 has scraped the scum of the earth to vote for him

even if it resulted in just a handful of Cliven Bundy-humping "sovereign citizen" survivalists.

We need to scrape votes from where we can find them because it literally will come down to a million recounts if we win by a few votes in some legislative or even Congressional race, but we will need to make sure that we come out on top when that happens.

BoBo got her seat by a couple hundred votes in 2022.

[displacedvermoter]

18. Can't argue with you!

[The Wandering Harper]

25. for what it's worth I'm a lifelong gamer

and a lifelong voter

[displacedvermoter]

28. Democracy requires every kind of people

I feel a song coming on!

[LauraInLA]

39. My 20yo son and all his friends are gamers, and all but one to my knowledge are voting -- and voting Dem ;)

I know an anecdote isn’t data, but….

[tavernier]

50. Same here, 22 yo gs and friends.

All will vote.

[awesomerwb1]

42. My nephew and his best friends are all gamers and

he's an engineer. Most of his best friends are also engineers or computer scientists and have good jobs. (they are also responsible party animals).

A majority of 40 and under play videos games in one way or another. Gaming is HUGE

[spudspud]

46. Yes, you'd be surprised.

I'm also a gamer (and of course a voter). I can't tell you how many times I've had discussions with other gamers loungin in chat about politics and some are so misinformed and are Trump guys. Sometimes you can get thru to some to realize they had it all wrong, and sometimes you're just dealing with bigots/racists who just like Trump for that but couch their support under some other nonsense (like he's a businessman = better for economy crap). In any event, with the country so divided and elections incredibly tight, ANY votes we can pick up are immensely worth it, like Bumrushdashow said. We shouldn't shy away from non-traditional audiences and simply cede those groups to the MAGATS.

[displacedvermoter]

2. Is this real?

I confess I don't understand the concept.

[Lochloosa]

5. Trying to reach young men. You go where they are.

And a lot are gamers.

[displacedvermoter]

6. I know

But I guess I am not following how this works as I am not a gamer. Is there like a split screen so Walz is talking while the game is going on? And are the gamers choosing this option or is it attached like an ad?

It sure is outside the box campaigning, and shows how creative they are using that record haul of contributions.

[displacedvermoter]

13. I guess after rereading it I inderstand

But confess doubts about how many actual voters this will generate. I suppose a number of these folks are potential Trump or RFK Jr voters, so reaching out to them makes sense.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. They can play and listen at the same time

They are often already doing that with the "chat" sessions that usually go on during these MMORPG games.

This is literally what is meant by "try to get 'every' vote".

[Lochloosa]

19. I'm waiting on my next game to start in World of Tanks right now.

And I'm an old guy with one screen.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. I remember way back

playing what was the original with my SETI@Home teammates. The lag was horrible but we managed to slug through a couple hours of it.

[Lochloosa]

36. It's changed a lot over the 12 years I've been playing. Lag problems have pretty much gone.

It's a good game for old guys to play. You don't have to be so nimble depending on what tanks you play.

[BumRushDaShow]

38. We also did Unreal Tournament 3

and boy that was fun. When you have a game (at least at the time) with good enough graphics to make you queasy due to having to navigate the character through a scenario with tall buildings, then you know....

[The Wandering Harper]

43. if that's the one I'm thinking of I hated that map

[BumRushDaShow]

49. LOL

I think it was this one -

[The Wandering Harper]

51. omg yep

half a second of footage and I was DONE lol

[BumRushDaShow]

52. ...

It took me awhile but I finally memorized the layout.

[Jack Valentino]

53. Possibly it will "firm up" gamers who are already leaning toward a vote for Harris-Walz...

The publicity surrounding it will probably reach a lot more gamers than those who actually viewed it.

[CrispyQ]

29. People who love to play video games also love to watch top players play video games.

It sounds weird at first cuz it's virtual, but it's not any different really from watching a basketball game cuz you like basketball. The top players make a living at this. They have fans around the world & some of the players schedule their day according to when certain areas of the world are waking up so their fans can watch them.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. And they are narrating about what they are doing

along the way (I have seen my nephew watching those - even when he's not actually playing - as they run those streaming game sessions on YouTube, and especially when they are participating in big "tournaments" ).

[CrispyQ]

34. And viewers can submit questions to the players & they answer.

It's like a new type of game show. Humans just want to be entertained.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Yeah that's the scrolling chat thing along the side

(and they also "thank" people, "on air", for their donations )

[Trueblue Texan]

3. Harris/Walz is pulling out all the stops...

The campaign seems to be hitting all the bases, leaving no stone unturned to get every single voter! I've never seen anything like it in my life.

[hlthe2b]

4. We are all doomed...

I don't criticize the Harris-Walz campaign for doing what is necessary but rather decry what future these "young men" face if they have no more concern over who will decide their future and fate than THAT. Computer games uber alles? (olf course they would not get the reference) Good gawd.

[displacedvermoter]

7. Yes, I share your concerns

I again regret how stupid we are becoming as a nation, people who have a difficult time separating fact from fantasy and seeming not to care.

[The Wandering Harper]

26. lifelong gamer here

the denigrating remarks about gamers are out of line. We are not by definition out of touch with reality. It is a hobby for many and for a few a career, and in my experience we are pretty diverse politically

[BumRushDaShow]

16. "Bread and Circuses"

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. First, you get their attention

This is a way to break through the fog of war gaming to show them that there is real world drama -- wars, villains, heroes, espionage, intrigue, puzzles -- aplenty.

[hlthe2b]

22. I don't need to be told that to get my attention. I am only depressed it is necessary for these young men...

(and yes, I do have some very deserved, albeit mild contempt for them as a result--let the excoriation begin, I stand by my statements. I can't be a "Mr. Wilson," given I am female and considerably younger than that famous comparison, but I simply cannot fully respect those who take their and all of our future so lightly and have to be "bribed" to pay attention)

Maybe I am just cranky after being awakened to very young, yet earnest weather reporters in the field using terms to describe the rainfall and swells along the Florida coast as "sick" and "ridiculous"... not "damaging" or "dangerous" or "destructive", but "sick" or "ridiculous"... Really?

Like I said, we are doomed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

41. I wonder if you do get their attention, though

Can they multi-task that well? Perhaps it's the equivalent of showing pictures of live action from a sports event, and having the sound from a speech with it. Would people really pay much attention to the sound, rather than, say, the basketball game?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

44. Note that 30 percent left when Walz did.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. Not sure how to see that, though

Were they the people who heard about it, thought "that's new", and wanted to see how it would go? Walz activists who wanted to see that nothing went wrong? Or others who were hoping to see something go wrong? Journalists?

[CrispyQ]

31. When I was young I could count the number of friends who were regular voters on one hand & still have fingers left.

Most only voted when they were inspired by a candidate or hot about an issue.

[hlthe2b]

32. How young? Maybe 18 but by the time I was 21 no way... My friends were engaged.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. This campaign is winning with things like this

Hillary lost in 2016 because her campaign didn't try to understand what the Trump campaign was doing with his Facebook ads. They actually mocked the fact that the Trump campaign was doing micro ads targeting thousands of different segements of voters on Facebook, it was unproven, it was novel, and it was what won him the election in 2016. Hillary's team went with traditional advertising and tried and proven ads that they did run on Facebook.

Trump has a smart team around him, do not underestimate them. He and Vance have been making the rounds with Social Media influencers and giving in depth interviews. These podcasters and streamers reach huge audiences and the Trump team is hoping to activate new voters this way. It could work. So I am happy to see the Harris campaign acknowledge what their opponent is doing and try to counter it.

[Icanthinkformyself]

10. It's the difference between

having 'old school' campaign staff who, if the GOP has any left, are, like pollsters, using out of date methodologies and processes and having young, enthusiastic staff who know how to by-pass legacy, corporate media to get the message to those who otherwise may not hear it. Impressive, very impressive.

[Kali999]

11. not a gamer

Trumps trolls are from gamergate. This is a way to reach young men. Smart

[70sEraVet]

12. You reach out to wherever the people are.

You go out to the diners and the county fairs, to the malls, sports stadiums and concert venues. So, go to the gamers, too!

[Novara]

17. It's pretty smart.

To an old fart like me, I don't give a damn about these games but if it reaches voters, it's all good.

[ananda]

23. Indeed, the smartest campaign I've ever seen!

Genius

[PedroXimenez]

24. an improvement over "pokemon go to the polls" n/t

[chowder66]

27. Creative.

[yorkster]

30. Get Tim Walz to talk about GIS and mapping.

He's a wiz and has been using Geographic Information System tech for decades as a geography teacher and as a governor.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

37. This made me smile

[SupportSanity]

40. Great idea!!!

[0rganism]

47. Worth a try, could be construed as pandering

Harris' campaign definitely has the resources to fish in these twitchy waters

[NowsTheTime]

48. My goodness she's missing an opportunity to sell Fake watches and Chinese Bibles?