Does playing wargames make you unfit for public office

[Con]

I often wonder if our hobby would make us unable (if any of us would be that masochistic) for running for a public office.

Looks like one politician who is a gamer is getting targeted because of her hobby. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/republicans-out-democrat-world-warcraft-witch-hunt-6283586

I guess all if fair in political mud slinging but wargamers are opinionated, brash rude and we smell (and those are our redeeming qualities).  I know what kind of hay someone with an axe to grind could make of me playing a German tank in World of Tanks or miniatures ACW where you choose the grey over the blue side.  Makes me glad I stayed in the private sector

Con
PS I don't know if this should be in R&P but I thought we could try current events since it is wargaming specific.  Apologies if I made the wrong choice where to post

[GDS_Starfury]

your calling warcraft a wargame?


OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!


^^^ very mod like isnt it  8)

[Con]

Well I would say it is within the scope of the wargaming hobby...I didnt think you were a purist when it came to that GDS ;D

Con

[LongBlade]

I dunno.

I had a job interview a while back with a San Francisco-based company. One of the articles I sent them as my body of work: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/jagdtigers-in-the-west-a-steel-panthers-aar.htm

I was playing the Germans. Shrapnel, as a matter of historical record, uses the Nazi flag for victory conditions.

But I never heard back from those folks. Not even an email saying "no thanks." That was after what I considered to be a very strong phone interview.

I have a suspicion that I was not considered due to a misconception that, because I wrote an AAR from the German perspective, I was some kind of kook.

Now a kook I may be, but I'm clearly I'm not a Nazi-sympathizer.

Unfortunately, gamers in general, and wargamers in particular, can be misunderstood.

Frankly, if I were running for office, I'd rather be explaining a youthful indiscretion as a Playgirl centerfold. But for some reason that career never worked out, so a gamer I am. Go figure.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Maybe gamers shouldn't be diplomats. There would be the tendency, in jest, to yell out "All your base are belong to us!"

[TheCommandTent]

Maybe gamers shouldn't be diplomats. There would be the tendency, in jest, to yell out "All your base are belong to us!"

Haha, now that is good stuff!   ;D

[LongBlade]

Maybe gamers shouldn't be diplomats. There would be the tendency, in jest, to yell out "All your base are belong to us!"

Haha, now that is good stuff!   ;D

+1

That's good stuff, Biggles. :)

[Con]

I wonder how the Iranians would react if you did that ;D

[Arctic Blast]

I often wonder if our hobby would make us unable (if any of us would be that masochistic) for running for a public office.

Looks like one politician who is a gamer is getting targeted because of her hobby. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/republicans-out-democrat-world-warcraft-witch-hunt-6283586

I guess all if fair in political mud slinging but wargamers are opinionated, brash rude and we smell (and those are our redeeming qualities).  I know what kind of hay someone with an axe to grind could make of me playing a German tank in World of Tanks or miniatures ACW where you choose the grey over the blue side.  Makes me glad I stayed in the private sector

Con
PS I don't know if this should be in R&P but I thought we could try current events since it is wargaming specific.  Apologies if I made the wrong choice where to post

As younger people start coming through the ranks of political parties and replacing those of older generations, stuff like this won't even matter anymore. This is the equivalent of the middle aged people in the town in Footloose who outlawed dancing because it would lead to shenanigans and such.

[GDS_Starfury]

Frankly, if I were running for office, I'd rather be explaining a youthful indiscretion as a Playgirl centerfold.

the salient point here is that LB kinda admited to having been a playgirl centerfold.
I wear my freakness on my sleeve.
its the quite ones you have to watch.

[GDS_Starfury]

^^^  I can edit that for bold red letters if it makes it more mod like.

[MikeGER]

i think its based on the game

so a collection of grognardish American Civil War (including minis, pewter figures) games could be the best gain when running for public office in the US ... Romans, Ancient Greek, etc. will be seen 'strange but ok' ... Crusades = a Political Correctness disaster! nowadays. look all those pure Saracens, Weep ;-) "he games the reason for 9/11"-slander  :o ...Medieval Battles, Napoleonic, Prussians, Empire, -the less ancient the battle the worse-  will lead to Little King wannabe/Imperialism-slander  ...FPS, RTS, MMORPG, and all SiFi-based stuff is a no-go and will lead to escapist slander from the competitors. 

WW II is a mixed back ... maybe Pacific theater, and also all naval sims will be accepted and don't provide a weak spot for the enemy to get a grip in unavoidable (local) media mud-fight. 

...a classic:

[besilarius]

This discussion is way off base.  It assumes that people are judging wargamers by a different standard, a negative standing that is totally based on their assumptions.
A standard that presumes gamers, grognards if you will, are inherently unbalanced.  Incapable of judicious thinking, and hence unable to be placed in positions of trust.
By even discussing this mendacious attitude, we are giving credence to it.  Feeding our deep fears of being somehow "different" or less capable as "normal" afficianadoes.  (As if Jets fans were normal.)
Mind you with people like Bobby Fisher (chess is seen as a "wargame" to the non-gaming public) going weird after winning a world championship, what else can you expect?  (And let's not get into Paul Morphy, the first american to be the world champion of chess.  He also became a recluse after his success.  He lived in New Orleans (obviously a sick personality) and when discovered after his death, he was in a bathtub surrounded by women's shoes.)

My question is why are we taking this?  Rather than allow outsiders to set the boundaries, to ask a presumptive question that puts us in a bad light and on the defensive. 
Why should not we ask the question: Does being a politician make you unfit to be a wargamer?

Think about it.  Do you consider any politician of any party or any affiliation to be "normal"?  To exhibit rational thought process as opposed to rabid partisan commandments?  Would you want a politician, any politician to be in command during the Battle of the Bulge, Gettysburg, Waterloo?  I rest my case.  A dogcatcher would be preferable to a career politician. 

As a group, they embrace Winston Churchill's comment on the genre, "To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target."

[JasonPratt]

Looks like one politician who is a gamer is getting targeted because of her hobby.

Level 6 character assassin attempts to grief level 85 assassin character. Results as expected.

[Capn Darwin]

Playing them. No. Designing them is on the other hand a whole different ball game.  ::)