Virtual world keeps tabs on presidential election

Derrik J. Lang ,  The Associated Press ,  Los Angeles   |  Wed, 11/05/2008 11:06 AM  |  World

While crowds gathered at public rallies and millions of others glued themselves to cable news, many spent election night online - and they had plenty of company this time around.

Across the Internet, users were discussing, celebrating and bemoaning the unfolding election inside virtual worlds, on social networking sites and in online games. Others used techno-savvy Web sites to share their individual voting experiences throughout the day.

A motley crew of election voyeurs gathered to watch voting results pour in from across the country on a giant map inside Second Life, the online virtual world developed by San Francisco-based Linden Lab where pixelated avatars fly around and interact with each other. For months, volunteers have been unofficially campaigning inside the behemoth virtual world.

All they could do Tuesday was occupy one another with chatter as they stood around and waited.

Several avatars gathered election night on Capitol Hill Island, a virtual enclave that slightly resembles the real Capitol Hill, to chat about the results and keep watch on a giant results map in front of them. A woman with black wings stood across from someone wearing a suit of armor and a jetpack. In front of them was a lanky guy resembling Democrat Barack Obama in a Superman costume.

"Do we have the word on Ohio yet?" asked an avatar named Princess Ivory.

The giant map was being updated by the avatar Kiwini Oe. The man controlling Oe in real life is Steve Nelson, the chief strategy officer for Clear Ink, a digital marketing firm based in Berkeley, California. Oe, who created the giant map in Second Life, was updating it with information from network news coverage.

He said he was not afraid to miscall a state in the virtual world.

"I can always uncall it," said Oe.

One indication that online was a popular place to be throughout the election: Some users reported problems accessing popular Web sites like Yahoo, which covered its home page with live election coverage, including an interactive Political Dashboard. In the last election, Yahoo News had 80 million page views on Election Day and 142 million the day after, according to Nielsen Online.

At the nonpartisan TwitterVoteReport.com, specially tagged Twitter.com micro-blogs about voting were being aggregated and pinpointed on an ever-changing online map. The 140-characters-or-less posts, called tweets, were also being used to estimate voting wait times Tuesday. However, as the results began pouring in, many tweets instead turned to celebrating Obama winning states.

"East Coast landslide for Obama!" posted Ellen Kanner in Hanover, New Hampshire. "Woohoo."

The popular social networking site Facebook invited users Tuesday to click an 'I Voted' button on their profiles. Over 4 million Facebook users and counting said they had voted. On MySpace, the mud was flying in the comments section of the site's official Election Day profile. Several MySpace users simply posted who they had voted for in the election. Others had harsher words.

"I'll keep my God, my freedom, my guns and my money," wrote one MySpacer supporting Republican John McCain. "You can keep the change."

"Vote Obama no mo drama," posted another. "Go Obama. Go Obama. Go Obama."

Not all the online pursuits were as serious.

In Electronic Arts' species-creation simulator "Spore," the game's developer created downloadable spaceships in the candidates' likeness. The John McCain and Sarah Palin ships were classified as an "endangered species," while the Obama and Joe Biden vessels were deemed a "flourishing species" based on player votes Tuesday on the Sporepedia, the game's database of user creations.

Meanwhile, in the PlayStation 3 platformer game "LittleBigPlanet," several gamers had uploaded election-themed user-generated levels, including one titled "CNN Election Center" that featured dangerous obstacles amid photos of CNN news anchors. At the end of the level, players could cast a faux vote for either Obama or McCain, which both culminated in a splash of confetti and points.

Over at eBay.com, the auction on four one-of-kind Cabbage Patch Dolls crafted to look like the presidential and vice presidential candidates ended Tuesday. The Palin doll nabbed the most cash with a $19,000 bid while the Biden doll only brought in $3,500. The lil' Obama and McCain impersonators earned offers of $8,400 and $6,000, respectively.

On the Net:

http://www.secondlife.com

http://www.twitter.com

http://twittervotereport.com

http://www.spore.com

http://www.littlebigplanet.com

http://www.myspace.com/decision08/

http://www.facebook.com/election08/ 

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