The Candidate As Avatar

Dem Prez hopeful Mark Warner is going politicing ... as an avatar.

Warner's PAC, Forward Together, worked with the creators of the virtual world Second Life. We're told by Second Life:

Mark Warner’s avatar seems presidential, too—tall, stern, and statesman-like. And [today] at 12:30pm Second Life Time (i.e., PDT), in a public event sponsored by Forward Together and produced by Millions of Us, I’ll be interviewing him, in a brief conversation that’ll touch on national security, foreign policy, the Democratic Party-- and, of course, future plans for the Governor and his team in Second Life.

Forward Together staffer Nancy Mandelbrot expounds:

“Well, we were sitting in our offices one day and kind of goofing around, just geeking out about social technologies, gaming, that sort of thing, as we're wont to do. Someone made a joke about how great it would be if we brought an avatar of Governor Warner into Second Life.

“When we all quit laughing, we kind of looked around and said, ‘Hey, that's not a bad idea.’

“One of Governor Warner's operating principles is to go where the voters are,” she continues, “not make them come to you. We saw how rich an environment [SL] was. I mean, you can sit next to someone's avatar, strike up a conversation, and forget that you're not in the same room. We started to see that in Second Life, people can get together and talk politics with other folks without the obstacles of real life.”

From Bubba playing the sax on TV, to MoveOn.org's Internet-based activism, to Warner as a virtual candidate in a virtual world, the Dems certainly are bold in their political efforts to reach the wired youth. With the exception of Bubba it hasn't won them a spot in the oval office yet, but they continue to think the young will fall for them if they're hip enough.

If you're hip enough, here's how to play:

ATTENDANCE DETAILS

Direct portal to the 12:30pm SLT event here.

To reserve a seat at the Thursday event, send an Instant Message to Millions of Us’ staffer Green Fate. Seating is extremely limited, but text repeaters which will broadcast the interview throughout Second Life are also available: contact Green Fate for a copy.

Related Tags: Politics, Warner, Second Life