Oh for the days when political bunfights involved tawdry sex scandals and questions about personal finance. Presumably for want of any stronger allegations, Maine Republicans have slammed the Democrat candidate Colleen Lachowicz for being a World of Warcraft player.
They've even set up a website entitled "Colleen's World" which mocks the pastime and then uses quotes from her about the game to suggest an apparently murderous nature.
"In Colleen's online fantasy world, she gets away with crude, vicious and violent comments," reads the site. "Maine needs a State Senator that lives in the real world, not in Colleen's fantasy world."
Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the Maine GOP, Republican Party spokesman David Sorensen said that her in-game language raised "questions about Lachowicz's maturity and her ability to make serious decisions."
Lachowicz plays as a punky-looking Level 85 Orc Assassination Rogue called Santiaga, and apparently the character's predilection for stabbing and poisoning in-game creatures marks her out as some sort of dangerous fantasist. PCGamesN have also spotted a number of other misrepresentations in the way the website chooses to quote her. One context-free snippet makes use of the C-word - this is actually in direct reference to the famous play written by Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues. Another is a strong insistence that acquaintances of hers spend money on themselves rather than her campaign - but the lack of context makes it sound like a threat of violence.
It's probably fair to say that Lachowicz might better serve her campaign by being more circumspect in her public comments, but the equation between enjoying videogames and being a violent weirdo is, well, just a bit much.
What do you think, PC gamers? Has your hobby raised questions about your maturity and ability to make serious decisions?
