Game makers' political donations

[Theodore Rex DX]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3166275

Activision
Brian Kelly, Co-Chairman
$4,600, John McCain (R)
Ron Doornick, Director
$2,300 Mitt Romney (R)
Nina Kotick, CEO
$2,300, Mitt Romney (R)
Robert Kotick, CEO
$2,300, Mitt Romney (R)
Brian Barnes, Game Designer
$2,000, Ron Paul (R)
Erol Otus, Designer/Illustrator
$700, Ron Paul (R)
Charles Homic, Programmer
$400, Ron Paul (R)
Travis Stansbury, Attorney
$325, Ron Paul (R)
Chris Nelson, Programmer
$285, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $15,210 to Republicans

ZeniMax Media (Bethesda Softworks):
Brendan Anthony, Game Programmer
$352, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $352 to Democrats

Blizzard Entertainment:
Kyle Harrison, Technical Artist
$500, Mike Huckabee (R)
Christopher Ryder, 3D Artist
$500, Ron Paul (R)
Jesse McCree, Video Game Designer
$250, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $1,250 to Republicans

Electronic Arts:
William Wright, Vice President, Designer
$3,500, Rudy Giuliani (R)
Cindy Nicola, VP, Talent Acquisition
$4,600, Barack Obama (D)
Steven Schnur, Worldwide Executive Mark (?)
$4,600, Hillary Clinton (D)
John Taylor, Technical Arts
$2,365, Ron Paul (R)
Michael Lawson, Software Engineer
$2,300, Fred Thompson (R)
Ian Schmidt, Sales
$1,300, Fred Thompson (R)
Sharon Zezima, Attorney
$1,000, Hillary Clinton (D)
Jason Horwath, No title listed
$840, Barack Obama (D)
John E. Taylor, Technical Artist
$500, Ron Paul (R)
Timothy Cotton, Game Designer
$234, Ron Paul (R)
Jason Fisher, Software Engineer
$225, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $10, 424 to Republicans; $11,040 to Democrats

Ensemble Studios:
Mike Wagner, Computer Stuff
$221, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $220 to Republicans

Flagship Studios:
Christopher Lambert, Game Programmer
$500, Barack Obama (D)
Jeff Lind, Software Developer
$340, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $840 to Democrats

Firaxis Games:
Sergey Tiraspolsky, Software Engineer
$230, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $230 to Democrats

Obsidian Entertainment:
Michael Edwards, Computer Programmer
$355, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $355 to Republicans

PopCap Games:
John Vechey (Quarter 2, 2007), Game Developer
$2,800, Barack Obama (D)
David Haas, COO
$270, Barack Obama (D)
John Vechey (Quarter 1, 2007), Manager
$250, Hillary Clinton (D)
TOTAL: $3,320 to Democrats

Valve Software:
Gabe Newell, Managing Director
$2,300, Christopher Dodd (D)
Bill Van Buren, Producer
$250, John Edwards (D)
Christopher Green, No title listed
$500, Barack Obama (D)

Interesting in a pervy kind of way. Will Wright is a surprise, at least to me. Giuliani? Jeez.

[Ephraim]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3166275



Interesting in a pervy kind of way. Will Wright is a surprise, at least to me. Giuliani? Jeez.

Well, now we know which mayor Will wants running HIS SimCity.

[J. Matthew Zoss]

Flagship Studios:
Christopher Lambert, Game Programmer
$500, Barack Obama (D)

The Highlander works for Flagship - and is a Democrat?

[Orinoco]

What's with all the Ron Paul supporters? Are most game developers insane?

[SirBruce]

God damn it, I was just working on that story this week.

Oh well, so much for that.

Bruce

[Lum]

Boo, mine doesn't show up! :) (mainly because it caps it at $200 on the low end)

Interestingly, Robert Garriott gave $2300 to Barack Obama and Richard Garriott gave $2000 to Hillary Clinton. I imagine they have interesting conversations.

Are most game developers insane?

Yes.

[Fugitive]

It's interesting that they're either uniformly single-party, or pretty evenly mixed. Nobody wants to be outed as the one opposing party supporter in the office.

[Matthew Gallant]

What's with all the Ron Paul supporters? Are most game developers insane?
There's a bit of a synergy related to the $200 lower limit. The insanity that causes Ron Paul support also makes you more likely to donate a large enough sum to get on the list.

I'd like to see a list with no lower limit.

[ElGuapo]

Gabe Newell, Managing Director
$2,300, Christopher Dodd (D)

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

[Charles]

I would've donated to Edwards, if I could've.

[Other Brendan]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3166275



Interesting in a pervy kind of way. Will Wright is a surprise, at least to me. Giuliani? Jeez.

Very pervy, especially for the people on the list who aren't public figures. When you're talking nickels and dimes to a political campaign like this, I think it's in questionable taste to go blaring someone's personal political affiliations to the world. You can talk about Democrat or Republican-leaning trends in development studios without saying Joe Blow, chump programmer threw $500 away on [insert crazy nutjob candidate here]. Like Fugitive said, what if you're some Activision intern who donated to a Democrat? I could certainly see that causing friction in the workplace, or worse if a boss or CEO on that list happens to be particularly petty or overzealous.

[worm]

No love for Dennis Kucinich. :(

[Fugitive]

Well, it's more of a chilling effect than a privacy invasion. You make the donation knowing that it's going to be public information to anyone who wants to dig deeply enough.

[Hanzii]

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Just makes me like the guy even more.

... I don't think I'll be buying Guitar Hero IV, though.

[Adam B]

Just makes me like the guy even more.

... I don't think I'll be buying Guitar Hero IV, though.

BREAKING: VALVE TO DEVELOP GUITAR HERO IV

That would rock. Ba-dum-psh.

EDIT: Wow I'm retarded. You were talking about Activision. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. My point re: Valve & GH IV stands, though.

[Kalle]

... I don't think I'll be buying Guitar Hero IV, though.

I didn't need a donations list to make that call. GH3 made it pretty easy.

[J. Matthew Zoss]

William Wright, Vice President, Designer
$3,500, Rudy Giuliani (R)

Wow, so much respect lost so quickly.

[Jason McCullough]

Something to remember is that most people aren't very ideological, so there's no telling why Will gave Mr. 9/11 that money. Maybe he just gave a good speech.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Something to remember is that most people aren't very ideological, so there's no telling why Will gave Mr. 9/11 that money. Maybe he just gave a good speech.

Or he thought that a Giuliani presidency would be more likely to fund his evil robot plan. Because you know Wright has a garage full of evil robots.

Troy

[Sarkus]

Very pervy, especially for the people on the list who aren't public figures. When you're talking nickels and dimes to a political campaign like this, I think it's in questionable taste to go blaring someone's personal political affiliations to the world. You can talk about Democrat or Republican-leaning trends in development studios without saying Joe Blow, chump programmer threw $500 away on [insert crazy nutjob candidate here]. Like Fugitive said, what if you're some Activision intern who donated to a Democrat? I could certainly see that causing friction in the workplace, or worse if a boss or CEO on that list happens to be particularly petty or overzealous.

I agree. I don't think this is important to anyone, nor does it tell us anything.

[noun]

Well, now we know which mayor Will wants running HIS SimCity.

Well, this explains why my SimCities always collapsed in ruin.

[flyinj]

William Wright, Vice President, Designer
$3,500, Rudy Giuliani (R)

Wow, so much respect lost so quickly.

Seriously, wtf. I mean, wtf.

Money corrupts?

[SirBruce]

FYI Gordon Walton (currently EA Bioware) was a big Ron Paul supporter.

Bruce

[Jason Cross]

I'd like to see the list scaled by pay, too. Off the cuff, just glancing at the list, it looks like more of the really big money makers (CEOs, corporate VPs, studio heads) contributed to Republicans. But that's just an initial impression, and by no means a real analysis.