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Microsoft turn to politics : Xbox live to gauge political stance of user-base

by Steven Williamson on 22 August 2008, 10:16

Tags: Xbox 360, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Xbox 360

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There's something that makes us feel quite uneasy about Microsoft's new partnership with Rock the Vote, an organization that works to engage youth in the political process by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture into its activities.

From August 25th, US-based Xbox live subscribers will be able to participate in presidential polls and let their political voices be heard via Microsoft's online service.

"Xbox is a natural partner to help us reach out to youth voters," said Heather Smith, executive director, Rock the Vote. "To realise our goal of registering two million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are, and there's no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live."

Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, added: "The Xbox Live community is active, vocal and passionate ... We're thrilled to partner with Rock the Vote to make it easier than ever for youth voters - and our members - to register and be heard."

So the Xbox 360 is now a political tool as well, eh? Why would they do this? Why bring politics into gaming?

Source : GI.biz

HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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Posted by Saracen - Fri 22 Aug 2008 11:18
It seems to me that at a very least, you risk introducing a bias into any polls by doing this. I mean, thiugh it's a very broad generalisation, there tens to be a higher level of support for Democrats from poorer households and Republicans from better-off ones, just as there is for Labour from poorer households and Tory from wealthier ones here. And it IS a broad generalisation with, self-evidently, a lot of exceptions.

But, typically, if you're struggling to meet monthly bills and put food on the table, internet connections are likely to be low down the priority list, and even more so, gaming consoles. And that risks biasing a poll on the basis of affluence and that has screwed up polling results before.

From my dim and distant past, I seem to remember a Marketing course lecturer using a previous US Presidential poll as an example of how not to do polls. This particular organisation, and it was some decades ago, did a telephone poll that predicted a large-scale Republican win only for Democrats to sweep the floor with them. It turned out afterwards that they'd done the poll by telephone and, in those days, only reasonably affluent families could afford telephones (shocking though that idea might be to our younger members, who might as well be born with an up-to-date all-singing cellphone in their hands. ;)

From memory, something like 70% of Republican families had phones, and something like 30% of Democrat ones. Small wonder they got the poll result they did, and never mind that the sampling base of the poll bore no resemblance at all the the demographics of the voting population.

Albeit probably on a much smaller scale, choosing your poll subjects by pre-selecting through XBox ownership is probably about as valid as getting a survey done on the launch of the latest Lada using the Ferrari Owners Club membership list.

In other words, this thing with XBox and Rock the Vote is just a PR stunt.
Posted by mediaboy - Fri 22 Aug 2008 17:05
From memory, something like 700% of Republican families had phones, and something like 30% of Democrat ones. Small wonder they got the poll result they did, and never mind that the sampling base of the poll bore no resemblance at all the the demographics of the voting population.

Making 730% total? Wow… that was one big influx of illegal immigrants able to vote :o
Posted by Saracen - Fri 22 Aug 2008 17:09
mediaboy
Making 730% total? Wow… that was one big influx of illegal immigrants able to vote :o
Ahem ….. :embarrassed:

Typo corrected. ;)
Posted by looney - Fri 22 Aug 2008 17:16
Why mix gaming with politics? :rolleyes:
Posted by Tidus - Sat 23 Aug 2008 17:16
This is just making a game out of politics, this will get people to vote who otherwise wouldn't, but they shouldn't be allowed to vote if they can't be bothered to leave the house to place a vote.

When I saw the topic I thought that it was a service with information about politics and voting to encorage interest in the process, but allowing people to vote through Xbox live will be be a joke to some of the users, I don't know the minimum age allowed for people in America to vote but I don't imagine alot of serious voters using this service.

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