Online gamers favor Obama in a landslide, name unemployment as top issue, majority of players are independents

Los Angeles, Calif., - (March 27, 2012) - Barack Obama is the overwhelming favorite presidential candidate among players of the online game MapleStory, according to a poll conducted by Nexon America regarding its players’ political interests. Additionally, a majority of players identified themselves as politically independent and cited unemployment as the most pressing issue facing Americans today.

The web-based poll was conducted from Friday, Mar. 23 to Monday, Mar. 26, and received 1655 responses. Only U.S. residents who were registered MapleStory players were given access to the survey. The poll asked players who they favored among the current candidates running for president, what they consider the most important issues facing the United States and their political identification.

MapleStory is a 2-D, free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game that has more than 9 million registered players in North America and more than 116 million players worldwide. A wide majority of MapleStory players are between the ages of 18-29, and nearly 40 percent are female players. Nexon America is the North American business unit of NEXON Co. Ltd., a global publisher of free-to-play online games founded in South Korea and headquartered in Tokyo.

Favorite candidates

Forty-eight percent of the survey respondents favored Barack Obama. Twenty-one percent indicated that they did not know or favor any of the candidates, while Ron Paul was favored by 14 percent, Mitt Romney was favored by 10 percent, Rick Santorum was favored by 5 percent and 2 percent named Newt Gingrich as most favored.

Important issues

Additionally, 40 percent of those surveyed listed unemployment as the most important issue facing the United States. The gap between rich and poor was listed by 28 percent of those surveyed as most important, followed by social issues with 12 percent, with healthcare and terrorism/national security both weighing in at 10 percent.

Political identification

Players were also asked to identify their political affiliation. Fourty-nine percent of the surveyed indicated they were independent and not affiliated with any political party. Thirty-four percent identified themselves as being Democrats while 17 percent identified themselves as Republicans.

“This poll was quite a learning experience for us and gave our players a chance to voice their opinions about topics outside the game they love,” said Nexon America CEO, Daniel Kim. “Our players represent an important element of the electorate and these results should be interesting to anyone following what younger voters are thinking about and what is important to them.”

Nexon America gave its players a chance to voice their feelings about the world inside of MapleStory. The town in Maple World that most appealed to MapleStory players was Lefre, which brings players closer to nature. Meanwhile, 58 percent of players were most concerned about the evil that the Black Mage was spreading throughout their virtual world.