(IGN.com)

[Wrestlevania]

"...which makes the special edition almost as fun as the box it arrived in." -IGN.com

[Nachimir]

And on the cover of today's MCV:

"It's basically the Gran Turismo of getting your face kicked in"

(Official Playstation Magazine on UFC 2009 Undisputed)

[elmuerte]

"This game will put 3DRealms out of business" - ign.com

[Nachimir]

Jake/Chris Has anyone from IGN approached you guys, or are you just preempting?

Submitted by Jake:

A few folks who listen to my video game related podcast set up a Twitter account under the name "igndotcom" and have been posting fictional hyperbolic press quotes in the style of those often issued by IGN themselves. The account, obviously, isn't IGN's even though it is called "igndotcom." Is there a way the account can be renamed to avoid stepping on their toes? Anything would be fine though something like fake_igndotcom or beblownaway would actually make sense to those using and following the account. Anything short of deleting it, if manageable!

Thanks for the help,

Jake Rodkin

@ja2ke

Thanks for looking out for it, but a name change is kinda overkill. TOS state that as long as the profile information makes it clear it's a parody account, that's fine, so I changed the bio:

Not really IGN, but people from Idle Thumbs. Will still blow you away.

I'm pretty certain the account at present being @igndotcom is part of the reason people find it funny.

[James]

"It burns when I play" IGN.com

"Come on mom! I'm reviewing a game here !" IGN.com

"This game should be rated A for ardcore !" IGN.com

Three of my favourites all in one post!

[Jake]

"@twitter the @igndotcom profile is a squatter" - IGN.com

Jake/Chris Has anyone from IGN approached you guys, or are you just preempting?

I'm pretty certain the account at present being @igndotcom is part of the reason people find it funny.

I posted that support request because IGN Legal is apparently calling us out, and at least one of the accounts that they have named has already been suspended. ( see @ignlegal )

Hopefully just modifying the bio info will do the trick, as you said, but I'm concerned that all the people linking to us as the legitimate account (including Sony Pictures and IGN employees) will mark us as violating the "no impersonations" part of their use agreement.

[OssK]

If they attack on that front, you can tell they just had to read the bio... `

Three of my favourites all in one post!

Thanks a lot

"Quote quote quote codec" from Chicken Video Compressor's review IGN.com

[Wrestlevania]

itsgettingnasty is within Twitter's 15 char username limit...

I think Jake has a point: were it to be properly challenged - and @ignlegal's one-line finger pointing most definitely isn't that - then things could come unstuck I suppose.

I'm managing the social media presence of a large local company, very much in the public eye, and there's a simple, formal proceedure on Twitter's website; this is structured to very easily challenge ownership of an identity. We've justy had to do this because someone was posting near-gibberish using the company's name as their account ID.

So if IGN were to find the @igndotcom account offensive/discrediting, they should be doing that. Personally, however, I think it much more in their interests to go after the abandoned (virgin) @ign account myself, and leave our affectionate parrodies alone.

[gdf]

Hold on, they literally started a new account to call out fakes?

No fun

[DanJW]

This game will make you run to your mummy shouting "waaaa they stole my twitter!" - IGN.com

[elmuerte]

"@twitter the @IGNition profile is a squatter" - ign.com

[James]

The IGNominy of it!

[OssK]

"This game proves it: size matters !" -IGN.com

[Ondore]

"This game tested positive for awesome" - ign.com

[Wrestlevania]

"I bought this game dinner and still couldn't get to (the) 3rd base." -IGN.com

[Nachimir]

"@twitter the @igndotcom profile is a squatter" - IGN.com

I posted that support request because IGN Legal is apparently calling us out, and at least one of the accounts that they have named has already been suspended. ( see @ignlegal )

Thanks for spotting that and acting on it so quick. Twitter have closed the support ticket and we're still in business, so looks like it's all good now with just the bio edits :tup:

[OssK]

I cannot believe IGN started a fucking twitter to report fakes... My god they must have been so bullied in school for being the teacher sucker's...

[Nachimir]

It's pretty standard for someone to @twitter for issues, reporting abuse is one of the reasons they set the @twitter account up. Impersonators are generally a problem on twitter, so it's fair enough for anyone to take issue with confusion if they're trying to use it for something serious.

While people mistaking @igndotcom for the real one was funny at first, people like Sony Pictures propagating it could cause it to snowball to the point where it would really fuck with them, so I'm not surprised they acted, nor would I blame them for it.

[Sergey]

"This game stole my identity!"

[OssK]

It's pretty standard for someone to @twitter for issues, reporting abuse is one of the reasons they set the @twitter account up. Impersonators are generally a problem on twitter, so it's fair enough for anyone to take issue with confusion if they're trying to use it for something serious.

While people mistaking @igndotcom for the real one was funny at first, people like Sony Pictures propagating it could cause it to snowball to the point where it would really fuck with them, so I'm not surprised they acted, nor would I blame them for it.

Agreed, nonetheless:

1) It's not because you got the name that people can't have it, sure you're not allowed to impersonnate others on twitter but hey, if I want to make my own twitter account and call it askmen or ign because my name is ignacio they can go fuck themselves real far

2)They did not have to setup a brand new account for it did they ?

3)I should not make lists it makes me look pedant

[MrHoatzin]

If Sony's propagating it, the joke's on them though. This whole exercise looks like it should fall under fair use as satire, but we're really not taking anything that is copyrighted from them, we're spoofing their trademark, which is a whole other ballgame. A more fascist, less nuanced ballgame.

Plus, I don't know how affectionate this parody is, it is pretty vicious.

[brkl]

Yeah, I don't know if anyone here likes IGN in the least. It's more of an enormous shitfest.

[Wrestlevania]

Apparently I was just speaking for myself then...

Regardless, I'm Not a Fan of IGN as a brand - strictly speaking - but I am fond of the egregious one-liners they reliably churn out.

[brkl]

They are destroying GAMING!!!!!!!!!11111111

[Nachimir]

If Sony's propagating it, the joke's on them though.

Yes, but regardless we still get fucked when large, powerful, or well known organisations start complaining. As for fair use, maybe but there's no such term in Twitter's TOS. We're abiding by them and will see if IGN complain any more.

ossk

well

1) I will join in your pedantry, and

1.5) I will recycle your number

2)They did not have to setup a brand new account for it did they ?

3) I can understand why they might do that since using one of the main IGN accounts with lots of followers

4) promotes @igndotcom to all of their actual fans and

5) risks a bad reaction from anyone already following both.

It was a sensible way to do it, even though calling it @IGNLegal is about as impressive as [email protected]. Ultimately, @igndotcom is happening on someone else's server, so rather than indulging in Leonard J. Crabs style antics we have to play by their rules. Doesn't mean we have to pull our affectionately vicious parodic punches though