Changes to Twitter’s “blue tick” have turned the platform into a giant game of Among Us.
Verification Chaos! The Blue Tick Drama’s Ridiculous Effects on Twitter’s Gaming Community
Written by Ollie Bradley at 11/11/2022, 03:16 AM
No matter your affiliations, it's safe to say that Twitter is a pretty chaotic place right now. Well, more so than it is usually anyway. The recent acquisition of the social media giant by the world's richest man has been followed by a hilarious series of events and seemingly ill-thought through plans. The most recent of which being thanks to a pretty significant change in one of Twitter's hallmark features: the coveted Blue Tick.
For those who don't know, Elon Musk has been attempting to recoup some of Twitter's financial losses (and, by extension, his own) by implementing a series of big-brained moves such as laying off a huge swathe of moderation staff and turning Twitter into a pay-to-win MMO by monetizing the blue tick.
Consequently, what was once a way of differentiating parody and phony accounts from the Real McCoy has become a free-for-all that has seen "verified" accounts taking the name (though not the handle) of other, genuine, accounts and going hog-wild with their newfound bought-and-paid-for clout.
Targeted accounts include the pope, Joe Biden, Ted Cruz, LeBron, pharmaceutical companies and many other public figures. Inevitably, some big names in the gaming industry have been targeted, with pretty hilarious results.
Take this NSFW verified (and now suspended) "Nintendo" account, for example. To the untrained eye, it might look like the gaming industry goliath known for its distinctly family-friendly repertoire has decided to besmirch the good name of Mario by posting some not-so-okey-dokey images of everybody's favorite plumber jumping down the wrong kind of pipeline.
The truth, however, was that the user "@nlntendoofus" bought themselves a big blue tick, changed their display name to Nintendo of America, and started going instantly viral for their off-the-rails posts.
In response to this easy exploit, Twitter then prevented verified accounts from changing their display names. Which is a change that seemingly took "Fall Guys Potato" by surprise. Yep, Fall Guys who had temporarily added a potato to their name are now stuck eternally in potato form. #FallGuysPotatoForever
The chaos has now forced other big names in the industry, such as Alienware, to re-verify themselves by insisting that "[they] are not an impostor". And I don't know about you, but that certainly sounds like something an impostor would say. It's all starting to feel very much like a game of Among Us.
Having just days earlier blocked countless Twitter users for impersonating him, Elon Musk so far seems lackluster in dealing with the issue (although the newly brought in Blue Tick scheme has been suspended without an official reason given).
While his most ardent supporters are still convinced it's all part of Mr. Musk's games of 4D chess, we suspect that this one just hadn't really been thought through. While we expect some of the chaos to die down shortly, it's probably not going to be that "shortly" based on the aforementioned gutting of the moderation team.
Regardless, with the current state of affairs, we'd recommend taking a second look at any big gaming "news" you might catch on Twitter and double check the handle to be safe. To be extra secure, be sure to follow our genuinely verified Twitter account and only accept all your MMO-related news from that source. We've got your back.