The sincerest form of flattery
When you have your own Twitter parody account, that's when you know you've made it in this industry. Forget all the awards and accolades and years of backbreaking work. When your persona has been refined to the point where someone else can mold it into a twisted parody of itself - that's the true measure of success. Or at the very least, it'll do wonders for your ego.
The video game industry is not without its share of celebrities, and some of these celebrities have very, very dedicated fans. I'm talking people who are willing to, day in and day out, drum up new material to fuel their parody Twitter accounts, which skewer some of gaming's biggest characters (and caricatures). Here are 10 of the best that are still going strong today.
Peter Molydeux
The REAL Peter Molyneux: is a veteran game developer with an extensive track record that includes such games as Fable, Black & White, and Populous. He currently works at 22Cans developing the Kickstarter-funded Godus. Recently, Molydeux has come under fire for not delivering on promises made regarding Godus, which has become something of a habit.
The FAKE Peter Molyneux: is a video game visionary who cranks out outlandish game ideas on a regular basis. For example, "Imagine a FPS where your hair can overgrow and obstruct your view?" See what I mean? It's actually not too different from the real Molyneux. Molydeux is also the inspiration for Molyjam, a 48-hour game jam whose entries are inspired by those same tweets.
Porygon News
The REAL Polygon: is a video game and entertainment website founded back in 2012 as part of Vox Media. Before launching, the site gained a lot of notoriety for bringing in several big-wig video game writers from various outlets. There was even a documentary made about it. Starting out, the site earned a reputation for doing longer-form, human-interest pieces and having unorthodox page layouts.
The FAKE Polygon: is a satirical news feed that lampoons video games, the people who make them, the media, YouTube personalities, and damn near everything else in between. As its profile notes, any "resemblance to journalism is accidental." Right now they are knee-deep in skewering The Order: 1886, complete with mock headlines and developer quotes.
CEO Kaz Hirai
The REAL Kazuo Hirai: is the President and CEO of Sony Corporation. He has dedicated his professional career to Sony, starting in the early '80s when he joined the marketing department of Sony's music division in Japan. However, most people will likely recognize him as the "It's Ridge Racer!" guy from Sony's E3 2006 press conference.
The FAKE Kazuo Hirai: is a megalomaniacal, equal-opportunity hater who excels at pointing out the faults of Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and anyone else who catches his eye. It's not uncommon for his insults to circle back on themselves and burn everyone involved: "Microsoft are so desperate to emulate the PS4s success that they are copying everything we do, which is why XBOX LIVE is also down."
The Optimistic Indie
The REAL optimistic indie: doesn't exist. This is for two reasons: one, this parody account isn't parodying any one person, but rather a type of personality. And two, there's no such thing as an optimistic independent game developer. Are you kidding me? Making video games is nightmarishly hard work. They don't have time to be happy.
The FAKE optimistic indie: is full of really helpful advice for up-and-coming developers. His own game(s) may never get finished and his hairbrained marketing strategies never seem to work out, but by-golly he's at least got a sunny attitude. And an empty bank account.
Moms Against Gaming
The REAL Moms Against Gaming: isn't a real thing, however I think we can all think of a few organizations out there that are all-too-similar to this fictitious group. You know the ones, ready to expound upon the evils of gaming and the mind-warping, homicide-inducing damage they're inflicting on the youth. Just like comic books, rock and roll, and Dane Cook.
The FAKE Moms Against Gaming: is fighting the good fight against the many evils of video games. And they're ready to back up their claims with as many made up facts and figures as they can muster. In a more recent tirade, MAG pointed out how Majora's Mask teaches our children to fear the moon: "By saying the moon is bad, the creators of legend of Zelda are forcing our kids to avoid parties and late night social events for gaming."
Jim Ross FGC
The REAL Jim Ross: is a long-time wrestling commentator and a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. His energetic, excitable commentary style has earned him the unofficial title of 'Voice of the WWE'. He also has his own line of barbecue sauce. Sauce it!
The FAKE Jim Ross: is where the worlds of professional wrestling, fighting games, and (on occasion) Pokemon collide. This bizarre mashup takes Ross' signature, over-the-top commentating style and applies to whatever fighting game tournament is happening on that particular weekend. He'll also pull the reverse and mix the FGC into the latest wrestling event. In both cases, someone always gets BROKEN IN HALF. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!
Samus Aran
The REAL Samus Aran: is the well-known star of Nintendo's Metroid series. Despite starting her life as an awesome, 200-pound space marine, she was later retconned into a supermodel with rocket boots that are totally not high heels. Her most recent outing was the extremely unfortunate Metroid: Other M, where she constantly acted like she didn't understand what was happening.
The FAKE Samus Aran: is a hard-drinking bounty hunter with an on-again/off-again rivalry with Princess Zelda and is the closest thing I'll get to Twitter fanfiction on this list. She's also extremely bitter about the lack of Metroid games on the horizon, and isn't afraid to go on a stream-of-consciousness rant about it. Proceed with caution.
Legendary Engram
The REAL legendary engram: isn't a person, it's a thing. Specifically, it's the legendary version of an engram, a special type of loot found in Destiny that must be decrypted in order to find out what it does. The Destinypedia claims they "may contain a legendary item, an exotic item, or Ascendant Materials" but as most players have discovered they typically contain "crap you don't want."
The FAKE legendary engram: is here to remind you how badly these items love to troll Destiny players. The typical tweet will be something like, 'Spent 8 hours finishing a raid? Here's a crappy level 18 hand cannon for your trouble.' However, the real culprit here is Destiny's loot-generating algorithm, which always seems to reward the players who aren't you.
Fork Parker
The REAL Fork Parker: is also the fake Fork Parker. That is to say, there is only one Fork Parker, and he is an imaginary character featured in a smattering of Serious Sam games. He is depicted as the CFO of publisher Devolver Digital, though one would assume there is a real CFO of Devolver out there who doesn't look like Colonel Sanders.
The FAKE Fork Parker: loves taking advantage of ignorant, independent game developers and making lots of money. He is also full of random non-sequiturs and doesn't care what you think unless what you think is how you need to buy more Devolver Digital games.
Fake David Cage
The REAL David Cage: is the founder of Quantic Dream, the studio behind such games as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. It should also be noted that, before he did all that, Cage directed 1999's Omikron: The Nomad Soul, which features David Bowie and is totally rad. His games focus heavily on narrative, and Cage has often expressed that games can "do more" than how they're currently used.
The FAKE David Cage: can be summarized with a single tweet: "I believe the Devil May Cry fails its name when it places an emphasis on combo action over emotion." He takes the artistic medium of electronic gaming very seriously, always placing narrative above all else. He's also full of big ideas, not unlike a certain other European developer on this list...
It's almost romantic.
Before we wrap up, I just want to give a quick Honorable Mention to @ffvii_blazed. This 687-tweet epic retells the timeless story of Final Fantasy 7 with the assumption that all of the characters were completely high all the time. The attention to detail is really quite impressive. If you've got a parody account you enjoy, be sure to let us know in the comments below, and help fill out your fellow reader's Twitter feeds.
And for more great features on GR+ look up 8 hard-to-find games that got a second chance and The horrifying secret of Super Mushrooms and other Mario facts explained.
