10 Essential (Mostly) Videogame-Themed Twitter Accounts

I use Twitter and so should you. The “free social networking and micro-blogging service” (thanks for the definition,Wikipedia) emerged just three years ago and is now “the third most used social network” in the world. But it’s not like the others. The 140 character entry limit imposed by the service still suffocates bloggers who believe more copy is invariablymore, and essentially communicates to the world what every guy wants to tell his girlfriend: “get to the [expletive deleted] point.”

Lame self-indulgent status updates are present, but discouraged by the vast community. Time’s precious, and Twitter users want value from “tweets,” or individual entries. For those who follow dozens, or even hundreds of other users, individual tweet value becomes exponentially more important.

From what I’ve observed, gamers tweet a lot. Too much, in fact. Now that some titles tweet your in-game status and updates for you, it’s armageddon in Twitter game land. But I stick to my original claim. If you’re a gamer, you should use Twitter. You just need to follow the right people.

Here’s a list of ten (mostly) videogame-industry related accounts I believe everyone should follow. If you’re already in the industry, or plan on one day becoming a part of it, consider this essential following.

Note: If you’re middle-aged or older and not really down on this social networking stuff, don’t worry. This doesn’t require a predefined “digital nativity” to understand, although, I have a problem with the whole “digital native” idea but that’s another story for another time. Twitter’s easy to use. And unlike Facebook and Myspace, you won’t feel old and creepy for joining if you’re over the age of 16. According to online research from the web monitoring company comScore, the average age of a Twitter user is over 35.

John Davison

Former editor for a plethora of sites and publications. After leaving his editor-in-chief position at 1UP.com, John founded Whattheyplay.com, a site dedicated to informing parents about the videogame industry. He recently sold What They Play to IGN and now runs the long-running videogame magazine and site Gamepro – overseeing the site and editorial overhaul.

Included because: Lifelong gamer and not-so-recent parent with the right mindset to communicate both to all audiences. John’s a nerd aging gracefully.

Example tweets:  Tonight? Curry and Uncharted 2. Tomorrow, dinner with @peerign & family, and no doubt talk of Uncharted 2 that will bore our wives silly

http://twitter.com/jwhdavison/status/4931802770

Mrs D and youngest boy playing Top Gear Top Trumps. I’m a proud husband/dad right now http://tinyurl.com/yz6ejq4
http://twitter.com/jwhdavison/status/4976881357

Shawn Elliott

Former editor at 1UP.com and Games for Windows Magazine who transitioned to a position at  2K Boston (a.k.a. the Bioshock team) as an associate producer. Shawn’s an intelligent, funny, and extremely observant person with a laser-like focus on all-things relating to videogame culture.

Included because: His “artifacts from the internet” (often hilarious pictures, articles or clilps) aside, Shawn’s tweets reflect his deep care for the industry – often inciting deep discussions on narrative, journalism, and the hazy line between the latter and PR groups. I don’t say this often, but Shawn’s an industry asset.

Example tweets: Amazing representation of video games on TV. http://bit.ly/4ocDwy RT@Sliver14

http://twitter.com/ShawnElliott/status/5441023013

Was IGN in any way compensated for the creation and maintenance of MusicHub and/or any articles featured on http://music.ign.com/ ?
http://twitter.com/ShawnElliott/status/4668950506

Read the rest of the article at IPR's Multimedia Blog.