The indie studio behind puzzle adventure games Rusty Lake Hotel, The White Door, and the Cube Escape series, Rusty Lake, is in something of a predicament as the company navigatesDiscord’srecent policy transition which involves replacing the previous four-digit, number-based username system. Despite being offered an early opportunity to reserve a username, Rusty Lake wound up discovering that its preferred choice, Rusty Lake, had already been claimed. The studio is now effectively unable to go by their own trademark.Taking to social media to share their frustration and caution fellow indie studios, Rusty Lake expressed a substantial amount of disappointment at the news, noting that “we just received an email that we, as Verified Owners, could finally submit a new username and wow… ‘rustylake’ is already taken! If we as a server owner with more than 240,000 members can’t even claim it…”RELATED:The Thug Shaker Central Debacle Just Reinforces That Right-Wing Gamer Culture Has Devastating ConsequencesRusty Lake went on to explain that “now we have a risk of impersonation and extra legal costs to file a possible trademark infringement." The company claims to have reached out to Discord, but received “an automatic response email to this issue and the follow up is directing us to another helpdesk.”
The decision to implement the username change stems from the fact that almost half of all friend requests on Discord fail to connect with the intended user. The issue being faced by Rusty Lake is however not unique, as other prominent figures have encountered similar problems during the transition. The usernames of popular streamers for example were initially taken, but Discord rectified the situation by reverting control over the usernames in question to their current owners. These incidents shed light on the challenges being faced by well known figures and organizations in securing their desired usernames.
In response to these concerns, apetitionhas been making the rounds, garnering more than 15,000 signatures from Discord users calling on the platform to reimplement the older numerical system. They argue that such a system provides a more reliable means of distinguishing between users and mitigating issues related to username availability and potential impersonation.
As the situation unfolds, indie developers and content creators alike will be watching closely, hoping for a resolution that protects their identities and safeguards against potential legal complications arising from username clashes. The response from Discord will undoubtedly shape the future of the platform and impact the experiences of users around the world going forward.
