WTF?! If, like so many people, the first thing you plan to do when playing Amazon's New World is to call your character "Jeff Antichrist Bezos," you're out of luck---and not because someone else got there first. Amazon won't allow you to use its founding father's name, variations of it, or anything with the word "Amazon," essentially putting the terms in the same category as swear words.
PC Gamer's Morgan Park found that "JeffB," "Bez0s," and "Be Zos" are all banned from New World. Instead of the usual "This name is in use" message, indicating that another player is using the same handle, they bring up a "cannot be used" warning, the same one shown when typing in profanity. That puts Bezos on the same level as, say, "Goblin McF**kface."
Surprisingly, it appears that Amazon never covered all the variations---somebody is using "Beff Jezos."
Amazon isn't the first company to implement this sort of rule. Users can't call themselves "Blizzard" in World of Warcraft, though variations of the name work.
Back in July, Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO to become the executive chair of the company's Board of Directors, with Andy Jassy taking on the chief executive role. The move has given the world's richest man more time to fly around in his definitely-not-phallic-shaped rocket. Illustrating the love people have for the man, over 200,000 people signed a petition demanding he not be allowed to return to earth.
Amazon's inability to laugh at itself and its creator hasn't impacted the game's popularity. New World was already Steam's most-wishlisted game and now sits at number one on its top-sellers chart. And in all fairness, the tech giant will likely say banning the Amazon username prevents scammers from tricking people into thinking they're admins. No excuse for banning Bezos' name, though---maybe it was at the billionaire's behest.