Most of you are familiar with how comments work on IGN. If you’ve made a statement on any of our articles, videos, wikis, blogs, and more, it’s clear you have a thing or two to say. Today, we want to tell you that we’re evolving the way you comment on IGN and introducing some cool new features!

Social

Email

Live

Badges

Multiple

Upcoming

Live chat so you can talk to each other during live streams

Live blogging so you can actually use our MyIGN blog feature to create your own interaction with the community at large

Polls within the comments

Notifications

Top commenter leader boards

Returning

Rich text editing

Image/gif/video embedding

Sorting

Over the next month or so, you'll start seeing comment sections around the site change over to a new commenting platform called Livefyre. The biggest improvement right off the bat should be performance -- faster loading and more reliable posting on mobile platforms (which now makes up half of IGN's daily traffic). The new comments will work seamlessly with your IGN login and bring with it some fresh functionality. Now, not every feature will be available right away -- so please be patient as we roll it out in stages. But the plan is to make it easier to comment across all platforms and get updates in real-time.Read on to learn how you'll better connect with IGN and your fellow commenters.Let’s say you’ve made a powerful statement and choose to share it to your Facebook or Twitter account. With SocialSync, your interactions that you’ve shared on social media will automatically sync back to the comment section.From the comments section, you’ll be able to reply and interact with folks that have tweeted you or commented on your shared Facebook post — and it will automatically be posted back to Twitter or Facebook, if you want. The SocialSync features are completely optional, if you don't want to use them.Sometimes you want to get your friends to join the convo. With Friend Tagging, you’ll be able to do this. Tag your Facebook or Twitter friends in your comment by using the "at" symbol (@) followed by their name or handle, and the next time they participate in a discussion, they’ll see a notification alerting them that you tagged them in a comment.It’s easy to get wrapped up in a conversation, and before you know it, you have to step away from the web and get back to reality. With email notifications, you can choose to still get updates if someone responds to a post you’ve made on IGN, allowing you to return to the convo when it’s convenient for you. Additionally, we are also working on a notifications feature directly built into the site, that alerts you of responses when you come to IGN. If you want to customize the volume of email notifications or turn them off, check: profile settings . You can specify to only receive notifications if someone responds, for example.By clicking the "+Follow Thread" button in your comment text box, you'll be able to receive email notifications based on the activity in the conversation. You'll be able to use that button to set conversation-specific preferences, or use your profile settings page to set a site-wide preference to follow conversations.Never miss what someone has to say with live updating. This feature allows you to instantly know when a new comment appears in the discussion thread. No need to refresh or click a button to load new comments.We're also working on creating super-special and totally awesome badges to issue to community members that are promoting positive, thought-provoking discussion on a consistent basis. Think of it like earning awesome loot in your favorite game that will be displayed next to your username. Lead by example to earn these coveted titles.We've all been there: You read an article on IGN that you disagree with, and construct a perfectly written counterpoint, but there's already a featured comment that supports the piece. With multiple featured comments, we'll be able to highlight opinions that are different or especially interesting.The initial launch of our new comments sections will not be the end. Our team will be working around the clock and continuing to add even more great features for our community. Some future features include:And many more features! So keep an eye on our FAQ and this space for updates.Of course, many of the current features you have at your disposal will continue to be there for you, so no need to fear. We want to make sure you have the most robust and fun commenting experience -- and one that we can improve more over time. Features will still include:If you're a Disqus-only user, you'll want to create a MyIGN account . (It's super quick and easy.) Your Disqus account will no longer work with commenting.

This post will be updated when new features launch, so you’ll know how you can continue to take commenting to the next level. Big changes are coming, so it’s likely you’ll have questions for us. Check out our Livefyre FAQ page for all the information you need. If you don't see your question answered, feel free to send us an email , and we'll keep the FAQ constantly updated. We hope you enjoy the new changes, and we can't wait to see you in the comments!

Chris Abbott is IGN's Community Manager. He loves loves video games, vinyl, film, burritos, and caffeine. If you love those things too, you should probably follow him on Twitter.