Summary
Like it or not, social media has become an integral part of everyday life. Posting about your life, getting into arguments online within your chosen fandoms, and trying to convince your family that they’ve been mindlessly posting AI content have become part and parcel of living in the 2020s.
As video games grow to reflect our modern society, social media has managed to find their way into a lot of games too. Here are the best depictions of social media that exist within video games.
10Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Leafbook > Facebook
A fantasy RPG might be the least likely candidate for a depiction of social media, but Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom’s parody of Facebook is filled with more positivity and way less conspiracy theories.
Developed by the more technologically minded Broadleaf kingdom, Leafbook allows users from the different kingdoms to connect with each other. While you can’t directly post on the platform, you can see other citizens' reactions to the events of the story, or even get hints on where to find special treasure or new Evermore residents across the map.
9Marvel’s Spider-Man & Miles Morales
The appeal of Spider-Man has typically been that he’s the hero that helps out the little guy; the ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’, and social media has always given a voice to the little guy. That’s why Marvel’s Spider-Man and its follow-up, Miles Morales, gave social media a decent focus.
Throughout the story of both games, you could pause the game and check out the in-game social media feed, which would see regular New Yorkers trying to react to the escalating chaos. Throw in those excellent podcast sections from J. Jonah Jameson, along with Danika Hart in Miles Morales, and you actually feel like you’re in the center of a bustling city. Just one populated by super criminals, unfortunately.
While Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 didn’t include the social media feed, The Amazing Spider-Man tie-in game also offered a great take on social media, which would appear during the game’s various loading screens.
8Every EA Sports Game
Monday Morning Quarterbacks
Sports fans and social media go together like oil and fire, in that whenever a player or manager makes what’s perceived to be a mistake, the fans are quick to hop online and let them know. It’s an unfortunate reality of being a modern sports star, but one that various EA Sports games have captured.
Whether it’s EA Sports FC, where random social media trolls are questioning your transfer decisions or lack of ability in front of goal, or UFC 5, where you’re berated by non-fighters even if you’re on a 40 fight winning streak. Let’s see you hit Alex Pereira with a flying head kick, dweeb.
7WWE 2K
Let Me Tweet You Something Brother
WWE, and the wrestling business as a whole, has always been on the forefront of modern social media, with wrestlers and promotions using the various digital platforms at their disposal to hype up their events and feuds. Obviously, the WWE 2K series attempts to capture that in various ways.
Throughout the various entrances, the social media profiles for the specific wrestler are shown on screen, which can even be changed for your created wrestler. The cringier the username, the better. Meanwhile, the MyCareer Mode allows you to feud with other wrestlers, answer DMs and see what other members of the roster are posting about you. Usually, it’s very mean.
6Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Ichiban Vs A VTuber
You wouldn’t think that a game as wacky as Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth would feature the most up-to-date depiction of social media these days, but RGG Studio accomplished it. Part of that is theAloha Links system, where Ichiban can greet various members of Hawaii and learn more about them, giving character to those outside of the story and substories.
Still, it’s the presence of Tatara Channel that’s really cutting edge, especially for a big budget video game such as Like A Dragon. Tatara Channel is LAD’s attempt at paying homage to VTubers, complete with accurate model, streaming setup and more. In any other series, the protagonist beefing with a VTuber would be wild, but not in Like A Dragon.
5GTA 4
Still Better Than GTA 5’s Internet
Rockstar really went above and beyond when it comes to its depiction of social media in GTA 4, as it basically created its own miniature version of the internet on top of that. Instead of being given an app that offered a facsimile version of a familiar platform, you could head to internet cafés and surf the World Wide Web, finding plenty of ridiculous versions of early social media in the process.
While the majority of the content on this internet is used for jokes, including some references to mids 2000s blog posts, forum arguments and MySpace pages, some of the internet in GTA 4 served actual gameplay purpose. You could set up dates via love-meet, referencing the early days on online dating, while the website whattheydonotwantyoutoknow.com allows you to get the scoop on hidden weapons, armor and even those darned collectible pigeons.
Don’t search for littlelacysurprisepageant.com on the GTA 4 computers. Bad idea.
4Cities: Skylines
Chirp Chirp
How can you effectively manage a bustling metropolis without hearing the desires of the people? Sure, you could hold a town hall meeting, but there’s no point in gathering an entire population together like an episode of Gilmore Girls when your citizens can spray their opinions online instead.
That’s the option Cities: Skylines goes for, using the in-game app Chirpr to give you an insight into how their citizens feel about the town. Depending on how effective you are at managing different public needs, or how tempted you are to huck meteors at your city, the Chirpr experience can be either incredibly positive or hugely negative.
3South Park: The Stick Of Truth
Kyle Wants To Be Your Friend
The South Park team is known for mocking and making jabs at pretty much everything under the sun, and nothing was safe during the course of The Stick of Truth. Whether it wasfantasy RPGs, Game of Thrones, the over-reliance of Nazi zombies or anything else that was included, the game’s humour took on all comers.
Weirdly enough though, instead of including a parody social media or some jokey equivalent, The Stick of Truth uses Facebook. A fake version, sure, but it’s still called Facebook. It serves as the game’s hub for your character, and you’re able to see statuses from other South Park residents and even become friends with them to unlock new perks.
Due to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which states children under 13 can’t have Facebook accounts, all the kids in South Park have clearly lied about their age, which absolutely ranks among the very worst of Cartman’s crimes.
2Emily Is Away
You’ve Got Mail
People of a certain vintage (see: millennials with currently bad knees) will no doubt have whiled away the hours after school or college using instant messengers like AIM. While we as a society won’t return to the days of passively aggressively changing your AIM status because you got in an argument with your best mate, we at least have games like Emily Is Away to give us some nostalgia.
Set over the course of five years using a fake version of Windows XP and AIM, Emily Is Away follows your conversations with the titular Emily as you both struggle with relationships. Depending on your choices, things with Emily can go well or terribly, so verify to choose wisely.
Emily Is Away is actually a series of free games, with the first two using the AIM layout. The third game, Emily Is Away <3, takes its cue from Facebook instead.
1Life Is Strange: True Colors
Like Nextdoor, Only With A Corpo Telling You Mining Is Cool
The Life Is Strange gameshave always featured some form of social media within them, which makes sense given the subject matter is about angsty teens. You’ve got to post that angst somewhere, though the best version of it in the series has to be MyBlock from Life Is Strange: True Colors.
A hybrid of Twitter, Facebook and Nextdoor, MyBlock allows you to get a peek into life within Haven Springs outside of Alex Chen. While you’re able to’t interact with posts or message people, MyBlock posts are a great way to experience the community of Haven Springs in a condensed way.
