Real-world social media can be scary. When your platform of choice is in constant danger of being bought by Elon Musk and getting caught up in the discourse is a daily peril, it’s easy to long for a safer alternative with less tangible downsides.
This is where the interesting phenomenon of in-game social media can come in, with a slew of modern titles offering their own versions of the apps we all love to hate, which can often be more interesting than the real thing.
Some users on ResetEra certainly seem to think so, having set out to highlight which games offer the best virtual networks.
Gamers Debate Best In-Game Social Media Platforms
Posting to begin the thread, user Jintor highlighted some of their favourite examples, beginning with the version of Twitter included in 2018 Playstation title Marvel's Spider-Man, which sees the titular character take on the handle of NYCWallCrawler and build up an army of stans the size of your average K-Pop group.
“The writing was pretty on-point, even if it was a little bit twee.”, they said of this particular example.
Grand Theft Auto IV received a lot of praise throughout the thread, having been identified as the game that really started the trend of having a large-scale in-game cyberspace, with Jintor saying: “The whole fake internet they made I thought was fascinating, and so of (the) time - they were parodying everything, Facebook, Friendster, Blogger, all these sites that have come and gone.”
Several users argued the GTA V’s updated version of the net, complete with true Facebook and Twitter parodies in LifeInvader and Bleeter, deserves just as much credit, with user SanTheSly saying: “I think by the time GTA 5 rolled around it felt less impressive to me because so many other games had cottoned on to the idea.”
Other titles to receive praise included Yakuza 3, which introduces microblogging to protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, Final Fantasy VIII, which grants similar privileges to Selphie Tilmitt and South Park’s numerous video game adaptations.
So, if your real world timelines are ever looking too horrifying, now you know exactly which games to fire up if you want the adrenaline rush of encountering amusing posts without all of the drawbacks.
Also, make sure to follow us on Bleeter and LifeInvader for more GTA Online updates as new content arrives and becomes the talk of the San Andreas social sphere.