Highlights
- Video games like The Sims 4 , Cities: Skylines , and Kingdom Hearts 3 incorporate social media elements to capture a sense of realism and reflect contemporary life.
- In The Sims 4 , Sims can post their daily stories on "Simstagram" to gain fame points and ad revenue, while in Cities: Skylines, citizens chirp about their day-to-day lives on "Chirper".
In almost exactly the same way that movies and TV shows had to incorporate cell phones into their storylines, video games, especially those looking to capture a sense of realism, have opted to do the same with one of the most integral aspects of contemporary life: the modern communities and town squares of modernity (in other words, social media).
While many people embrace this real-life profile management mini-game, others despise it. Either way, a handful of video games have managed to capture what it's like to experience the entertainment-communication tools like Facebook, Instagram, or X (the website formerly known as) Twitter, lampooning it or turning it into a quirky or even useful game mechanic.
8 The Sims 4 (Simstagram)
With modern humans now living in a world obsessed with entertainment, it's no wonder that words like "canceled" or "backstory" are so commonly applied to real people in the real world. Partially thanks to social media, everyone thinks they're a star or character in a story. Speaking of stories, The Sims 4 hooked onto this idea with their celebrity-and-fame-themed expansion pack, "Get Famous," which allows each sim to post their daily stories online.
But where do they post it? To "Simstagram!" (What else?) Doing so in The Sims 4 will grab digital eyeballs, and fame points (and presumably also give the sim tech company behind the site ad money and/or analytics revenue). Sims can also go live and stream their activities at home with the help of a drone, boosting them to stardom and getting them one step closer to having their own obsessive-stalker paparazzi.
7 Cities: Skylines (Chirper)
While social media (or media in general) can cause humans to confuse symbols with reality, it's also a good way to feel the pulse of what's driving or shaping popular thought. In a game about building a society from the ground up neighborhood to neighborhood, what better way of getting a temperature test than to check in on "Chirper," Cities: Skyline's version of the website formerly known as Twitter.
Citizens in Cities: Skylines will gleefully chirp amusing and relatable tidbits throughout the day about their day-to-day lives, including problems with accessing clean water, exploding rent prices, or crumbling road infrastructure! Unlike real life, they will also congratulate the city planners (the player) about pursuing wise policy decisions on behalf of the city or achieving milestones like fluffing out the population size.
6 Kingdom Hearts 3 (Loading Screen Selfies)
During loading times, some gamers snap up their phone and sift through their day's social media feed. It's a half-decent way to pass the time while high-fidelity graphics are loading for the benefit of the player's rapturous eyeballs. The developers behind Kingdom Hearts 3 took notice of this and cut out the middleman.
While the app itself goes un-named, it seems to be a one-to-one clone of real-life Instagram. In each shot, Sora can be seen posing for a selfie. While most of his shots catch many iconic Disney or Square Enix characters, there is the occasional Goofy shot (as well as the occasional Donald shot as well).
5 Yakuza 3 (My Revelations)
Between property management, raising orphans, and generally being an all-around good guy, Kazuma Kiryu must have plenty to talk about should he wish to divulge his thoughts between street fights on the streets of Japan. In Yakuza 3, Kiryu gets a phone into which he can micro-blog his thoughts and feelings about living his life as the (retired) Dragon of Dojima.
What better activity is there for a member of an organized crime syndicate than to tell all on the internet? To be fair, Kiryu's blog, "My Revelations," is mostly filled with anecdotes about the times he is "inspired" to learn a special ability by the totally absurd happenings on the streets (and is rarely used to admit culpability to crimes on behalf of the Yakuza).
4 Mortal Kombat 10 (Friendships)
They say blood is thicker than water, and in the gruesome case of Mortal Kombat 10, that appears to hold true. Johnny Cage, the Egotistical action star from the Mortal Kombat series seems to have passed on his attention-grabbing prowess and tendency for violence to his daughter, Cassie Cage, who, like her father, has a knack for "capturing" attention, especially when it comes to getting jaws to hit the floor.
In her fatality move, Cassie yanks her partner's throat and jaw clean (clean-ish) off and proceeds to take a selfie with her victim. The pic immediately gets uploaded to a site named "Friendship" and is bombarded with eyeballs (thankfully those still attached to their sockets) as well as dark comments from fellow users (and fellow kombatants from across the realms).
3 Spider-Man (Marvel Twitter?)
Marvel's Spider-Man really blew everyone away when it was released. Spider-Man is so good that even the pause menu has something engaging to offer. Whenever players need to take a break, check the map, or mess around with their suit or powers, they're treated to a little snapshot of what the website formerly known as Twitter would be like if it was actually in the Marvel Universe.
Spidey fans (and non-fans alike) share their thoughts on current NYC events, and, being that Spider-man seems never to leave his friendly neighborhood, the webslinger's name is dropped quite often, usually as a result of an epic aerial battle or the taking down of a big bad. More often than not, threads tend to wind up with wholesome discourse rather than vitriolic pettiness. But hey, it's just another comic book fantasy most internet users wish were real.
2 South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Coonstagram)
Just like Instagram in real life, South Park: The Fractured But Whole's Coonstagram is a way to collect friends and reap the rewards of popularity. Players can sidle up to any character in the game and attempt to take a selfie with them to increase their influencer points.
Some citizens of South Park will require the player to do something for them before they're willing to go in for a selfie and become a follower. Players need to find all followers in South Park: The Fractured But Whole to collect all achievements.
1 Grand Theft Auto 5 (LifeInvader / Bleeter)
Rockstar's absolute dedication to putting a grubby mirror up against all aspects of life in Grand Theft Auto 5 did not stop at the real world's obsession with building highly-whitewashed online profiles, paddling in myopic thought rock pools, opting into thinly-veiled social engineering efforts, and super-platforming some of the worst aspects of human nature, all to the benefit of shady government surveillance initiatives.
Grand Theft Auto 5 also offers Bleeter, their equivalent of Twitter. As anyone would expect, their mascot is that of a sheep, and a user's phone will even make a "bleating" noise whenever a user updates their subscribers to their day-to-day happenings, such as when they see a movie, are about to have an expensive brunch, or have their car stolen.