- “People probably don't realise that I don't actually like the internet much at all. Though I pioneer its woods, I consider them cruel and unforgiving, and advise others to steer clear altogether. Probably like real explorers used to do.”
- — Homestuck Book 2 commentary
The internet ceases to work momentarily.
The internet is one of Sburb's requirements of a regular session, and as a consequence it exists in all Homestuck universes. While it can fail to work in "real life"
, players in the incipisphere have stable and unlimited access to it along with electricity for their homes.
The denizen of each Homestuck player matches their internet browser of choice, and the browser icons are simplified representations of the denizens' appearances.
Alternia has its own internet, but the trolls can access human websites on the incipisphere after getting their urls. Fedorafreak can communicate with the kids' medium from his session too, so all universes' web are interchangeable between the incipisphere, with the exception of alternate timelines (and consequently, scratched universes). Data can be hosted into servers in the Furthest Ring, where it can be accessed by anyone and is preserved more safely.
It's safe to assume that all real life websites existed inside Homestuck prior to the date of the kids' entry.
Notable programs that use internet connection[]
- Sburb and related apps like GristTorrent
- Web browsers
- Many chat clients are connected to each other and used during the sessions for communication. Trollian specially allows to see users in different points of their timelines and message with them.
- Serious Business and Delirious Biznasty function like Twitter.
- Rebelgram in Hiveswap, which works similarly to phone messaging services.
- Snapchat (or a similar program used by the characters).
- Grype, the Alternian equivalent of Skype.
While not part of the internet, simpler devices like walkie-talkies have been used and some robots could be remotely controlled by their owners. The many Sburb apparel can also interact with players and their planets from different points of the timeline.
Websites in Homesuck and Hiveswap[]
Even though sloppy is fine, it might be a bit of a good idea to arrange this particular page because, to be quite frank, as it is right now, it is just absolute garbage. Here's some detail: Organize into canon and dubcanon sections, source things like CNN appearing?.
MS Paint Adventures[]
The MSPA website in Homestuck.
MSPA's own website existed inside Homestuck and the kids were their readers. Confirmed adventures to exist are Homestuck, Midnight Crew, Problem Sleuth and Problem Sleuth 2 in post-scratch 2011. The Midnight Crew's url is visible on this page and in real life directs to the image of a spade caked in blood
.
Spades Slick accessed the website on Alternia's green moon, so either Doc Scratch has set up a way to connect with Earth's internet (he notably had contact with the humans on their game), it was accessible in distant places, or it also existed on the trolls' universe. The MSPA Reader can access it too, much to their dismay.
Plush Rump[]
Dave's Bro owned a website of erotic puppet videos, some apparently involving humans, raking “thousands of dollars a month” by a PayPal account. A chat existed on the site's bottom.
Zillyloot[]
A self-declared Kickstarter parody, probably owned by Caliborn where he funded his masterpiece with his own currency, which resemble bitcoins. All backers were his minions, mostly because he lived in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Scythian[]
One of the few Alternian websites mentioned, Scythian is a parody of Amazon with "certain things off limits or too expensive for trolls lower in the blood-caste system." Xefros has ordered Flarp manuals through this service. Misspelled as Sythian in Mallek's route.
Social Media[]
The Condesce sends Dave an ICP music video.
Dave used to run a number of ironically humorous blogs, websites and social networking profiles not shown onscreen, except for one that also exists on real life. He was the creator of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff and owned its website as well.
Since Delirious Biznasty and Serious Business work like Twitter, it's possible they have websites and the programs are just a quick way to access them.
Jade was seen browsing FurAffinity, though it's unclear if she used to have an account.
After Caliborn took over the narrative, he created a real life DeviantArt account where he hosted some of his drawings and a not-so-real Vine account to show his masterpiece.
On Vriskagram many pictures of the post-retcon meteor journey were posted by Vriska Serket. Some images do not seem to have been taken by anyone, so the website could be just introduced for storytelling purposes. A real life account exists on Instagram: TheVriskaSerket.
Prongle is an Alternian network that works like Twitter, but with the option to hate posts. It seems to have been replaced by Chittr during the development of Hiveswap however, being refered (but not seen) by many Friendsim characters. Notably, Cirava said they used to get into a lot of fights with highbloods on Chittr before things got out of hand and Tirona claimed to make fake accounts to spread pro-Empire propaganda. Misspelled as Chitter in Mallek's route.
What appears to be a default propic for Grype, as used by Mallek Adalov.
Grubtube is an Alternian video-sharing site similar to that of YouTube.
Grype is the Alternian equivalent of Skype. It has a hexagonal interface and is used many times in Hiveswap Friendship Simulator.
Other[]
Some websites are found on Dave and Bro's content aggregator, mostly for puppets, blogs and news. It is seen that Skaianet had a website and CNN had breaking news about a meteor crash. Skaianet got a real life website on January 2019: skaianetsystems.com.
TinyURL is the external website most often seen in Homestuck. Characters use this url shortener to send pictures (hosted on real life at MSPA) and YouTube videos to others.
Rose hosted her walkthrough of Sburb in GameFAQs, and a copy of it was uploaded in the furthest ring and passed on to other universes by the Horrorterrors. Some players from other Earth sessions also did walkthroughs but, according to Homestuck's book commentary, they all died before completing it. The code to summon Lord English was also hosted in a furthest ring server.
Goregle and its related apps are the Alternian equivalent of Google: Maps, Alerts, etc.
Door Smash seems to be the Alternian equivalent of DoorDash.
In Problem Sleuth[]
Even the recession era has internet inside MSPA. When PS got fed of boring/hard puzzle shit, he checked GameFAQs to see the intended solution to the plight of the four kingdoms (which was cheating with the Code Machine). Some of the usernames seen there are also present when Rose checked GameFAQs in Homestuck.