(AfroGamers.com) Many people know that Grand Theft Auto V is one of the greatest games ever made. It is also one of the most popular games today. Something that is amazing about GTA V is how it is still one of the most played and watched games even though it came out in 2013. It is known that GTA Online is still alive and well and that Rockstar consistently comes out with DLC packs for the game. Soon, they will release their new DLC name The Contract.
While this is their main cash cows at the time, it is far from the reason why so many people are still interested in the game. There is another side to the story that is hard to think that it may be one of the biggest kept secrets in gaming, GTA RP.
What Is GTA RP?
Grand Theft Auto RP is the single reason why Grand Theft Auto is consistently the most viewed game on the largest video game streaming site in the world, Twitch. GTA V usually have well over a quarter million viewers during prime time. At the time of writing this, the next closest number of views for a game is Fortnite at 150k and GTA V have more than double that amount. At a quick glance, you may think that streamers are playing GTA Online, but they kind of are and kind of aren’t.
GTA RP is a modded form of the GTA Online game. It is run through something called FiveM which provides the base tools for modding the game and also the server hosting. Because of this, they are playing GTA Online. The way that they aren’t is that it is much different from the environment of the classic GTA Online. It is roleplay meaning that all of the characters on the server are played by actual people with actual in game lives and storylines.
The server is over 300 players at the moment and those slots are always full. This means that there are over 300 people for everyone on the server to interact with. This also means that at any moment, there are over 300 people to watch in some form or fashion. Something else to take into account is that Facebook Gaming is competing with Twitch for some of the biggest GTA RP streamers. The number on Twitch could be way bigger is you add the close to 30k viewers (on Twitch, they were around 15k each) that watch the various members of popular criminal gang, Chain Gang, on Facebook Gaming.
What Do You Do in GTA RP?
I know that you don’t suppose to answer a question with a question, but I will. To answer what do you do in GTA RP, I ask, what do you do in life? You have to work, eat, and socialize with other. Typically, you fall into one of three categories. A civilian that are usually the people who work jobs like farming, make food for everyone in the game, and other things like fishing, hunting, and EMTs. A criminal, who are the ones that make money by illegal means like robbing banks or selling drugs. Lastly, there are the cops, who are the ones who stop crime from happening.
There is a whole in game ecosystem that is very interesting to watch. You also have many options on who to watch from streamers like XQC who regularly pull over 75k alone, Buddha who pulls around 26k on average, or Jonthebroski who pulls around 500 viewers. All of them are interesting and offer something different see.
The great thing about watching GTA RP on Twitch is that you can easily see what is happening all around the game world. You can switch to the type of RP that you want to watch at the time, watch for a little bit and then switch to another person.
If there is a bank robbery with a car chase in progress, you may be watching the stream from the criminal’s perspective. During the chase, you might switch to the cop’s perspective to see their point of view. On any given chase, there might be six criminals and ten or more cops. You can switch here and there to see what is going on. Maybe the criminals split up. You can switch to see what this set is doing and then switch to see what the other set is doing.
While crime is usually the most exciting content to me, some of the deepest RP on the server revolves around business RP that has no violence at all in it. In a way, it is like watching your favorite show on cable TV except you don’t have to wait to next week to see what the conclusion of it. Most of the storylines that you might be following is usually only subject to the streamer playing the characters involved to be online and even when they aren’t on, there is usually someone else on that might be involve in the story that you can watch.
In conclusion, a game that is over eight years old is the biggest hidden gem in gaming and you can watch it completely free. The stories that the characters tell are sometimes deep, fun, or goofy depending on how you are feeling at the time. The best part of all about GTA RP, is that it is on for close to 24 hours a day with the exception of maybe 5 minutes when the tsunami, the clever way that they have to say that the server is resetting, that happens at 12 am and 12 pm every day. This means that no matter when you want to watch some roleplay whether it is five in the morning or ten at night, you can always tune in and see something interesting going on.
Staff Writer; Tardell Swift
This brother is new to writing yet has many different interests such as gaming, hip hop, wrestling, and manga.
You can follow him on Twitter; PhirewoodGaming and keep up with his thoughts there as well.