Scene: Grand Theft Auto Vthe iconic city of Los Santos. People are dying outside an apartment building, probably plotting crimes. Nothing seems out of the ordinary – except for a single figure. Dressed in tight-fitting leather pants and a bulletproof vest, he looks ready for anything and everything at once. He also looks like Keanu Reeves. He approaches a nearby man and asks – he practically begs – for a cigarette. “I need my bastard … I need my remedy,” he says in a troubled scratch. Then move away while sliding repeatedly in a T-position, repeating the same phrase several times. “I need … I … I … I … I … I …” This is it Grand Theft Auto role play and nowadays it’s a little different than you remember.
GTA role-playing is exactly what it sounds like: players run GTA VThe world is massive and they pretend to be cops, criminals and everything in between, living stories about their own creations every day. GTA VThe role-playing game server “No Pixel” created by the players has never disappeared, but the delusional highs of 2019 GTA Boom RP feel like a distant memory. However, on the back No Pixel 3.0 update (which launched last Friday) and the general popularity of role-playing games on Twitch, GTA RP came back and was bigger than ever. For example: in March 2019, at the height of the trend, GTA V reached 304,053 simultaneous spectators. Last Sunday reached 438,350 simultaneous spectators. Just yesterday, which was not as much as a banner day as Sunday, it still surpassed the March 2019 peak of almost 100,000 spectators.
It’s not hard to see why: first and foremost, Twitch’s overall audience is much higher now than it was in 2019, which means that a not insignificant number of viewers is likely to enter. GTA RP for the first time. As in 2019, big names joined the regular stage cast of cops and robbers, with the controversial megastar Félix “xQc” Lengyel adopting the will of Twitch’s collective identity, while at the opposite end of the spectrum, the chance “Sodapoppin Morris is resurrected brilliant subtle character last time, Kevin Whipaloo, the man who refuses to commit crimes in a city where practically the only thing someone does is murder. Streamers who have seen their star rise since then, such as political juggler Hasan Piker, have also joined in the fight for their turn. the unjust barren you have Rust RP (Piker plays a character with a funny Italian accent who “disguises” himself using a Texan hammy accent).
The appeal is more or less the same as last time: streamers adopt their own chaotic micro-dramas and you never know when a big name or a notorious character might make a cameo in your favorite streamer show. It is absolutely, 100% television garbage; problematic stereotypes and caricatures abound, as do Jerry Springer-like drama scenes. It is impossible to look away, even if you spend equal amounts of time laughing and getting bored.
G / O Media may receive a commission
But unlike Rust or Minecraft, which are much better at facilitating the unintentional drilling of trees in the game than role-playing, No Pixel 3.0 includes more role-playing-specific features than ever before. Crimes and their policing are far from the only real options; now players can also be driving instructors, mechanics, dealer owners, judges and more. Morris’ character, Kevin, runs a burger shop that worked mostly like a real burger shop, with customers, employees and everything else. It might sound boring, but then someone appears who plays the role of a wizard in the parking lot to sell Kevin a “potion” that is actually just a bottle of fructose-rich corn syrup, and the entertainment value of running a restaurant in a crazy city becomes clear.
The biggest unique example of this dynamic is To burn, a streamer who has spent the last few days playing roles as Keanu Reeves’ character in 2077. Cyberpunk, Johnny Silverhand. That Vader last time GTA RP has exploded, Burn is the star of this season. His pasta is excellent; he nails Reeves’ schmaltzy but credible intensity, turning even mistakes – such as stabbing an ally – into excuses to discuss how to stop at nothing to bring down the “scum body.”
Burn forms everything about Reeves’ performance and Cyberpunk until 11, spitting liberally phrases like “that’s itfucked“With a perfect voice of Keanu Reeves, while somehow not breaking the character to laugh about how ridiculous it sounds. In what it is now his second most popular music video of all time, Burn brings this joke to his conclusion (logical?), Telling a correctional officer department the name of a person who can help him bring down the evil Arasaka corporation: Howard. The officer, another player, says he doesn’t know Howard.
“Have you never met Howard?” Burn answers, like Johnny. “How about … Howard Deez Nuts?”
“Oh, my God,” says the departing officer.
Burn makes Johnny’s avatar turn around and look at the camera as distinctive 2077. Cyberpunk the thematic music suddenly swells.
“Yeah,” he says, using an emote to make it look like Johnny took off his sunglasses, “I’m Johnny Silverhand and you were just cyber-punk.”
It’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen in my life and it made me laugh so hard that I’m sure my neighbors on the second floor heard me.
Burn is not just Johnny Silverhand; he is Johnny Silverhand from the notorious buggy video game Cyberpunk. This means that he also drops regularly, barking halves of sentences again and again while using an emoticon in T-poses. It’s not exactly an original joke at the moment, but what sells it are Burn’s execution and timing, as well as games the desire to play together. After all, no pixels should exist. It is unofficial and created by players, which means that it is also prone to excessive comedic freakouts.
One of the most popular videos on Twitch in recent days he sees Burn crashing a truck in a mailbox, at which point Lengyel, who was walking in the back, flies into the street.
“What the hell?” Lengyel shouted.
Burn starts to say, “You fucked up, kid,” but he pauses and starts posing as he says, “You, you, you, you, you.”
“I think I broke it,” says Lengyel.
But then, without missing a beat, Burn resumes normal gait and moves to return to the truck. “I’m perfectly fine,” he replies in a petulant tone full of venom. “Just get in the damn car.” His character then sits in front of the car and floats in his place. Burn made a joke, but it was the game that gave the shot.
Rust and Minecraft it could have upset him, but GTA RP has never gone anywhere and is now here to remind everyone who is the true king of silly, somehow good spectacular art. Really, we’ve all been cyber-punk and we’re better at it.