Role-playing in Grand Theft Auto Online has gained a ton of popularity as the most popular streamers and celebrities are joining RP servers. Despite being a nearly eight-year-old game, Grand Theft Auto Online topped the most-watched list on Twitch in February, largely due to the release of an update to NoPixel, one of the largest GTA RP servers in the world. The NoPixel server is possibly the most well-known server, hosting streamers such as Shroud, MoonMoon, Sykkuno, Valkyrae, and xQc.

The mod behind many of the Grand Theft Auto RP servers is FiveM. The FiveM mod allows for the creation of customized servers, more detailed characters, and high-quality multiplayer support. Modders behind FiveM shared a concurrent player record, which hit over 250,000 players over the weekend. With over 250,000 players on the modded servers, FiveM recorded more concurrent players than the official GTA 5 base game on Steam.

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According to data from SteamDB, Steam saw around 90,000 concurrent players on Grand Theft Auto 5 at the same time the FiveM concurrent player record was shared. Since then, GTA Online has recorded a 24-hour peak of nearly 124,000 concurrent players, meaning there are more players playing the modded GTA Online than the official. Although Steam does not include concurrent players on other clients such as the Epic Games Store, it is still extremely impressive that the FiveM mod is being played more than the base game on Steam.

Modders behind FiveM have been hard at work maintaining the servers. Players within the GTA modded servers or viewers watching streamers may not realize how much goes into maintenance for the servers. Not only does the server have to be moderated closely, but also has expensive maintenance costs. According to one of the administrators, the NoPixel RP server costs nearly $10,000 monthly in hosting fees. Because of the hard work of the modders, streamers are sharing entertaining content, with plenty of drama being cooked up within the servers.

With so many top streamers in the NoPixel server, excitement is bound to follow. However, when involved in GTA RP servers, there are some rules to follow, which some streamers have some difficulty following. Popular Twitch streamer xQc has been quite the controversial figure in the NoPixel server. The former Overwatch pro has been banned a staggering three times from the server for breaking multiple rules.

On his first offense, xQc was banned for randomly killing players, something not allowed in most RP servers. His second ban was issued after xQc exploited a glitch, allowing him to carry a gun into a police department. Despite his actions, xQc was allowed back, only to be banned again for encouraging his chat to harass another player. While xQc may not be the best role model for the RP servers, there are plenty of streamers sharing their entertaining experiences with GTA RP.

Grand Theft Auto Online is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions also in development.

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