The Internet's Best Storytellers Are All on Twitch

For this first deep dive, I want to focus on a storytelling platform that might feel foreign to many in the traditional media world: Twitch. Yes, that Twitch—the one where people livestream themselves playing video games and screaming at their screens. But if you look closer, Twitch has evolved into a hotspot for creativity and an engine of youth culture, developing intricate, compelling narratives that are changing the face of digital storytelling. Today, I’m zooming in on a fascinating subset of Twitch streams: the world of Grand Theft Auto Role-Play, or GTA RP.

Welcome to GTA RP: The Wild West of Storytelling

In case you’ve somehow missed the rise of GTA, it’s a gaming franchise by Rockstar Games that’s been both a pop culture fixture and a source of controversy since its first release in 1997. I remember sneaking onto my older sibling’s Xbox to play GTA when I was seven, only to be caught by my mum as I ran through a virtual strip club with a Molotov cocktail and a baseball bat. Let's just say, that explains a lot about me today—but I digress.

Over the years, GTA has been blasted by conservative commentators as an example of “an attack on traditional values”, while others on the left have critiqued it for “relying on surface-level stereotypes without delivering deeper satirical insights" Yet the game has persisted, largely because it has been a canvas for digital creators to cause mayhem. The most recent instalment, GTA V, released way back in 2013, continues to stay relevant thanks to the wild world of GTA RP. Through this modified version of the game, creators log into online servers to role-play as fictional characters, bringing to life everything from homeless street preachers to high-stakes heist teams. The scenarios are often so realistic, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a gritty crime drama.

What Is GTA RP and How Did It Start?

GTA RP is built on custom servers created through the FiveM mod, which lets users turn GTA V’s open world into an interactive, role-playing environment. Fun fact: FiveM, initially an independent modding community, was so influential that Rockstar Games recently acquired it. This acquisition nods to just how transformative GTA RP has been—not only for the game, but for gaming culture as a whole.

The role-playing servers themselves, though, go back further than many realize. When GTA V came out on PC, modders began creating these virtual worlds where players could act out characters with distinct backgrounds, motivations, and quirks. GTA RP has existed in some form since the early days of the game, and its predecessors can even be traced to GTA IV mods. Only now, nearly a decade later, has GTA RP hit the mainstream, garnering thousands of viewers and cultivating audiences that tune in to follow characters with the devotion one might usually reserve for The Sopranos.

"Just a Bunch of Gamers"—or the Future of Storytelling?

What makes GTA RP so unique is how it challenges what we consider "storytelling." This isn't your classic three-act structure, nor is it a crime drama in the vein of traditional television. Here, the stories are shaped by the players and evolve in real-time, often influenced by the live chat community itself. For example, I once tuned into a stream with a small creator whose character was simply wandering the streets of Los Santos as a homeless man with a handmade cardboard sign asking for money. That’s it. He wasn’t a mob boss or the chief of police—he was a guy living out a life that could easily go unnoticed in the world of GTA.

This subtlety of content might seem insignificant, but it’s also what makes GTA RP extraordinary. While some streamers get thousands of viewers for intense bank heists, meth labs, or Need For Speed style street races, others focus on the quieter stories, which can be just as engaging. Together, these characters populate a world that’s funny, tragic, chaotic, and immersive. It’s unscripted, unpredictable, and entirely new every day.

Create Like Nobody Is Watching (Because They Probably Aren’t)

Long before GTA RP hit the mainstream, creators poured hours into developing their characters and storylines, often performing for tiny audiences or, sometimes, no audience at all. Streamers like Summit1G, one of the early big names on Twitch, has spoken about how he were astounded by the quality of content these small-time creators were producing. As Summit put it in a recent interview with fellow streamer Zolo, “when the viewers came over, the content was sick… cus they had already been doing  it… so everyone just started spreading that content all over”.  The level of detail in GTA RP was astonishing to new audiences, as was the dedication of those small-time creators who, in the early days, did it purely for the love of the craft.

This willingness to innovate without an audience allowed these creators to experiment with characters, story arcs, and in-game choices without fear of failure. Ironically, the lack of early viewership may have given them the creative freedom that now makes them so compelling to larger audiences.

What We Can Learn from Twitch's Virtual Worldbuilders

So what does GTA RP teach us about the future of storytelling? Quite a bit. For starters, it highlights how much storytelling has evolved past the traditional formats that mainstream media often clings to. Young audiences have proven they’ll adapt to new ways of experiencing narratives, and platforms like Twitch have become the proving grounds for new formats. GTA RP thrives because of its unpredictability, humour, and authenticity—qualities that don’t fit neatly into the standard TV or movie formats.

For traditional producers, the lesson here is to break out of the “format box.” Yes, it’s risky, and it may seem counterintuitive when budgets are tight and viewers’ tastes feel unpredictable. But GTA RP has shown that audiences crave authenticity, originality, and the promise of something fresh. When we let go of rigid formats and allow room for spontaneity and creativity, we’re more likely to create stories that resonate deeply with today’s audiences.

The Bottom Line: Storytelling in the Age of Twitch

As the boundaries between gaming and narrative media continue to blur, platforms like Twitch and games like GTA offer some of the richest and most immersive stories today. GTA RP might not have the polished scripts or high production value of traditional media, but it captures something raw and magnetic that’s hard to find anywhere else. Each day brings new storylines, fresh characters, and the thrill of never knowing what will happen next. As audiences change, perhaps it’s time to embrace the unexpected—and create like nobody’s watching, even if they are.