A group of Grand Theft Auto Online players have gathered together in Los Santos to throw an in-game birthday for their friend. Although the world of Grand Theft Auto is often known for its violence, heists, and titular car theft, GTA Online's roleplaying community regularly uses servers for less extreme activities, with some players choosing to inhabit the role of a taxi driver or a different job. Open lobbies of GTA 5's multiplayer mode may have a rap for toxicity, but sometimes, wholesome interactions do take place.
Since GTA Online's launch in 2013, the community has used the in-game city of Los Santos for a variety of creative uses such as the recreation of MarioKart's Rainbow Road, or exploiting glitches to hilarious effect, such as spawning the Loch Ness Monster in unexpected places around the city. Despite the nine years since its release players are still actively returning to the title as the community continues to grow. Last year, the ability to attend car meets with friends came into GTA Online, and a recent update to the game gave players the chance to purchase copies of customized cars there, which despite being requested by the community beforehand, has also been criticized upon its arrival as being a further part in Rockstar's microtransaction practices.
Taking to the GTA Online subreddit, Seggy shared a video of an organized meet-up within a private lobby in the game to celebrate the birthday of their friend Mick. The post explained that Mick lives in another country & didn't have plans for his birthday, so Seggy and friends took to the beaches of Los Santos to celebrate with impressive firework displays using the game's July 4 firework launchers, light-shows made using the players' car headlights, and people on fire, which it can only be assumed were there in place of the traditional birthday candles needing to be blown out.
My friend lives in another country & didn't have plans for his birthday ... so we celebrated it in GTAOnline! Happy Birthday Mick <3 from gtaonline
Despite many fans being disgruntled by Rockstar's practices as of late - in particular GTA Online's new GTA+ membership service - the GTA community was happy to see such a wholesome event and creative use of the title's features. Seggy's video has been well received, with fellow Grand Theft Auto fans wishing Mick a happy birthday and admiring their impressive birthday display, while also being inspired to create their own celebrations within the game themselves.
Despite Rockstar seeming to still be heavily invested in Grand Theft Auto Online, many fans are looking forward to seeing what the studio will be able to do in the world of the recently confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6. Not much is known about the upcoming title outside of various unconfirmed rumors, but anticipation is high for an update on what they can expect from a fully current-gen Grand Theft Auto experience.
Source: Seggy/Reddit