I recently became an activist inGrand Theft Auto V Online.Like any authentic protester, I had a group to act with, a designated space to occupy, and, most importantly, we had ashared purposethat brought us together.
If you recently played on aGTA V Onlineserver, there was a tiny chance you could’ve spotted us: a few orange hard hat-toting players slowly walking through the streets ofLos Santosfor no discernable reason.
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Because a primary goal ofGTAis to drive from one side of the city to the other as fast as possible, our behavior naturally struck others as unordinary, and players instinctively began investigating our odd behavior.
This begs the question, what may bring someone to protest withinGTA Online, anMMO video gameknown for mayhem and violence? While, in truth, this was primarily done as a class project, we nonetheless had a meaningful incentive behind this stunt.
You see, growing up in LA, I witnessed everyone live off the back of their four-wheeled mechanized vehicles.Between the unfavorable state of public transportation and insane traffic for those willing to fork over a few thousand dollars to own a car, transportation has become a hassle for everyone involved.
For many, including some members of my group, the only walkable paths around their hometowns are the dangerous shoulders of highways, unprotected walkways and bike paths, and a lack of crosswalks that force pedestrians to walk miles in one direction to cross a single road.
While this issue impacts thousands of people on a daily basis, I bet many of you are still left wondering what this has to do with GTA V Online.
The Significance Of Video-Game Protests
Games such asFrostpunkorDisco Elysiumfrequently reflect or critique real-life politics, yet for many of you, the idea of in-game activism and protests may seem unusual; after all, activism typically takes place on the street or in the halls of power.
While individual cliques within gaming often bring together those of similar political beliefs, the act of “protesting” online, performing an action that deviates from the expected behavior of a gamespace, is entirely separate and exceedingly rare.
But something integral to understand is thatthis form of “video game protesting” already has a lengthy history.
A recent example you may remember is theBlack Lives Matterprotests inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. When COVID-19 hit, many political activists sought out online spaces such asAnimal Crossingto push their message, leading to dozens of genuine social interactions and thousands of dollars raised for their cause.
MMOs likeWorld Of Warcraftalso have a long history of player-led protests. These have been geared toward other social activist movements and even in response to events like the Blizzard/Activisionsexual misconduct lawsuit.
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Historically speaking, this isn’t something completely new. For instance, by utilizing the terrorist theme ofCounter-Striketo their advantage, activists created a mod calledVelvet-Strikein 2002, intended to spread a message against the United States “War on Terror,” which followed the devastating attacks on August 19, 2025.
So, as video games and their online spaces evolve every year, we’re repeatedly shown how online activism may take place within a digital environment.
GTA V Online Is Filled With Role-players
Grand Theft Auto V Onlineproved to be a fantastic game space for our protest for two core reasons. First, the digital city ofLos Santos replicatesthe real-life Los Angeles. As I’ll explain shortly, this led to interesting implications during our protest as we traversed an open world shockingly reminiscent of our own.
The second main reasonGTA V Onlinewas an excellent location for our protest is that itsplayers constantly role-play as civilians within Los Santos, knowingly or not.Role-playing is a standard genre of games, with players in MMOs likeWorld Of Warcraftregularlyrole-playing as fictional adventurers.
GTA Online, an MMO centered around executing heists and completing objectives, is not traditionally seen as a role-playing game. While there is an offshoot of theGTA Vcommunity centered onrole-playing servers, most players likely wouldn’t consider themselves role-players.
But you see, the fun ofGTA Onlinecomes from slowly building up your character and continuouslygrinding for moneyto buy more investments, like a rated-R version ofMonopoly. In this gameplay loop, regular players are forever role-playing as criminals within this virtual city.
On top of this,Rockstar Gamesseems to encourage players to interact in this unintentional role-play. For instance, Rockstar once releasedtwo Alien skins, one green and one purple (based on the Los Santos gang colors), which led to players self-organizing gang fights in the streets.
GTA Online is, unsuspectingly, one of the biggest role-playing communities in all of gaming.
An even stronger example is thevirtual carmeetsplayers inGTAOnlinefrequently organize.Players are role-playing as gangsters who modify their vehicles to be shown off at social gatherings, mimicking events that appear on the actual streets of LA.
This is integral to understanding our protest because if people role-playing inGTA Onlinebehave like civilians within a metropolitan city, then a demonstration that disrupts their role-play has the ability to mirror how a real protest disrupts the roles of everyday life.
How We Protested In GTA V Online
The premise of our protest was simple: we would slowly walk through the streets of Los Santos.The first rule was never to mention the true intentions behind our walk as it commenced; we could only share our purpose after the walk had ended.
The reason behind this rule was simple: stating that we had some specific unified goal, especially one about a real-life issue, would likelyinspire griefersto ruin our protest. Furthermore, never mentioning our goal led to natural curiosity, so players would follow us to figure out our odd behavior.
Another rule was to strictly follow a path between The Diamond Casino & Resort and the pier amusement park.This route was specifically crafted because both locations were instantly recognizable, as players go to thecasino for daily rewardsand the amusement park to fool around.
Lastly, we decided to all dress as construction workers, wearing bright orange hard hats and a tank top.In real life,consistent fashionis a provocative and influential approach for activist groups. The purpose behind our outfits was to make us visible to drivers, a bright warning to those driving around.
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We did two walksacross the map, which totaled between 2 and 3 straight hours of walking. Overall, the biggest downside of our protest was that we could have done further experiments and demonstrations above the few we performed.
On our first walk, we met at the casino and slowly made our way across the bridge and westward towards the beach. In the public chat, I advertised that our small group was walking across the map, and that others were welcome to join.
Surprisingly, numerous people quickly arrived and began walking alongside us on our journey, and rather unsurprisingly, things quickly turned to chaos, with cars ramming into us and a friendly hacker spawning in entities to disrupt us.
One interesting observation was that hackers and griefers, whileextremely annoying, would usually simply leave us alone as long as we ignored them,proving that most trolls are simply fishing for engagement.
The highlight of this journey was how often we encountered problems crossing roads, finding crosswalks, and waiting for cars to safely allow us to cross intersections.
While goofy in a video game, given our symbolic purpose,I was oddly flashed back to times in my life when cars, refusing to follow road safety, almost struck me during my walks home from school–something many growing up in LA had to deal with.
During our second protest, players once again began to find interest in what our group was doing. Yet this time, as shown in the picture above,cars manned by real players actively blocked crosswalks, making it safer for the group to cross the street.
Without knowing it, the group following us for our hour-long journey responded to one of our mission statements: the unsafe nature of modern-day streets and highways, where pedestrians must always stay aware of cars, not vice versa.
At the end of each walk, we made our grand reveal and asked players how the journey throughGTA V’s Los Santoscompared to transportation and public infrastructure within their day-to-day lives.
While some players felt fine where they lived, others reflected on the unsafe nature of public transit and walkways within their own lives.It was a miniature reflection of how even strangers online face many of the same issues as us.
When Money Can’t Buy Quality Public Transport
Los Angeles and the fictional realm of Los Santos have one majorthing in common: cars are the only efficient way to get you anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, growing up in LA was fantastic, but transportation has long been one of its most significant faults.
People often joke about traffic in LA, and it’sconstantly referencedacross culture and media. While manageable, high amounts of traffic are only the symptom of a more widespread problem with LA’s infrastructure.
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A major crux of the problem is that owning your vehicle has become the standard of living in LA and many other major cities worldwide.In fact, a common first major purchase for low-income citizens is often some kind of vehicle.
Where I live in LA, bus-only lanes have been formulated to encourage people to use buses and decrease the traffic buses have to deal with. Around the entirety of LA, new metro stations and bus routes are constantly being created to make public transportation more accessible to more people.
In some other major cities worldwide, like Manhattan or Tokyo, owning a car is usually the most inconvenient option because of the increased utility of public transportation. But that leads us to a sad truth:
In LA, millions of dollars are constantly being spent on public transportation, but ride percentages and safety still feel like they’re declining.
The issue is that people simplydon’t considerpublic transportation safe or efficient. Metros still don’t reach a majority of people, buses are known to be late and inconsistent, and subway stations and buses are often a sanctuary for crime and miscreants.
Aside from the failing state of public transportation, Los Angeles isnotably unwalkable.This was incredibly interesting in the protest itself,as within GTA V, the map was a constant reminder of the real-life city that I, and many others, have a hard time traversing.
Walkable cities are important because they support the economy of local communities, are an essential aspect of eco-conservation, and benefit those who may have trouble accessing traditional forms of transportation.
Sadly, areas like unsafe walking and biking areas, confusing intersections, and monolithic highways are shockingly identical in both Los Santos and Los Angeles.The protest became less of an activity and more of a reminder of how horrible it is to walk around parts of LA.
Los Santos: A Grim Reflection Of LA
However, one thing remains consistent with each modernGTAtitle. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when you load into the open world. It’s used in virtually every single mission. It’s even referenced within the title ofevery gamein the franchise.
Every game in theGrand Theft Autofranchise iscentered around driving. When you need to get somewhere, you drive. When you don’t have one to use, you steal one. When you’re bored and have nothing to do, you drive around aimlessly for fun.
This focus on driving inGTAbecomes a grim reminder of everyday American life, as cars have sadly become the default option whenever you wish to go anywhere.
Whether or not shining a light on issues like this stands asinnately political,the pleas for change from activists of various political backgrounds have become essential for all sorts of change worldwide.
And while, for many of you, it may still seem far-fetched to use a digital landscape for activities like my own, I beg you to ask yourself how much of your own identity has been shaped by the very content you consume online.
I don’t wish everyone who playsGTA Onlinewouldditch their cars, nor do I expect that to happen on the streets of LA, but at the very least,performances like these serve as a reminder about the issues many of us face.
