But it's multiplayer in the sense that you can spectate if you're livestreaming, or you can take turns playing the game, which is kind of cool. "With the Chain Game, it's sort of the same but in a different way. We'd play until I died, and until another one of us died, and then until another one of us died, you know, and we'd just have this cycle." I remember growing up as a kid, when I played GTA with my friends we'd always take turns and pass the pad. Hampson continues: "That's the thing: we've kind of turned it into a multiplayer game, which is pretty cool. We had several special features for that game, and it was great having community members, past and present, helping us shape some of the games, meeting new and familiar faces, and that was just lovely to see people jumping on, taking a turn, then passing it on." It was the most played round we've ever done, and we had players coming in from all different periods of the game – some of which hadn't taken a turn in six years, but wanted to join in to mark the century. "It was a special round that we did, three years ago now in 2018. "Round 100 was incredible for us," GTAKid adds. To mark the occasion, modded easter egg hunts – where players were sent around Liberty City in search of special vehicles – ran alongside regular base-game fare, and otherwise inactive players returned to celebrate the 100-round mark much to the delight of the wider community. Now running its 124th round, the best example of players being called back to action came when the Chain Game hit a century of set-pieces. That doesn't happen in GTA 3, which is why I keep coming back for more action." Wes Hampson, Chain Game contributor
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"In GTA 5, like a lot of modern games, I feel the developers try to tell you how to feel in certain moments. That doesn't happen in GTA 3, which is why I keep coming back for more action." 100-Club In GTA 5, like a lot of modern games, I feel the developers try to tell you how to feel in certain moments. You can almost ascribe your own thoughts and ideas to what might be going through the protagonist's head. Vice City, for example, has a lot of shine, but GTA 3 has a city that perhaps lacks an identity. "There isn't a lot of dialogue, players are given loose objectives and then need to work things out for themselves, and the city is perfect for that. In turn, the open-endedness of the game is what makes it perfect for something like the Chain Game, where you can drop-in and drop-out, doing your bit little by little towards that 100% goal." We sometimes livestream the Chain Game, and it's fun to see what other players do and the choices they make in the moment. You're given an abstract objective, you have to fulfil that objective, and there are often lots of ways to do it. "It's a game that doesn't have ropes to guide you. "Simply put: GTA 3 is a challenging game," says Hampson. Another prolific Chain Game contributor who feels the same is Wes Hampson, who also reckons hand-holding has let modern GTA games down, and the expert balance of idiosyncrasy and anonymity found in GTA 3's Liberty City is what makes the game so appealing 20 years on. Well over 100 contributors have lent their GTA 3 expertise to the Chain Game since inception, and this sense of community is one of the main reasons GTAKid returns to Liberty City time and time again. Listen, you can jump on some days and just have the worst luck, I mean, really, an absolute nightmare! And I've done it myself – you're seeing the clock ticking down, and you're thinking: I've got to do something here! It all happens in isolation too, so you post the turn to the community, you've spent two hours doing the simplest thing because it's just all gone so wrong, and you expect a few raised eyebrows." "It can be, yeah," admits GTAKid, "but that's part of the deal when you're chasing that coveted 100%. 100%-ing the crime sim's story ventures is one thing, but working as a tireless taxi driver, extinguishing house fires, or delivering injured civilians to the ER for three hours-straight sounds pretty painstaking.
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Pass-the-save set-ups like this exist in other PC communities, of course, but what makes the Chain Game especially interesting isn't just the fact that GTA 3 itself is 20 years old with a still active player-base, but also the variety of missions it offers. And, after completing their turn, they must wait for two or more consecutive turns to be completed by other players before starting another round of their own. During this time, they can't get busted, wasted, or fail at any stage, lest their progress get wiped and their turn invalidated. Players can play for up to three hours at a time, for example, wherein they can complete one story or payphone mission, and as many side missions as they like against the clock. Rules are simple but thorough, to ensure fairness and maintain structure.