The gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the most anticipated entertainment releases of the decade, landed at the end of August. For those unfamiliar with it, the satirical video game is famous for allowing players to drive around a fictional US city committing crime and shooting people. But as well as misdemeanours, it has also given them the chance to engage in a form of in-game politics.

The previous instalment of Grand Theft Auto, GTA V, was a huge hit, grossing US$1 billion (£750 million) faster than any other game in history. But it remains controversial – both politicians and academics have examined the franchise’ effects amid concerns it may be harmful to young people.

Despite a petition and an eventual ban in Australia however, even negative UK reviews of the fifth instalment, released in 2013, still found space to praise the game for how enjoyable it could be.

When playing online, gamers around the world can connect to play out their own stories in the fictional city of Los Santos. In these emergent worlds, players use proximity voice chat (meaning they can “hear” other people only when they are close to them in the game) to embody characters and interact. Collectively, they can create an ongoing story that might involve protest or politics.

Working, marrying and voting

My research explores how players engage in politics in online roleplaying spaces. As part of my ongoing PhD, I lived as my avatar “Alice” for six months in GTA V roleplaying servers. I learned the roleplayers’ rules, came to understand their customs and became part of their community. I worked, attended events, became a reporter and even married a gang leader.

Over time, logging in to a four or five-hour GTA session felt like returning to a familiar city rather than just playing a game. These were spaces where players lived full and immersive lives, working as cleaners, for example, holding Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and attending weekly church services delivered by an in-game minister.

To avoid dating this latest instalment, the game’s developer, Rockstar Games, has not made any references to Donald Trump or COVID. But when it comes to how politics happen in the game, Rockstar’s control ends where the players’ creativity begins. Players in some servers used simple, town hall votes to make decisions about important (and, in the context of GTA, relevant) issues such as increasing police powers. They even borrowed the UK parliament’s division lobby of “ayes” and “noes”.

Others held elections to choose their governor and legislative branch, forming a comprehensive political structure complete with government departments. The legislature could introduce and debate new laws, while the judicial system provided a mechanism for resolving disputes.

I took part in one server’s biannual election, culminating in going to city hall to cast my ballot. The election looked surprisingly familiar. At the debates, candidates made opening statements, answered questions from the host and then faced questions from an audience of players.

One asked how they would write a bill, a test set by a former member of government to see whether candidates understood the job. Another asked where they stood on the death penalty. Voting involved a trip to city hall and ranking my voting preferences on the ballot paper.

In interviews, some players described relatively limited engagement with conventional politics. One participant, a 26-year-old UK man, told me, “No, I don’t vote … I thought about it a couple of times but … I don’t know what actually goes on, I don’t know what they’re doing”. Yet within the server he was enthusiastically participating in decision-making and political discussions.

Across my research, I repeatedly saw players adding political institutions and processes to spaces where they did not already exist. They had found ways to decide who gets what, when and how in the server – perhaps the essence of politics – in an effective and engaging way.

Offline, dissatisfaction with politics is high, trust in politicians is low and turnout at elections is falling. So it is striking that players are taking politics to GTA V online roleplaying servers, beyond Rockstar’s original design.

For some, the online space is more engaging – players encounter forms of political participation that feel meaningful to them. The fictional setting does not make participation fictional: players still spend their time debating candidates, negotiating rules, voting and deciding what should happen in the community they inhabit.

GTA VI will be released in November and will undoubtedly be shaped by Rockstar’s decisions. The company can decide which political subjects to leave out and which to include. But once millions of players enter GTA VI’s online worlds, they will bring their own ideas, communities and forms of organisation with them.

These online communities show that politics can come from players who create elections, governments, debates and decision-making themselves. So perhaps the question isn’t whether the new instalment of GTA will be political. It’s what players will do with the political possibilities it gives them.