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SA-MP roleplay in 2026, and how to roleplay without owning GTA

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SA-MP roleplay is still alive in 2026, mostly on open.mp servers, but every route into GTA roleplay needs a Windows PC and your own copy of the game. For SA-MP, open.mp and MTA:SA that's the original PC GTA San Andreas, not the Definitive Edition. For FiveM it's GTA V. The other GTA V platforms, RAGE:MP and alt:V, shut down this year after cease-and-desist letters from Take-Two, which leaves FiveM as the only one. Without GTA, your realistic options are Roblox roleplay games, text roleplay on MUDs and MUSHes, and browser cities. I make DimeTown, one of the browser cities, and it's covered at the end with what it does differently and what it lacks next to a big FiveM server. None of the projects named here are affiliated with DimeTown or have endorsed it, and every outside fact links to its source, checked on 4 Oct 2026.

SA-MP and open.mp

SA-MP (San Andreas Multiplayer) is a free multiplayer mod for the PC version of GTA San Andreas. Its last feature release, 0.3.7, came out on 1 May 2015, and the current client is 0.3.7-R5-2-MP. The original sa-mp.com shut down in Sept 2023. Its successor, sa-mp.mp, is run by community members working with the open.mp team.

open.mp is a newer, open-source server that's fully backwards compatible: existing SA-MP scripts run on it, and you can join its servers with the old SA-MP client. Server version 1.5.8 came out on 17 Dec 2025, along with launcher 1.6.1, which includes an in-game server browser on F9.

What you need: GTA San Andreas for PC, EU or US version 1.0. open.mp's own help page says other versions, including v2.0 and the Steam and Direct2Drive releases, won't work without downgrading.

What's on it right now: I counted open.mp's public server list at 4:27 pm AEST on 4 Oct 2026, merging entries that share a name. It showed 1,106 servers and 15,217 players, but only 272 servers had anyone on them. Servers with "roleplay", "RP" or "RPG" in the name or game mode held about 10,700 of those players, around 70%. The busiest ones were in Russian, Spanish, Romanian and Portuguese. It's a single snapshot, and the time of day favours some regions over others. The old English-language giants are thinning out: ls-rp.com, home of Los Santos Roleplay, now shows only a farewell headed "2007 – 2026".

MTA:SA

Multi Theft Auto is the other long-running San Andreas multiplayer mod. It's free, open source and Windows-only, and lists roleplay alongside racing and deathmatch. The last stable release, 1.6.0, came out in Jun 2023. Nightly 1.7 builds are still being published, the latest on 4 Oct 2026.

What you need: GTA San Andreas for PC. MTA's wiki says the Definitive Edition is not compatible, and neither is the Windows Store version. The Steam version works but is no longer sold. Per the wiki, the only compatible version you can still buy officially is the classic 2005 release from the Rockstar Store.

FiveM and RedM

FiveM is a modification framework for GTA V, made by Cfx.re. RedM is the same team's mod for Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar Games acquired Cfx.re in Aug 2023, as Video Games Chronicle reported at the time.

What you need: a legitimate copy of GTA V for PC, which FiveM checks the first time you launch it, and Windows 10 or 11. There's a version for GTA V Legacy and an early-access one for GTA V Enhanced. FiveM's FAQ says a console version isn't feasible. For RedM you need Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC.

What's on it right now: fivem.net showed 146.9k people playing at 4:31 pm AEST on 4 Oct 2026, and redm.net showed 4.8k a minute later. FiveM is by far the biggest place to do GTA roleplay today.

RAGE:MP and alt:V are gone

Both were alternative GTA V multiplayer platforms, and both were told to close in 2026:

  • alt:V announced in Feb 2026 that Take-Two had asked it to shut down. It stopped accepting new servers on 2 Mar, took its server list down on 4 May and stopped working on 6 Jul 2026.
  • RAGE:MP announced its closure in late May 2026. Its public server list went down on 1 Jun, and the platform was due to shut down completely on 31 Aug 2026.

Both said Rockstar and Take-Two now treat FiveM as the official platform for GTA V multiplayer mods. If a guide tells you to download either one, it's out of date.

nopixel V and GTA VI

On 1 Sept 2026 Rockstar announced a closed beta of nopixel V, the newest version of the best-known GTA roleplay server. It started on 8 Sept, with invited players joining through the Rockstar Games Launcher, and Rockstar mentioned "expanded access" as a future update. For now you can watch it on Twitch but can't join unless you're invited.

GTA VI is due on 19 Nov 2026. Rockstar's page lists PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S only, so there's no PC version to roleplay on this year.

What roleplay servers are like

Serious roleplay servers aren't a deathmatch with chat. You play one character, you stay in character, and you don't act on things your character couldn't know (that's "metagaming"). The big servers screen who gets in. As of Sept 2026, nopixel V was invite-only, and Hone's guide to its rules lists being 18 or over, a working microphone and a realistic character name. GTA World bills itself as "strict roleplay". Elsewhere you pick a server from the open.mp launcher's browser, MTA's server list or FiveM's server list, read its rules, and join. Each server sets its own rules.

Roleplay without owning GTA

Roblox roleplay games

Roblox is free and runs on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Xbox, PlayStation and Meta Quest. Its roleplay games are huge: at 4:30 pm AEST on 4 Oct 2026, Roblox's own API showed 397,654 people in Brookhaven RP (up to 30 per server, last updated 3 Oct) and 14,052 in Welcome to Bloxburg (up to 12 per server). Neither charges to get in.

The catch, if you're an adult: since Jan 2026 Roblox has required a facial age check before you can chat, and it sorts players into age bands. By default, each band can only chat with its own band and the ones next to it, which limits chat between adults and under-16s. That's the right call for a platform full of kids, but most of the people in those towns won't be your age.

Text roleplay: MUDs and MUSHes

MUDs and their relatives (MUSHes, MUXes and MOOs) are, as MUDStats puts it, the text-based precursors to MMORPGs, and many are still running. MUDStats counted 742 active MUDs on 4 Oct 2026, and The Mud Connector lists 700. They run on almost any computer, but you connect with a MUD client, and the pace is slower than a server with cars in it. MUDVerse has beginner guides and a list of clients.

DimeTown

Disclosure: I make DimeTown. It's not a GTA mod and isn't connected to Rockstar, Take-Two or any of the projects above. It borrows the SA-MP roleplay idea and runs it in a browser.

DimeTown is a free top-down city at /play/ that runs on desktop and on phones held sideways. You don't need a game, a launcher or a microphone. Up to 50 players share one island, each starting as a cop, a hustler or a citizen. What's different:

  • Type anything. Talk by typing. Put an action in asterisks, like *slips the bouncer a twenty*, or use the / action menu. Out-of-character chat goes in ((double brackets)).
  • Dice and an AI judge decide what happens. Jev, a judgement model from TypeSafe, reads what you typed in context and sets the modifiers. Two six-sided dice decide the result, and you see the roll and the modifiers. How DimeTown works has worked examples.
  • Laws are plain sentences. When you bribe, steal or attack, the AI judge checks the action against a written city charter, and witnesses decide whether anyone reports you. To be clear: players can't write laws yet. The charter is the city's five founding laws for now.
  • Permadeath. At zero health you're down for 20 seconds, and anyone can help you up. If nobody does, the character is gone for good. Laws and permadeath covers both.
  • Everything typed is screened before other players see it, and anyone can be reported or blocked from their name.

What it lacks compared with a big FiveM server:

  • No GTA world. It's a 2D top-down city, not 3D Los Santos, and driving and fights are simpler.
  • No voice chat. Everything is typed.
  • Fewer people. DimeTown is new and its player base is small. A city holds 50 players, against hundreds on a busy FiveM server, so there are no long-established gangs, police departments or staff teams yet.
  • AI in the loop. The locals and the rulings run on AI. The rules card says up front that Jev (TypeSafe) and OpenAI read what you type to play them.
  • Adults only, browser only. It's 18+, and the iOS and Android apps aren't in the stores yet.

What each option needs

Option Do you need to own a game? Platform How you join State on 4 Oct 2026
SA-MP / open.mp GTA San Andreas PC, EU/US v1.0 Windows PC open.mp launcher and server browser 1,106 servers, 15,217 players (snapshot)
MTA:SA GTA San Andreas PC (not the Definitive Edition) Windows PC MTA client and server list Stable 1.6.0 (2023); nightly builds 4 Oct 2026
FiveM GTA V for PC (Legacy or Enhanced) Windows 10 or 11 FiveM client and server list 146.9k playing (snapshot)
RedM Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC Windows PC RedM client 4.8k playing (snapshot)
nopixel V GTA V, plus an invite PC, Rockstar Games Launcher Invitation only Closed beta since 8 Sept 2026
RAGE:MP, alt:V n/a n/a n/a Shut down in 2026
Roblox roleplay No, a free Roblox account PC, Mac, phones, consoles, Quest Inside Roblox Brookhaven 397,654 playing; chat needs an age check
MUDs and MUSHes No Any computer with a MUD client Connect to the game's address 742 active listed on MUDStats
DimeTown No Any modern browser, desktop or phone dimetown.com/play New, small, up to 50 per city

If you already own GTA V on a PC and want the biggest scene, play on FiveM. If you have the 2005 San Andreas and like a slower, text-heavy style, open.mp's roleplay servers are still running. If you don't own either, or you're on a laptop or a phone, the choice is Roblox, a MUD, or a browser city like DimeTown. For DimeTown's single-player roots, see games like Stick RPG.

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