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. The requirement for this round was 100 taxi fares, but in the end we submitted over 1,300 between us, it was crazy!" There was one round I did a while ago with another community member, we did 600 taxi fares each and were constantly trying to better each other. "But at the same time it can be great fun, and there's definitely a bit of friendly rivalry between players. 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. 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.