Interview: Before GTA Online, there was Multi Theft Auto
Some have already played Vice City online, but not as you think
GTA 6 is coming, and a big part of what players are looking forward to is its inevitable multiplayer mode. Developer Rockstar Games first introduced online via 2008’s GTA 4, and now, GTA Online is a multi-million dollar cash cow for the company. But years before this, players had already done it themselves.
Multi Theft Auto is a mod that enables some classic GTA games to go online, letting players take part in deathmatch modes and more. It was first made available for GTA 3 in February 2003, before expanding to Vice City later that year. For the time, it felt huge being able to explore the vast landscape of both cities with others online.
The mod can still be played today, but just for 2005's PC port of GTA: San Andreas. To mark 21 years since the mod's major 'Blue' release, I spoke to ijsf, one of the original creators of Multi Theft Auto, about how it all began, and where it can go with GTA 6 looming.
The Start of Multi Theft Auto
Before Multi Theft Auto (MTA) began as a GTA 3 mod, ijsf felt inspired to take the game online regardless.
“In the early 90s, as a young kid, I was quite lucky to have very early access to BBS (pre-internet), internet, and PC games. As my father worked for a well-known American computer company, our house was filled with PCs that were networked together,” ijsf continues. “As such, my brothers and I were already very much LAN gamers growing up, playing countless hours of Doom, Command & Conquer, Rise of the Triad, and Duke Nukem 3D. Plus, any deathmatch game we could get our hands on - including GTA and GTA 2 as soon as they came out.”
Similar to many other players at the time, myself included, 2001’s GTA 3 seemed to change what an ‘open-world-sandbox’ game was. “When GTA 3 came out, a lot of things that I had wished for in a game finally came together: open world, sandbox, soundtrack, narrative, 3D. But multiplayer wasn't part of it. So after the initial single-player rush was over - and I was never one to play games to completion - the dread sank in of not being able to play this against other people.
At that time, one or two screenshots circulated on the internet showcasing a new "multiplayer mod". The web was pretty scattered back then, so in the long search for a download link, I had come to the dreadful conclusion that these could only be fake. As I was around 13 at the time, the naive spirit in me drew up the plan to just do it myself instead. That plan came to fruition as soon as I found a very rudimentary modding tool whose source code was, thankfully, available. I took my still very limited game development knowledge and whipped up a very clunky prototype that just seemed to work just enough to gather some attention, starting some very exciting times to come.”
This led to an app that could let you play the PC versions of GTA 3 and Vice City online. You could get a taxi together, race each other on the bikes, or just take part in a huge Deathmatch session. It was incredibly fun.
“What sticks out to me from this time is that the project was going from humble beginnings (GTA3: AM, GTA3: MTA, and MTA: VC) to a really substantial project, backed by a new, exciting codebase and a unique team of contributors,” ijsf reminisces. “The times before this feel much like a blur, in a good way. A gathering of people and players that were just really excited to try out new things, and a few developers trying to figure out a way to make multiplayer work in a game that probably should've had multiplayer from the very beginning.
And by the time we reached MTA: SA, and the "Blue" project, there was really a much clearer vision of how things could be done technologically, and with a community to pull it off.”
Compared to the online games of today, where you're waiting in a lobby or for an update to download and install, you could simply connect to a server and play Multi Theft Auto. But with GTA: San Andreas’ PC port on its way in 2005, ijsf was already planning how Multi Theft Auto could work with the upcoming port.
“MTA: SA was our first prototype to try and do it "The Right Way". For fear of going over our heads, the choice was made to focus on a Race mode first. Lots of ideas got unleashed: an amazing editor, a fresh in-game menu and UI, proper scripting support, and a new game engine-like codebase,” ijsf reveals. “These were all different ideas and concepts from us, the few unique developers, that just happened to work together, fully remotely, never having met in real life.” Around this time, Half-Life 2 had just been released, so ijsf was aware of how there needed to be some extra polish for MTA’s big update.
“I recall myself being very much focused on creating an in-game experience like other games of that time, such as Half-Life 2, which had just come out. There needed to be a proper menu, a credits section, and an integrated interface,” ijsf explains. “It needed to look like its own thing, to stand on its own feet and to be lifted from its "multiplayer tool" vibe that it seemed to have at the time - at least to me. I remember spending a lot of time on those specific aspects.
But I'm still amazed at all the ideas that these few random developers brought to the table. That they were encouraged by one another and all collaborated. It was quite a unique and lucky experience for me back then. And I'm sure today's contributors feel the same way about today's team and community, which is amazing.”
Making it Blue
In 2005, Multi Theft Auto would see its biggest update. Called ‘Blue’, this brought plenty of features and modes to play, but it also removed support for GTA 3 and Vice City. It’s something that ijsf looks back on as the moment the mod came into its own.
“There were roughly two previous incarnations of the codebase - the first one being based on my initial GTA 3 prototype made in Visual Basic called GTA3:AM, later renamed to GTA 3:MTA,” ijsf recalls. “It really was the MVP to get people excited, but it was soon clear that this was not going to be a durable solution.
A few other programmers, including Cray and Kent, were working on or thinking of working on a project made from C/C++ code, so it made sense to merge the efforts. This paved the way for a reboot of the MTA: VC code, which was a much-needed step-up. Most of us were still just learning on the job as well. More talented programmers like eAi, MrJax, ChrML, and slush joined in as well during this time,” ijsf explains. “With more experience came more insight. At some point, the conclusion was that it would make much more sense to set the whole thing up as a game engine, rather than a "trainer"-style hooking program, and the concept of "Blue" was born. ijsf reveals.
“Looking back, I think this was a genius insight. One could say that the codebase could almost stand on its own and even evolve into its own game. Perhaps if we had a proper creative team, a game idea, the determination, and a little more maturity to pull it off. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But what it surprisingly did bring was an "evergreen" codebase and a game mod that still exists today, more than ever. And the final decision of making it fully open-source around 2008 really cemented that.”
Multi Theft Auto in 2026
There's still a big MTA community active today, creating maps, posting videos of their efforts, and lots more. Years after he left the team, ijsf has been able to look back on the project with pride.
“What’s surprised me most throughout the years, even though I have not been involved with this project for more than a decade, is the overall versatility and longevity of this mod, its community, its contributors, and its players,” ijsf reflects. “Enough of a foundation was laid out in these concepts two decades ago to keep it going, and thanks to the scripting, it’s allowed players to express their own game ideas, which has also become a bit more common in today's games, thankfully. It never ceases to amaze me, year after year, how many people still play and still make creations and contributions.”
But a big part of MTA’s early days was going online in Vice City, something that’s not possible with the mod, since the ‘Blue’ update. We asked ijsf why it never came back to MTA, and whether it ever will. “During the initial development of MTA: SA 20 years ago, we had to make some hard choices. Even though most of us were teenagers or early twenties, there was just too much to pull off, and there was a tangible sense of urgency to try and come out with the first multiplayer mod for San Andreas,” ijsf says.
“One of those hard choices was to initially release with just a Race version, and the second choice was to leave Vice City behind. Even though we had started Blue within Vice City, it soon became clear that we couldn't pull off two projects at the same time in the short timespan we had; Vice City support had to go,” ijsf reveals. “Unfortunately, that meant there was never a lasting foundation for Vice City to build upon.
Finally, ijsf hopes that MTA has inspired developers, like Rockstar Games with GTA 6, to push user-created content, which can spur plenty of ideas for mods, modes, and cosmetics. “Admittedly, I’ve not been in touch with GTA's online mode much. Though as an enthusiast for game modding, I always have hope that game studios out there make a conscious effort to encourage and enable things like user-created content and scripting for their games,” ijsf says in hope. “This creates an environment where players can become creators, and as we see, not just with MTA but also other classic game modding communities out there (like Garry's Mod), I think this is the seed required for a long-lasting community.”
My thanks to ijsf for taking the time to chat with me.
Multi Theft Auto stands as a seminal moment where players created something that could be played for fun. Not to build up cash, nor to level up in order to collect skins and other items. It represents the simple fun that the Grand Theft Auto series has always been about. Hopefully, GTA 6 carries on that theme with its own multiplayer modes once it launches later this year.
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