Twitch streamer DougDoug’s Grand Theft Auto 5 goal was simple: to drive from point A to point B without dying. The catch? He had given his viewers modding powers, allowing them to do anything to him while he was playing.
And I mean anything. With the help of some Python code modeled after the classic Twitch Plays Pokémon concept that blew up years ago, DougDoug made something that let viewers input commands to the chat. Within moments of setting it live, folks were making helicopters fall from the sky and explosions go off all around DougDoug. It wasn’t long before someone outright disabled his ability to make turns while driving. Death was inevitable.
The video embedded above showcases some different GTA 5 runs attempting to best the Twitch chat, during which DougDoug tries everything just to live for another second. It’s very much a David-and-Goliath situation — at one point, when DougDoug manages to get on the freeway, the Twitch chat responds by forcing his car to spit him out. But it also seems like there are good samaritans in the chat as well, because some folks also try giving him cars to drive when he’s immobile.
But even benevolent actions can totally backfire — DougDoug will get saddled with too many cars, making it hard to move forward at all. Other viewers mess with things like the time of day, or make NPCs follow DougDoug around. My favorite bit, though, is how the chat keeps forcing DougDoug to dance or pose for the camera, which are animations that stop him from doing anything useful. During one segment, for example, DougDoug is happily making progress, only to step out of the car and start doing yoga instead. Then he keeps doing yoga while all hell breaks loose around him. It’s like something out of Ryan Reynolds’ upcoming Free Guy movie.
DougDoug ends up having to turn off animation controls, but don’t worry, the chat just gets more devilish. Soon, DougDoug is turning into an alien, phasing through the map, teleporting, and more.
While GTA Online has well-documented and pervasive cheating problems, this is a rare case where everyone involved is consenting to be messed with, and the results are golden.
Folks can download the code that makes this all possible here.
