A GTA RP community has raised funds for one of its members so they can keep playing together. We’ve been given details on this heart-warming Christmas time story and want to highlight this community for their generosity towards a newcomer.
It started out with a youngster who was taken advantage of for his lack of computer knowledge but this story has a happy ending. The kind gesture was done by a group of people part of Drill UK, a GTA RP and modding community on FiveM.
Boasting over 20,000 members, this UK based server focuses on gangs and modding. This server prides itself in making everyone feel included, consistent creativity and going above and beyond for its members. We spoke with the server founder to find out how members are looked after and valued.
What happened?
Recently, a newcomer wanted to get involved with GTA RP and see what it was all about. He chose the Drill UK server to be part of. However, they experienced issues when trying to play. The team were notified and began to investigate.
Its founder, Matthew Barton, offered to help and fix the issue causing difficulty in playing. After bad experiences with staff for gaming communities in the past, Barton started Drill UK with a desire to lead by example.
The founder hopped on a Discord call and screen shared with the member. He discovered when troubleshooting the user’s PC that it did not have a graphics card. This is an important part required to play games on PC.
Whilst some may say that’s on the member for getting a PC without a GPU, this is a kid and he traded something else of value for the PC. Still at school, it is not very easy for him to afford things of this expense.
He told me he recently swapped his new mountain bike for it. The cost of his bike was £450. Immediately I noticed he had no GPU connected. The whole time he’s been playing the game it’s been using the CPU built in graphics!
Matthew Barton
Drill UK, explained that the young man gave his bike in exchange for the computer. The PC did not come with a graphics card and he did not know until months after the swap. Plus, the young man saved up for two years to get the bike previously.
How GTA V looked running on this PC is incredible but in a negative way. Burled buildings, floating numbers replacing player models, it was unplayable. The unfortunate member joined each day and continued to talk to these numbers and they’d talk back.
These were other players except all he saw were numbers, no character models. He just wanted to make more friends and escape from a difficult real life. The server staff were heartbroken and wanted to do everything they could to help him.
I want to be there for someone who’s now in a similar situation (as me). For a lot of people, sitting down at a computer desk, putting on a headset and immersing yourself into a game allows you to completely disappear from the world. It is his escape.
Matthew Barton
GTA RP community to the rescue
To help out the upset member, server creator Matthew Barton kicked off a fundraiser. He wanted to make sure no member is left behind and the newcomer could get a GPU to play GTA V and Drill UK.
GoFundMe? I’ll set it up ASAP.
Matt said he would match all donations made through the server’s monetisation platform, Tebex. This was also put into a GoFundMe so more people could donate to the cause. Members of the server were “devastated” and “immediately started pulling some money together” on the GoFundMe says Mr Barton.
My DM’s started going wild, messages from people who not only wanted to donate money, but whole PC’s and parts they no longer have usage for.
Will we do this again for someone else? Absolutely! I have since set up a PO Box so people can send us more parts going forward. We’re already building the next PC and actively looking for its new home.
Matthew Barton
At the time of writing, nearly £600 has been raised. A more than capable graphics card, an RTX 3060, was purchased by the team using the money from the GoFundMe campaign. With the money left over, they bought a few extra gaming accessories to help complete his set up.
The Drill UK staff was put in contact with the member’s mother and they explained the situation. It was also important to prove they were genuine by providing evidence of what they were intending to do. They made sure their promise was kept.
What’s next for this server?
For less fortunate players, Matt hopes to build more PCs in the future. Continued support for streamers with smaller communities is also on the agenda.
Tebex Overwolf has been amazing in connecting me with others to spread our message. Tebex joined forces with us early on, especially Lior Haim, our Creator success manager. We get together once a month to brainstorm creative innovations and I’ve gained a fantastic friend along the way.
Matthew Barton
Drill UK are also currently targeting another server launch in early 2024 titled Drill UK After Dark. This will be a completely whitelisted server.
If you’d like to check out Drill UK and potentially become a member, you can join their Discord server here and visit their Tebex.
We’re super happy to hear about how a GTA community looked after one of its own. This is especially considerate given the youngster was very new to GTA RP and computers so they did not understand what was going on.
It just goes to show there are some great gaming communities out there, particularly within the GTA RP scene. If you have any stories you’d like to share from your GTA Online or GTA RP communities, email us at social@rockstarintel.com.
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