Short answer: there is no "better", only "better for you". SA-MP runs on GTA San Andreas from 2004 and roleplay is typed. FiveM runs on GTA V and on most servers roleplay is spoken. We have been on both, so we can describe both from the inside.
Side by side: SA-MP and FiveM
| SA-MP | FiveM | |
| Game | GTA San Andreas (2004) | GTA V (2013; PC 2015) |
| How you roleplay | By typing: /me, /do and chat | By microphone on most servers; text servers exist too |
| PC | An old machine is enough | A PC that runs GTA V comfortably |
| What you need | Classic GTA San Andreas | An up-to-date, legitimate GTA V |
| Looks | Graphics from 2004 | Much closer to today |
| Around since | 2006 | After GTA V came to PC |
What text roleplay gives you
Typing makes you think. You describe what your character does with /me and what happens around them with /do; a glance, a pause, the crumpled bill you pull out of your pocket. Most of that disappears over voice.
You do not have to be your character. Your voice, age and gender do not limit who you play; a thirty-year-old can play a sixty-year-old Italian boss or a twenty-year-old reporter.
There is a side effect too: in a scene where nobody cared about punctuation, we watched even the worst "trolls" start writing with care within three months.
What voice roleplay gives you
Speed and flow. An argument, a negotiation or a chase is far more fluid when spoken. That is also why most streamers are on FiveM; it is easy to watch.
The downsides: you need a microphone and a quiet room, and if your voice does not fit your character there is not much you can do. The record that text roleplay leaves behind (screenshots, story threads) is usually gone with voice.
Which one suits whom?
If your PC is old, you like writing, and you want to add detail to your character and keep a record of the story: SA-MP. If you have a strong PC and GTA V, enjoy talking in character and care about visuals: FiveM.
There is a third road for anyone in between: text roleplay servers on GTA V. They are rare, but they exist; we used to be one.
What Vice has done on both
Vice City has been open on SA-MP since 3 November 2019. On GTA V we ran text roleplay on Rage MP and then on FiveM, and moved accounts and assets across without losses when we switched. Our Los Santos city is being built on FiveM now, and one account on viceroleplay.com will get you into both.
Which do we prefer? Our founder put it this way on the forum: "For this little money and effort, nothing else gives you this scene and this much fun. So, SA-MP." A biased answer, sure, but it has not changed in seven years.
Stuck somewhere? Open a ticket under Support on the forum or come to our Discord; someone is around at any hour.
