GamesActionStarting a new GTA Online profile from scratch in public servers is more thrilling than chasing any open-world platinum trophyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesActionStarting a new GTA Online profile from scratch in public servers is more thrilling than chasing any open-world platinum trophyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)
That is, until I decided to start an entirely new GTA Online profile onPS5. Playing exclusively in the console sphere’s perpetually-unhinged public servers, I now spend as much time staring listlessly at the Wasted screen with a twitching eye than I do any sort of rank-climbing. I curse aloud, and chase the bastard who scuppered my three-package Special Cargo run out of nothing but spite and boredom until they’re face down in the mud and I’ve unlocked an SMG magazine into his motionless, already-respawned-elsewhere corpse. And you know what? I’m having a bloody good time.
Less money, more problems
(Image credit: Rockstar)
READ MORE(Image credit: Rockstar Games)GTA Online design director “couldn’t have ever dreamed” it’d still be going 10 years on
READ MORE
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)GTA Online design director “couldn’t have ever dreamed” it’d still be going 10 years on
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)
GTA Online design director “couldn’t have ever dreamed” it’d still be going 10 years on
The thing is, revenge in my new save takes a totally different guise. At a paltry (but no less hard-earned) level 34, I don’t have near-limitless disposable income. Besides my job-to-job Executive Office work, I have no real passive cash flow, no abundance of ammo, and certainly no flying DeLorean-like Deluxo equipped with dual-machine guns and homing missiles. Every Special Cargo collection and drop-off is vital, and I simply cannot afford to have any single run turn sour.
You see, in my PC save, I’ve always kept myself to myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve faced my fair share of griefers who want nothing more than ruin someone else’s session; but the console spectrum – in my experience, at least – is a different beast entirely. Griefers are now pretty synonymous with GTA Online across all platforms, but I’ve found it to be total mayhem on PS5. Sure, you can still jump into a private server and plug away on your lonesome if you wish (at the expense of less money and RP), but I’ve no desire to: as much as I dislike being gunned down at random and without reason, I absolutely love seeking revenge in the most brutal ways possible. Moreover, while many of the PC scene’s griefers do so via illegal hacking, that’s less the case here – the most irritating console players I’ve faced off against were simply dicks, not cheaters. And that’s fair game.
(Image credit: Rockstar)
" In one instance, I kid you not, this saw one player face-off finish 31-30 in my opponent’s favor"
" In one instance, I kid you not, this saw one player face-off finish 31-30 in my opponent’s favor"
The outcome of all of this means that leveling up in GTA Online this time has been tough, but far more rewarding than ever before. Not only am I tasked with overcoming the game’s built-in hurdles – its missions, jobs, business ventures and AI-controlled baddies – but I’m also balancing risk versus reward in a server packed with trigger-happy terrors, whose sole purpose, it certainly seems, is to drive me up the wall.
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In practice, this has seen me cutting down supply runs in order to see deals over the line – successfully shipping two batches of stolen pharmaceuticals is better than having three batches ruined, right? – or settling the most stubborn of scores before embarking on the most involved (and therefore riskier) drug deals and illegal operations.
With well over 2,000 hours of GTA Online under my belt, the above has been a welcomed change of pace for me. Who knows what the future holds for the game I’ve obsessed over for the best part of a decade – one whose first iteration landed two console generations ago in late 2013 – but the very fact that it’s still pulling me back, for me, speaks volumes of its enduring appeal. GTA 6 will inevitably bring with it its own online multiplayer space within which I’m sure griefers will find a new home. Through the experience I’ve gleaned above, however, I’ll be more than ready for them.
Here are 10games like GTAyou should play while waiting for more GTA 6 news
CATEGORIESXbox Series XPC GamingPS5PlatformsXboxPlayStation
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PRODUCTSGTA OnlineGrand Theft Auto V
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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1
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2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
2
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3
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4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
4
Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
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5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”