Grand Theft Auto Online

Grand Theft Auto Online, more commonly known as GTA Online, is an online multiplayer action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game released on October 1, 2013 and is bundled with Grand Theft Auto V. A standalone version of the game is scheduled to be released in fall 2021. It is the sixteenth installment in the Grand Theft Auto series and the successor of Grand Theft Auto V.

Although being only playable with a Grand Theft Auto V copy, Grand Theft Auto Online is not considered an online component/multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto V, but a separate main title in continuous expansion.

Grand Theft Auto Online was released on October 1, 2013, two weeks after Grand Theft Auto V. The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions feature the Rockstar Editor, a tool allowing advanced movie production in various scenarios across Grand Theft Auto Online.

The game is set in southern San Andreas in the United States and the island of Cayo Perico in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The plot begins shortly before the events of Grand Theft Auto V,  with all content updates from GTA Online: Heists to GTA Online: Import/Export taking place in 2013 (before the events of GTA V). However, as the game released updates, the game's setting advanced in real-life timing, with all updates since GTA Online: Gunrunning taking place in their respective release years.

Description
The game consists of open world sessions based in San Andreas. Sessions are limited to 16 players on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and expanded to 30 players (with 2 extra spaces for spectators) on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Players can play Online in a number of different session types:


 * Solo sessions where Free Mode is entirely PvE.
 * Invite Only and Crew Only where the players can pick and choose who they play with.
 * Public sessions where random players will be co-existing in an open Free Mode lobby and PvP is more common. This is the 'default' session type.

Until the release of the Heists Update, most of the Online content could be played by a single player with no actual multiplayer requirement, however subsequent content updates have included more co-operative jobs that require a minimum of 2 or 4 players and new Free Mode events and features have been limited to Public lobbies only.

Except for PC and PlayStation 3 users, a PlayStation Plus (for PS4 users) or an Xbox Live Gold Subscription is required before playing GTA Online.

Players may travel around and interact with the map at will and can take part in many gameplay activities, including assaults on local gangs, robbing armored trucks, and challenging other players to Impromptu Races. Several of these open world activities are unique to the GTA Online, while others were originally from GTA V. Players can also purchase property, vehicles, clothing, masks and weapons for their character.

Aside from the free roam aspect, GTA Online also includes several localized, more traditional multiplayer game modes known as Jobs that are played in separate sessions independent from the larger open world; players partaking in these jobs will not be visible to and cannot interact with players occupying the open world, even if they inhabit the same location at the same time. These jobs include deathmatches, races, sports activities and horde-like survival games. Lastly, players can also undertake co-operative missions for various crime boss characters, most of whom also make appearances in GTA V's story. The number of players involved and the size of the area available to them in these game modes varies depending on the activity and mode itself.

As players progress and increase the rank of their character, more items and jobs will be unlocked for them to purchase and play. Also included in GTA Online is the Content Creator, a development tool that allows players to create and publish their own races, deathmatches, and other competitive gamemodes.

Additional rewards are given, such as free weapons and double RP, if the player is connected to Rockstar's Social Club and a special event is hosted or a special offer is redeemed by the player. Special bonuses are also available for players who reach Rank 100 and beyond.

Gameplay
Completing virtually any activity in GTA Online rewards players with both money, used for in-game purchases, and Reputation Points (RP). As players gain RP and increase their rank, new items such as weapons, hair styles, clothes and vehicle mods will be unlocked for purchase, while new missions and jobs, such as Parachuting, will become available to play. Some missions may however not reward the player with any money if they are played solo, particularly sport activities in GTA Online. Many high rank missions offer far greater monetary and RP rewards than low rank missions. At higher ranks additional gameplay abilities will also become available through contacts on the player's mobile phone, such as asking Lester Crest to remove a Wanted Level, set a bounty on other players or calling Merryweather to conduct an airstrike.

When the player dies in GTA Online for the first time in Free Mode, Cris Formage appears in a vision telling the player that he is reviving them. He goes on to explain Passive Mode, and the voyeuristic pleasure he derives from watching people without their knowledge. He appears only once, the first time the player dies.

Jobs in GTA Online can either be accessed from the open world, in the form of a blue circular marker (known as a corona) that the player simply walks into to activate the corresponding job, or selected through a list in the pause menu. Jobs have a specified number of possible players, often with an option to play it alone for smaller jobs. Players can either host the jobs themselves or elect to join a job already in progress. The player may also receive job invites from NPC characters, or other players via their phone. These invites will eventually close in real-time as players join and the player quota is reached for each invite.

When a job is launched, an invite screen will launch with various options depending on whether the player initiated the job or joined from an invitation. Before almost any job, players can bet on themselves or other players in order to gain bigger payouts at the end of the job. There are options for the radio station to play during the job, purchasing ammo and armor, starting weapon, time of day and difficulty (with corresponding payout) level. At the end of each job, after gaining any points or money from the job, the player has the option to continue playing with the same players, and is given the opportunity to vote on which job to next complete with that team, a random job, or to return to free mode, leaving the current team of players.

Although several activities from GTA V are available in GTA Online, such as purchasing clothing and sports, there are numerous differences in the gameplay mechanics involved. For instance, police will never attempt to arrest the player in GTA Online, instead shooting to kill even at one star wanted levels. The severity of wanted levels changes depending on the players' actions, with an automatic three star wanted level for killing a police officer, or a four star wanted level for trespassing at Fort Zancudo, where tanks and fighter jets will be scrambled.

Many of the characters featured in GTA V re-appear in GTA Online in the form of mission-giving bosses, with the notable exception of Michael and Franklin (although Trevor does appear in such a role). Several other boss characters are unique to GTA Online, such as Gerald, although he was first mentioned in GTA V. Chronologically, GTA Online was originally set before the events of GTA V; for example, Martin Madrazo is often found at his house in Vinewood Hills which is destroyed early in GTA V by Michael, while Trevor, aside from the events in the Series A heist, is still based solely in Sandy Shores. Additionally, the player character in GTA Online is briefly mentioned by Lester at the start of the mission Casing the Jewel Store in GTA V, although he dismisses them as "too unpredictable". This timeline has moved in the Enhanced editions with the addition of subsequent DLC containing anachronistic elements and dialogue confirming events were taking place in the present day.

If a player is seen to be creating an excessive negative effect on the Online world, they will accumulate Bad Sport points. When enough of these points are either accumulated through a short period of time (or gathered up for longer periods) the offending player will be moved into a separate match-making pool which will prevent the player from playing with non bad-sport players, people in their friend list included. The player will also be forced to wear a dunce hat (which will be taken off inside vehicles or replaced by motorcycle helmets on bikes). These bad sport points are gathered and bound to a character by destroying personal vehicles belonging to other players, quitting jobs/mission early, submitting false reports and being reported. This system has proven to be a controversial mechanic as the system has several flaws to it as to just how these points are gathered as the game does not take into account whether player reports are illegitimate or not, or if the destruction of another player's vehicle was self-defense. As of title update 1.22, players who are innocently disconnected from a job due to a crash or game fault will not have Bad Sport points applied. A fair balance between players are enforced through this system. The first time the player goes into a bad-sport lobby, the time in bad-sport will be 2 days, then 4 days, then 8 days.

Crews
The game implements the Rockstar Games Social Club's crew system with two types of crews. Private crews are mainly aimed at a group of friends or associates to play online together and can hold as many as 1,000 people. Public crews are much larger and can have unlimited members. The use of crews and teamwork is heavily encouraged by Rockstar, as the player receives more money in races depending on how many players are in the game, also, the player receives a 10% bonus to RP for playing with friends and 20% for playing with crew members. On top of this, many missions (particularly from Lester and Martin) involve the use of teamwork to succeed. The crew system in GTA Online also encourages customization and personalization, with the addition of crew emblems that can be placed on vehicles and crew colors.