Grand Theft Auto Online is one of Rockstar’s most long-lasting and ambitious projects. It was first released in October 2013. Just a week after Grand Theft Auto V came out on the Xbox 360 and PS4. Grand Theft Auto Online, or GTAO as it is known, lets the player create and customize their own mute player character, and explore the map of Los Santos and Blaine County at their leisure.
Then vs Now
In the early days of GTAO, things were vastly different. For starters, the players didn’t have first person, and the introductory mission was a bit different. What’s more, there wasn’t much as half content as there is today. But the core gameplay remained the same, get missions from various NPCs around town, shoot anyone who gets in your way, and if another player happens by, best prepare for a shoot-out.
And while you might say that’s exactly what is happening in modern GTAO. The problem was back in 2013, there were no heists, no flying cars, no underground bases. Just players with guns and cars.
So, it was very much a dog-eat-dog world, as opposed to the flying tiger shark eats mutant t-rex world it is today. To give an example of how different things were, $6,000 was the payout for stealing a truck that lacked hard security.
Now, for 2023, that much is a drop in the bucket, but for 2013, it was enough to buy a car and put money down on a apartment. Or, at least, let the player make their way towards buying a new gun.
What were the missions like?
The missions were fairly simple, lacking many of the weird spectacles players have come to know and expect in the game. Instead, missions involved going to one place and simply killing anyone there, grabbing a bag and heading back to your employer. While this is true for 2023, those are the beginner missions for lower level.
For the early days, this was all the player could do. No monster trucks, no hijacking helicopters, and no running around in a high power jet.
The mission structure, and many jobs, were fairly simplistic, so players had to find their own fun including staging importune races, challenges, or just trying to sneak into the military base to grab a jet. That’s not to say that the game itself wasn’t fun, as the players had end goals to work for, such as getting a penthouse apartment, or getting the biggest gun from Ammu-nation.
Through the fire and flames
Of course, it’s nigh unheard of for any platform or singular game to last as long as Grand Theft Auto Online, let alone on console. The only ones that have survived as long were MMOs such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and Guild Wars.
Of course, like those MMOs, Grand Theft Auto Online’s lifespan was extended. Rockstar created more and more content for the player to enjoy.
The first one was the Beach Bum update, where the player got several new jobs that breathed life into the player, as well as several new guns to play around with. Then came Holiday Gifts, Valentine’s Day Massacre Special, and so on.
The key to GTAO’s continued existence came through the use of free updates for every player, as well as simply being a very well-made game.
The biggest changes, however, were the heists, a series of missions the players can undertake with either random players or their friends.
So how did things change across the years?
In these missions, the players were directed by a NPC. Who gave them induvial missions that would lead up to the finale. Much like in the single player Heists, the more missions the player did, the easier the final one would be. One famous heist was the Fleeca Job, one of the earlier ones the player can do. For this mission, the NPC Lester was your handler, and your job was to pull off a classic heist. Rob a bank.
Heists became bigger and weirder, ranging from robbing a bigger bank to stealing data from under a PMC’s nose. Players even infiltrate an aircraft carrier and stealing a nuclear bomb. In the early days of GTAO, things were vastly different. Players didn’t have first person, and the introductory mission was a bit different. What’s more, there wasn’t much as half content as there is today. But the core gameplay remained the same — get missions from various NPCs around town, shoot anyone who gets in your way, and if another player happens by, best prepare for a shoot-out.
Grand Theft Auto Online became well known for it various activities in its game, contributing to its continued popularity.