Two weeks ago, on that fateful day, one of the greatest modern games was released — Grand Theft Auto V. There were promises of enhanced gameplay, better graphics, tweaked mechanics and much more, and Rockstar delivered for sure. Prior to the release Rockstar announced that the online portion of the game, cleverly titled “Grand Theft Auto Online” would come out two weeks later, this way they could iron out some wrinkles and exploits.
Today, on this fateful day, the first of October, Grand Theft Auto Online was open to the public for use… If you could log on, that is. Many gamers at this point in time — and all day prior — have been having issues logging onto the servers successfully and getting into a game.
My personal story is a simple one, and I am sure that many others share the same experience, as well as other errors rendering them unable to play GTA Online: I logged on, downloaded the update, created my character (Which is a whole other story…), went through the opening cinematics (Gorgeous, by the way!) and headed into the first race, which everyone is obligated to do straight from the get-go. Simple, right? Apparently not. This is where I, as well as many others, got and/or have been stuck listening to this funky techno-like music while we await the session to be launched (Which is shown on the bottom right where it says “Launching Session”). At this point you cannot move and you can see other players joining the session (Their characters will stand around yours). I seem to hit about three or four other people and nothing happens…
It seems that gamer communities across the board are split on the issue — some are mad, and rightfully so, while others pretty much expected such errors. The upset exclaim that Rockstar should’ve known that they needed larger and more technical servers due to the volume of pre-orders and how big of a game Grand Theft Auto V we all knew it was going to be. Plus, Rockstar had the additional two weeks to get ready for everything. Other players — the lucky ones — are gleefully playing online and giving information about the experience in online forums.
I don’t know when the servers will be running smoothly, but I can practically guarantee you that once this is all over that gamers will be having too much fun causing mayhem to care anymore… Just like with any release that has issues, the fun outshines the bumpy start. But for now, we’ll wallow in a combination of sadness and Trevor-like anger as we wait for the good times to come.