...but I have a feeling I may stop online play soon. To be honest, the online experience is a complete and utter disappointment to me.

I did play the GTA IV online for a while and two things struck me as being completely wrong for online combat play like deathmatch etc. First, the radar is just a bad thing to have. It takes a whole dimension of stealth out of the game if people just know where you are. In these cases, whoever has the biggest/fastest-firing/best weapon wins. Second is lock-on, also not good. So if you are playing DM using the full GTA combat system, there is no skill to it. Now, these were options in GTA IV deathmatches so you could turn them off, and moreover, everyone had access to the same weaponry on the map, so at least that aspect of the game was level. A minor irritation was the respawn system which seemed to put you back too close to the action, so arming up became a race to a weapon before other players could zero in on you. But this was the least of the problems.

GTA V online promised a different experience, one based more heavily in the role-playing, open sandbox environment that makes the GTA series so damn popular. However, I find that, unless you are going to use passive mode exclusively, this is literally unattainable, especially for new players. When I was newb myself, the first thing that put me off was that I had to earn the right to own more than just a pea-shooter pistol. In the very first mission, I was level 3 and my opponent was level 11. Because radar and SMG, I was doomed. So, I took a ride to AN and found that I could only own a pistol at that level. Well, gee. Great. So I go about the map looking for stores to knock over to build up rep so I can afford a weapon that I might be able to defend myself with a little at least. All the while getting shot for just walking too close to a rampager. Off to passive mode. Kifflom.

The problem with it all is that from the very beginning, the people charged with creating the GTA V offline experience seem to be completely different philosophically speaking from those who created the online experience. The result is a promise of immersive sandbox potential, the reality is just more of the same DM chaos dressed up with a few other things to do. The maps are sparse in the online mode, featuring about 20% of the normal LS population. What the hell? Why? So that when I'm running away from that nutjob who seems hell bent on killing me as many times as possible, it makes it easier for him to keep up and to succeed? Losing people who have a homicidal interest in you in LS traffic is part and parcel of the GTA experience. Moreover, why are we on the radar? If the goal was to provide the sandbox experience moreso than a complete DM utter chaos experience, why not just have it so that the only way you can truly suss out who is a player and who is just game-generated cannon fodder is by their behavior. Moreover, if you are going to rampage, if the cops gun you down rather than another player, you should be placed in Kifflomland for a minimum of 10 minutes before being permitted back in the mix. In other words, the game needs to be more adherent to the rules and consequences of the GTA offline experience through the normal checks and balances of that mode of play.