Grand Theft Auto V

[wakka]

Well I'm mostly going by the fact that I don't believe QC has put any money in and seems to have had a good time with it.

[kryss]

I've been enjoying it on and off for years without spending any extra money on it. You get $1million each month until next gen launch from PS+, so if the game is discounted, get it now and add that $1million each month.
Running heists will put some nice money in your pocket, and QC has been making some video tutorials too.

I've had a lot of fun with it, and will continue to.

Edit: there are rotating discounts on vehicles and properties, so don't be paying full price if you don't have to.

[MartyG]

Just clicking on the cars, they're between £1.2m and £2m in-game shark dollars.

A Megalodon Shark card gets you $8,000,000 and costs £64.99, so you're looking at around £100-120 to buy them all with real cash (should you be so inclined).

I guess QC can answer how easy earning currency is in-game is, but my real world investment is zero pounds and will definitely continue to be the same.

[Neon Ignition]

It's insane to think people will be paying the same amount of money for 4-5 in game cars as they would for Grand Theft Auto VI

This is literally why we can't have nice things

[MartyG]

It's why Rockstar executives can have nice things.

[kryss]

One run on the Cayo Perico Heist earns about 1.2 million and takes about 90 mins.
Plus you gain XP as well.

[QualityChimp]

I knew I'd get a load of people lining up to piss on my chips! Sheesh, guys.

Basically, after buying the game, I haven't spent a single penny on anything. No DLC, Shark cards, anything.
It threw in some stuff, so got a bunch of cars and properties, but the fun has been building up my little empire.

If you want everything immediately, then you'll want a Shark card, but there's a nice reward loop as you add properties and businesses to make more money. Rockstar didn't invent using real money to shortcut to stuff.

Cayo Perico is the real money spinner, bagging over $1m per run, but I've done it so many times, it's a bit of a chore. It only takes an hour from start to finish though. Did the finale in 10 minutes the other day, but I'll post the one I did after in 12 mins.
Realistically, it's skewed the game to make all other businesses obsolete, but I like picking up my takings from my arcade every so often.

Every time you play, your business accrue product to sell and I'd left them unattended, but sold everything in prep for this DLC.
Got half a mill for a special delivery and sold everything else for $1.2m.

After that and a few CP runs over the weekend, I'm sitting on $10m.

However, although building the businesses has been fun and it's nice having lots of toys, it's not where we've had our fun.
It's been doing the 4 heists, racing and general arsing around.

As previously mentioned, we've cried with laughter and it's been a way to keep in touch over lockdown (and on other games before it like RDR2, The Forest, Strange Brigade etc.). We've looked forward to getting online, working as a team in the heists (heart was pounding the first time we did the casino heist!) and friendly rivalry in the racing and general bants.

We're buzzing about this new update, chatting about it, watching some videos and I can't wait to get home and try it out.

I totally get it's easy to be cynical about GTA Online, but I've absolutely loved my time playing it so far, and now they're adding even more content, for free, that I can't wait to play with my friends.

[MartyG]

I totally get it's easy to be cynical about GTA Online, but I've absolutely loved my time playing it so far, and now they're adding even more content, for free, that I can't wait to play with my friends.

If you're enjoying it, that's all good - but Rockstar clearly know how to hunt the whales, otherwise they wouldn't be pulling in $500,000,000 a year from GTA Online, so clearly they're doing something to encourage people to spend real money on virtual tat.

[Dogg Thang]

QC, where you lost me completely is when you said you have done one thing loads of times and it’s a bit of a chore. That’s turning games into work. And that in some ways has always been the case, in that you do parts to progress to other parts and some of the grinding loops in RPGs I have put up with over the years are disgraceful and those weren’t put in motivated by trying to hook whales… but that’s the motivation now. And as Marty points out, it’s working. And instead you are doing bits over and over that you find a bit of a chore. Maybe it’s okay but, just for my own personal take on gaming at this point in my life, that’s instantly where I’m out. But if you enjoy it, why the hell not?

[wakka]

I'm enjoying QC's posts about it.

To be honest, it's not exactly a fascinating observation that:

A) GTA features lots of microtransactions or you need to grind
B) Rockstar makes a lot of money from this and that's why we don't have GTA 6

Everyone has been saying that, over and over, ad infinitum, since about 2014. Including me. Doesn't make it any less true (or any less annoying that we don't have GTA 6), but it is getting a bit boring.

To have a forum bud who I trust the opinion of saying hey, you know what, in amongst all the moaning you might be missing out on some fun to be had - well, that's interesting to me. Actually it's kind of a hot take, and it's making me think I'd like to try the game too.

If I was QC I'd be properly disheartened by the wave of repetitive snark about Shark Cards every time I put the effort into making an entertaining report of my exploits in the game.

I've been enjoying it on and off for years without spending any extra money on it. You get $1million each month until next gen launch from PS+, so if the game is discounted, get it now and add that $1million each month.
Running heists will put some nice money in your pocket, and QC has been making some video tutorials too.

I've had a lot of fun with it, and will continue to.

Edit: there are rotating discounts on vehicles and properties, so don't be paying full price if you don't have to.

Thanks for the tip - been grabbing those $1m packs on a monthly basis for the last few months actually, as you don't need the game to do so

[MartyG]

If it's enjoyable it doesn't really matter - when it's structured in such a way that's it's done to encourage people to spend real money instead that's where the problem is.

I haven't played enough GTA Online to know where it draws the line - I just know it's a licence to print money for Rockstar.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, that’s all valid, Wakka. Sorry QC, yeah, moaning about it must get boring and frustrating. My apologies.

[QualityChimp]

If you're enjoying it, that's all good - but Rockstar clearly know how to hunt the whales, otherwise they wouldn't be pulling in $500,000,000 a year from GTA Online, so clearly they're doing something to encourage people to spend real money on virtual tat.

It's horses for courses, but something's driving you to buy nearly 2500 Steam games and 1500 DLC, that you can never possibly play properly, but those sales are hella tempting...

How much have you spent on your gaming rig? Again, something is making you unhappy with your current set up and want to upgrade.

Psychology is constantly employed to tug at our FOMO gland, and it's up to us to see when it's happening and if we're happy to go along with it.

I would say GTA Online is pretty good and not shoving down your throat the Shark cards, if anything, it talks about the businesses to make money, each one unlocking new missions, to do.

I play Marvel Puzzle Quest on my phone and I'm constantly shocked at people dropping £100 on shortcutting to loot drops.

So I do get the whole Skinner Box techniques, but genuinely don't think Rockstar suggest you just buy your ways to the shiny toys, if anything I'm surprised when I occasionally click something that points me to the PlayStation store.

This is something I'll need to address with my son as the reward for earning things in games is definitely something developers have realised people are happy to pay real cash to get.

QC, where you lost me completely is when you said you have done one thing loads of times and it’s a bit of a chore. That’s turning games into work. And that in some ways has always been the case, in that you do parts to progress to other parts and some of the grinding loops in RPGs I have put up with over the years are disgraceful and those weren’t put in motivated by trying to hook whales… but that’s the motivation now. And as Marty points out, it’s working. And instead you are doing bits over and over that you find a bit of a chore. Maybe it’s okay but, just for my own personal take on gaming at this point in my life, that’s instantly where I’m out. But if you enjoy it, why the hell not?

This is an interesting point, DT.

Firstly, I've been guilty of loads of game grinding over the years, that some would hate and I enjoy - GTA IV pigeons, Crackdown orbs, Dark Souls souls, Spider-Man tourist spots, even thousands of kills on Dead Rising, just for an achievement.

I remember there's a level in Super Shinobi on MD where you start by a 2-UP bonus and you can increase your lives by collecting it as you die. Pretty sure there's a similar thing on Super Mario Land.

The specific issue here, though, is that they introduced a new heist and it's by faaaaar, the easiest way to make money.
It's not broken the game, but skewed it so that it's easier and more lucrative to do a CP run in a private lobby than deliver cars or drugs etc. in a public one.

Realistically, it would make more sense for the other heists to earn more money.
In the Doomsday Heist, you literally save the world, but you get a fraction of the Cayo Perico heist payout and it takes a lot longer to complete.

It's worth doing them, because they're a real thrill, especially the ones where 2 guys do one task and the other team do a different one. We had fun doing them and we got paid at the end.

So, if all the money-making tasks were a bit more even, I'd rotate them a bit more.
As it is, I don't mind an hour's grind because there's usually something fun at the end to save up for and buy.
More often than not, we've got enough cash in the bank to buy what we want now.

Before CP unbalanced the game, we were happily stealing cars, delivering weapons, doing heists, robbing banks, running nightclubs, stocking arcades and so on. Loads of different ways to make money that you can alternate.
We've all enjoyed the process of making money, it's never really felt like it wasn't fun and we've been playing since about November and still play it almost every week. If we hated it, we would stop, but we're genuinely enjoying playing it.

I've tried my best to explain that I've had some amazing fun in the game, some real excitement and genuinely laughed until my sides hurt (at a time when I really needed it), with the very minimum of grind and absolutely no compulsion to spend real money on the game.

I've also managed to have an international session with RandomBS in Japan, Kryss in Canadia and Teddymeow in the UK.

I'm really excited that they're still putting out new content and can't wait to play it (looks at clock on wall at work) and have a laugh with my friends.

To me, that's what gaming should be about.

[kryss]

Thanks for the tip - been grabbing those $1m packs on a monthly basis for the last few months actually, as you don't need the game to do so [/COLOR]

Awesome, although you did when they started the promotion, which is the biggest reason I had cash to buy bits here and there.

We've been ****-slapped with the notion of "gotta catch 'em all" for over two decades now, which is why people (i.e. me) feel they need to get every vehicle they can. You really don't.

It is cool to drive KITT around, or land a harrier outside the casino to pop in for a go on the gamblers, but squad work is really where the game is fun.
QC, Teddy, Randombs and I all running around robbing a drug lord has been lots of fun - despite my terrible crash ratio for helicopters.

While it may seem like a grind, there is a reason QC managed to get past rank 100 long before me, and grinding the same heist may seem like a chore, but getting that vehicle you wanted at a sweet, sweet discount is worth it.

[Cassius_Smoke]

As I've said, I easily had the best time playing this online above any other game because when this game turns to chaos, as it usually does, it's the most chaotic fun you can have. I can see why QC is playing it so much.
I think GTA games carry a certain baggage, namely around the age and type of people playing, which doesn't help. Plus, it came out in 2013 and its clear and frustrating that it's being milked for all its worth.