Recently Rockstar Games revealed the DLC and additional content that one could obtain by purchasing the Collector’s and Special Edition of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V.
Along with the bonuses, Stunt Plane Trials, weapons and whatnot, Rockstar also revealed that you’ll be able to avail of benefits on GTA Online including the ability to select your heritage – with parents like Niko Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV selectable – and purchase a garage and electric car from the in-game stores.
However, something else was revealed in the official descripion:
“Additionally, you’ll customize your character’s daily activities – everything from family time to illegal work and sports to couch potato hours all have an impact on your character’s appearance and skill set and you can always rank up your skill stats more via gameplay.”
What’s interesting about this? Consider that when playing in the single-player campaign, you can only control one character at a time. When you’re not on a heist and switching between characters on the fly, you inhabit either Michael, Trevor or Frank and control their actions through Los Santos and Blaine County.
However, when you control one character, the others will go about their business. In this way, you could transfer to another character and they could be in the middle of something – which could be whatever activity is related to their day. In Michael’s case, it’s about cycling with his son. In Trevor’s case, it could be running away from the cops in a high-speed chase. Each character has a fixed set of routines that they follow.
In GTA Online, you’ll be able to customize your character to their own schedules, which will subsequently affect their stats. But the single-player characters’ activities come into play only when you’re not controlling them.
Does this mean it will be the same case for your GTA Online character?
It seems to make sense, and has been observed in some MMORPGs, wherein you can send your character to a library when you log off, where they will accrue knowledge and experience. Progress will be slower than if you go out and increase these stats yourself, but if you take a long break from playing online, it means you can come back and still see some progress.
In Grand Theft Auto V, it’s possible that your online character may exist in the world and go about their daily schedule. Maybe Rockstar will allow you to interact with the character in the single-player campaign. Maybe you’ll never meet them. However, it seems that it inadvertently confirmed that you’ll be able to reap the benefits of GTA Online, even if you haven’t been playing it (but will it only be accessible through the DLC? That’s the question). Again, this is all conjecture but given the description for the additional content and how it matches up to the single-player campaign, it isn’t impossible.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments.