As someone who played GTA V online for over 100 hours I did it about 90 percent solo. The only reason I was able to was because they let you have non public instances. Watching the quick look for RDR online and trying it for myself affirmed to me how much I hate multiplayer griefing. The guy trolling Brad by exploiting the safe zone to prevent you from starting a quest was the last straw as well as the constant profanity in voice chat. Sure you can Parley a player for 10 minutes but that's an hour or more of time wasted before you can even have the option. I might have to pass on this one despite paying for the premium version of this game which has a bunch of online bonuses.

Tbf there are plenty of options to limit who you hear in chat, I've been playing a fair bit since it launched and I have passed by many more other players peacefully than have been shot for no reason. While I do find it frustrating atm when I try and co-operate in free roam (eg. in clearing bandit camps) and the other player inevitably gets squirelly and tries to kill me, passing people on the road or in towns has been mostly peaceable for me.

I'm with you on wanting private sessions but the missions that you get from the stations are designed for you to be attacked by other players, I expect they will add private sessions in the future but I would also expect that these missions couldn't be done in these sessions (much like the delivery missions in GTAO).

That being said, I don't care for PVP at all myself, I never fire first and deathmatches/racing don't interest me. Currently (I'm at rank 7) the only "missions" for me to do to earn money are these forced PVP delivery missions, PVP deathmatches, races and the story missions (which can be repeated) for $3-$5 a pop. The shotgun I want (the only one I can buy) is $444! Doing 100 of these missions to get one gun is too grindy for my liking (of course I could buy this gun with "gold bars"/more of my hard earned money, gotta love that player choice) and the ranking up seems equally slow.

As the game stands I don't bother with the delivery missions unless I'm posse'd up, too much risk for virtually no reward. I've largely enjoyed the story missions but I don't like the forced 4 player matchmaking, several times I've been in a group that use up our shared lives (ugh) in the first 10 seconds because they can't or won't use cover, or even one player intentionally murdering people we needed to capture to clear the mission. I would much rather have the option of doing these solo or with a fixed group </= 4, hopefully they'll add that too.

I'm tentatively enjoying the game in the hopes that post-beta they add more control options as to who I play with and how I play with them, as well as much more gainful PvE content for me and friends to do together. If this doesn't happen I'll be dropping it pretty fast.

@puchiko: I apologize for my ignorance, but in GTAV Online, what can you do without other people? I love the GTA games but have avoided online for the same reason you mentioned - people are often terrible. Is there content for folks who don’t want the hassle of griefing?

@ltcolumbo: You can do about 70-80 percent of the missions/activities solo. They recommend 1-4 or more players but with the right equipment and tactics I was able to solo them all and rank up to level 100+. There is literally another game's worth (20+ hours I would guess) of missions/story to do in GTA V online. Unfortunately any of heists require multiplayer but you are in a private instance the entire time with like minded people. Some of the best times I had in the game were with Duders from this site doing the Heists.

I understand RDRs missions were designed to be attacked by other players, but my main gripe is the open world itself not being private until you start the mission. NPCs could replace the other players attacking your missions as well if they allow private instances. My ideal for this game is to play it as a survival game set in the not so wild west. They will probably add it eventually as this game will constantly be evolving but for now with the very little free time I have, I don't want it to be wasted by griefers.

I am done with this game. Constantly getting killed by other players is really pissing me off. You can’t do shit in this mode because they always kill your horse and you are pretty much screwed. Sorry Rockstar but this is unplayable.

It's a beta of one mode of a dominantly single player game. Calm down. Maybe they'll fix it. If not, you have the whole main game to play.

@frostyryan: I have every right to be angry at griefers. Players camping spawn points for quests killing people as they load into the game and pretty much 3 out of every 4 players you meet shoots you. This game brings out the worst in people is all I’ve experienced so far. It’s a beta so I am voicing my feedback so rockstar can fix this. I will come back to it when it is #fixed.

@puchiko: I agree I started a petition please sign if you like https://www.change.org/p/rockstar-games-red-dead-online-needs-invite-only-session-soon?recruiter=396795704&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition