Grand Bimble Auto Online

There are some evenings I want to be intensely engaged in a game. Missing hours and one-more-thing. Civ V does that for me, as does City Skylines (although less so). Skyrim did too.

There are some evenings I want to build. Minecraft is good for that, although I have a pretty big rebuild of the UberStore mechanism in progress.

Then there are some evenings I like to bimble about, in the presence of others, doing stuff. Cruising. Minecraft could be good for that but more recently I've been enjoying GTA Online.

Freemode

There is a lot of variety and now I have seen more of the Freemode events, they're a good laugh. In Beast, one person becomes hunted while eveyone else tracks them down. The hunted person has a secret list of waypoints (called landmarks) to visit and they only show up on the map when they hit the landmarks. I joined in the hunters last night on a fabulous trail of chaos. Another coaxed you to do as much damage as possible, some managed to get into the millions - not sure how.

Actually stealing cars for profit

I decided at one point to deliver cars to the dock, something I always enjoyed in GTA 1. You steal one, get told it's of the right type, get rid of the rozzers (not too bad), get it sprayed and fixed and then the really, really hard part: get it to the garage in the corner of the map without doing damage to it (damage means less reward). I like to drive quick but what makes it fabulously hard is every sodding playing on the server wanting to kill you. Some with rocket launchers. Now, I could have a private instance but I think it's more fun this way and plays out a narrative.

Minding my own business

Just leaving the spray shop, I meet two guys gun toting ruffians in a gold low-rider who need some time in the shop too. Uzis splattering through smashed windows, they peppered the shiny side of the lack-luster SUV I was to deliver. Now, I could go back in but they'd be waiting for me, or I could cross to another spray shop, or accept the drop in cash. Nothing told me what to do. I could get another one. What would my fiery red-haired female character do? I put myself in her shoes. It took her a while to find the SUV (a jolly bimble, it has to be said). She had just paid for it to be sprayed and repaired (only $1400). She didn't know what she would get for it at the dock. How dare they? She was just minding her own business.

An exercise in fucking up shit

I waited outside the pay and spray and as the gold low-rider clunked out onto the concrete, I loosed an RPG through the open window. Billowing flames made me feel so much better. I fetched the SUV and took it for another $300 repair before calmly beginning my drive across town. I tend not to use the GPS when driving as you're not looking at the damn road. I tend to drive in the right direction and check the GPS later, when I'm closer. I was, however, acutely aware that there was a dot racing toward me. An angry dot. An angry dot that would build speed and suddenly change direction. The closest they got was at the edge of my draw distance, I could see the gold car breaking into bits as it barrelled through a Hummer.

I delivered the SUV for a reasonable $8843.

Looking forward to more

I'm saving for a posh house in the hills overlooking the city and with a few evenings more of doing missions, I should be there. I really like GTA Online now, even with the sometimes torturous loading times!