GTA Online launches, but barely works – here’s why

If Grand Theft Auto Online launches, but no one can play it, did it really launch?

Earlier today, Rockstar’s first attempt at a massively multiplayer game, GTA Online, officially launched. The developer said it expected hiccups along the way, as this is the first time it would be launching such an undertaking. Well, it would seem Rockstar underestimated the breadth of the issues it would have launching the game. GTA Online greeted gamers not with a world in which they could form gangs and commit new crimes, but with a world in which they had to go outside because they couldn’t play video games.

Rather than the usual smattering of login and lag issues, GTA Online is full-blown preventing people from logging into the game. If, by some miracle, you are able to connect, chances are you’ve either gotten booted, or experienced so much lag that the game is literally unplayable — not unplayable in the sense that a 46ms ping is “terrible.”

Reports from all over the internet detail most login and server issues you’d except, from failure to host session messages, or miraculously making it online only to be kicked off or lagged out.

As someone who has been online gaming since the days of BBS door games, who then moved to MUDs, first-person shooters, graphical MMOs, and so on: welcome to online gaming, everybody! Amusingly, Rockstar’s support forum was bumped offline for a bit, presumably from the influx of complaints.

Unfortunately, the only thing you can do to get into GTA Online is have patience, and try again later. If you’re one of the lucky few who made it on and aren’t experiencing any issues, how long you cling to your functional session should teach you something about yourself. If you’re like the rest of us who can’t make it into or stay in the game, how long you keep trying should teach you something about yourself.

For now, have patience, play some single player, and Rockstar will have everything sorted out sooner or later. Probably.