Rockstar Games recently launched its first venture into the world of online multiplayer with the Oct. 1 release of "Grand Theft Auto Online." The 16 player experience allows users to jump into the city of Los Santos and pull off new missions, steal fast cars or compete in leisure activities like golf or tennis. However, being an open world game means that users can choose to ignore all of the structure built into the GTA Online world and simply go for a rampage. To combat this, Rockstar Games has built a system to punish those who inhibit the progress of others.
People who drop from jobs, perform unsanctioned mayhem or are just plain jerks will find themselves labeled as "Bad Sports." Once labeled as such, you will be ostracized from the greater GTA Online community and placed into isolated spheres of influence where their only interactions and Job participation is with other Bad Sports. The system is so well established that often Bad Sports will be forced to wear a "Dunce Cap" for easy identification.
"Going around blowing up people's cars with sticky bombs does not pay off. Not to mention the fact that I may now only play with other Bad Sports. I'm not bitter or anything, though. I think it's very clever of Rockstar," said Xavier Horovitz, a GTA Player via IGN.
One of the easiest ways to be marked as a Bad Sport is by destroying other player's personal vehicles. When the game begins everyone chooses a car that they will then customize and mark as their very own, much in the same way that the main characters in the story mission each have a vehicle that belongs to them. Destroying or damaging those is a great way to become a Bad Sport. However, killing a player seems to hold no penalty.
Another way to become a Bad Sport is to drop from Jobs mid-mission. So if you get frustrated and rage quit, you'll be in even worse shape to do the job later on as you'll lose the ability to do it with professionals and will have to pull the job off with more Dunces and Bad Sports.
The Bad Sport status reportedly lasts two days.
