Anyone who plays Red Dead Online regularly knows that there are some issues with having enough to do.  While the hunters and fishing lovers will never tire of new places to unearth, everyone else seems to be itching for ways to compete and kill each other.  Here are a few ideas (free to Rockstar, or at least I’d take some in-game gold bars):

1) Non-criminal “jobs”

-Part of what makes the Red Dead world so special is that you can be a dishonorable criminal, killing indiscriminately in the streets (if that’s your thing). However, the game has a very clever and enjoyable “honor” mechanic that seems to have little bearing on the online portion of the game. Imagine being able to work as a clerk, a stagecoach driver, or even a cowboy. These could be legal jobs that would allow for more immersive roleplay. Not everyone in the old west was a gunslinging bounty hunter. What about being a regular old police officer? Or a ranch hand for a day? The mechanisms are there for so many other jobs and for honorable players it would be great to have something to do other than decimate the whitetail deer population.

2) Ownership of Businesses

-This suggestion is ubiquitous among followers of RDO, so I won’t beat it to death here.  But players should be able to buy buildings and own them.  Grand Theft Auto V allows players to purchase and maintain businesses.  What keeps Rockstar from bringing that mechanic to RDO?  It would be fun to work on that level of immersion, encouraging players to log in to the server day in and day out for rewards and payouts from these growing business ventures such as a trapper, a cattle man, or even some level of farming or ranching. The “Moonshiner” DLC did bring something similar to this, but it still feels very stiff and similar to the Trader Role. Why not give players a bit more freedom to buy and sell what they want?

3) Ranches

-I would add to this concept of ownership that there should be entire ranches with livestock options as well as even land plots for farming.  Look no further than the success of Farming Simulator 19 to realize that gamers in the current market do enjoy this kind of slower paced but rewarding gaming.  Buying and maintaining a ranch in the wild west is every bit as fulfilling as being a hardened criminal.   It would feel a bit more like The Sims: Wild West and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. They could add roles like “cowboy” to handle cattle drives or horse breaking. These are elements that were in the first installment of the series. Why not bring them back?

4) Duels

-Right now part of the anti-griefing element of RDO is the opportunity to fight it out with your enemy.  I think there should be another option to “settle in a duel.”  If you are challenged to a duel, you either have to take it or forfeit something (perhaps money, perhaps be moved to a different location on the map).  But if you accept the duel, you will be put into an animation back to back, take 20 paces, turn and fire. Whoever survives the duel gets to loot the corpse of the enemy and stay there.  Whoever loses the duel is moved to another server (or, in the case of being in a posse) is unable to target or kill the winner for a set amount of IRL time, perhaps 20 minutes.

5) Bring the “Trapper” Online

-One of the fun parts of RDO is running around hunting or gathering herbs.  There’s only so much you can do with those things right now, mostly just selling for upgrades.  There should be a trapper on the map to turn those random pieces into quality goods either for use or to resell elsewhere on the map. Maybe the player could take them to a ship on the docks where players can cash in gathered items and build up a collection, then cash that in for a higher payoff.  So, for example there could be a collection for 10 Pronghorn hides. The player could gather those in one trip or over several days of playing, and once the ten have been cashed in, instead of making $2 per hide, the player might be able to make $25 or $30 for the lot.  There could be simple collections, like 10 hides, or more complex ones requiring crafting and/or more unique skillsets.

Ultimately, no one knows what all Rockstar has in the pipeline for this game.  It’s a pretty universally accepted fact that there’s not quite enough to do at the present moment.  These suggestions would broaden the possibilities and make it more enjoyable for everyone involved.

If you have some suggestions not mentioned here, please include them in the comments.  How else would you like to enjoy this open world Wild West experience?