Why GTA Online should bring back gangs from Story Mode

Gangs have always been an important part of the stories in Rockstar Games' GTA franchise. However, it was undoubtedly San Andreas that brought them to the forefront and made them a major part of both the story and the gameplay.

Every installment in the series has seen some of the classic gangs reappear in myriad forms. Sometimes, they are only referenced in a conversation between two characters while they are just random enemies to eliminate at other times.

As such, removing gangs from the Grand Theft Auto series is an inseparable act. So, GTA Online, the current most popular title in the series, should definitely bring back some of the more iconic gangs into story-driven missions.

Note: This article reflects the writer's subjective opinion.

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Gangs from Story Mode should play a bigger role in GTA Online

Grand Theft Auto 5 has brought many classic gangs that players are well aware of, especially if they have played earlier games in the franchise. Furthermore, many of the missions are also directly correlated with them.

For example, in the mission Hood Safari, it is revealed that Grove Street is now under the Ballas' territory and Franklin, Trevor, and Lamar have to eliminate them if they want to get out of there alive.

Hence, players can clearly see how the developers expanded upon what Ballas are doing in the current timeline and even made them into the same old enemies they were once in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.

Or just look at The Lost MC's appearance in Grand Theft Auto 5 during Trevor's introduction. As players can see over the years, The Lost MC have moved out of their main territory and are now working under Trevor.

Furthermore, most of their members have either died of drug overdoses or left the gang completely. Johnny Klebitz, who was once the revered leader of the gang, is now being harassed by Trevor, who will soon kill him as well.

The downfall of The Lost MC was something that many fans were predicting when The Lost and the Damned DLC was released for GTA 4. They finally got this resolution in Grand Theft Auto 5.

Thus, players can now see that this proactiveness with gangs seems to be missing in GTA Online. Most of them are relegated to mindless NPCs who are just there for gamers to kill and do not showcase any kind of motivation or desire.

There are no missions in the game where gangs such as the Ballas, Vagos, or the Families play an important role in the story of the mission presented to the player.

This is a huge waste of story potential as many of the other Grand Theft Auto games have expanded upon the lore of these popular gangs in the series and GTA Online should also do the same.

For example, there is a mission called Ballas to the Wall, which is given by Lamar and has players get one of Simeon's cars back from the Ballas who have stolen it from him.

This is just one example of the Ballas being involved in a mission in Grand Theft Auto Online. However, just like any other challenges with them, instead of seeing them actively interacting with players, the gang is just an enemy that is in the way of the main objective.

There is not even a single cutscene that presents them as characters. Thus, GTA Online should avoid doing this and bring back these iconic gangs in a much more narrative-driven manner.