by Felix Zimmermann
Introduction: Doing the work in Red Dead Online
Harriet is a killer. Well, that’s not quite right. Harriet makes me kill for her. However, she is very specific about who or what to kill, mind you.
Let me tell you that Red Dead Online, the stand-alone online version of Red Dead Redemption 2, is very much a game about killing. Even more so than the single player story surrounding Arthur Morgan and the Van-der-Linde-Gang, Red Dead Online is concerned with keeping me busy with small tasks to very slowly earn money and experience. One wouldn’t be wrong to call this grind or work. However, I have to admit that the world of Red Dead Online – which is the same as in Red Dead Redemption 2 with its five fictional states based on real-world North American landscapes – continues to enthrall me. I come back to the game almost every day to fulfill some of the so-called “Daily Challenges”, watch the sun set behind the Ambarino mountains and take a picture of it.[1]
The Ambarino Mountains in Red Dead Online (Source: Screenshot by author)
Every day, I am greeted with seven new “general” challenges and up to 15 challenges spread around the five “roles” available in the game: the “Bounty Hunter”, the “Trader”, the “Collector”, the “Moonshiner” and the “Naturalist”. To unlock these roles, you must accumulate a certain amount of in-game gold currency which can also be bought with real-world money. It takes almost forever but it is possible to earn enough gold by logging in every day and fulfilling the challenges. I have done that. Am I proud of it? Not so sure about that. Did I have a good time? Most certainly. A love letter to Harriet Davenport, the maddest of them all – The life of a Naturalist in Red Dead Online weiterlesen