What have you encountered so far? Tonight I was doing free roam and trying to get some exp by doing Twin Rocks. I had a guy named birchmontage being a prick. He was much, much higher in level than me and so he would constantly snipe me while I was trying to level up. Then he started setting me on fire and spawn killing me over and over. I ended up shooting him in the back when he spawned once and that just enraged him more. That was sort of fun.
 
What have you encountered of people being idiots online?

Oh, you mean online. I've still only stuck to the single player so far, and there's a whole lot of pricks running amok in the west. I've killed a lot of people who have wronged me. Dude, even a prostitute asked me to give her a ride back into town, then she jacked me! What a two-bit hooker! I should have dragged her through the town and struck the fear of God in any of those other deviants! 
 
Oh, and dude, a lot of the people you meet in the game are pretty disturbing. While I generally play a good guy, I couldn't help but kill off some of these despicable people.

I've had a bunch of people attack me when I just get in a game, or when I am trying to go through a Gang Hideout. I can never seem to hit "Back -> New Free Roam" fast enough before they kill me at least once, and if I can it waits until they kill me anyway to jump to a new game.

I went to help someone with the Fort Mercer one, and as soon as I get inside, after killing about 6 guys, he kills me. Then he does it again, and a third time. So I murder his ass about six times before I get bored and leave. He probably wanted to do it alone, but he could've at least said so, he did have a mic (he kept cursing after I, or a gang member, killed him).

If I'm in a posse, we keep killing them until they leave or give up.  I grind for xp in private free roam, you should too if you don't want some jerk ruining your day.

If you don't want the risk of being killed just do private free roam, otherwise i think you have to accept it unless you posse up

my very first experience was a bad one... lol can into a freeroam session to join a friend and saw he was successfully holding 2 guys off at armadillo. a couple moments later they gave up on killing him and went for me, the level 0 to kill me constantly. took me a good 10 minutes to get even one kill!

Worst thing ever is if you kill them back, then they vote to kick you. Never played with this many wennies before haha.

Similar to what you've had to put up. High level asswipes who constantly try and fuck up your hideout runs or get in the way of my precious flower picking!!!!! T.T

This is why I love the private Free Roam. Playing with people you know helps as well. Doubly so if you are in private Free Roam. 
 
I do have one awesome story, which just shows how fun the public FR really is. I was riding through Armadillo on my trusty El Señor. A large posse was riding through the town as well. Everyone passed me without doing anything, except the last one. He plugged me in the face with a rifle, killing me instantly. The rest of the posse proceeded to fire their guns in the air while riding on. A perfect western moment. 

A couple of nights ago I as soon as I spawned I was killed by this guy on a horse (don't recall his name lets call him Bob). When I spawned again Bob began riding towards me again. Thankfully there was a trusty rock nearby which I hid behind until he got close. Once he got close I popped up and repeatedly shot him in the face. It was at this point I discovered Bob was using a mic (oh joy) so he started shouting at me and telling me how much I suck at this game. He then started to ride towards me again once he spawned, and I continued to use me same tactic since he hadn't learned the last time. As I killed him again he started to shout and swear at me again, one highlight was "You are so shit, just fuck off. I am level 44 and you are level 9 I AM BETTER THAN YOU!!!111!!!!1!!one".  Unfortunately at this point he managed to kill me and rode towards me as soon as I had spawned again at which point I had managed to kill his horse downing and killing him on the floor. He then told me to leave free roam otherwise (somehow) he would make my life hell. Soon after this he managed to get a posse together and I went guerilla sniper on their arse. So yeah to sum up and in the words of the immortal Vinny Caravella CUNT!

" A couple of nights ago I as soon as I spawned I was killed by this guy on a horse (don't recall his name lets call him Bob)."

"What have you encountered so far? Tonight I was doing free roam and trying to get some exp by doing Twin Rocks. I had a guy named birchmontage being a prick. He was much, much higher in level than me and so he would constantly snipe me while I was trying to level up. Then he started setting me on fire and spawn killing me over and over. I ended up shooting him in the back when he spawned once and that just enraged him more. That was sort of fun.  What have you encountered of people being idiots online? "

" @Barrock said:

"What have you encountered so far? Tonight I was doing free roam and trying to get some exp by doing Twin Rocks. I had a guy named birchmontage being a prick. He was much, much higher in level than me and so he would constantly snipe me while I was trying to level up. Then he started setting me on fire and spawn killing me over and over. I ended up shooting him in the back when he spawned once and that just enraged him more. That was sort of fun.  What have you encountered of people being idiots online? "

 lower yourself to his level, it's awesome. "

Why do people insist on shooting on sight? What they should do is only shoot if they are shot at, But unfortunately people take joy in ruining other peoples fun. Sometimes if you are killed in a fun way ONCE then its okay. such as when i was inside a stagecoach and someone decided to set it on fire.

i leave people alone in the free roam unless they threaten me. if they do then its total war until they leave.

Doing the bounty achievement. It's difficult when you have people doing challenges. I don't blame them. So when it comes time for me to do my challenges, you guys better watch your backs. Because I will fuck up your game.

I don't mind the random getting killed, it's pretty much part of the game.  However, when someone kills me repeatedly and I am making zero attempt to fight back I begin to hate them.  Seriously, if my gun is not out and I'm minding my own business killing me once is cool, twice is a little bit of a dick move but three times and more is just being a complete ass.  I enjoy going into the public mode just so there are other people running around and most of the time we keep to ourselves or even help each other out (posse or not) but the occasional asshat is starting to ruin it for me.   
 
My tactic is to try to ruin their enjoyment by piling up my dead body at their feet.  If someone kills me repeatedly when I'm in no way aggressive toward them I just start hunting them down as fast as I can but with no weapon drawn.  When I get close I slow to a walk and just keep going at them.  They kill me.  They laugh.  I do it again.  And again.  And again.  Eventually they start to realize I'm just going to keep doing this and they get bored of it or annoyed by it but either way one of two things happens, they leave the session or they stop shooting me.  I'll stand in front of them for a bit and if they don't shoot I turn my back and walk off.  So far not a single one of these people has then shot me in the back, thus signifying they are really done killing me.  Small victory at out annoying them.
 
That being said, I do enjoy playing a game of "attack the fortified defenders" when I see a posse just hanging out in a town.  I'll wander in and if they start shooting at me it is on and it becomes my sole purpose in life to take over the town from them.  I've been fairly successful at it and I think everybody is having fun because we are all on board with what is happening.

It's exactly the same as GTA IV's online. Anything you want to do will be ruined by people who just want to shoot everything.

" It's exactly the same as GTA IV's online. Anything you want to do will be ruined by people who just want to shoot everything. "

" @HandsomeDead said:

" It's exactly the same as GTA IV's online. Anything you want to do will be ruined by people who just want to shoot everything. "

Except in GTAIV's free roam, there wasn't anything else to do besides randomly kill each other. "

I've signed up for the Giant Bomb posse, but haven't gotten a chance to hit any of those guys up for a match yet. I don't have any friends playing this on the PS3 so "possing up" ain't all that easy for me. But I went online once and that was a really lame experience. I just popped into some random server and all the dudes started killing me and throwing shit in my face over the com. channel. I feel like the RDR online stuff really have to be played "possied up", or else all those random mf'ers start wacking your ass over and over again. I'll stick with the SP for now...

" @Abyssfull said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" It's exactly the same as GTA IV's online. Anything you want to do will be ruined by people who just want to shoot everything. "

Except in GTAIV's free roam, there wasn't anything else to do besides randomly kill each other. "

Didn't you ever try any of the other modes? You'd be doing a race and after the first lap, you'd just see people fighting on the start line. "

Hah. it's ridiculous how many people just shoot you on sight. As soon as I hit second prestige and got my buffalo, I took to public free roam and tried showing it off. I road towards sole users. As I got near them, whether they were standing still or running in circles on some dirt road, they would start to shoot me. I slow down my speed, and they still shoot me. When they kill me, I leave, as they are not worthy of riding my buffalo.
 
One time I managed to get the jump on a level 1 guy, and get right up to him without him shooting me. I stopped and got off my buffalo, then - naturally - started hopping up and down. I had a mic, so I just said that I come in peace. I told him this is the last time he was going to see one of these, and as I saw him get on the buffalo, I switched free roams.
 
Another interesting side note. I had no idea that being shot off my buffalo, while I'm not moving or shooting, made me a fag and a pussy. But all the players I've encountered seem to think so.

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Abyssfull said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" It's exactly the same as GTA IV's online. Anything you want to do will be ruined by people who just want to shoot everything. "

Except in GTAIV's free roam, there wasn't anything else to do besides randomly kill each other. "

Didn't you ever try any of the other modes? You'd be doing a race and after the first lap, you'd just see people fighting on the start line. "

Fighting? You mean actually getting out of their cars and just smackin' each other? Or shooting each other from their cars. If it's the latter, I also recall that being a strong motivation during the GTA-races. "

As it is true that there are a lot of assholes out there who like to fuck with people in free roam, it is also possible to fuck with them in return. 

for me I normally wouldn't have a problem with assholes online because typical i can take care of them, but recently i have notice a lot of these assholes switching there aiming mode to casual so they auto lock and destroy my before i can even aim at them ( i use expert aim). i think it was a pretty stupid idea to even make the auto aim in free mode lock onto other player i would have figured it only lock on to npc. It's really killing free mode for me.

I have encountered people doing glitches (cheating) to get kills.  Why?  What could you possibly gain from cheating?  Nothing of worth I bet.

im always a bitch online, i usually get all  these pose invites when i joina game i decline and go after them all, i walk around and tell them dont hit me i will help you, before pulling out throwing knives and killing them all then running off. i stay in chat range and listen to them ragee for ultimate lolz. 
 
The last time i did this the guys chased me for a good hour i'd say i kept winning tho (high powered pistol FTW) and eventually they asked me to help them and now thats who i play with online a lot. 
Its my favourite part of the game, now we jsut ride arund attacking other posses hoping for a little 'gang war' but usually they pussy out and break up the posse :/

Was trying to knock out all of the hideouts in free roam for the achievement. Got through like 3-4 before I noticed somebody was hitting up Fort Mercer. I go there and try to help the guy out and he starts killing me. After awhile I start killing him too and I end up killing the last guy in that hideout.
 
Possibly my bad for not leaving him alone and / or butting into his mission? Maybe, but a simple "leave me alone" would have sufficed. Not gunning me down throughout the mission. (he would completely ignore the enemies and just target me)
 
I did end up getting the achievement, though.

Yeah, there are definitely way too many assholes that think Free roam is just Deathmatch on a very big map. It's always strange in that split second when someone approaches whether they are just going about their business or looking to grief. I've grinded my way to level 46 but once I hit 50 that'll be it. Even without the idiots there is just so many times you can clear out Twin Rocks before it's time to move back to good ole Left 4 Dead or TF2.

So the first time I tried online I went into free roam. Some random guy invited me to join his posse and I just hung with him for a while. He didn't talk but since I didn't really know what to do I just followed his lead. He started shooting marshalls at armarillo and I joined him. At one point I got up to most wanted and I got shot right then by some posse.  
 
So then they started doing the same thing. It was maybe a group of 6 guys. One of them finally got most wanted and I rushed in the bar where he was hiding and killed him and another guy. He was so butt hurt about it, he wouldn't stop harassing me calling me names. Then he made it his mission to spawn kill me and talk shit the whole time. So I reported him and kept playing. I was hoping that once I filed the report they would start to log his voice chats or something. So I let him attack me and call me names for as long as I could. Once I couldn't take it anymore I left. I hope they gave him a warning or something. It was really sad how upset he got at me killing him after he got most wanted. I don't think I'll play public again.

" Oh, you mean online. I've still only stuck to the single player so far, and there's a whole lot of pricks running amok in the west. I've killed a lot of people who have wronged me. Dude, even a prostitute asked me to give her a ride back into town, then she jacked me! What a two-bit hooker! I should have dragged her through the town and struck the fear of God in any of those other deviants!   Oh, and dude, a lot of the people you meet in the game are pretty disturbing. While I generally play a good guy, I couldn't help but kill off some of these despicable people. "

" @FunExplosions:  lol you sound to be abit of a twat online, frankly. "

Online free roam basically means people will keep killing you. I have never had a free roam match where I wasn't constantly being killed  A way to negate that would be having a good posse to protect you. However I only have ever played online on the first couple of days since launch due to projects so I know not much about peoples habits anymore

Online roam is a waste of time. I went on earlier today for the first time, just to look around and was constantly getting killed. It's so bad that it's simply not fun. I did roam around Blackwater a bit, which was nice (I haven't even made it to Mexico yet in the single player, damn work schedule) because I hadn't seen it ... but then I got killed. Three or four times in a row. Even when I was just walking around, no gun drawn. If there was some sort of minor penalty for killing someone who had their gun holstered, it might make me more interested in going back. Right now, I'm pretty sure I won't bother with Public Free Roam at all. Too bad, really. They could have figured out a way to make it work, but right now it doesn't.

Haters gonna hate, I love messing about in Free Roam killing dudes. Granted most of the time its just me shooting back and killing the moron who started it but just once in a while when in a Posse we tear **** up. I was playing last week and we rolled in a posse of 8 and stormed 3 dudes in Armadillo and it was so fun lol. Usually I leave people alone unless they try to kill me though and when they do ITS ON.

OMG...People are actually shooting at you guys in a Wild West free roam game where you gain exp for killing people.  Seriously if it bugs you so much create a private game

" Why do people insist on shooting on sight? What they should do is only shoot if they are shot at, But unfortunately people take joy in ruining other peoples fun. Sometimes if you are killed in a fun way ONCE then its okay. such as when i was inside a stagecoach and someone decided to set it on fire. "

" @TheGreatGuero said:

" Oh, you mean online. I've still only stuck to the single player so far, and there's a whole lot of pricks running amok in the west. I've killed a lot of people who have wronged me. Dude, even a prostitute asked me to give her a ride back into town, then she jacked me! What a two-bit hooker! I should have dragged her through the town and struck the fear of God in any of those other deviants!   Oh, and dude, a lot of the people you meet in the game are pretty disturbing. While I generally play a good guy, I couldn't help but kill off some of these despicable people. "

Can I ask which system? Never had this issue on PS3. And when I Saw the 360 TNT for RDR this seemed to just happen. Even the guys mentioned the 360 people seemed a bit more....violent.  "

" @The_Laughing_Man said:

" @TheGreatGuero said:

" Oh, you mean online. I've still only stuck to the single player so far, and there's a whole lot of pricks running amok in the west. I've killed a lot of people who have wronged me. Dude, even a prostitute asked me to give her a ride back into town, then she jacked me! What a two-bit hooker! I should have dragged her through the town and struck the fear of God in any of those other deviants!   Oh, and dude, a lot of the people you meet in the game are pretty disturbing. While I generally play a good guy, I couldn't help but kill off some of these despicable people. "

Can I ask which system? Never had this issue on PS3. And when I Saw the 360 TNT for RDR this seemed to just happen. Even the guys mentioned the 360 people seemed a bit more....violent.  "

I've been playing the 360 version. I thought the two versions were the same, aside from a few exclusive costumes, but I could be wrong. I've only played the game for about 6-8 hours and it's happened to me a few times in those random encounters. If you're kind of just sticking to the story and not really exploring the land, you could just be overlooking some of these things... But hey, if the 360 version is more violent, perhaps I got the right version then! ;) "

People are assholes because it's a GTA game. Hang out over on GTAforums for a while and you'll see that 90+% of all posters are a clone of the same imbecile with psychological issues. The online audience directly reflects the game.
 
Examples: Halo, Call of Duty, PC Battlefields, etc each have a certain caricature personality you will run into over and over and over again in that game. What you describe is the GTA one.

" People are assholes because it's a GTA game. Hang out over on GTAforums for a while and you'll see that 90+% of all posters are a clone of the same imbecile with psychological issues. The online audience directly reflects the game.  Examples: Halo, Call of Duty, PC Battlefields, etc each have a certain caricature personality you will run into over and over and over again in that game. What you describe is the GTA one. "