Steven Seagal is a total badass. You know what else is badass? Grand Theft Auto Online servers being less than 24 hours away from going live. I decided to scavenge the Earth for every GTA Online detail available and amassed the 12 most badass of them here in one place. If you are not excited about GTA Online or still haven’t the slightest clue of what to expect, buckle your safety belts: You have just stepped on a hype-train that is getting ready to speed off Under Siege 2-style.

1) A Different Style Of Character Creation

In GTA Online, you will no longer be in control of Michael, Franklin, or Trevor. Instead you’ll be assuming the role of your very own character, whose destiny will be under your total control, depending on how you choose to play the game. Folks who have grown accustomed to the Saint’s Row-style of character creation are in for something a little different in GTA Online. Instead of just customizing your character’s appearance and sending him/her out the door, you will be creating your character’s backstory, including everything from who their grandparents are, their parents, preferred pastimes, work ethic, and other lifestyle related attributes. Your character’s beginning stats will be molded based on the backstory you build for them.

2) Rolling With A Crew

Aligning yourself with other players will give you an advantage when trying to succeed in GTA Online. Being a part of a crew helps you earn cash faster and gives you a group of people to turn to for assistance in the game’s tougher missions. Creating or joining a crew via Rockstar’s Social Club website is easy, and from there you can manage everything from the crew’s emblem design (which will show in-game) to the crew’s chain of command.

3) Cash Rules Everything Around You

The main objective in GTA Online is to acquire currency. It’s how you build your reputation on the streets of Los Santos. It’s how you afford the fancy cars and lavish properties. It’s how you fund your crime-related endeavors with the weapons and gear needed to carry out your missions. In real life, you often hear people say, “make the money but don’t let the money make you.” In Grand Theft Auto Online, the money does make you and you’re about as worthless as a helpless civilian NPC without it.

4.) Securing Your Funds
So you just had yourself a big pay day and plan to return to your home on the other side of San Andreas. You may want to consider depositing the cash you just made at the nearest ATM before you do anything else. At any given moment, other players can rob you of every dime in your possession and the only way to retrieve your stolen money would be to exact revenge and rob your offenders in return. Putting your money in the ATM will secure your cash and keep it out of harms way until you decide to make purchases with it.

5.) Don’t Shoot Me Bro

GTA Online uses a dynamic system that occupies the world around you at all times. First you’ll see your friends populating the area, then your crew members, and then similarly-skilled players in the same area of San Andreas as you, depending on who’s currently signed in. If you desire not to be bothered by anyone while exploring in GTA Online, there is a passive mode that you can activate that will make your character impervious to bullets. This can come in handy for actvities like shopping, but will deactivate the moment you pull the trigger on your own gun.

6.) Too Many Missions, Too Little Time

Rockstar says GTA Online will feature over 500 missions that you can perform on your own or with up to 15 other friends. The events of GTA Online take place before those of GTA V, so anyone who’s played through the single player story will see several familiar faces. You’ll start off doing small-time jobs like robbing convenience stores and stealing vehicles. After accumulating enough money to afford a high-end estate, you will then gain access to your very own planning room where you’ll be able to arrange complex heist, similar to the ones in GTA V’s single player.

7.) “Put the Money in the Bag!”

Robbery is a hasty way to make a couple of bucks in GTA Online. A clever feature Rockstar included was the ability to yell into your headset during hold ups to intimidate your victims. For instance, I can yell obscenities into my PS3 headset in order to get a cashier to speed up giving me the money out of their cash register. This, of course, is just in case simply pointing a gun at them isn’t doing the trick.

8.) Gang Wars

While being able to freely assault other players is certainly entertaining, there is a more structured PVP element in GTA Online. Matchmaking keep crews on the same team and matches them up against other crews in team death matches. Crews can also issue challenges to one another and go head-to-head using a custom playlist. There is a crew ranking system alongside your personal ranking, with the ultimate goal being to become the number one crew in the world.

9.) Extracurricular Fun

Getting tired of the daily hustle of killing and making bank in GTA Online. Take some time and go relax with one of the many extracurricular activities, all to be enjoyed by multiple people simultaneously. You can go base jumping with friends, biking, playing tennis, or golfing. You can even pack 16 folks into a movie theater to enjoy a film together. Then there’s the flagship GTA activity, going to the strip club, which can also be enjoyed with friends. “Making it rain” is so much more fun in the company of your good friends.

10.) Look Mom, I’m On the News

While logged into GTA Online, I implore that you all take the time to watch the television in your character’s house. Not only will you be entertained by Rockstar’s better-than-real-life programming, but you’ll also find a couple of other gems not included in the single player version. For one, you’ll be able to view the security cameras monitoring your estate, so you’ll be able to keep an eye on suspicious activity happening around your domain. Also, if someone in your crew is out causing chaos, you’ll see them live on Weazel News being reported as the maniac terrorizing San Andreas.

11.) The Fast And The Furious

The driving mechanics in GTA V are the best that they’ve ever been in the series. This seemingly will provide a highly pleasurable racing experience that can rival most of the dedicated racing games on the market. You can join together with other players, drop a waypoint on the map, and race to get there first after the diminishing of a countdown timer. Crew leaders can arrange races with crew members on the fly simply by accessing their in-game cellphone.

12.) Little Big San Andreas

User-generated content has brought about quite the revolution in community-based innovation. Rockstar is joining in on the action, giving the GTA Online community the tools and ability to create their own content. You will have the ability to create your own death matches and races after rising a few ranks in the online. Rockstar is hoping to expand on this, allowing players to create their own missions in the future. Everyone will be able to share their creations and Rockstar will be highlighting their favorite fan-created material, marking it as “Rockstar Verified.”

As you can see there will be more than enough things to do when Grand Theft Auto Online hits tomorrow. How will you choose to play the game? Will exploration with friends around the humongous San Andreas map be your primary focus? Or do you aspire to become the Heisenberg of GTA Online and accumulate mountainous piles of cash by any means necessary? Regardless of how you decide to play, you can take satisfaction in knowing that there’s plenty of fun to be had in GTA Online, and Rockstar intends on expanding on that for years to come. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go recruit some folks to join my soon-to-be empire. See you guys online!