https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2018/12/20/red-dead-online-first-impressions/

My first NPC kill in the Red Dead Online beta was an impulse. I rode past the NPC on my horse, whom I’d named Vanessa, and this guy felt the need to insult her. So I grabbed my revolver and put two rounds in his head, then got off to frisk his body. The net yield of first blood? 49 cents — which turned out to be just enough to get some more bullets.

Yeah, Red Dead Online, at least when I started, was pretty brutal, and not just because the people in it shot first, asked questions never. The biggest problem for me was that the prices were steep. I was positive it would take me at least 12 hours of playtime just to get enough gold bars to customize one part of my revolver. Luckily, Rockstar seems to have realized that, and has since taken measures to balance the economy. So that takes care of the money… and leaves the players.