LITRPG -- my offline passion.
A couple years ago listening to audio books on Audible, I came across some books that described themselves as LITRPG. They depicted characters IN the real world or at least from it, dealing with events either in a game, another world/realm that had characteristics of a game, or the real/world transformed by game-like rules. Most deal with the tropes of rpg games like Grinding for levels, Classes, fetch quests, snarky system comments and such as well as character stats throughout the game. You might also run into them as GAMELIT books. The definition of both these genres is vague and under debate although it seems that GAMELIT may be stat-lite by comparison. A lot of these genres started in Russia and Korea, but have been migrating. The Japan anime series Sword Art Online is a good example, especially the first season. Likewise the novel Ready Player One had some definite LITRPG elements in it , less so for the movie version.
The stories usually are Fantasy based, although science fiction, super heroes, and apocalypse genres can be invoked. Some stories focus on what we would regard as NPCs, and even Dungeons take center stage as Dungeon Cores are the focus of several tales.
- "Real World" Games -- Stories here usually elaborate next generation VR gear and have to involve some real world consequences. You might be an employee of a game company as a developer or tester and your in game performance is linked to your lively hood. You might be an online-game streamer, and viewers translates into income. You might be trying to win a contest to solve family financial problems. In other games individuals whose bodies are severely injured might be linked to a game long term while their bodies are healed. Such stories means you have other player characters to worry about -- and there usually seems to be no end of player-killers, guild elitists, or Pay-to-Win types to make the protagonists life miserable. You might have large numbers of individuals forcefully migrated to a game by a developer permanently. This adds a whole host of problem. How much space and computer power does a single human mind take? Does a digitized player have any rights? Can a game company shut down a game if former humans are now essentially part of the game world? Even the VR gear may have several levels depending upon how mentally connected the players are and how their body is handled while they are in game, maybe for days or weeks. How are home VR players told they need to go to the bathroom, are getting hungry or dehydrated during long game plays? Too some extent this is similar to Ready Player One (The book more than the movie), or the anime series Sword Art Online (especially the first season).
- Other worlds -- This seems to be the most common, with players transferred to other worlds, be it temporarily or permanently. But "moving" to the fantasy world has its problems. How do residents react to players ? Do they understand earthly languages or RW subjects? How are players treated that resort to the worst of gaming tactics like griefing and player killing? How many lives do players have ? Do the NPCs know about levels, classes, bonues and the light like a player does? This makes every book series a chore to relearn how the rules are being applied. SOME authors have come up with some real twists for their worlds. Like a VR game EULA essentially being a demonic contract allowing them to kidnap who they please. Try ignoring those damn things now! Others bring up other issues -- I can imagine lots of keyboard players who wouldn't DREAM of putting themselves into battle.
- Apocalypse -- This genre is weird and some takes can have a twisted attraction. Simply put, some force starts applying game rules to Earth in the present day. A "system" manages to finally reassert itself after millennia of being blocked, or Earth was always a computer program and they've given up on our usual simulation. People see notices, are allowed to pick classes, set attributes, get perks, etc. as if they are chosing a starter character for real life. But that usually means wildlife is mutated into monstrous forms or classical fantasy creatures start to appear. Those used to games fare better than most, while some people refuse to acknowledge the notices and end up dieing as a consequence. Often survival is the name of the game, and depends on how many can adapt and work with the new system, how close they are to a safe zone, or whether they started in bad areas to begin with. Such worlds usually end up with huge death counts as non-game Earthly technology fails, political and religious leaders urge many to ignore the system messages, and new races move to Earth, usually some variations of the traditional Elves, Dwarves, Orcs or something similar. Usually one or more of the characters in the tales are lucky ones who manage to come out slightly ahead of the pack on skills, attributes, rare classes or abilities, and get attention from all sides as a consequence.
- Gamed worlds - There seems to be a lot of worlds out there governed by game like rules. And these books focus in on them, without really having players per se. Cultivation books, Dungeon Core books, and even crafting focused stories are out there. You might be a regular character in one of these worlds and suddenly find yourself in a dungeon core, having to deal with leveling up and developing a dungeon to protect yourself. You might be a would-be master craftsman, having to learn your skills while dealing with competitors, bureacrats, and others who would impede your sucess, or profit from it at your expense.
The big difference is how these stories treat their game worlds. HOW many gamers do you know that might fare very well at the keyboard version of events, but fold if they had to put themselves at risk? Getting hurt and healed in battle is a big difference when it deals with flesh and blood and not stats and numbers. Could they really face monsters ? Can a digitized human make a life in a digital world?
Every story reinvents game rules to some degree. Often the same typical attributes are involved, but will have their own rules and mechanics going on behind the scene. Some get very detailed on percentage chances to hit, amount of damage done, gains per level, etc, and a main protagonist character sheet might end up being displayed in full several times during the course of a story. Some will have clever perks that can be gained, or Titles that can be earned by special accomplishments. All familiar elements to anyone who has spent time in an MMO or video game RPG.
There is also the mix of genres leaning it self to unique humor -- I've seen several Star Wars jokes, Skyrim references and the like, all in reference to story events. Aleron King in his The Land series of LITRPG books had an unseen party in crowd scenes yell "Gnomes Rule!" in several of his books. I've seen the same thing happen in books by several other authors.
I'll be following this up with a list of my favorites. There are lots of series out there (Check Audible or Amazon). Some are these are good, while other have a tendency to make the main protagonist a bit of an overpowered hyper-lucky sort. I like it a lot better when the characters turn their idocyncracies into strengths rather than just luck out again and again.