What the hell is litRPG?

AnnonBee

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Call me ignorant, but really don't understand the meaning of litRPG. Can anyone explain to me?
 

Vnator

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RPG video game elements (like levels, stats, etc.) applied to literature. So characters in a story would have such video game style aspects applied to them.
 

Reisinling

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Call me ignorant, but really don't understand the meaning of litRPG. Can anyone explain to me?
I can explain by example. Just click the banenrs in my signature, it will answer all your questions!

... all jokes aside, it just means that some forms of "levels" and "skills" exist in the world of the book. Usually, whole character sheets do. Oh, and those skills, or levels, can be upgraded with experience like in RPG.

So, if in traditional fantasy someone would be like "Snek had a problem with procrastinating. While very talented author, he needed more experience before creating true masterpiece"

In LitRPG it would be
"
As snek browsed the forum, instead of writing new chapter, a message appeared at the edge of his vision
Skill level up!
Procrastrination 8.9->10!
You can evolve your skill into Potatohood!
New title: Lazy Noodle!

He despaired. He should have been grinding exp to get new level in "Writing", as he needed lvl 6 to get the "masterpiece creation" skill
"
 
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SerikoLee

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LitRpg
Two examples are overlord and also Solo Leveling
 

Biggest-Kusa-Out-There

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Shameless answer for lazy question
From Wikipedia:

LitRPG:

LitRPG, short for Literary Role Playing Game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. The term is a neologism introduced in 2013. The proponents of the term state that in LitRPG, games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience. This distinguishes the genre from novels that tie in with a game, e.g. those set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, books that are actual games; such as the choose-your-own-path Fighting Fantasy type of publication, or games that are literally described; like MUDs and Interactive fiction. Typically, the main character in a LitRPG novel is consciously interacting with the game or game-like world and attempting to progress within it.

GameLIT:


Many of the post-2014 writers in this field insist that depiction of a character's in-game progression must be part of the definition of LitRPG, leading to the emergence of the term GameLit to embrace stories set in a game universe, but which don't necessarily embody leveling and skill raising. Some of the earliest examples are Chris Van Allsburg's Jumanji which is a children's book about a magical board game, and Orson Scott Card’s Ender's Game which is a sci-fi novel about a video-game player recruited by the military to play in their wargames.

Although released in 2011, Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One which depicts a virtual reality world called OASIS filled with arcade references from the 1980s and 1990s, became an example of this new genre. Other examples include Marie Lu's 2017 novel Warcross which is about an online bounty hunter in an internet game, and Louis Bulaong's 2020 book Escapist Dream which tells the story of a virtual reality world where geeks can role-play and use the powers of their favorite comic book, anime, movie and video game characters.
 

CupcakeNinja

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I think they meant the search result that came up confused them more, not that they didn't know what Google was.
'-'

X
That makes sense then.
That just confused me more.
Alright mate nevermind I got confused myself. Anyway people already explained it so I wont bother.

Good thing you found answer.
 

wildan1197_

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I can explain by example. Just click the banenrs in my signature, it will answer all your questions!

... all jokes aside, it just means that some forms of "levels" and "skills" exist in the world of the book. Usually, whole character sheets do. Oh, and those skills, or levels, can be upgraded with experience like in RPG.

So, if in traditional fantasy someone would be like "Snek had a problem with procrastinating. While very talented author, he needed more experience before creating true masterpiece"

In LitRPG it would be
"
As snek browsed the forum, instead of writing new chapter, a message appeared at the edge of his vision
Skill level up!
Procrastrination 8.9->10!
You can evolve your skill into Potatohood!
New title: Lazy Noodle!

He despaired. He should have been grinding exp to get new level in "Writing", as he needed lvl 6 to get the "masterpiece creation" skill
"
This is the easiest one. You can take an example from this, man.
 

Kilolo

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Cant use Google, can ya?
to be fair, some fandom stuff definition aren't described well by google. most of it are described in a way like reference book for highschooler/college student.

I stop asking a fandom definition to google since I search about tsundere definition once, I search at forum, urban dictionary, or even the site itself
litrpg.jpg
on another note though, so everyone here is assuming that every novel with system, like almost every korean webnovel, tensei slime, and kumoko is considered LitRPG?

okay.
 

Biggest-Kusa-Out-There

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to be fair, some fandom stuff definition aren't described well by google. most of it are described in a way like reference book for highschooler/college student.

I stop asking a fandom definition to google since I search about tsundere definition once, I search at forum, urban dictionary, or even the site itself
on another note though, so everyone here is assuming that every novel with system, like almost every korean webnovel, tensei slime, and kumoko is considered LitRPG?

okay.
That's the definition for the term, nothing to do with 'fandom'. Like Memento Mori, Ubi sunt, coming of age, survival, etc are literary topics within fiction, not something a fandom came up with. Tsundere is a character archetype, not a fandom term.
If you don't understand these definitions maybe it's not for you at the moment and that is completely valid. We can take the time and learn things throughout our lives. Knowledge (TM) is slowly acquired as we ourselves don't live in a LitRPG.
The 'system' you talk about is the bastard child of LitRPG. Like for example if I write about the daily lives of people in a space station, people would assume it's a sci-fy, and that's alright because they go hand in hand. There's nothing to be angry about, nor is there a reason to not do your own research.
 

Cipiteca396

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assuming that every novel with system
There are a couple ways to make a system without making it LitRPG. The obvious one is to make it GameLit. Which is a story about a game or gamelike world that doesn't focus on leveling up skills or classes.
The natural extension of this is to have a system in a world that isn't gamelike and doesn't provide power through leveling up. In that case, the system is either a way to measure reality instead of a part of reality, or a convenience created by people, like an extension of the stock market.
 

AnnonBee

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to be fair, some fandom stuff definition aren't described well by google. most of it are described in a way like reference book for highschooler/college student.

I stop asking a fandom definition to google since I search about tsundere definition once, I search at forum, urban dictionary, or even the site itself
on another note though, so everyone here is assuming that every novel with system, like almost every korean webnovel, tensei slime, and kumoko is considered LitRPG?

okay.
Yup that's what I had felt. Transported into game can be counted one, but what about Warlock of the Magus World. It based on a magical world, but it have a system.

Most importantly, one of the important aspect of RPG is the quest. While many of the system novel or novel with Status & skill doesn't have an quest. Does to count as litRPG
There are a couple ways to make a system without making it LitRPG. The obvious one is to make it GameLit. Which is a story about a game or gamelike world that doesn't focus on leveling up skills or classes.
The natural extension of this is to have a system in a world that isn't gamelike and doesn't provide power through leveling up. In that case, the system is either a way to measure reality instead of a part of reality, or a convenience created by people, like an extension of the stock market.

Every novel with system can't be counted as litRPG. If only MC have the status system it count as litRPG. Then it will be just a cheat for MC. And the world should be important too.
Like Warlock of the Magus World, it was a through and through magic world. Only MC has AI inside it which act like a gameAI. We can't call it a LitRPG, right?
Another thing is quest system. It is important for RPG. Quest that aid the mc to level up. However there are many novel that have skill and status, but not quest. What about those?

Thank you for your guidance.
 

Kilolo

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Yup that's what I had felt. Transported into game can be counted one, but what about Warlock of the Magus World. It based on a magical world, but it have a system.

Most importantly, one of the important aspect of RPG is the quest. While many of the system novel or novel with Status & skill doesn't have an quest. Does to count as litRPG
have you ever hear this old novel series called Goosebumps?
it's a young adult horror novel book famous at America in the 90s, eachvolume of the books has nothing to do with the others despite having the same goosebumps tittle (we calling it oneshots nowadays)
and some of the novel title has this interesting way of reading it, you first read the story for about 10-20 pages, then after that the main protagonist (you) are faced with a situation where he/she had do choose what to do afterwards, then the novel let you pick 2 or 3 choices of which route you want to take, ex: if you want to take route 1, you go to page 81. but if you want to take route 2, you go to page 48.
and the stories keep going on until you got more and more choice of routes.
some of it are leads to your demise, while a very few of it has a good ending.

those are, in my opinion are what i call LitRPG.

it's not that the story is about game nor does it having a system, just imagine the story is like you're playing a game (be it medieval game like skyrim, or futuristic game like cyberpunk2077) but instead playing it by a video game platform the whole thing is just presented in a text story format.
and it doesn't need to have multiple route or grinding element, as long as you can think of it as a "game", then you can call it a LitRPG.
 

Cipiteca396

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Another thing is quest system.
Quests aren't as important as you're making them out to be, at least not to the LitRPG genre. They're one of a few features of the Adventure genre, instead.
A LitRPG will offer experience as a reward for a quest, but if there are no quests, they'll just get experience from elsewhere. The important part is the status, and improving that status through gamelike mechanics. Like fighting to gain experience, or even crafting, using skills, or collecting 'energy that definitely isn't experience' from monsters or the world, stuff like that.

I haven't read Warlock of the Magus World, so I can't comment on it. Based on your description though, maybe it isn't LitRPG, but it would have the minor tag 'Game Elements' instead. If the MC is the only one that can see it, then it isn't any different from an RPG like Dead Space or even an FPS where only the player can see their HUD.

goosebumps -

those are, in my opinion are what i call LitRPG
Despite being more accurate to the title of Role Playing Literature, this is not LitRPG. Goosebumps is considered 'Gamebook' or 'Choose Your Own Adventure' genre.
 
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