What's An Actual Fun Goal For A Game-Type Novel?

[Lorelliad]

We've all heard of those types of novels. They're usually VRMMORPG's that consist of the protagonist being a badass killer that strives to rank at the top of the leaderboard. To do that, he unveils all these hidden tricks in the game's files/finds game breaking bugs and uses them, combined with his godly skills to become the best PvPer. Maybe even pick up a couple girls along the way.

But that gets old quickly. Aside from boasting realistic combat, these type of games often have another thing, too. Creativity. They allow the players to do virtually anything, creating a fully player-controlled world. Games like Albion Online already do this–some choose to be craftsmen, others lumberjacks, others fishermen. They all contribute to the game's economy.

But what's a fun, new objective you think hasn't been explored as much in these types of novels? What other goal could there be to this besides killing other players and pretending like they're in the Hunger Games?

 

[Rhaps]

I used to write an Overlord fanfic where the MC is from the World Searcher Guild, a guild said to dedicate themselves in mapping the entire world of YGGDRASIL in the WN.

Taking place 100 years before Ainz get to the New World, the MC travels across the world to map it out and be a travelling bard.

Mapping out an Open World VRMMORPG sounds fun to me. Just like discovering hidden dungeons in typical VRMMORPG, but doesn't actually go in and instead just post the location on forums for another player to clear.

A chill and calm novel with exploring the game world is rare, maybe even non-existent

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

We've all heard of those types of novels. They're usually VRMMORPG's that consist of the protagonist being a badass killer that strives to rank at the top of the leaderboard. To do that, he unveils all these hidden tricks in the game's files/finds game breaking bugs and uses them, combined with his godly skills to become the best PvPer. Maybe even pick up a couple girls along the way.

But that gets old quickly. Aside from boasting realistic combat, these type of games often have another thing, too. Creativity. They allow the players to do virtually anything, creating a fully player-controlled world. Games like Albion Online already do this–some choose to be craftsmen, others lumberjacks, others fishermen.

But what's a fun, new objective you think hasn't been explored as much in these types of novels? What other goal could there be to this besides killing other players and pretending like they're in the Hunger Games?

What about a beta player and computer hacker playing through the game and finding the best spots to lay terrible traps for others?
I don’t think anybody has explored the person who traps people? Or creates glitches and mind games that kill people?
That would be cool. They enjoy the game and then hack it as they go along, ruining the game in demented and fun (for themselves) for others.

 

[APieceOfRock]

The best kind of MMORPG are ones that actually lets you play in another real world. (see: Praise the Orc). I just can't find myself invested in the game's NPCs knowing that they're just fake.

Btw this thread is one big ad for Albion online

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Finding gamer friends and socializing with them and playing games together. Slice of Life
Exploring new games together with them.

 

[Lorelliad]

The best kind of MMORPG are ones that actually lets you play in another real world. (see: Praise the Orc). I just can't find myself invested in the game's NPCs knowing that they're just fake.

Btw this thread is one big ad for Albion online

Lmao, nah. I haven't played that game in a while. Just figured it'd be a good example

 

[melchi]

In Accel world they get cheats that can help them in the real world but have to farm points in the game world.

 

[HelloHound]

I guess restoring war-torn land to a farm would be pretty interesting, picking up the odd deserter to help till the land and carving a leg replacement for a war dog left for dead after a magic missile mishap

 

[LilRora]

My personal favorite that I intend to write sometime when I get motivation is not one singular goal, but a series of challenges. There's a lot of leeway with the details here, but the general idea is that you have a playerbase (or even population, since it doesn't strictly have to be a game) that lives in its own world, doing normal things and training and all, and they have that Tower Of Trials or Dungeons or Some Other Shit where they have to reach higher and higher, conquering challenge after challenge.

There's already a huge amount of stories that kind of do that (especially korean manhwa, I think) but they're for some reason fixated on survival or clearing the whole thing to save the world or some other shit that's basically just fighting. But what I want to have is a place with much more varied, diverse, and most of all not that lethal and not compulsory challenges.

 

[Plantorsomething]

We've all heard of those types of novels. They're usually VRMMORPG's that consist of the protagonist being a badass killer that strives to rank at the top of the leaderboard. To do that, he unveils all these hidden tricks in the game's files/finds game breaking bugs and uses them, combined with his godly skills to become the best PvPer. Maybe even pick up a couple girls along the way.

But that gets old quickly. Aside from boasting realistic combat, these type of games often have another thing, too. Creativity. They allow the players to do virtually anything, creating a fully player-controlled world. Games like Albion Online already do this–some choose to be craftsmen, others lumberjacks, others fishermen. They all contribute to the game's economy.

But what's a fun, new objective you think hasn't been explored as much in these types of novels? What other goal could there be to this besides killing other players and pretending like they're in the Hunger Games?

Speedrun! Dunno how you”d speed run an MMO but I’m sure some out there have done it. Speedrun a boss, speedrun to level ten, speedrun an annoying escort quest, speedrun story mode

 

[Lloyd]

Territory wars

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Speedrun! Dunno how you”d speed run an MMO but I’m sure some out there have done it. Speedrun a boss, speedrun to level ten, speedrun an annoying escort quest, speedrun story mode

I dunno. Those speed runs tend to be boring with low stakes.

 

[owotrucked]

PvP VRMMORPG is all about griefing
actual archeage example: grind until you get a galleon and steal tuna from the local fishermen

 

[BearlyAlive]

Breaking the game. Just thinking about fun/nefarious ways to break things is so much fun. (Don't do this at home kids!) Now add a full party/guild of madlads to it and there's no way it wouldn't be fun.

Socializing. It's always there in MMOs, why not make it the main goal?

Trading/Merchant stuff. Just travelling and peddling or having a shop. Crafting's optional.

 

[Cortavar]

I can't really be invested in VRMMORPG settings.

Yeah, cool, you're level 1000 and beat the ultimate boss who threatened... a game? OK, cool story bro, but what are the actual stakes? Nobody dies, nobody can be really injured and the only "native inhabitants" are lines of code.

Plus you could tell almost the exact same story as an Isekai or plain fantasy/whatever the genre of the game setting, and it would work 100X better.

So to draw me in, you'd either need to focus on the player group, make it slice-of-lifey, or have, I don't know, actual AIs playing along humans? So that they have no backup body, and are really threatened by the game boss. Or at least AI NPCs, so that there could be some empathy for their fate.

 

[AliceShiki]

I think we could have more novels where the AI is so advanced that it's essentially indistinguishable from a human being... And then have that be actually explored in the game, with the AI being real characters that the players create real connections with.

Only example I can think of that explores this topic to a decent level is 1/2 Prince, and even then, the story mostly focuses on player interactions anyways.

There are other examples like the Bucket VRMMO novel that do highlight the existence of people-like AI and have the players interact with said AIs, but... The interactions there are much shallower than they are in 1/2 Prince.

I kinda wanted to see a VRMMO novel where this was more of a main aspect. Like, a player actively befriending an AI (or even falling in love with one), and then like... Trying to deal with the differences in reality between them and the NPC. About what it would be like if the server was suddenly closed and the person's best friend (the NPC) suddenly ceased to exist... Or well, having the player ponder about whether or not tell the truth about what the VR world is to the NPC... I think this kind of thing could be pretty interesting to be explored. About what happens in the human-AI relationship when there is no longer any visible difference between a player and an NPC.

You could even go more crazy and make them do lewd stuff, and then one of the characters becomes pregnant, so you now have a player who will have an NPC child and they now have to deal with the fact they're a parent in a game, while also dealing with all the normal stuff they have to deal with in their normal day to day life, and with the fact nobody near them takes their online life seriously and say they should focus on their studies/job/whatever, yet to the player the relationship is actually real and they're actually a parent or whatever, so it suddenly becomes much harder for the player to figure out what their priorities actually are or something.

I dunno. There is a lot of stuff you can do with this kind of thing and it seems super underexplored IMO~



On the less crazy side, I also think we could have some VRMMO novels where the player isn't actually one of the best players in the game or anything like it, and is instead just a normal player doing normal player things and like... I dunno, playing the game? Having fun? Exploring?

Instead of being someone who competes for top spots or whatever, it would just be someone who plays games and has fun in a relaxed safe environment where they can do all kinds of things that they aren't normally able to do... Would probably need to be a novel that leans more on the Slice of Life side of things to work out, but I think it would be a breath of fresh air to have a gaming novel where the MC is not a top player for a change~

 

[Plantorsomething]

I dunno. Those speed runs tend to be boring with low stakes.

Pfff bro you watch summoning salts at all? And how is it any less boring than a top of the leaderboards goal that also has no real weight. It‘s a game.

 

[Cipiteca396]

I always wanted to play as a hermit crafter that was hard to get a hold of, but made some of the best stuff in the game. Or rather, I keep getting forced into that role?

That said, the best goal in a game novel is the same as a game. Exploring the world. Compared to an Isekai or whatever, where you'll die if you get eaten by a dragon, there's far more opportunities to explore in a game. You don't need to worry about dying, or about your friends dying, or about anything else. Explore, and if you die, respawn, and keep exploring. It's an ideal set up for a story that focuses on world building.

It's been slightly touched on (not really), but you could also make the purpose of the game training. Why have realistic combat? So you can learn to fight IRL.
I was planning to create a VR game in my story where people can experiment with the Evolution menu without physically altering their body(and wasting CP). Figure out what works for them and what doesn't.
So making the game a tool for RL(in story at least) is a decent goal.
Actually, I found a book in the school library where the real world economy of a scifi backwater colony world was based on the in-game economy. I'm not sure it was very good, but I liked it as a kid.

Lastly, it could be their job, or a tangential side thing that comes with the job.
Maybe they're a developer? Maybe they're a criminal who needs to meet their employer in secret? Maybe they're a streamer?
Either way, they could end up enjoying the game on accident; or maybe it just doesn't appeal to them, and it causes problems irl when their audience or other players notice.

Why... do we play video games?
If you can answer that, you're a step closer to figuring out why your character plays them, I suppose.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Pfff bro you watch summoning salts at all? And how is it any less boring than a top of the leaderboards goal that also has no real weight. It‘s a game.

Exactly. It’s the same level of boring as a top of the leaderboards goal that also has no weight. That’s my problem with it.
As a side note, what do you mean by “watch summoning salts”? I have no idea what that is.

 

[AliceShiki]

As a side note, what do you mean by “watch summoning salts”? I have no idea what that is.

The most popular Speedrun History channel on youtube.