LitRPGs and trending! Attention required!

[Assurbanipal_II]

We all know that LitRPGs are immensely popular for reasons of demographics and the inherent implications of such a system. Even the greatest loser can become strong with a system.

Now that is not the issue. Being popular is not a problem per se, but it is definitely problematic when LitRPGs stories become too popular and begin to exert a negative influence on the diversity of webnovel writing in general.

What do I mean? Let's give a brief look at today's trending.

Overpowered Death Mage In Another World = LitRPG

Origin Seeker = LitRPG

Cinnamon Bun = LitRPG

Rat In The Dungeon = LitRPG

Arcflame, the strongest tree-growing dragon = non LitRPG

The Reincarnated Vampire Just Wants To Enjoy Her New Life = LitRPG

Unsightly Gluttony = non LitRPG

Why is my Harem World a Yandere Nightmare = LitRPG

Reborn as the Duke’s Daughter ~ The Goddesses are Ruining my Life! = non LitRPG

As you can see, 6 out of 9 stories are derivatives of the LitRPG genre which is popular to a degree that it threatens the biodiversity on scribblehub, preventing non-LitRPG stories from entering the apex of exposure. Every author wants to get there, because trending means views, and views mean readers, and readers mean comment regardless of quality. Very simple formula.

- So what do I want?

I want more exposure for non-LitRPG stories!

- How do I want to achieve that?

Remove LitRPGs completely from trending and give them an own, separate trending list. Something like a special LitRPG trending bar just for them where they can mess with each other in a death match.

 

[YuriDoggo]

In all honesty: we either need a "all in one"-solution where readers can either edit the genres that are shown on the trending or we need a different trending system where all genres have their own list, etc.

 

[AkalE]

Separate categories for all popular or trending genres could be a thing. Maybe shrink the size of the "Latest chapter" portion of the homepage and filter through the top fics in each genre throughout the day.

But in the absence of this, it is best to leave it to the readers to sieve through the mud and find what they want. Of a sample size of one (me) I can attest that usually interest towards genres shit with time. I started with Coiling Dragon, moving on to trash CN, to King's Avatar, to a shit-ton of LitRPG. Then I read Wandering Inn, followed by Worm.
People jump into reading Webfics for the fast-paced, predictable light hearted fun of webfics. But after a while they do find other gems.

The point I'm trying to make is that LitRPG is widely read for a reason. I don't think giving it a separate space would co-relate with other stories gettign more readers.
Besides, having just a different section for LitRPG alone will more likely promote the site as a LitRPG site.

 

[BenJepheneT]

View attachment 3159
View attachment 3160

You know, if this option was sitting next to the Series Finder instead above the most obscure location of the site (who the fuck visits The Lounge) we wouldn't have this thread at all.

As I stated, accessibility is the name of the game.

 

[Ral]

You know, if this option was sitting next to the Series Finder instead above the most obscure location of the site (who the fuck visits The Lounge) we wouldn't have this thread at all.

As I stated, accessibility is the name of the game.

Well, SH is full of really odd design choices like that.

 

[YuriDoggo]

You know, if this option was sitting next to the Series Finder instead above the most obscure location of the site (who the fuck visits The Lounge) we wouldn't have this thread at all.

As I stated, accessibility is the name of the game.

@Tony any plans to make it more visible

 

[Ral]

@Tony any plans to make it more visible

I believe he is busy making the SH app. If he do plan to do this, we might have to wait for a couple of years or so.

 

[BenJepheneT]

I believe he is busy making the SH app. If he do plan to do this, we might have to wait for a couple of years or so.

Bruh it's just moving the link upwards

 

[LostLibrarian]

View attachment 3159

Woooh! If I disable enough genres, I end up on the trending list


But that link shouldn't just sitting there. Most users won't click through every link just to try stuff out. At least according to me - a few years old - experiences. To me, such a good feature, belongs on the main page, just one click away from the things it changes. Like this (done in 30 seconds with the inspector tool, so please no harm to my family!):

This or something alike, where you directly have an "edit button" of some sort (probably with some nice mouse-over description), so that the feature makes itself visible.

But I would never have known about this feature, if I weren't active in the forum and read this thread. And I think, many users experience the same thing. (In addition, if you explain in the error message that you have to be a user to change it, it also might animate some guests to create an account).

Don't know. Like this it feels like a waste of a good feature...

 

[Alienix]

Well, they get their own list. So nothing lost.

But, yes, Isekai can get an own too when scribble grows further. At the moment we are still to small to fill an Isekai list consistently with new content.

based on your idea, GL, futanari, genderbender, and smut need their separate lists too

 

[LostLibrarian]

based on your idea, GL, futanari, genderbender, and smut need their separate lists too

The weirder question would be, when is a genderbender story a genderbender story. Because a lot of them also have the LitRPG tag. So either we get 10 lists all filled with different LitRPGs (isekai, harem, etc) or we have a lot of lists who will be weirdly empty (harem list without LitRPG and Isekai?).

 

[Maple-Leaf]

That's like going to a cinema admist the marvel craze and asking them to screen more obscure French films. Remember that SH, as a site, doesn't cater to writers. It caters to readers wanting to read stuff made by people who have the same interest as them. The writers aren't traffic, we're just people in charge of bringing in the traffic. The site is the moderator that gives what the traffic wants.

If we were to suddenly strip the Trending tab of LitRPGs there'll just be complaints on how hard it is to find LitRPGs to read on the site. You might give a rebuttal and say it's as easy as going to the series finder but accessibility is the name of the game. There's a reason non-LitRPGs don't get much traffic and that's because it's not as accessible as LitRPGs. You could literally just walk into the site and find 6 LitRPGs sitting in the Trending tab just waiting to be read. Even readers who don't particularly read LitRPGs would still read 'em anyway due to how easy it is to find them.

LitRPGs get on the Trending tab because people WANT to read LitRPGs. If we cripple the popular genre it'll just cripple the site because it's because of that popular genre that people keep coming back to the site for. If anything, we should be pushing for personalized recommendations based on the readers' preferred genres, not light a site-wide thermite just because your genre story wasn't put on a pedestal as much as System Isekai #47.

I don’t think the problem is the LitRPG’s. I think it’s (and correct me if I’m wrong here) the lack of variety on the trending tab. I don’t think we should ‘cripple the popular genre’ we should just have more accessibility for the (nearly as popular) different genres. If we leave the front page clustered with LitRPG’s then the readers who are most likely to find, and stay on the site are the ones who like LitRPG’s.
Now, this isn’t too much of a problem, but(considering ScribbleHub does grow a substantial amount) should the litRPG readers swamp out the rest of them, the LitRPG books will grow increasingly popular which leads to, bear with me now,
Either:
Authors who don’t write LitRPG’s will start to leave ScribbleHub. Now I’m not implying that everyone else is just going to jump ship and leave the site with its LitRPG infection, sinking in the depths of the internet, but, new writers (like me), who don’t have much attachment to the site as is, will want to leave. Nobody wants to stay on a site where nobody reads your shit. Certainly not me. “Sure, you want to stay loyal to the site oh well here’s your congratulations, now we’re going to go party over with the popular writers, you know, the ones that aren’t you.”

It‘s like a participation award.

Nobody likes participation awards.

Not to mention, authors who already post chapters on several different websites are much more likely to leave. Even if it’s not just cold hearted abandonment, it could be seen as a way of getting back at ScribbleHub and the readers.
”Ha. You don’t want to read my stuff? You don’t want to put my stuff on trending? Well, now you can’t do it even if you wanted to. Me and my few loyal readers leaving are leaving your dumb site for new, better things. You can find us on royal road or something.”

Or, perhaps after a bunch of the other writers who are seeking actual readers are gone, and we’re left with the original LitRPG writers, and a bunch of writers who jumped on the bandwagon because it’s whats popular. I’m not trying to say that LitRPG‘s are only popular because people who are obsessed with them will read anything of the like. I’m sure that the LitRPG writers are really good at what they do or else they wouldn’t be so popular. But eventually the good, original books will end, as readers who like chapters posted at the speed of light and are used to binge reading the good LitRPG’s will start herding towards the people who jumped on the trend.
Personally, if I had to shift genres to LitRPG I would suck at it. If all that was left was people like me writing LitRPG’s then the readers are likely to get bored or sick of the bad quality ones and might just end up leaving too.

It both of these occur, ScribbleHub will be left a husk only inhabited by the trend jumpers, readers who didn’t get the message, and the good LitRPG writers( who might leave too so they can seek better platforms).

And of course, there’s the matter of LitRPG‘s running out of fashion. So, if I was on a forum and someone told me that “LitRPG’s aren’t popular anymore”, and I told them, “well they’re still all over the place on ScribbleHub.” They would probably say, “yeah, but there’s always some stragglers every now and then.” Just because LitRPG’s aren’t popular anymore doesn’t mean they’re gone. It probably just means that LitRPG’s have lost publicity. People who don’t read them stop hearing about them. They don’t just disappear.

While this is a bit exaggerated, It’s not entirely impossible. If the most easily accessible thing on ScribbleHub is LitRPG’s then the readers who start migrating to ScribbleHub are probably going to come here for the thing ScribbleHub advertises the most, LitRPG’s. While the other authors might not necessarily lose readers, they might even gain some from new readers who happen to find them, they definitely won’t be able to keep up with the LitRPG’s.

In conclusion, by having more variety on the trending tab, one can attract readers who will flock to the website because they see things they might like, hopefully, not only LitRPG’s.

Perhaps It would work if we had one or two of the most popular for a few different genres. Should a book in a genre not on the trending tab, get more popular than something else in the trending, then you can add that one and another of that genre onto the trending tab section. This way, if one person writes a popular book, they don’t just get on the trending tab, they increase the popularity of their genre by giving it a spot in the trending section.
If people are unhappy that another author gets to ride their coattail, Then maybe the trending tab can scroll through different genres with one or two of the most popular of each.

 

[AliceShiki]

You know, if this option was sitting next to the Series Finder instead above the most obscure location of the site (who the fuck visits The Lounge) we wouldn't have this thread at all.

As I stated, accessibility is the name of the game.

Well, SH is full of really odd design choices like that.

@Tony any plans to make it more visible

What do you mean it isn't visible? It's literally right below your Reading List, which is the 2nd most visited part of the site (Losing only to the Home Page).

You don't need to go to The Lounge to see it, you just need to open the same menu you open to visit your Reading List and then you'll see it. It's about as visible as it can get.

 

[KyoruS]

I don’t think the problem is the LitRPG’s. I think it’s (and correct me if I’m wrong here) the lack of variety on the trending tab. I don’t think we should ‘cripple the popular genre’ we should just have more accessibility for the (nearly as popular) different genres. If we leave the front page clustered with LitRPG’s then the readers who are most likely to find, and stay on the site are the ones who like LitRPG’s.
Now, this isn’t too much of a problem, but(considering ScribbleHub does grow a substantial amount) should the litRPG readers swamp out the rest of them, the LitRPG books will grow increasingly popular which leads to, bear with me now,
Either:
Authors who don’t write LitRPG’s will start to leave ScribbleHub. Now I’m not implying that everyone else is just going to jump ship and leave the site with its LitRPG infection, sinking in the depths of the internet, but, new writers (like me), who don’t have much attachment to the site as is, will want to leave. Nobody wants to stay on a site where nobody reads your shit. Certainly not me. “Sure, you want to stay loyal to the site oh well here’s your congratulations, now we’re going to go party over with the popular writers, you know, the ones that aren’t you.”

It‘s like a participation award.

Nobody likes participation awards.

Not to mention, authors who already post chapters on several different websites are much more likely to leave. Even if it’s not just cold hearted abandonment, it could be seen as a way of getting back at ScribbleHub and the readers.
”Ha. You don’t want to read my stuff? You don’t want to put my stuff on trending? Well, now you can’t do it even if you wanted to. Me and my few loyal readers leaving are leaving your dumb site for new, better things. You can find us on royal road or something.”

Or, perhaps after a bunch of the other writers who are seeking actual readers are gone, and we’re left with the original LitRPG writers, and a bunch of writers who jumped on the bandwagon because it’s whats popular. I’m not trying to say that LitRPG‘s are only popular because people who are obsessed with them will read anything of the like. I’m sure that the LitRPG writers are really good at what they do or else they wouldn’t be so popular. But eventually the good, original books will end, as readers who like chapters posted at the speed of light and are used to binge reading the good LitRPG’s will start herding towards the people who jumped on the trend.
Personally, if I had to shift genres to LitRPG I would suck at it. If all that was left was people like me writing LitRPG’s then the readers are likely to get bored or sick of the bad quality ones and might just end up leaving too.

It both of these occur, ScribbleHub will be left a husk only inhabited by the trend jumpers, readers who didn’t get the message, and the good LitRPG writers( who might leave too so they can seek better platforms).

And of course, there’s the matter of LitRPG‘s running out of fashion. So, if I was on a forum and someone told me that “LitRPG’s aren’t popular anymore”, and I told them, “well they’re still all over the place on ScribbleHub.” They would probably say, “yeah, but there’s always some stragglers every now and then.” Just because LitRPG’s aren’t popular anymore doesn’t mean they’re gone. It probably just means that LitRPG’s have lost publicity. People who don’t read them stop hearing about them. They don’t just disappear.

While this is a bit exaggerated, It’s not entirely impossible. If the most easily accessible thing on ScribbleHub is LitRPG’s then the readers who start migrating to ScribbleHub are probably going to come here for the thing ScribbleHub advertises the most, LitRPG’s. While the other authors might not necessarily lose readers, they might even gain some from new readers who happen to find them, they definitely won’t be able to keep up with the LitRPG’s.

In conclusion, by having more variety on the trending tab, one can attract readers who will flock to the website because they see things they might like, hopefully, not only LitRPG’s.

Perhaps It would work if we had one or two of the most popular for a few different genres. Should a book in a genre not on the trending tab, get more popular than something else in the trending, then you can add that one and another of that genre onto the trending tab section. This way, if one person writes a popular book, they don’t just get on the trending tab, they increase the popularity of their genre by giving it a spot in the trending section.
If people are unhappy that another author gets to ride their coattail, Then maybe the trending tab can scroll through different genres with one or two of the most popular of each.

Regarding the trending page design, which I heavily agree should showcase more variety. We should take a look at one of the most popular website that casual readers love. Webnovel.

Before you start diminishing my opinion or whatever I'm saying just because I mentioned the cursed word "Webnovel". I just want to preface by saying that most readers/users we are catering to are lurkers or casual users who just want to read whats interesting for them. They are not hardcore fans who will criticize other's work/writing and bother to invest heavily on website/platform. Which I think is how webnovel can be so popular – they pander to the majority audience. I think it would do Scribble Hub justice to follow at least some of the core design of how Webnovel display their content/stories in the front page.

They have so many sections in their front page. Trending, New releases, Recommended, Power Ranking, Popular, and much more. It takes quite a while to see the bottom of the front page, which I think is one of the greatest strength of Webnovel website design.

Some of you might think the front page of Webnovel is very bloated. Which I also agree, however it does a very good job in giving a huge amount variety of stories for casual readers to see whats good and provided in the website. Unlike Scribble Hub which only showcases a small amount of stories. Lets just face it, casual readers are lazy and don't want to click through bunch of buttons or dig deep into the website just to browse stories they like; they rather scroll down and skim/glimpse on which stories are interesting. That leads to why Webnovel is so popular despite its low quality content/stories.

Their design is very intuitive and user friendly.

 

[DDTStudios]

I'm not exactly a LitRPG writer. I'm more of a heavily plot-based writer. Yes, my stories are all very slow at the start but I'm kind of fed up with all those systems making characters OP especially when it involves some sort of isekai based element. I usually try to keep my characters in the world they're from and place limitations on the systems so that the character doesn't get too powerful. I also try to combine fantasy and science elements into my stories but I don't really like systems. I like it when the MC relies on his/her own existing skills and utilizes them in the world their in a clever way/fashion. I don't like it when they are buffed and they try to build a harem cause they're perverted and what not.

 

[Deleted member 2533]

popcorn anyone?
Reminders:
- maintain social distancing
- wash hands
- stay healthy
- stay at home

 

[Ral]

Bruh it's just moving the link upwards

Yeah, but he is still busy with something else. Considering that this isn't urgent in any way, nothing bad would happen if he didn't do it and more people know of the feature now that we discussed it, I just think there is just little chance that he would do it now.

What do you mean it isn't visible? It's literally right below your Reading List, which is the 2nd most visited part of the site (Losing only to the Home Page).

You don't need to go to The Lounge to see it, you just need to open the same menu you open to visit your Reading List and then you'll see it. It's about as visible as it can get.

You could actually take it out of there and put it there in the main page without loading a new page to show the options. I thought this was what they meant. It have to load another page to show you the options. Webnovel have a similar feature (Browse and Rankings) but more accessible and visible.

This also only works for those subscribed to SH, meaning this is literally not visible to casual visitors.

Another issue with it is its name and how it is executed. We know what that is because we are told what it is, but for new readers the name is kinda meaningless. Release filtering what exactly is that? When you do click on it and go the Release Filtering page, it apparently is just a bunch of checklist that do nothing. There is just little feedback to what it is supposed to do. There is an explanation but, many readers who is just looking for books to read would look at this and wonder where are the books? Go back to the main page where the books are and forget about it. It is just so unintuitive.

Not to mention, you can just go to Trending and Latest Series page and have a pretty much identical feature (the Filters) but on a more useful scope. I even wondered why they didn't implement Release Filtering the way it is done in Trending and Latest Series page. The only reason I could think of is that they don't want it to accessible to readers that aren't subscribed to SH.

I don’t think the problem is the LitRPG’s. I think it’s (and correct me if I’m wrong here) the lack of variety on the trending tab. I don’t think we should ‘cripple the popular genre’ we should just have more accessibility for the (nearly as popular) different genres. If we leave the front page clustered with LitRPG’s then the readers who are most likely to find, and stay on the site are the ones who like LitRPG’s.
Now, this isn’t too much of a problem, but(considering ScribbleHub does grow a substantial amount) should the litRPG readers swamp out the rest of them, the LitRPG books will grow increasingly popular which leads to, bear with me now,
Either:
Authors who don’t write LitRPG’s will start to leave ScribbleHub. Now I’m not implying that everyone else is just going to jump ship and leave the site with its LitRPG infection, sinking in the depths of the internet, but, new writers (like me), who don’t have much attachment to the site as is, will want to leave. Nobody wants to stay on a site where nobody reads your shit. Certainly not me. “Sure, you want to stay loyal to the site oh well here’s your congratulations, now we’re going to go party over with the popular writers, you know, the ones that aren’t you.”

It‘s like a participation award.

Nobody likes participation awards.

Not to mention, authors who already post chapters on several different websites are much more likely to leave. Even if it’s not just cold hearted abandonment, it could be seen as a way of getting back at ScribbleHub and the readers.
”Ha. You don’t want to read my stuff? You don’t want to put my stuff on trending? Well, now you can’t do it even if you wanted to. Me and my few loyal readers leaving are leaving your dumb site for new, better things. You can find us on royal road or something.”

Or, perhaps after a bunch of the other writers who are seeking actual readers are gone, and we’re left with the original LitRPG writers, and a bunch of writers who jumped on the bandwagon because it’s whats popular. I’m not trying to say that LitRPG‘s are only popular because people who are obsessed with them will read anything of the like. I’m sure that the LitRPG writers are really good at what they do or else they wouldn’t be so popular. But eventually the good, original books will end, as readers who like chapters posted at the speed of light and are used to binge reading the good LitRPG’s will start herding towards the people who jumped on the trend.
Personally, if I had to shift genres to LitRPG I would suck at it. If all that was left was people like me writing LitRPG’s then the readers are likely to get bored or sick of the bad quality ones and might just end up leaving too.

It both of these occur, ScribbleHub will be left a husk only inhabited by the trend jumpers, readers who didn’t get the message, and the good LitRPG writers( who might leave too so they can seek better platforms).

And of course, there’s the matter of LitRPG‘s running out of fashion. So, if I was on a forum and someone told me that “LitRPG’s aren’t popular anymore”, and I told them, “well they’re still all over the place on ScribbleHub.” They would probably say, “yeah, but there’s always some stragglers every now and then.” Just because LitRPG’s aren’t popular anymore doesn’t mean they’re gone. It probably just means that LitRPG’s have lost publicity. People who don’t read them stop hearing about them. They don’t just disappear.

While this is a bit exaggerated, It’s not entirely impossible. If the most easily accessible thing on ScribbleHub is LitRPG’s then the readers who start migrating to ScribbleHub are probably going to come here for the thing ScribbleHub advertises the most, LitRPG’s. While the other authors might not necessarily lose readers, they might even gain some from new readers who happen to find them, they definitely won’t be able to keep up with the LitRPG’s.

In conclusion, by having more variety on the trending tab, one can attract readers who will flock to the website because they see things they might like, hopefully, not only LitRPG’s.

Perhaps It would work if we had one or two of the most popular for a few different genres. Should a book in a genre not on the trending tab, get more popular than something else in the trending, then you can add that one and another of that genre onto the trending tab section. This way, if one person writes a popular book, they don’t just get on the trending tab, they increase the popularity of their genre by giving it a spot in the trending section.
If people are unhappy that another author gets to ride their coattail, Then maybe the trending tab can scroll through different genres with one or two of the most popular of each.

Many sites have already forgo Trending or don't put much attention to it. It just alienates anyone who isn't into the popular/mainstream stuff and doesn't give chance for other works.

There is practically no easy means of visibility for other works that isn't able to get into Trending/doesn't get popular enough. Just imagine a book store where it only displays a handful or so of books that are popular. The rest is out of sight with the only means of vissibility is if the costumers search for the books themselves in the storeroom.

 

[BenJepheneT]

What do you mean it isn't visible? It's literally right below your Reading List, which is the 2nd most visited part of the site (Losing only to the Home Page).

You don't need to go to The Lounge to see it, you just need to open the same menu you open to visit your Reading List and then you'll see it. It's about as visible as it can get.

Well, by the fact that this thread exists, I don't think it's as visible as it thinks.

 

[Jamminrabbit]

Let's derail this thread instead and change the topic to, "How will Assurb complain about trending in their next forum post?" Anyone wanna take a whack?

 

[Ral]

Well, by the fact that this thread exists, I don't think it's as visible as it thinks.

Proof!

 

[AliceShiki]

This also only works for those subscribed to SH, meaning this is literally not visible to casual visitors.

The Reading List isn't either, yet it's the main feature of Scribbly. I fail to see your point.

Another issue with it is its name and how it is executed. We know what that is because we are told what it is, but for new readers the name is kinda meaningless. Release filtering what exactly is that? When you do click on it and go the Release Filtering page, it apparently is just a bunch of checklist that do nothing. There is just little feedback to what it is supposed to do. There is an explanation but, many readers who is just looking for books to read would look at this and wonder where are the books? Go back to the main page where the books are and forget about it. It is just so unintuitive.

The Release Filtering... Filters... Releases.

How much more intuitive do you want it to get? You're grasping at straws here.

Well, by the fact that this thread exists, I don't think it's as visible as it thinks.

I'm fairly sure Assur is well aware of the feature.