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>> No.22089931 [View]
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22089931

Just ran across a useful description of the fundamental attraction of LitRPGs.
From https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/128659 :
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Let's be real. The world is complicated and just about everything happens beyond our control. Your life can be reduced to a simple set of steps. Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Very few people break this paradigm, and even less have the motility to change even the flavor of their trajectory. They stick with their jobs, diet, and routines, even if they hate them to the core. That's the economy. That's life.
But what if this changed? What if you found yourself unshackled from the complexities of a world beyond your control and thrust into another. One where the rules followed discrete mathematics, and you, as a savvy nerd, have every bit of advantage in unraveling them. Suddenly, you're not some shallow pawn subjected to the whims of people who have more power. There's no power left except that which can be gained, and the system behaves less like a draconian god and more like a set of universal principles than can be understood and manipulated like anything else.
There's a lot of allure in that. You don't need to be smart, or strong, or the least bit talented. You just have to understand the mechanics given to you, and bend them to your whims. Next thing you know, you're some overpowered demi-god beating the living shit against everyone who ever looked down on you, all because you figured out how to cheat the system while they stuck to their routine. Wouldn't you want to be that guy?
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The power fantasy being portrayed isn't just about being bigger and badder than anyone else, but about being more secure. It only makes sense then that the protagonists of LitRPG's are insecure and frightened young people. The system gives them power and with that power comes comfort and an assurance that no matter what unknown might reveal itself tomorrow, they now have the tools to handle it.
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So, it seems LitRPG appeals to kids that grew up on RPG video games, who got an endorphin rush when their character's stats went up, and want to see that in their written fiction.
I never played RPG video games; Everquest and World Of Warcraft looked like digital heroin to me. The closest I came to the genre was "GTA: San Andreas", e.g. my character bought several houses, owns his own rural airport, and could date anyone he wanted after collecting 50 oysters.
So, instead of the classic goal/conflict/disaster pattern of fiction beats, ending with an eventual triumph or two, it seems we now continuous goal/conflict/triumph. Seems superficial to me, but hey, it's better that I understand the new pattern, rather than try to write for a world that no longer exists.
Thoughts, anyone?

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