Litrpg system justification?

[ThisAdamGuy]

One of the things that's always stopped me from writing a litrpg is that I can never come up with an in-universe way to justify the system being there. I don't like the "literally takes place inside a video game" approach, but just straight up implementing video game mechanics into reality itself feels contrived unless you have a really good reason for it being there. Just saying "it's there cuz litrpg" strikes me as lazy writing.

What about you? When you read a litrpg, how important is it that the author justifies the rpg system they've put in place? Do you need there to be a reason for it, or can you overlook that because systems are just something litrpgs have to have?

 

[Alski]

What about you? When you read a litrpg, how important is it that the author justifies the rpg system they've put in place? Do you need there to be a reason for it, or can you overlook that because systems are just something litrpgs have to have?

I generally don't care about the justification, If its poorly done then im coming after you with a pitchfork though.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

Usually it's something like "God made it" or "Some wizard made it" or "It is a nifty tool to enumerate your abilities like a thermometer, but super smart and is always there without some physical thing you have to out on or it can be a microchip"
In litrpg usually it's not that important why the game mechanics are there, so a line that explains away is more than enough.

 

[LilRora]

I don't want the author to justify why the system is there, I want the system to make sense. If the story takes place in a VR game, a lot of things can be passed off and I won't complain unless it's something really weird in that context.

What I really don't like is attempting to push game mechanics into a realistic story, for example, what a solid amount of LitPRGs does, specifying the damage a skill deals. This does not make sense unless we treat it as a gargantuan simplification.

However, if the system is created and presented in a way that doesn't raise such red flags, almost anything is fine. Doesn't mean it's good, because creating a good system takes far more effort than most people put into them, but it can be a useful tool to show and manage power levels and abilities both for authors and readers.

A lot of stories that just have systems, without any explanation as to why it's there and what it is, are fine in that sense - it is just an imagined world, completely different from Earth with everything that comes with that. It's great if it's later revealed in a story what and why the system is, but it doesn't have to, just like space - we don't really question why space exists and why it works the way it works, and most people don't care.

 

[Lysander_Works]

I was told that a LitRPG system does not have to be set in a literal video game to be classified as such, but if there are game mechanics inside of a realistic world, the source of it should be explained and justified in a manner which makes sense. If anyone thinks this suddenly makes the genre not a Lit-RPG, you need to have a good explanation for why including sources (cause I'm tired of seeing people flip-flop on what the definition is).

 

[Jerynboe]

Is it important to the plot? Does knowing where the system comes from contribute meaningfully? If not, then absolutely do not bother telling us where it comes from. Do not half ass it. Do not handwave it. Let it be a bit of bedrock default assumption for the world, fit it into the world’s existing magic system (I.e. some people have magic talents, this jackass can interact with the world like it’s a vidjagaem as his talent), or let it be as much of a character as a city can be in some stories. Nothing in between is really worth the trouble.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Do not handwave it.

absolutely do not bother telling us where it comes from.

Let it be a bit of bedrock default assumption for the world

Isn't that literally handwaving it, though?

 

[ArchlordZero]

My system stories are usually accompanied with nanomachines, son.
So I only apply them in sci-fi system administrator kind of setting.

 

[FluffyGura]

Maybe u can just do some voodoo science stuff and say that the system is just some super sci fi thing left behind by a ancient civilization where they took all computed your strength and stuff into numbers with 1 being the average human strength. And because it was so popular it got rever engineered and spread as a result

 

[RepresentingDesire]

Isn't that literally handwaving it, though?

Is saying Gravity is a thing handwaving or any form of Fundamental law of the universe, only that litrpgs are most of the time weird and I mean superposition weird.

A system could be explained by being memetic/magic contamination/structure.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Is saying Gravity is a thing handwaving or any form of Fundamental law of the universe, only that litrpgs are most of the time weird and I mean superposition weird.

A system could be explained by being memetic/magic contamination/structure.

The difference is that gravity is something we experience every moment of our lives in reality, so as long as it works the same in the book as it does IRL, no, you don't have to explain to the reader how gravity works.

Whereas, we don't live in a reality governed by an omniscient rpg system, so some explanation as to how to works (at the very least) should be warranted. Does it need an in-depth explanation as to where it came from and how it works? If how it works is self evident enough, then I suppose not. I was just wondering how we're supposed to not explain it and also not handwave the system's existence at the same time.

 

[WinterTimeCrime]

I actually expressed a few absurdities surrounding LitRPGs in a previous post. One of these was that the game elements had no purpose other than providing 'gamers' dopamine spikes through health bars, increasing quantitative data, and pages of text, which were found essential because the 'system' was voicing them.

It is lazy writing; I agree. Some authors use some logic with their systems, but the entirety of it is still dubious at best.

However, in that genre, readers don't care as long as their favorite MC knows how to use it to their advantage or its OP, and they storm through every foe they face.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I was just wondering how we're supposed to not explain it and also not handwaved the system's existence at the same time.

What was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? Leave a couple of hints and that's it. Readers will decide it for themselves.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

In the only one I've started so far, the System is an AI reality that ... well, there are reasons for most of what happens, most of which won't turn up until two story arcs are concluded. But it was created initially as a place for bored rich people to escape their lives and grew from that basis.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

What was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? Leave a couple of hints and that's it. Readers will decide it for themselves.

I don't think that's an apt comparison. The briefcase is a macguffin, but it doesn't govern the rules of reality in the Pulp Fiction universe the way a litrpg system does. If the briefcase disappeared, the entire cast wouldn't suddenly lose the ability to walk. If that were the case, then yes, I would expect there to be some kind of explanation of what was in the briefcase that made that happen.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Isn't that literally handwaving it, though?

No more than just saying "well, magic works" or "these people have all developed mental powers" or "the Arisians did it". Heck, I usually write stuff with supernatural monsters, superheroes or both - those "just happen" in their worlds, why not a System?

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

No more than just saying "well, magic works" or "these people have all developed mental powers" or "the Arisians did it". Heck, I usually write stuff with supernatural monsters, superheroes or both - those "just happen" in their worlds, why not a System?

I can understand that, but I still feel like there's an inherent difference. Things like "magic" or "superpowers" are vague enough to introduce with no or minimal explanation, but a system is (or at least should be) complex and multilayered, and those require intelligent design. It feels like looking at a fully baked and decorated cake and saying it's just a bunch of eggs, flour, etc that accidentaly fell into a bowl and became a cake.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

If the briefcase disappeared,

What do you mean? The point isn't presence of a briefcase. The point is, let fans theorize and make their own headcannons. Hint at multiple things that all sound legit, and stop there. Same way how you can theorize what was INSIDE of a briefcase. Drugs? Money? Gold? Everyghing makes sense, but we don't know for sure. Is Cypher from WH40K if for or against the Imperium? And so on. Is LitRPG system all people see a simulation, matrix, or is it made by a god? Both are plausible, but we don't know for sure.

 

[Tyranomaster]

I haven't yet actually explained where mine comes from in my story, and we're in volume 6. I have hinted at it some though, and I do have my own justification. As long as you have rules for yourself as an author to help you stay internally consistent, I think it doesn't matter.

In my world, it's something akin to one of your senses. The fundamental particles that cause magic are also capable of carrying a few bytes of information as well as some triggering mechanisms in their various states, so creatures take advantage of that to get internal readings on themselves, giving them a sense of how much mana and health they have. They then also evolved an internal tracking system for all their various attributes.

It's been shown in the story that outside of MC, most other creatures don't actually see numbers and words, but instead have an instinctual understanding of the knowledge. They can, however, be taught to think of it in words and numbers.

 

[Sola-sama]

What was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? Leave a couple of hints and that's it. Readers will decide it for themselves.

It was a lamp. They run on quad AA battery and only turned on when someone opened the briefcase.