Litrpg system justification?

[greyblob]

reason is irrelevant only the premise matters. why is there a game-like system in this world? who cares. why is there a unique and bizarre class that only the mc can have? who gives a shit. why does this world have 80% monster girls population? why wouldnt it

 

[RepresentingWrath]

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

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

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?

Depends on the genre. For example, comedy gets more of a pass.

But it is generally required that they explain the litrpg without it just being "because Gods did it cause they gods" or "because ~MAGIC~". For example, there is a "litrpg" where the main character studiously measures their progress with actual scientific tests in a video game format on paper because it makes for a nice shorthand to motivate himself and remind himself of the world he came from. It's very grounded and I like that.
Personally, I explained it in my fiction as a Magical Entity that was forcing its ideals and Essences of Order onto the world. There is little more ordered than numerical representation. It is a framework through which the Magical Entity can allocate Essence more efficiently. The universe is less efficient without this Magical Entity, where snarls can form in reality because Essence is improperly allocated. It's a symbiotic partnership.
And this Magical Entity is not the only one forcing its Essences onto the universe. There are other beings which operate in ways different to the System (and others that mimick the Magical Entity in order to supplant it).

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

The point is, let fans theorize and make their own headcannons.

There are times when it's good to leave something up to reader interpretation. The fundamental basis of how your world works, and what is and isn't possible in that world, isn't one of them. That's not limited to litrpgs, that's for writing in general.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

There are things that it's good to leave up to reader interpretation. The fundamental basis of how your world works, and what is and isn't possible in that world, isn't one of them.

You don't let them theorize the basis of how your world works. You let them theorize how system came to be a thing in a world. How thing appeared isn't equal to how it works. Unless you want to go the usual way of MC getting absurdly OP and fighting the said system, god, or both, I can't see how it will affect your story.

 

[Rhaps]

I like the excuse of the System in "I'm a Spider, so what?"
It was designed for people to promote killing, stuck in an eternal reincarnation cycle that shave off their soul everytime they die in order to save the planet. It was made as a punishment device by the cruelest being in the series, D.

 

[miyoga]

If you're looking for a reason to justify having a system, then take a look at "Level 0 Hero". The later chapters are actually questioning why the system exists in the first place. You're welcome.

Like many others have said, we don't care about the "why" unless it's important to the story. If the answer is "not yet", then have some scholars researching it until it is needed and do the exposition then. Sure, you can argue that you need to understand it perfectly so that you can write a story, but as readers we don't typically care unless it's something that makes us care.

I literally wrote a litrpg short that mocks the litrpg genre because arbitrary numbers and level/rank ups. Anyone who takes it seriously has problems because why/how would a stone sitting at the top of a mountain level up?

 

[ArlindoFrancisco]

I think it is more important if the system makes sense... but I don't really know because I don't read this kind of story because the majority of authors don't think about scaling so it becomes broken really fast or can be broken but the author chooses not to, which is kind of frustrating so I don't read those types.

It can be as simple as the way MC sees magic because of the way he thinks if it is an Isekai...

 

[Llamadragon]

There's no need to explain the existence of the System, any more than there's a need to explain dragons, fireballs, the sun, or why the MC runs around killing beasts with a sword when humans hunted Earths megafauna to extinction just fine with traps, fall damage and a bit of smarts. Hell, in the LotR movies, Frodo was just magically picked up by eagles for some reason and even though that was kind of weird for everyone who didn't read the books, it still didn't hurt the story. Gandalf just knew some magic eagles or something.

You don't need to justify it, only explain what the MC can and cannot do with it.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Its justified if the whole world is a game world.

The Protagonist has turned into one and zeroes.

He/She was never human, Or any living creature.

Theyre just some AI believing themselves being a living creature.

 

[Santaisblue]

I always liked the way Kumar Desu ga, Nanika did it, having the system made by a universe traveling god.

 

[beast_regards]

Depends if the story is an isekai (portal fantasy, for those who don't speak weeaboo) ...

If the story is an "isekai" and only the MC sees the numbers, and MC is supposed to have powers in the first place, you could blame the entire thing on his modern brain translating magic in the terms he understands ...

Because, honestly, how do you explain to the brain that there is supernatural force bending reality?

Well, other than schizophrenia, or use of hallucinogens, of course.

If the protagonist isn't supposed to be insane or intoxicated, isn't from our world and magic is real in-universe, and everyone sees the number, the popular explanation in fantasy is the "game of the gods". Gods made it this way. Why? Understanding the reasoning of the eldritch entities from beyond the reality is usually quite difficult, so no one knows.

 

[PancakesWitch]

i think you should read more litrpg stories, most of the time they give good justifications for their existence and origins. Sometimes they are an alien force controlled by gods (like a massive magical construct that connects to people's souls), other times it is a sentient god themselves, sometimes they're that but also a parasite that absorbs people's energies and soul to maintain themselves. Other times some kind of Universal Record Embodiment that is controlled by the Will of teh Universe, other times an ancient magical artifact that helps the user simplify their growth and expand it, etc. There's a billion of ways to do it and make it believable within the game's world building.

 

[GlassRose]

Two things. One, even if there were a justification, does it matter? How would anybody in-world know about it? If no-one knows, it doesn't exist to the reader, so it does it even matter?

And two, what's the justification for the laws of physics, huh? Why do they function like they do, instead of in some other way? Why are the universal constants what they are? Why are they constants?
There's no answer, they just are. Does your System really need to be any different?

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

One, even if there were a justification, does it matter? How would anybody in-world know about it? If no-one knows, it doesn't exist to the reader, so it does it even matter?

Why wouldn't they know about it? If you want to write a story where nobody knows why the system exists, that's fine, but why are you acting like it's a given that they wouldn't know?

And two, what's the justification for the laws of physics, huh?

There's no answer, they just are.

Uhhh, no. The laws of physics don't "just exist." They're justified because we can study and understand them. There is nothing in nature that is the equivalent of a literal rpg system. That's like saying "I don't know how lightning works, so that means I can turn you into a road."

 

[RepresentingThree]

Maybe a symbiotic nanite parasite. Imagine a humans are exposed to a new side of existence and the higher powers that be are expected to throw a bone to the new species. So they infect humans with nanotechnology. In exchange for the nanites taking energy from defeated foes they give, they use some of it to improve the human host. The nanites use the human gathered energy to continue existing. Maybe they provide some optical augments to quantify the gains in easy to understand statistics. Then the humans hunt to provide energy whether that's by eating the meat or magics stones. Perhaps and automatic collection.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

And two, what's the justification for the laws of physics, huh? Why do they function like they do, instead of in some other way? Why are the universal constants what they are? Why are they constants?

I think this is a good answer to the question. Ima jump on that and give my own answer in the light of this thought.

Uhhh, no. The laws of physics don't "just exist." They're justified because we can study and understand them.

"Their justified because we can study and understand them", but we don't know how they came about or how they are enforced, or what they are. We just know they are enforced and the natural world obeys these rules.

So with a hypothetical system, I think it makes sense for a system to be justified based on if it could be understood- a better term might be that its rational and natural in the same way the laws of physics are rational and natural. Stuff like wether the story demonstrates that the system has repeatablility, invarience, predictable outcomes based on predictable inputs, ect.

However, we wouldn't necessarily need to know how it came about or how it's enforced, or why. (of course, if you want to, you could.)

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I was about halfway through writing a long-winded explanation why a magic system, or magic being a system, doesn't make it as "rational and natural" as the laws of physics, but then I realized how ridiculous the whole argument was and decided not to waste my time. I love hard magic systems. Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author. But if someone thinks that applying a few rules to their world's magic makes it as believable as actual, observable real life science, I don't think there's anything else that can really be said at that point.

 

[Vnator]

The whole litrpg system's justification comes down to the same sort of suspension of disbelief as any other fantastical element, like even magic. If it's just some kind of generic cosmic force that permeates the world, you can say that the litrpg system is how it interacts with or affects people.

Besides, most litrpg readers aren't that smart or critical thinking anyway, so they're not going to care even if it's shoe-horned into the story

 

[laccoff_mawning]

Google search "realism vs believability" and hopefully you will understand what I mean. Its not about the system being realistic, its about the system making sense because people enjoy things that make sense. making sense =/= realistic.