Looking for ways to write a realistic gamer in a game world turned reality

[Zenomew]

I am tired of the worthless MC with the usual overconfident I am a god player so nothing can kill me and I am OP as hell due to plot

No even if you have the perfect body and forced input knowledge on how to use a sword actually using and experienceing it is a completely different matter

A lazy gamer(the general MC type) who has never held a real weapon or murdered a living person will in no way kill the first Monsters to rush at him with sheer skill

So any ideas on how to write a gamer isekaied with a body and powers he can't control or fully understand and will probably puke at the sight of blood or dead bodies

 

[Jocelyn_Uasal]

I assume they'd almost immediately get a day job lol I don't like Konosuba but the way they've gotta work just to sleep in a barn is actually pretty satisfying

 

[Nolff]

I am tired of the worthless MC with the usual overconfident I am a god player so nothing can kill me and I am OP as hell due to plot

No even if you have the perfect body and forced input knowledge on how to use a sword actually using and experienceing it is a completely different matter

A lazy gamer(the general MC type) who has never held a real weapon or murdered a living person will in no way kill the first Monsters to rush at him with sheer skill

So any ideas on how to write a gamer isekaied with a body and powers he can't control or fully understand and will probably puke at the sight of blood or dead bodies

I've been tinkering around this idea in my head since not many mangas/manhwas have done it right.

And because my field of expertise is fanfiction, so...

When the gamer was isekai'd, the environment on where he/she went is an important factor. We start there because the majority of isekai readers are probably fed up by the holographic background/le void.

If we go with the scenario 'gamer plays game gets isekai'd to the game he/she last played', we have two routes to consider.

A. The Omniscient Route, or
B. The Absolute Newbie route.

Now to the first murder moment.

Since the game he/she last played could be anything, have them feeling stressed and pressured. Stressed, because they could've spared the thing if it weren't attacking them, and pressured because they're demanded to kill the thing by their own conscience and their heart couldn't properly handle it.

Put yourself on their shoes.

How would you react to your first kill?

More importantly,

What things do you kill that makes you need a moment of remorse?

Them overcoming the guilty feelings should be a moment of gratitude or 'tolerance'.

Tolerance, a.k.a justification, is a symptom where someone is looking for something to justify their actions, words, or deeds.

This is another two splitting paths. Take the gratitude, you'll have an optimistic MC, chill MC, or clear-minded MC. Go with the justification, however, could lead you to distressed MC, cold-blooded MC, corrupted MC, poker face MC, cold-hearted MC, and more.

These factors are what determine readers' interest in the beginning chapters. Remember, some young folks in America had a first murder experience. If by some miracle they like reading web novels, they'll correlate to the MC. They knew how it felt to kill a person, a living being at such a young age.

For those readers who have no experience with first-degree murder, it's an okay thing for them to have this scene. But remember, if the American folks leave a review on how relatable the MC is in that chapter, the others would know how that feels.

Because it happened in real life, and they're witnessing a living evidence giving a statement.

That's my idea.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Well, my "gamer turned hero" characters are already in better shape than about 1/3 of all gamers I know (including myself) - it is not true that a majority of gamers are fat, out of shape slobs, but there are more than enough to justify the stereotype even if they are the minority. Two are casual martial artists before the two worlds collide, and the initial main character discovers he can tap magical abilities to get around this.
My Isekai'd character in another story was kind of a street fighter before he became a Marine sniper so already knows a good deal about fighting before his System gives him some upgrades over time - but he had no time for games before becoming part of one.

This was done partly in reaction to this trope of "gamer in fantasy world suddenly becomes a master of everything he or she needs just because they are a gamer" I've heard more times than I care to remember in my wife's audio novels.

 

[BouncyCactus]

I've been tinkering around this idea in my head since not many mangas/manhwas have done it right.

And because my field of expertise is fanfiction, so...

When the gamer was isekai'd, the environment on where he/she went is an important factor. We start there because the majority of isekai readers are probably fed up by the holographic background/le void.

If we go with the scenario 'gamer plays game gets isekai'd to the game he/she last played', we have two routes to consider.

A. The Omniscient Route, or
B. The Absolute Newbie route.

Now to the first murder moment.

Since the game he/she last played could be anything, have them feeling stressed and pressured. Stressed, because they could've spared the thing if it weren't attacking them, and pressured because they're demanded to kill the thing by their own conscience and their heart couldn't properly handle it.

Put yourself on their shoes.

How would you react to your first kill?

More importantly,

What things do you kill that makes you need a moment of remorse?

Them overcoming the guilty feelings should be a moment of gratitude or 'tolerance'.

Tolerance, a.k.a justification, is a symptom where someone is looking for something to justify their actions, words, or deeds.

This is another two splitting paths. Take the gratitude, you'll have an optimistic MC, chill MC, or clear-minded MC. Go with the justification, however, could lead you to distressed MC, cold-blooded MC, corrupted MC, poker face MC, cold-hearted MC, and more.

These factors are what determine readers' interest in the beginning chapters. Remember, some young folks in America had a first murder experience. If by some miracle they like reading web novels, they'll correlate to the MC. They knew how it felt to kill a person, a living being at such a young age.

For those readers who have no experience with first-degree murder, it's an okay thing for them to have this scene. But remember, if the American folks leave a review on how relatable the MC is in that chapter, the others would know how that feels.

Because it happened in real life, and they're witnessing a living evidence giving a statement.

That's my idea.

I am tired of the worthless MC with the usual overconfident I am a god player so nothing can kill me and I am OP as hell due to plot

No even if you have the perfect body and forced input knowledge on how to use a sword actually using and experienceing it is a completely different matter

A lazy gamer(the general MC type) who has never held a real weapon or murdered a living person will in no way kill the first Monsters to rush at him with sheer skill

So any ideas on how to write a gamer isekaied with a body and powers he can't control or fully understand and will probably puke at the sight of blood or dead bodies

Aye, this is the biggest challenge. Sure, the thought of killing, not just someone, but something is easy enough. In theory, just cut a large enough hole, and it'll bleed out. With a major vessel cut, most will die in 30 seconds. But, that 30 seconds won't be pleasant. The wound of whimpered begging, cries of help that slowly getting weaker, the thrashing, the blood gushing, the gurgling as blood entered the lung. The fear in their eyes as they look at death coming for them. Most isekai are sword and magic type of combat, which means up close and personal. You stare into the man you are killing and see him not just a bandit, but a soul.

Most stories just simplify the bad guy too much, which is fine, but they won't get that character development. Most modern city-dwelling folks, which I assumed most isekai gamers are, couldn't even stomach killing a chicken, let alone a dog/cat/human. Not all bandits are serial rapists and killers, some might just fall on hard times, and some are just left with no choice.

Go and watch All Quiet on The Western Front (any version), especially the killing of a Frenchman in the shell crater. That should give you some idea on how killing another man is.

Then, if someone has the theoretical knowledge, their body is not built for it. Their muscle is not accumulated, their balance is off, and everything is just wrong. Most fighting is actually passive. You train your body to the point that it reacts near-automatically without active input of how each move is made. A fishing cut is coming at you, and your body should know how to intercept the cut, how the foot should be positioned, where the balance of the body is, and where you should look.

You can have someone who is too overconfident, thinking that they know all about the sword because they were the top ranker, only to swing it, lose balance, stumbled, the hilt slipped out mid spin, and the blade nicked them. They injured themselves.

When you fight, your body is locked into the Fight or Flight response, and for most, it is automatically Flight, unless you train for a Fight. It is not something one can easily control. Make it so that it is not something the MC can just easily do. It is something they have to wrestle and tame.

 

[ArlindoFrancisco]

I think is more about the psychological thing; this idea of games being fat and slobs are kind of old... the majority of gamers are normal people.

Read more about the accounts of soldiers in their first battles or first kills; that would be a good perspective if you want to write about it.
If he is just a civilian PTSD and trauma goes hard, majority takes killing in the military because of training, you can also see a good perspective of this on civilian cops killing somebody is traumatic as fuck.

Having a grasp on a system in an isekai is the most realistic thing about this type of story. That is why you can't explain too much, because people reading can break your system and be mad at why the MC is not doing it. In a way, some people get around this by making the MC just super good at the system itself.

Anyway, this realistic part is more about trauma than anything and it doesn't need to be dark to have that touch.
He can learn to understand his power little by little and run from responsibility the moment other characters want to put that on him because he doesn't want to kill anybody; one day he will and that could turn him more away from it because that would potentially be the case for the majority of people.

also depends on his power; if it is active and shit, you could write him like Superman; he limits himself so that he doesn't kill people and have others be mad at him because of that; normally the Mc adapts fast because the story is built on action so of course he would just kill everybody and turn into a psychopath.

 

[AncestorDuck]

Just let him die in the first chapter, and end the story there.

 

[Nolff]

I think is more about the psychological thing; this idea of games being fat and slobs are kind of old... the majority of gamers are normal people.

Read more about the accounts of soldiers in their first battles or first kills; that would be a good perspective if you want to write about it.
If he is just a civilian PTSD and trauma goes hard, majority takes killing in the military because of training, you can also see a good perspective of this on civilian cops killing somebody is traumatic as fuck.

Makes me remember a video bout a cop accidentally killing someone, he was crying out loud. His colleagues are trying to calm him down tho.

Having a grasp on a system in an isekai is the most realistic thing about this type of story. That is why you can't explain too much, because people reading can break your system and be mad at why the MC is not doing it. In a way, some people get around this by making the MC just super good at the system itself.

Anyway, this realistic part is more about trauma than anything and it doesn't need to be dark to have that touch.
He can learn to understand his power little by little and run from responsibility the moment other characters want to put that on him because he doesn't want to kill anybody; one day he will and that could turn him more away from it because that would potentially be the case for the majority of people.

also depends on his power; if it is active and shit, you could write him like Superman; he limits himself so that he doesn't kill people and have others be mad at him because of that; normally the Mc adapts fast because the story is built on action so of course he would just kill everybody and turn into a psychopath.

You got a point, champ. But I have-

 

[RepresentingDesire]

I think you should write the monsters as animals, they shouldn't be only carnivors, it would make the world itself more realistic and it could be another part of the realism in the sense that the protagonist doesn't kill some clumps of mana but clumps of cell, I think that monsters in many modern isekai are just an excuse to make life more black and white, to not even start the discussion of morality, I don't have to talk about why universal morality would be weird. It doesn't es have to be about morality.

 

[HungrySheep]

Make it so they run away from every woman they see because they have crippling social anxiety.

 

[Jocelyn_Uasal]

Make it so they run away from every woman they see because they have crippling social anxiety.

Isn't that just every male anime MC already

 

[Nolff]

Isn't that just every male anime MC already

This f*cker asserts dominance instead:

 

[Jocelyn_Uasal]

This f*cker asserts dominance instead:


View attachment 31700

I ummmmmm think he might not be interested in women for .... other reasons ?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I think is more about the psychological thing; this idea of games being fat and slobs are kind of old... the majority of gamers are normal people.

Based on what I've seen at conventions and the three local-ish game stores, that is about 1/3 of all gamers (and about 10% of all female gamers, with males outnumbering females about 3 to 1). It was a slightly higher percentage (but still below half) of the males and much higher percentage of the females (who themselves were pretty much outnumbered 5 to 1 then) in the 90s though (before that I only have a handful of people to go by and, until my second year of college, I was the closest to that stereotype; then we had one guy join our group who was, and another who was just a bit overweight and out of shape like me ... that was also the first time we had girls actually turn up for a game, rather than just showing interest but then always having something else to do when the game actually started, and none of them fit the stereotype).

 

[Zenomew]

Just let him die in the first chapter, and end the story there.

Nice idea then MC revives as bone daddy

 

[corruption]

What I don't like is how Isekaied people seem so chill and well adjusted to what the F*** is happening to them.
They have been abducted, becomes unwilling combatants who now need to fight to survive, and have no idea what the heck they are doing.
They also have no idea if they could ever get back home to their loved ones.

In addition to that they may not understand the culture, language or ways of the people.
Take slavery for example: Lots of MCs seem perfectly fine with it as it's legal there, but fine the idea of it happening back home horrible? Sounds to me like those ones actually are perfectly fine with slavery, but just don't want to be seen as bad by society. Which is very creepy if you look at it like that.

What if the MC considered the society they were forced to protect to be Evil?

The princess will marry the MC when he wins?
Wait! You mean the MC, who was taught nothing about statecraft and who only know how to kill those who cause him problems will now be the ruler?
The MC will be sent back/killed because they are too powerful to let roam loose? A real worry to a paranoid MC.

Then you get the systems
Does the MC think they understand things, when they don't (possible do to being a gamer)? Are they totally clueless as they are not gamers?
OP skills? Nah, stuff that. Make them work for it, and suffer.

Just my thought. Enjoy

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Make him stay inside of a town. If he got reincarnated in a harsh game world, why would he try to leave the city? Get a job and pay adventurers to escort him around. He was a gamer. Why the hell would he try to fight monsters? There is only one life, so have the city walls protect you. Maybe you can become a merchant?

This is why I don't care for realism. Because if you go the most realistic route, this is what your story would be.

 

[Zenomew]

Make him stay inside of a town. If he got reincarnated in a harsh game world, why would he try to leave the city? Get a job and pay adventurers to escort him around. He was a gamer. Why the hell would he try to fight monsters? There is only one life, so have the city walls protect you. Maybe you can become a merchant?

This is why I don't care for realism. Because if you go the most realistic route, this is what your story would be.

And for those who don't try to add realism make massive produced trash

Just because MC can't fight doesn't mean that the story is going to be boring the ascendence of a bookworm is one such example of realism done right

 

[Deleted member 84247]

And for those who don't try to add realism make massive produced trash

Just because MC can't fight doesn't mean that the story is going to be boring the ascendence of a bookworm is one such example of realism done right

I was just giving my opinion at the end. The first part is the answer. Also disagree. Mostly it's bad writing that is the cause not realism or fantasy.

What you want isn't really realism. What you want is believability. Basically, you can't believe gamers would be able to commit these acts and not feel anything or that they would be able to learn magic this quickly. This isn't a question of realism but believability. Disbelief is subjective. You can't suspend disbelief for things like this. That's fine. Suspension of disbelief is different for each person.