So, there is a genre of Webnovel that is one that will probably always be dear to me.
That genre is gaming novels, or Virtual Gaming Webnovels.
Ever since I starting reading Legendary Moonlight Sculpture, I have had a soft spot for gaming novels. Then, I found Reincarnator which had a gaming-eque vibe to it, and then I found Arc, which was not as good, but similar to the others. I was hooked.
Over the time that I have been reading virtual reality gaming novels online, I have come to find that there are many things that I find irksome in some of these novels, and some things that I find clever and fun to read about.
The number one thing that I hate to read in Virtual reality gaming novels, is when the novel itself is centered around a huge calamity outside of the game that the main character is trying to fix/avoid. This was kinda the premise in SOA, though that story line didn’t bother me as much. Being unable to log out is something that doesn’t bother me, but when I find another novel that has the same premise, I can’t help but feel that they are just copying SOA.
One novel that did this and was actually the novel that caused me to realize how much I hate it, is Ark. The AI in Ark begins to go haywire and starts frying peoples brains when they die in game. This would be fine, if that was all it did, but the AI is an actual “living” thinking intelligent life form in the novel, and is doing this because of it’s creator and blah blah blah. It sounds interesting, and it was honestly one of the least offensive virtual gaming novels that I came across that incorporated this in it’s story line. To the point that I was able to read the first volume of Ark and finish it. The second one, however….I’m not into futuristic non-sense. I don’t like sci-fi games as it is, then reading about a sci-fi game was even worse.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the novel started off with that as the premise, they joined the game because the AI was crazy or whatever. What pisses me off, is when the author says “This is what the novel is about, I swear.” Then, the novel becomes some sort of sci-fi novel about saving the world from an overly aggressive AI. Bro, I wanted a gaming novel, not this BS. THE DESCRIPTION SAYS ONE THING AND THE NOVEL SAYS ANOTHER!!
If I had known this is what would have happened, then I wouldn’t have started to read it. Most of the time, the main character “accidentally” ends up in the middle of the fight, rather than actually being sent by said company or gov’t to fix the issue. This makes me even more angry because I like my novels to have some sort of believability to them. The company/gov’t would not trust some no-body that they know little to nothing about and who doesn’t have clearance to most of the information they are going to be given, to fix their fuck up. It’s just not going to happen. Joe-schmoe will not become the hero, with the support of the company and Gov’t, to save to day. He may become the fall guy, but almost definitely not the hero. Another story that does this is Half Prince. The issues I have with Half-Prince are that one, the characters are entirely one dimensional, then two, the “catastrophe” isn’t really a catastrophe in the beginning. It’s been a while since I read it, but from what I remember, the terrible thing that this AI is doing….is deleting people’s gamer profiles? Then…..idk it was screwy at the end, it didn’t make much sense. Whatever.
The other thing that I hate that happens way too often in these novels, is when the author doesn’t keep track of the abilities and the skills of the main characters, or they make the main characters have RIDICULOUS luck in the novel. Like, they are able to one off a powerful Boss just because they happened to be standing nearby when another Boss monster fought it and died fighting it, then the character comes up, stabs the boss a couple times and gains twenty levels. Fuck you. Fuck you and your convenient plot armor.
Or, the main character gains a hidden class, but then gains epic rated armour and equipment directly after that. One good thing happens, then more and more and more continue to happen and we are expected to believe that it’s just luck and fate and what-the-fuck-ever else you want to call this bullshit story telling. Everything falls into the lap of the main character. Other’s are dying and trying so hard to push forward, while the main character just gets to fall from the sky into a pile of money and, despite the fact that they fell from 1,500 ft and should have died after falling onto a huge pile of gold, they somehow escape with only 1 hp left and saunter out, looking dashing and cool, into the sunset. Fuck you again. I can’t stress this enough…
FUCK YOU.
There are a ridiculous amount of stories that actually have this BS story telling element. For instance, Ark, which I mentioned before, Starting From Zero and Half-prince. I’m sure I have read many others, but as soon as the character starts leveling up at a pace that is just stupid, I usually delete all remnants of the novel from my computer’s history and treat it as a shameful secret to never be spoken of again. Much like porn. Except not regular porn. Like Two girls one Cup porn, except you aren’t watching it to be shocked you’re actually watching it to get off and despite the fact that you could easily explain it away if anyone saw the title in your search history, the guilty conscience of what you were actually doing with that video makes you feel like you could never allow any one to know that you had ever seen it. Like you feel so guilty that you’re afraid you’re going to blurt out “I fucked myself to that!”
Hmmmm……..that might be a bit extreme actually………
Well, anyways….
um…..
Yeah, I like Online Virtual Reality Gaming Novels…….
The Stories, 