Original post at GameLit is not Synonymous to LitRPG Several bestselling stories including Brian D. Anderson’s new release The Vale are GameLit as a whole, but may not necessarily be classified as LitRPG. Brian’s writing is so highly acclaimed, that prior to The Vale’s official release, audiobook giant Audible gave him a six figure offer for exclusive rights to the story. The concern of reader confusion between GameLit and LitRPG however is real. I quote Brian in a recent Facebook comment, “It’s funny. A ton of my ‘also boughts’ are LitRPG's. I hope they don't think The Vale is LitRPG or I'm in store for some pissed off reviews.” So What is the Difference? On September 4th 2017 a discussion was held among a handful of authors, namely R. M. Mulder, Zachariah Dracoulis, Dustin Tigner, and John Ward. A concern was addressed that there were a large number of stories that were receiving poor reviews strictly based upon an orthodox definition of what a select few people believed defines a story as LitRPG. The primary issue that was discussed on that monumental date was the fact that most of these poor reviews were unsolicited, and authors who were not among the LitRPG community were also getting caught in the fray. The simple fact was this: Many of these authors never intended to write LitRPG in the first place, so getting a poor review based strictly on the concept of “Not LitRPG” as the basis of the review was quite unfair. Thus, an agreement was reached that a new term was needed for stories that contained gaming elements, but did not conform to the strict standards that had been adopted for LitRPG. After several possible monikers were offered, one stood out among the others: GameLit. Strategic Planning Over the course of a month, many more authors were added to our organization group, including Brian D. Anderson, Anthea Sharp, Andrew Rowe, Kip Terrington, Ian Woodhead, Serena Fleming, James G Patton, Paul Campbell Jr, Jason J. Nugent, Matthew Sylvester, Ian Mitchell, and George Fisher of UltimateLitRPG.com to name a few. We discussed ideas and strategies on how to announce the new terminology. We also agreed that categorically, GameLit was a parent genre to LitRPG among several other newer subcategories such as LitFPS, LitAR, LitVR and many others. We agreed upon the following definition: “A story with gaming elements essential to the plot. Often includes features of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Science Fantasy. While all LitRPG books fit within GameLit, not all GameLit books fit within LitRPG. This is an open genre. There are no official groups, gatekeepers, or rule-makers.” The Launch of GameLit On September 30th 2017, we went public and announced the definition of GameLit on our group website which can be found at GameLit: Level Up Your Reading. Since that date, many events have occurred which has caused the term GameLit to become confused as a synonym to LitRPG. Among those events included the trademarking of the term LitRPG. To mitigate the risk of trademark infringement, many authors quickly adopted “RPG GameLit” as a replacement term. The Future of GameLit So now that you understand the history of GameLit's establishment, let’s talk more about the future of this budding new genre. These stories contain gaming elements but are not necessarily restricted to being housed inside a game. For example, the story can be more about a gamer’s Real Life (RL) and the challenges he or she faces from day to day. Alternatively, the story can be based in a fantasy world where playing a virtual reality game is critical to survival. GameLit Expansion Pack Part of the strategic planning for the growth of GameLit included the compilation of a GameLit Anthology. We are excited to announce that the first of a quarterly anthology, GameLit Expansion Pack, will be released on June 1st 2018 and is currently available for Pre-order at the low price of only 99 cents! So go strap on your VR visors and dive into this epic GameLit collection that will immerse you in several exclusive in-game expansion stories by a handful of talented authors, including USA Today Bestselling authors Anthea Sharp and Brian D. Anderson! Grab your copy today at http://mybook.to/GameLit
I agree with the sentiment, I'd definitely say GameLit is a parent class of LitRPG. However I find it a little worrying when any person/group starts to 'define' a category, even when the definition is as open as this and specifies "no... rulemakers". Probably just my anti-authoritarian buttons being pressed. I react badly to phrases like "now that you understand the proper terminology".
Thank you for your feedback Robert. You bring up a valid point, so I'll edit that sentence. The article was designed to be nonconfrontational, so I'm happy to make the change. I've also updated that edit to the original post at GameLit is not Synonymous to LitRPG. The important thing to take away from the article is the fact that GameLit and its initial definition was established nearly 2 full months prior the panic that was associated with the LitRPG Trademark issue. Thus, it is prudent to understand that there is a difference between what classifies overall as 'Gamelit' versus what classifies under the newer subcategory that was later adopted as 'RPG GameLit'.
I don't have anything to add. I just thought I'd pop my head around the door and wave. Does anyone fancy a cup of tea while I'm here?
Always Every chance I get. Which unfortunately isn't a lot of time between work and family life. (Sigh) Good news however - my next story will be included in the GameLit Expansion Pack. It's the first sequel to Conquest, and is a fully immersive LitRPG called "DarkForce: Conquest Saga Expansion 1" How about You? Got another in the works?
I'm hoping to get Reality Engine ready for release in May, then I've been thinking of writing a crime noir/gamelit mash up!
