I personally think it depends on the book. I've seen some that are just normal books save for a few mentions of game logic here and there, but then you see some that are so heavily dependent on the whole minecraft logic idea that it couln't really work without it. Please tell me your opinion, as i've probably invested too much time into reading these books that usually either are repeats of the same plot or one long, drawn out plot. Thanks and happy reading!
IDK if there is a definitive answer to this. Your question goes into the territory of the emerging gamer-fiction taxonomy. Ask five people here "what is litrpg?" and you'll get five different answers. For some its a set core rules like "the hero must have stats and level up." For others, trapped-in-the-game is enough. But we also have cousin genres like GamerLit, and sometimes PortalFic, which litrpg novels will overlap with. Asking about is Minecraft Litrpg. I must ask back - is minecraft even an RPG? For me, it's not. That's because I don't get to make a character to then level up through a story. There's no role for me to play in Survival mode. (yes MC technically has levels but those are just for spending on enchants. They should be called mana or something instead.) Why do you ask? (If you're looking for litrpg books with minecraft themes, might I recommend the base building thread?)
I've played the game but haven't read any of the books, but it feels like a book like that would fall solidly into gamelit, but dubiously into LitRPG.
Yeah, but there's this highly popular minecraft book called Steve the noob, which is just a base building litrpg with blocks& junk. theres 39 books and i think 2% of its readers know what litrpg is. In it the MC is a "player" in a flat land full of villagers (npcs) who is the main defending force and deputy mayor of a village named "the fortress" and him and his companions defend it and go on adventures to fight monsters. Sound familiar? thats because its a litrpg with creepers and endermen instead of goblins and orcs. Theres even a very intricate class system with "tiers" and explevels instead of levels.
