What trips your aggro meter?

Discussion in 'All Things LitRPG' started by Dragovian, Mar 4, 2018.

  1. Dragovian

    Dragovian Over-enthusiastic Tank wtb Pocket Healer LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen

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    What just drives you nuts in LitRPG?

    For me, it's players who are just bad at their game. Not n00bs; we were all n00bs once. But characters who are allegedly skilled, who do stupid things like deplete their magic halfway through a fight, or deliberately pull more than they can handle, or who otherwise just make me shake my fist at them because whatever crisis they're in is self-inflicted.

    Poor gameplay should not be the driving force behind the plot unless you're deliberately writing an unskilled player, IMO.

    What are your pet peeves?
     
  2. Viergacht

    Viergacht Thunderdragon LitRPG Author Roleplaying Beta Reader Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    Characters who are super full of themselves and can do no wrong, they get massive powers for hardly any effort, and everyone else admires them constantly . . . I mean, come on, author. Just see a therapist if you have self-esteem issues. No need to inflict them on readers.
     
  3. Dragovian

    Dragovian Over-enthusiastic Tank wtb Pocket Healer LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen

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    Ahh, yes, the overpowered flip side of my complaint.

    It's even better (worse) when you see it combined, so that they play terribly and they're STILL OP and ridiculous and that saves them from their poor play style. :mad:
     
  4. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    Cookie-cutter characters.
    I want characters that have personality and skills all their own. If I can replace one with another, what's the point of them. I had this problem with The City and the Dungeon. No one was special or unique in any way.
     
  5. MrPotatoMan

    MrPotatoMan Level 13 (Assassin) Citizen

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    When a character falls in love with another character who by all rights they should hate with very little reason and like a few days of interaction and then because of that they abandon something they spent there entire life on and essentially betray what is supposed to be there backstory.
     
  6. Dragovian

    Dragovian Over-enthusiastic Tank wtb Pocket Healer LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen

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    Okay, I have been lucky enough to miss that, but yeah, that'd drive me crazy. It's right up there with the YA novels where the world is ending, but the REAL question is who the lead will hook up with. Priorities, people.
     
  7. Paul Bellow

    Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

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  8. Alexis Keane

    Alexis Keane Level 14 (Defender) Roleplaying Beta Reader Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    Let's see...
    Please get an editor, I am pretty tolerant towards grammar and spelling errors, but some are just off the charts...
    Increasing the female avatars' cup size is not "character development"
    Pointless harems
    Idiotic plots
    Do no wrong characters... the "oops, I made a mistake. But, oh wait... it wasn't actually a mistake" kind.
    Min max characters that seem to ignore the "min" part and end up just being able to do everything
    Pop culture emesis
    Characters who exist to make the MC look cool
    The over the top evil caricature characters
    The david and goliath situation, in which the MC suddenly kills the boss for no good reason
    Finds legendary class by doing something that's been done a million times
     
  9. Dragovian

    Dragovian Over-enthusiastic Tank wtb Pocket Healer LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen

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    Oh, I thought of another one: players who "hate violence" and try to cheese mechanics so they don't have to kill, in stories where they have deliberately chosen to play a violent game (obviously they get a pass if it's a "stuck in a game against their will" book).
    I'm highlighting these because I've seen authors talk about how LitRPG is a "male/geek power fantasy" and super OP main characters are part of the appeal for readers. I'm wondering if this is a case of "you think you know your audience, but you don't" or if there's really that big a split in the reader base.
     
  10. Alexis Keane

    Alexis Keane Level 14 (Defender) Roleplaying Beta Reader Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    I don't think the power fantasy and op thing is what people are out for... sure it's fun watching some sweet pwnage... but people only care about that when they've seen the person come from nothing... Soileau points this out (https://litrpgreviews.blog/2017/09/14/review-liam-aratos-the-gold-farmer/) pretty well with The Gold Farmer (https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Farmer-Treasure-Forest-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B01MQCGTW9)... the guy starts op and stays op... as such no one cares...
    the enjoyment of it is in the journey, in seeing the incremental increases in power... it's what made chatfield's early books so popular, and why they dropped off later on when the journey stopped... sure he got more powerful and defeated more enemies, but the books lost their way when there were no more enemies to be defeated by...
    people enjoy the zero to hero as much as the zero to middle to hero, imo... the difference is that in the first you immediately go to max speed with the gas jammed against the floor, you can't go any faster and the writer ends up shooting having already shot their bolt by the end of book 1...
    then, when he comes to writing the second, what journey is there? he's already proven that he can defeat everyone... now what? It just ends up as a massive circle jerk of exposition about how powerful the MC is...
    the princess may very well be in another castle, but what makes that castle special, what makes it bigger and badder than the last, and why is the MC going to lose... what's the point in playing when you can't lose...
    I played with cheats in some games when I was younger... nothing put me off a game quicker than a guaranteed victory...
     
  11. Dragovian

    Dragovian Over-enthusiastic Tank wtb Pocket Healer LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen

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    Oh, wow, that review of The Gold Farmer is both a thing of beauty, and absolutely TERRIFYING in that I never want to have a review like that on anything I write. OUCH.
     
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  12. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    1. blatant plagiarism. There is getting inspired, there is copying a classic format. Then there is straight up ripping someone else's work and just changing the character's name or gender to cover it up.

    2. When the character's backstory doesn't fit the him you're reading about. If you say this MC is a complete noob and has never played a game in his life then make him so. He can't be an expert when PLOT then go back to dumbass mode. It's annoying. Whatever backstory you give your character have it matter not just a tack on.

    3. Sexism. Ok so in Litrpg the MC is usually male and his GF is miss perfect that's just there for the nudity, sex, damsel, woman scorned..etc you get the point. As a woman myself I assure you that we are human as well. There is the other extreme of course, Like in Christopher Moore books the women are all man hating harpies that actually get hot when their mates make confessions along the lines of "all men are pigs" and would only sleep with them after that. why... just why? Can't we all just get along?

    4. The power trip self insert book. I mean please go ahead and write a fan fic where you're mr. avarage yet the fate of the whole world is in your hands and every woman you met falls for you... just don't charge me to read that. At least, unless you have something else to offer other then your pretend awesomeness.

    5. YA. I'm in my thirties now, I didn't care for teen angsts when I was a teen. I'm not going to care about them now. If your MC says he's 30 yet acts likes he's a schooler, talkes like a high schooler and thinks like a middle schooler then he's a duck. Wait I don't think I got that one right.... well that's more humor then you'd get in most Litrpgs, another let down of the genre, it could use some light hearted entries not just 12 year olds going against the demon lord or 30 somethings trying to be the demon lord.
     
  13. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    It's sad to see this becoming such an issue in the community.

    I really worry about one of my female MC's. She wasn't designed this way, but I just worry that she will come off as fake. Well, I won't find out until it gets released... stupid art delays.
     
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  14. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    you could get some beta readers for feedback
     
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  15. MrPotatoMan

    MrPotatoMan Level 13 (Assassin) Citizen

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    Ok so I didn't read the link but I disagree with your assertion I think a large portion of the LitRPG crowd are in for the power fantasy and that limits the reach of LitRPG as authors are afraid to stop pandering to that audience and write books that are more challenging to write. I think LitRPG should try to appeal to a more mainstream audience and not be someons guilty pleasure.
     
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  16. MrPotatoMan

    MrPotatoMan Level 13 (Assassin) Citizen

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    From what I can tell it mostly happens in urban fantasy which is a shame because I really like the idea of urban fantasy but so many novels in the genre are annoying YA Romeo and Juliette completely ignoring what makes Romeo and Juliette a good story
     
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  17. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    So you're saying because people agree to eat shit authors will keep shoveling it out? Pretty bleak.

    I disagree with you. My knowledge of RPG comes from computer games rather then the paper and pen D&D campaigns. With the exception of dungeon crawlers (dungeon core sub-genre) every single RPG game is itself a power trip.

    You start with a stick, grind and grind to either find or buy a sword, upgrade and take quests to build up your character's status until you're on the top. That's every Litrpg book out there!

    Teens and tweens think everything is great. They have yet to develop a healthy dose of real cynicism. You tell them the MC is awesome, then the MC is awesome. Go for the low hanging fruit and have him get all the extra cool stuff and the super model girlfriend. maybe even throw in a sports car equivalent of a dragon to ride.

    There has been a deviation from that pattern for the past two years. The market is saturated with such books so people look for something different.

    It's why the dungeon core subgenre sprang up. There are also attempts of making it all about crafting or things from the monster's point of view.

    I'm just waiting for a litrpg about dress up games. call me when that happens.
     
  18. Paul Bellow

    Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    This is what I'm going for in Tower of Gates. It's not been easy! ;)
     
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  19. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    Old Editor CP tells me I’m fine, but I always worry lol.
     
  20. RandomFan

    RandomFan Level 6 (Footpad) Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    When the character takes ludicrous risks that were really not that likely to pay off and far more likely to end in bans or corpses, and yet they do. This is a worse habit when they don't even consider how close they came to death.

    In a reality-is-a-game or "die-in-real-life-if-you-die-in-the-game" it's more reasonable, (because they're doing it from the start of combat, so it's just choosing a different risk or a different magnitude) but I always start screaming at the character when they start trying to cheat in a "safe-if-you-play-by-the-rules" game, especially when they cheat like they have nothing resembling a plan, no idea what they stand to gain, but know exactly what they stand to lose. If they make it clear it was planned and establish it as a plan for multiple chapters, I'm more appreciative, and more likely to actually realize this was reasonable, but when you don't know that the character is planning on robbing the bank until the gun's already pointed at the teller... You think he's being an idiot, especially if you know they aren't wearing a mask.

    This is even worse when they pull a "go big or go home", because that feels kinda stupid and out of nowhere. Personally, I'd say that any sane person should do a few easy things before escalating, whether that means robbing ATMs before banks or robbing banks before the royal vault.

    If the only reason you get out alive is the security guard is corrupt, then you should think back to this later with "This was a terrible idea that I was lucky enough to survive and profit from." unless the character is supposed to be terrible at risk management.
     




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