What makes a Gamelit story?

I’ll be going over some details about that here…

Well, this was a bust… I completely forgot that I was supposed to write this over a third of a year ago. I completely fail at sticking to deadlines I impose on myself. What am I supposed to do with myself, now?

…meh. I’ll get over it eventually. For now, let’s get back on track, meaning… let’s talk about the subject at hand.

So, as this is the first day of discussing this, I’ll begin with the obvious… what makes a Gamelit story is that it’s set in a game-like world. The same can be said of LitRPGs, but that’s a different topic for a different time. To steer this towards the right topic, however, there are a few key differences between Gamelit and LitRPG stories. The first of these differences is that Gamelit is comprised of worlds that follow the logic of a video game, but without things like menus that pop up out of nowhere when called for. Another difference is that there are hardly any important numbers to keep track of in a Gamelit.

An example of a Gamelit story is “Ready Player One” and the fact that most of the story is set in an online game. However, as I’m not factually aware of all the details behind that story, I will not comment any further about why I feel it’s a Gamelit. Suffice it to say, I’m more than 50% sure that it’s a Gamelit story.

Another example of Gamelit stuff is, from the Japanese side of the Pacific Ocean, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (better known in English as The Rising of the Shield Hero). The main character, Naofumi Iwatani, goes through life in a normal way until he gets summoned to the country of Melromarc after reading a Light Novel… a country where he gets turned into a video game character of such great importance (until he gets his reputation ruined, but that’s a different story altogether, and one I’m not getting into now).

…okay, that’s stretching things slightly, but the point stands. Naofumi becomes a video game character, but the important numbers of a LitRPG are not a thing, since the author doesn’t focus on such features of the genre.

In any case, one final example I can safely say is a Gamelit is the series of stories starting with The Dark Lord Bert, which acts like a campaign of Dungeons & Dragons in how the story plays out… except the main character is noted to be, in-universe, a 1 hit point Goblin. He gets away with things outside of the normal rules of the setting because, as a 1 hit point Goblin, he counts as a critter instead of a fully-realized warrior. He is essentially the one Goblin who becomes the titular Dark Lord in the story… without changing his alignment at all. Why? He doesn’t have one to begin with (and it doesn’t change to Neutral Evil at all).

Then again, in order to understand my points, I suggest getting the books I mentioned in this article. I’m not going to force you guys to read anything, but it would make more sense if you do read the stories, so as to make sure you all get everything. I sincerely recommend that course of action (except with Ready Player One, but that’s because I don’t agree with the author’s stance on Theology, which I believe should’ve been left out of the story).

Okay, if there’s anything I may have forgotten about, or if there’s a bunch of factual inaccuracies, please point them out to me. I will be sure to come back and give this a thorough edit. I hope to make this be the best it can be.

Any other comments that need to be brought up? Please tell me as well. I truly wish to know what you all have to say.