LitRPG/GameLit subgenre

Many fans of this genre spend a lot of time debating the difference between the two, so please weigh in on your interpretation.

As I understand the usage, for the most part LitRPG means that there is a role-playing game aspect to the story.

In some, usually called GameLit books, the characters are live people playing a multiplayer adventure game in a virtual world, and the story is about their adventures in the game. Shadeslinger is a good example.

Other books are listed as LitRPG when the story is not taking place inside a game, but there is detailed 'leveling up' descriptions of the characters gaining skills and advancing in powers like they would in a game. Wizard's Tower is a good example.

I recently finished all of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl books and moved on to his Dominion of Blades which so far unfortunately has only two installments.

I am not a connoisseur of the current flowering of this subgenre, but for an example of the former, Heir Apparent was one of my all time favorite childhood reads.

I don't know that I have read any real examples of the second type, unless very structured school stories like Scholomance count. I suspect not....

>2 Kanarthi: oh, I haven't heard of Heir Apparent before but it sounds interesting. This concept has been around for some time - I was first exposed to the idea of a novel set in VR through Tad Williams Otherland books, in the late 1990s.

LitRPG tends to focus more on the gameplay and skill leveling though. Scholomance is a similar idea and the characters do work on improving their skills but it's not portrayed in a gaming fashion, so I suspect that would be considered urban fantasy maybe?

If I understand correctly, one of my favorite examples of GameLit is Caverns of Socrates, by Dennis McKiernan. I think an example of one that is a little mix of both is The Guardians of the Flame by Rosenberg, though the 'game' aspects were subtle but present.

I don't think I have a preference, but I do prefer the game aspects to be in the background if they appear at all.

I finally caved to pressure (from my nephew) and started Primal Hunter. I've finished the first two, and am intrigued enough to continue with the rest at some point. The first one almost lost me, as the writing style is kind of a mess, but I came to learn that it was originally released in short installments as a web series, so I guess it just didn't get edited properly when combined into a whole volume. The second one was greatly improved, and I've heard that the rest of the series is good.

Also caved to pressure from a friend to start the Cradle series by Will Wight. I'm through the first two books, and have to say I don't know why I procrastinated for so long - these are really well written. They are considered Progression, rather than GameLit, because the characters do work to level up their skills but not in a game-related way. By comparison, Primal Hunter and Dungeon Crawler Carl characters get offered choices of skills when they have achieved a new level. In progression books, characters choose to study a type of skills and proceed through gradual upgrades as their adventures expose them to more opportunities to learn.

>4 Karlstar: Caverns of Socrates comes to mind for me as well! One of the books I would consider an early example of it would be Quag Keep by Andre Norton.

Emperor's End, the newest installment in the Shadeslinger series, was released today! It was in my Kindle when I got up this morning! I expect to start it very soon, and will report back!

So... what is the series Guardians of the Flame considered? If I've got the distinction, the answer is GameLit ?

>9 Ruskoley: I haven't read this but it sounds fun. It seems tangent to Gamelit in a Jumanji sort of way where the story is setup from a game; do the characters level up and select skill sets during the course of the story?

>10 Darth-Heather: Oh, thanks for the reply! (Sorry I was slow to see it!) I read it awhile ago - but thinking of re-reading with these "new" categories in mind. I am sure I first read it just a goblin gobbling.

Emperor's End by Kyle Kirrin is the 5th book in the Ripple System series, which takes place in a MMORPG. This installment is a great continuation of the adventures of Ned, the main character adventurer, and his trusty sarcastic side kick, Frank, with additional hilarity contributed by the other members of his guild. This one starts off a bit slow, but is like a freight train rolling downhill by the end with quite a fun twist in the finale!

It's going to be a long wait for the next one...