Tips for LitRPG writing?

Would that be like a novelization of a Fire Emblem game or would it be more like just writing about the world of an RPG? You know, kind of like the light novels SAO was supposedly based off of. (Yes, I watch SAO, and no, I haven't read the light novels.) If we're talking more like the first, then it's something that I've tried my hand at before where I made little progress. If we're talking more about the latter, I've got no idea beyond making sure you account for stats.

I guess I just need more context to know if I can be any help here. Or, you know, actually help.

 

Right, so I guess the most important thing is how much depth the RPG world has. If we're talking full-on SAO style VRMMORPG, then it should often be noted what it feels like inside that world and how real it feels. If we're talking more like .hack, then I've honestly got no idea. I only have Part 2 so I don't have a full understanding of it yet, which I would need Part 1 for.

Now if we're talking the character just being flat-out sucked into the game, then I can see some of the first thing: how real the world feels to the character.

 

Mmm maybe you could try reading some Light Novels that treat the topic? For example, Infinite Dendogram. I haven't read it, I can give you the epub link if you want, though.

 

I don't have any experience with writing it (I did/do have one plan), and only thoroughly read two mangas of it, but one thing that I find annoying is putting way too much emphasis on "it's a video game". I get the impression that if I was sucked into a video game world, the novelty of it would wear off after a week or so. I'd stop paying so much attention on "ooh, so this is another mob-less safe village, another video game feature to which I am accustomed based on me being an avid gamer" and start worrying more about how do I keep myself and my friends from getting massacred by goblins and skeleton beasts. That might just be my opinion though, and I only see it happen tastefully (to my liking) infrequently based on skimming a lot of mangas of the genre.

One thing that I do really enjoy is having dynamics in the "party" and strategizing and diversity of class and how personalities of the teammates influence that. This guy is a warrior because he's already big and strong and wants to protect people. This girl is a support mage because she feels like she's athletically out of shape and useless and also doesn't want to murder monsters with fire. This guy is a healer mage strictly because nobody else volunteered for it and he doesn't know how much that makes enemies want to target him.

Not much of curated tips, but you might consider these a short do-and-don't list by a single potential reader.

 

I consider writing this kind of story no different than any other kind of story. Try not to look at this style of writing as a new one, but as the same writing style you've always used, just in a video game environment.

One thing you'd have to consider is the environment of your video game world. I play a MMOFPS and even though game play wise its fairly different then an MMORPG, culturally its not. You've got to always consider that no matter where you go in an MMO, there will always be trollers, morons, arrogance, and people/guilds that you hate and hate you. People will refuse to listen to reason, there's censorship on part of the developers, and many more negative connotations that I often don't see shown in works depicting MMO's. However, there's also a closely connected community of people who all love the same game as you and even randoms that you pick up off the street can become life long virtual friends. Many people pick up game for many reasons, most of the time its to escape reality and have a fun time. Consider balance in the game and how the characters react to it. Stereotypes emerge between factions. One great example is how in my faction people say that were great players with terrible guns and the other faction has great guns and terrible players. I could go on and on with different aspects of a MMO, but in the end its is up to you to decide how in depth you want to go with this. Just remember not to ignore the culture of an MMO when you're writing your story.
One thing that I think could help you understand how gamers meet/develop a dynamic in an MMO is an example. I'll use myself as an example, I was playing the game, not really finding much fun, then I get in a squad of other people who are talking and me being shy I didn't say anything. I followed the squad commander as a support roll and revived him whenever he went down. Because of how much I helped him, he took note of me and offered me a position in his guild. I continued playing support just to revive the commander and it became my main class. Me and the commander become close friends and we still play years after we met. Even to this day, the commander and I have this same dynamic where I play support to help him and everyone else when they need help. I also follow him into the most stupid of places just to get him back on his feet, even if it means sacrificing myself. This is a natural dynamic that developed over the course of years and with this, you can understand what its like for people to meet and create dynamics with each other.

If you want a good example of this style of writing, look no further than Overlord, a VRMMORPG inspired by the famous pen and paper game Dungeons and Dragons. Its a great example of what being trapped in a lush video game world with interesting character dynamics even between the gamers that we never see.