What is worst genre you have ever tried to peruse?

[InvisibleHarvey]

. . . I enjoy some actual plays from time to time (Seattle by Night? Adventures of Azerim? Me, Myself, and Die?) . . .

Always nice to see a fan of Tom Hollandaise in the wild. I'm a huge Jason Carl fan.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.

I'm not familiar with Litrpg. But with most genres I would say don't judge the whole by a glimpse at some of its crap. It might have some 10%ers out there, you just have to dig.

Also this:

is a vulgared-up Monty Python reference, if you didn't catch that.

This is exactly my attitude. In any genre, there are a few gems, and there's lots and lots of crap. I like some genres more than others, but most of that preference is just a matter of personal experience.

For instance, I'm not a fan of country-western music, but that's mostly because I never listen to it. I knew nothing about jazz until my 20s, and once I learned about it I appreciated it.

I don't read romance stories, but I'm sure there are good ones. I'm more into the kinky stuff.

 

[StillStunned]

The few times I've tried to read romantasy, it's been awful. Heroines that are weepy, or nonsensical, or just uninteresting. Heroes that are one-dimensionally perfect, or lovably buffoonish, or malicious because they haven't been loved by the right woman. A plot that only happens because the author had to think of a new event to move the story forward. Basically a soap opera pretending to be an adventure story, with characters who are little more than caricatures.

But I've admitted before that I understand the genre isn't aimed at me, and that the biggest reason for my dislike is that it infiltrated and infected "my" fantasy genre. So complaining about it probably makes me sound like a middle-aged rugby fan demanding to know why the BBC has to broadcast women's rugby, and what the deal is with the cowboy hats and the crocheting and the overall happy family atmosphere at the games.

 

[TheArsonist]

Some examples of LitRpg that isn't awful:

SFW
Acaswell, A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World
Actus, Return of the Runebound Professor (not sure whether this actually qualifies)
Jonathan Brooks, Dungeon Crafting
Matt Dinniman, Dungeon Crawler Carl
Benjamin Kerei, Unorthodox Farming
Honour Rae, All the Skills

Of these, DCC is clearly the best. Several of the others start out strong but get progressively less interesting.

NSWF
Hmm, that's trickier…

Alyson Belle, Fantasy Swapped Online
B.A. Oliver, The Breeder (also borderline)
Bruce Sentar, Returner's Defiance

… that's all I can think of that I've read. There is other "harem fantasy" that clears the bar (some work by Anya Merchant, Sarah Hawke, Dante King, Daniel Kensington, …), but it's not exactly LitRpg.

Well, I suppose that depends on how strictly you want to define the genre, but at a minimum I think it needs to rely on artificial RPG concepts like classes, levels or quests. The typical LitRpg story features a "system" that lets characters examine a stat-filled character sheet (usually in a sort of mental HUD), gives them notifications when things happen and is used as an interface to choose upgrades when they level up, but I've included a few that do away with that device.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

For instance, I'm not a fan of country-western music, but that's mostly because I never listen to it.

Well, they don't make it any more, so ...

 

[nudeblaqgirl]

Politics Board

 

[anthrodisiac]

I need something weird in my stories to keep my interest. I haven't read a straight-foward story about normal people living in a normal world for my own personal edification in decades. I think the last one I even attempted was The Rosie Project because my mom loved it and was like, "You're on the spectrum, clearly you'll like this." *

Also, not big on fantasy. I burned myself out at 13 after reading The Hobbit, LotR, The Silmarillion, almost every single Shannara book, Wheel of Time, a few others I can't even remember. I read Harry Potter primarily because everyone around me liked it and I wanted to fit in, but I did/do not get the hype. Although some of the fantasy smut here is actually pretty interesting, and, you know, non-human fucking

Gimme sci-fi and/or satire every day of the week, though.

*Love you, Mom.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

The overwhelming majority of self-published writing is lousy, and readers don’t seem to care, so it’s hard to judge a whole genre based on popular examples. People like what they like, and for some reason it’s not always in line with what I like.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I've always found that litRPG's read best as a graphic novel, and that in general the best ones come out of South Korea. Seriously, go check out a litRPG manhwa, they're freakin amazing. Hell, South Korea is the best at writing Romantasy as well. I've seriously been tempted to learn Korean a few times so that I can better devour their written works. But I suck with languages...

Anyways, back on actual topic, I kinda burned myself out on mysteries when I was a teen. Once you've read enough of them you only need to read the first three chapters to know who dunit. By chapter six you can probably guess why as well. Then what's the point of reading them anymore.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Anyways, back on actual topic, I kinda burned myself out on mysteries when I was a teen. Once you've read enough of them you only need to read the first three chapters to know who dunit. By chapter six you can probably guess why as well. Then what's the point of reading them anymore.

To prove the superiority of your intellect?

 

[NuclearFairy]

To prove the superiority of your intellect?

But I'm not, they're just formulaic, and I'm very good at spotting patterns.

 

[lovecraft68]

BTB stories/genre

 

[BlazonG]

The Loving Wives category is so annoying to me. So much negativity and revenge fantasy going on. Like really, you want your ex wife to get terminally ill and beg to see you but you are going to gloat over her deathbed?

 

[Ianus4]

The Loving Wives category is so annoying to me. So much negativity and revenge fantasy going on. Like really, you want your ex wife to get terminally ill and beg to see you but you are going to gloat over her deathbed?

I would extend this to all revenge stories, regardless of category, gender and marital status. I consider it much more valuable to focus on the emotional healing and recovery of the hurt protagonist, but revenge usually prevents this. "For every minute you are angry, you lost sixty seconds of happiness."

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I've always found that litRPG's read best as a graphic novel, and that in general the best ones come out of South Korea. Seriously, go check out a litRPG manhwa, they're freakin amazing.

facts