The Gamer System (Help Needed)

[Sonifri]

We already have a genre for that, Xianxia.
Or were you thinking of something else?

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I was thinking the 'gamer' power comes from an artifact that is a general learning tool that attempts to quantify his abilities so it can track progress. The quantification taking the form of a hallucinated game interface. But the artifact also tries to present it's data to the protagonist in a way that they can understand, since it was made to function across different species who have different minds. That's why the game interface. But the protag sometimes sees his stats as a different system if some other game-type is prominent in his mind for the situation they're in and what they're doing.

 

[NowaifuNolaifu]

I was thinking the 'gamer' power comes from an artifact that is a general learning tool that attempts to quantify his abilities so it can track progress. The quantification taking the form of a hallucinated game interface. But the artifact also tries to present it's data to the protagonist in a way that they can understand, since it was made to function across different species who have different minds. That's why the game interface. But the protag sometimes sees his stats as a different system if some other game-type is prominent in his mind for the situation they're in and what they're doing.

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Is this for a story or something? Like, power first, the rest second?

Cause Fairy Tail has Archive magic which is something like Information Magic with a computer skin. FT magic is already very flexible and Vibes based so using it on oneself and surroundings would plausibly manifest as a relevant style of game like rpg for skills, rts when looking over a battlefield, tactical for skirmishes, hexagonal to track geopolitics, etc.

It's not a specially blasty magic, it's information-based so not running on arbitrary exp and levels makes sense

 

[some one]

But does that not take away the main pleasure of The Gamer System in the 1st place?

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One of the worst aspects and most dangerous pitfalls of the gamer genre is the story devolving into what I call number porn especially as the numbers get higher as it soon becomes meaningless

You know its happening when you realize that every other update is half taken up by the stat sheet being updated with ever more numbers that start meaning less and less as they get ever more absurdly high , bonus points for shityness if the protagonist becomes suddenly stupid and incompetent despite his absurd stats in some attempt by the author to try rail the plot towards something resembling progress reinforcing just how meaningless the numbers are

Also while I am at it another thing to be very wary about is the pitfall is authors confusing or substituting character development and growth with the the numbers on the stat sheet going up as you end up with a protagonist with no personality at all about as faceless , sterile and interesting as a ken doll

 

[Brainstorm813]

One of the worst aspects and most dangerous pitfalls of the gamer genre is the story devolving into what I call number porn especially as the numbers get higher as it soon becomes meaningless

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One of the good things about AI, if you choose to be charitable, is that it can do all the number-crunchings. Stats should not get in the way of story-telling. But someone having Strength 10 will behave differently than someone with Strength 100, but there is little upgrade from Strength 105.
So long the narrative doesn't suffer, it's cool. It's the Skills that's causing me headaches.

 

[some one]

One of the good things about AI, if you choose to be charitable, is that it can do all the number-crunchings. Stats should not get in the way of story-telling. But someone having Strength 10 will behave differently than someone with Strength 100, but there is little upgrade from Strength 105.

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no that won't keep it from devolving into number porn that ends up taking half of every update

the best solution I have found is to abstract as much as possible , stats denoted by ranks or tiers instead of numbers S(highest) , A , B , C ,D ,E and F(lowest) and skills measured by classifications , Grand master , Master , Expert , Adept , Novice and Amateur

does away with a lot of the number porn and keeps things narrative focused also easier to understand , after all going from C tier strength to B tier is a lot easier to manage and understand than trying to figure if going 100 to 105 strength makes a difference (spoiler it never does)

 

[Sonifri]

Is this for a story or something? Like, power first, the rest second?

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It's a literary method for having a gamer system, or multiple systems, while being loose enough in concept that number crunching comes second to storytelling. Originally inspired by Han Jihan from The Gamer when the comic said something about it being the power of his soul. Like it was an intrinsic property to himself and not some outside source giving him power.

But also has external influences, such as self-perception guiding actions. But the first person experience is an illusion, how a person experiences reality, but isn't actually reality. So a person who _thinks_ they're a D&D Gamer might pursue a D&D build and not consider other things. Then there's also the potential for progressive alignment, the longer a path is followed, the more 'on' that path the protagonist is. A person is always in the process of becoming their future self, but the past steers the present.