Looking for novels or fanfic with game mechanics

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal
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I really, really like the "video game plot", which features a character of a canon series dying only to discover that all along their life was a video game they were playing on hard mode. More importantly, they can try again, this time with the ability to be a powergamer by grinding stats and prepare for future events that surprised them the first time. I'm having difficulty finding any of these stories that I haven't already read, and I'm also having difficulty finding any that aren't fanfiction.

As far as published novels go, "trapped in VR" seems to be the closest available trope. The difference is that in these the stats end up being unimportant because the goal is to escape back to the real world - not the kind of theme I'm interested in. I want to see the character's real world operating on game-like mechanics.
 

DragonHeart

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I didn't even know that was a thing. I imagine it's way too close to the "it was a dream" trope to be very popular. Well that and grinding is boring unless you're one of the subset of gamers who enjoys it; I do, to a point. I imagine it would be difficult to write in a way that doesn't bore the reader though.

Can you list the ones you've already read? It might be interesting to check out. I'm just not convinced game mechanics would translate well into a non-visual medium.