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  • What is the difference between System and LitRPG novels?

I know what a LitRPG novel is. now I want to know what are the differences between it and a system novel because as far as I can tell they mean the same thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG

all I was able to find on the internet describing system novels were articles from the guardian and the globe and mail.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/24/systems-fiction-a-novel-way-to-think-about-the-present
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-systems-novel-new-and-on-the-way-out/article627338/

they described the genre of books like this "it refers to a certain kind of ambitious American novel that attempts to portray how the entire society works, with particular attention to economic systems or powerful ideologies that provide a regulating framework for characters' actions."

the most recognizable name they gave that was associated with there definition was The Handmaid's Tale.

safe to say that their definition doesn't fit the description of any books with the system tag on here. just by looking at the list of system novels, you can tell it doesn't apply to them.
(https://www.webnovel.com/tags/system_novel_41000016_page1)

any other sources I found using the term system to describe a book were from sites that are somehow associated with Webnovel whether stealing there books or aggregating lists of books like novel updates.

note that I may be wrong about it originating on WN so please correct me if I'm wrong,

I have 3 theories on why the term system is being used/ where it came from

#1 people read a couple of books and saw what cased the LitRPG elements in the books to occur was a "system". whether it was a personal system unique to the protagonist or a global system it doesn't matter all the books had one unifying element they all had a system. someone picked up on this and started calling them system novels. other people agreed and it became the norm.

#2 back in 2017 when the site just got started and the books where getting tags applied to them by the translators they didn't know that the genre name was and translated or selected it as the appropriate tag.
to back up this theory I looked at the first book I remember seeing the tag on My MCV and Doomsday and it dates back to 2017.

#3 there are a few translated books that heavily feature the relationship between the protagonist and the system going as far as having the word system in the name of the title. this shows how prominent the relationship between the two concepts are in china making it natural to use it when talking about the book on here.

oh and before I go I just want to say yes I know about the tag "game elements" but the books under that tag don't all fall under LitRPG so I excluded it from the discussion. feel free to disagree though.

    ATCkit

    Depends on the styling of the book. For litrpg you could have a book where the protagonist is dropped in a game world but lacks access to the character sheet, they live their life in a fantasy setting based on a game world. Itching the best example of this might be the New Gate, basically an SAO premise death game where the character won but is transported 500 years into the future of the game world, certain game elements still exist like item boxes and skill books but no one has access to their character sheet, you don't level up and assign stats, you just grow stronger.

    Where as a system genre book relies heavily on the system. You have a stat sheet, assign points per level, every arc the protag needs to review their sheet to keep the reader appraised of how they are advancing in the overview of their system.

    While both are very easy to overlap, litrpg books don't necessarily all fall under the system genre, like as mentioned some litrpg books do away with the system to give a more organic world expliration that ties back to the system and how the new fantasy world interpretated those systems into daily living.

        Darth_Xiane I disagreed with what you were saying initially because as I explained and even linked to there is already a definitive definition for the litRPG genre.

        here is the definition of litRPG from its Wikipedia page "The term is a neologism introduced in 2013. The proponents of the term state that in LitRPG, games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience. This distinguishes the genre from novels that tie in with a game, e.g. those set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons"... "Typically, the main character in a LitRPG novel is consciously interacting with the game or game-like world and attempting to progress within it."

        I thought "your definition of litRPG and therefor subsequent interpretation of the differences between the genres are invalid. but the definition given for what a system novel is useful,"

        then I realized that you have provided valuable insight into why the term system has likely replaced litRPG. it would appear that the term litRPG was too vague and its original definition has been bastardized into meaning any book with a game or game-like narrative focus.

        basically LitRPG has replaced GameLit. and system has replaced LitRPG for their respective definitions.

        I then looked at the example you gave for your definition. it was good and really helped me to understand your and likely other's mindset on how to classify novels. I notest that while looking into your example that it uses the tag "game elements" and "leveling system" but not "system" on Novel Updates.

        this lead me to the epiphany that these terms are now the new way to categorizes content that now would all fall under the new definition of litRPG. so you have litRPG with Game elements, leveling system, and system all being used as terms describing the elements found in that particular LitRPG book.

        another thing I realized when looking into NovelUpdates is that the site dates back to at least 2015 and was using tags even back then meaning that the creation of this classification system can likely be traced back to there.

        I really appreciate your thoughts on this matter and thank you for it. it has been very insightful.

        Edit: turns out system isn't a tag on novel updates and the best tags associated with system/litRPG on there are
        System Administrator, leveling System, game elements, Transported into a Game World.

        novel updates tagging system is actual ingenues and should be copied over here. for anyone who wants to know more about how it works you can read about at Cleaning up Tags forum post on novel updates.

        if it was used on here from the get-go we wouldn't have had the ability for users to add tags revoked. because when people do add tags that don't belong to the book people can actually remove it. unlike how things are now where books still have tags like yaoi (A World Worth Protecting (has had that tag since at least may 2019) even though people have been saying it is yaoi for like a year now. anyway, there's a tun of more problems with the tag system some of them where addressed but it's still pretty shitty.

        I talked about all the problems I observed with it on the forum at How Webnovel Browse/Browser/Content/Category/Tag/Tagging System is Flawed

            I went on to the wayback machine and found that level system and Game elements are all used on novel updates before they were used on here.

            therefor I'm going to go over there and ask about my question on there.

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