You know what's the worst thing about systems? They just conveniently drop into a protagonist's lap and make him overpowered. It's lazy writing, and the protagonist is pretty much lazy too. All he needs to do is listen to the system, and voila! He gets gifts, rewards and skills that make him overpowered. Without having to work for it.

It's usually the same pattern. Loser complaining about how life is unfair, how he's weak and unpopular, and have no talent, isn't smart, is poor as f (either has no job or works several part time jobs and gets abused by his boss, or his family is falling apart and he is being deprived of resources because he's "trash"), also gets bullied by his classmates/colleagues/sect mates/family, etc. but he doesn't do a single bloody thing to improve himself or his circumstances. Then a system will magically drop into his lap, and suddenly he turns into a rich, overpowered stud with a harem of women without actually having to work hard. It doesn't feel earned. It's as if all you have to do is bitch and moan about how unfair life is and how hard you have it, and then the heavens will decide to take pity on you and give you a bunch of stuff to turn you into a god. Why should you put in any effort when the gods (or system) will give you everything on a silver platter? That never happens in real life.

At least have the characters work hard and earn their achievements, not give them a bunch of stupid system rewards. What beginner gift, or sign-in rewards, lottery or other BS. It just feels totally unearned and unsatisfying. I prefer to see the characters level up or become stronger through their own efforts, not rely on some magical system or author-given gifts. It's lazy as hell.

    Tomoyuki should I hide somewhere? Your words are scalding me 😂😂😂 though for mine, I have a very reasonable reason

        Tomoyuki Well said. Another thing about systems are those unreasonable stats. Like the intelligence is 9000+ and the mc still acts like a clueless bitch, who has to rely on the system messages to solve every single problem. Like wtf is going on his brain? Shouldn't some things be obvious to him after an iq boost?

        Also, the trope about system trolling the mc... spat the author mentions the system is a "non-human entity" and has no feelings, but never explains why it makes third rate jokes only a degenerate human can make.

        If I were to use a system in my novel, It'll only have one feature - measuring the stats of the mc so that he can keep track of his improvement, health, and prowess. Even that, is just adding more words, essentially fillers.

            This was hysterically fun to read :)

            Webnovel has a trope of it's own. Incomprehensibly bad English given a natural score of 4.9 or more, because, well, who cares if the text needs to be decoded rather than read?

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              grimreaper906 Oh, I'm talking about system stories in general. Some are fine. If you have a reasonable reason, that's good. I do like Solo Leveling (Only I Level Up), for example. At least Jinwoo earns his stats and rewards. He actually works hard for them. Yeah, in the end it just went into overpowered "I'm a special snowflake" territory where he literally becomes a god, but at least in the first few chapters he had to sweat blood to level up. It feels earned. Also, he doesn't behave stupidly like the other protagonists in FireEngine's examples.

              FireEngine Totally agreed. They are far too reliant on the systems. I think it's lazy writing, and the authors are often unimaginative. They don't understand what it means to boost intelliigence. They just want the characters to be overpowered without actually having to put the work into imagining how it'll be like. The system is just a convenient way of telling the readers the main character is overpowered instead of showing.

                  Tomoyuki This. It feels as if the system suddenly changes the whole world and it's not only something affecting the MC, which feels very unnatural and inorganic. The results? Lots of Deus Ex Machina, McGuffins, and other stuff that only happens to fulfill the fantasies of the MC or holds his hand for moving the plot. It feels as if the MC is not really doing anything on his own, learning, or genuinely getting stronger. Heck, the MC at that point is not what's carrying the story, it's the system.

                      TheGreat_GrandArch That would be an interesting idea, though most of the ones who do that make their stories end up very dragging and bothersome to read. The system is only doing things to troll or to see what happens, and it as a character (if you want to call it that) has no real reasonings or benefits or disadvantages to do things other than 'I'm system. I do system stuff'

                        AxlSLL I know, right? Stronger enemy overpowering the protagonist. No problem! Sign into system, spin the lottery and randomly get a new skill or powerup that allows him to win.

                        Why even bother? Actually, why not just spin all the lotteries and get all the skills right from the start?

                          I'm not a fan of female characters who don't act like females. I am totally okay with them being able to handle themselves in a fight, but women think differently than men do, and when I don't see that in a book/movie/TV show/etc... it's really annoying and borderline sexist.

                          I'm okay with most tropes as long as the author does something interesting with them. I mean it's not really a murder mystery if there isn't a dead body in the alleyway...

                            LVTeacherman I think you need to meet more females. I would agree with you if we were talking over majority. But I get it that it's not the case from your message.
                            Humans are all different and there are women with "male-like" behaviors as well as men with "female-like" behaviors.
                            Also I don't see this being an overused trope. You almost never see stories like this on the Webnovel platform.

                                I'm tired of the female big boss trope. She goes missing, then suddenly she's one OP character? Hiding capabilities from the whole world, able to defeat world fighting champions, best hacker, etc.

                                I'm tired of the CEO loves me trope. In fact, I'm getting tired of romance novels in general, they're all the same on this platform.

                                  Ferrarius

                                  I think teacherman is correct here. It’s not about “female actions” vs “male actions,” he is talking about character design. I know men and women can do all of the same things, but they have physical and mental differences.

                                  All characters need a high level of thought to be believable, but if you are writing a character who is the opposite gender as yourself, there is some specific work that might need to go into making them more like the other gender. That is not to say that your women characters need to be weak or dainty, but they probably won’t stand up and pee on a tree… you know?

                                  A common play on this that rather like is the classic “let’s ask for directions” scene. The female character wants to stop and ask for directions, but the male character claims he knows exactly where he is going. Perhaps it is just my life, but this is so true from what I’ve seen. Male pride says, “You need to figure this out yourself!” The female brain says, “Asking for directions makes it more likely we don’t get lost.” Both characters could be hacking their way through a jungle with a machete or riding in a fancy carriage with this scene still applied somehow. It isn’t based on the actions. This is a difference in how men vs women tend to think.

                                      shadowdrake27 I'm pretty sure men ask for directions too. I have done so when I'm lost, and I've helped guys find their way around after they ask me for directions as well.

                                          shadowdrake27 If talking about power and things like that then there is no argument. It is pointless to discuss such an obvious answer since all of us can see it with our own eyes.
                                          I was just commenting on the part where he said that they "think different". And like I said, I think most of them do. After all, since old times we have grown up with different expectations and roles (not that I have anything against them).
                                          But that does not make everyone, and I don't think that making a story about a woman who handles herself (David and Goliath) in times where they were treated like objects is bad. On the contrary, if we drop the "all-powerful" character trope that plagues the male MC side of WN I think we can build an incredible story.
                                          And I'm not saying this because of "woman exposure" or crap like that. Just simply because conflict comes easy at every step because of that. Without you needing to go and find it. And conflict is what keeps your story alive.

                                            Ferrarius I do see them all the time in print and on Amazon. And I totally agree that people have both female and male traits. Either I didn't word that well or you misread it. I probably didn't word it well... lol

                                                LVTeacherman I'm sorry if that was the case. I should not have jumped into conclusion.
                                                And yes, I can see Amazon having a lot of that. But in that case it is usually terribly done. There is nothing good in a story written following a political agenda. At least in my opinion.

                                                    shadowdrake27
                                                    I'm a new writer.Fated stars is my first book and I would like you to review the small part I have written. I don't want to end up writing a cliché story.

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