Bookish Wednesday: Io Online by Dave Willmarth

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m covering the first in another LitRPG series. It’s Io Online, Book 01 of The Greystone Chronicles, by Dave Willmarth!

Plot Synopsis: In the latter half of the 21st century, Alexander and his guild mates play Io Online for fun and to earn a living. It’s the largest VRMMORPG on the planet, and the source of income that supports families around the globe. Given the chance to test a new experimental immersion system, the friends must give up their high level characters and begin again at level one….

Plot: The plot is pretty great, in fact it’s one of the better LitRPGs out there. I’m looking forward to listening to the sequel quite a bit. While there are plenty of standard plot devices that occur, they are utilized in such a way that it isn’t grating, at least to me.

Characters: Alex is our main character and PoV for most of the story. He’s a great lead character, and while he’s not the best I’ve ever seen I found myself enjoying his story quite a bit. The rest of the cast is also pretty awesome.

Overall: A good LitRPG and one of the better ones out there. Definitely worth a read if you love games or good Fantasy.

For those who like: LitRPGs, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Awesome Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Serial Saturday: Our Chaoz Chapters 1-16 by SlyOkami

This week for Serial Saturday I’m back with the first few chapters in a series that’s completed. It’s Our Chaoz Chapters 1-16 by SlyOkami!

Plot Synopsis: Kyle was a simple gamer, he always picked the strangest classes or jobs and his characters almost looked the same. He played for the combat, he played for the grind and he played for his guild but above all he played for the story. Kyle is a roleplayer, one who enjoys the simple parts of this virtual life. Whether his guild was starting a war or ending one he’d always have his drammatic entrence or exit, his decleration of annihalition or demand of surrender. After all that? He divulged himself in the game’s story, the interaction with NPCS (Non Player Characters) and their advanced AI. He went through many questlines, many tales of heroics and many more adventurers of legend, but one thing always remained true with his character….

Kyle absolutely loved to the play the villain.

Plot: The plot of these first few chapters is introducing us to the main characters and really understanding what’s going on with Kyle when he starts up this new game. It’s pretty good although if you wanted a righteous main character you’re going to be highly disappointed.

Characters: We get introduced to a lot of characters, but Kyle is our main lead. The rest of the cast is just as good as Kyle though, with some nice depth to them. That being said my favorite side character is probably Sly.

Overall: A solid start to a series that thankfully is already completed.

For those who like: LitRPGs, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Drama, Action, Adventure, Fantastic Plot, Great Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Personal Status: Fully read. I’ll get to covering the rest of the series soonish.

Anime Sunday: Net-juu Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m looking at another new Fall 2017 series. It’s my Net-juu Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Morioka Moriko is a 30-year-old successful career woman who decides to quit her taxing corporate job and become an elite NEET and find a more fulfilling life. She joins an online MMORPG Fruits de Mer and creates a male character named Hayashi as her avatar. In game Hayashi meets a another character Lilly, a high level player who helps him learn the game…

Plot: The plot of this first episode is pretty decent, not super amazing but there were only a couple cringe worthy moments that occurred. I tend to have a lot more with Slice of Life series, but this being aimed at an older audience might be helpful.

Characters: Moriko is most certainly a NEET, there is one point in the episode where if you paid attention you’ll see she’s upgraded her entire computer set-up to something incredibly gamer centric. The rest of the cast is amusing, though we really didn’t a good look at anyone other than Lilly.

Art: The art is pretty good, not ufotable quality by any means, but it’s not reached the terrible level of a Studio Deen production.

Music: The music is okay, but it’s not super memorable either.

Overall: If you are a gamer, you’ll probably find Net-juu fairly amusing and worth giving a shot. Others may not find this as appealing.

For those who like: Gaming, MMOs, Slice of Life, Drama, Interesting Plot.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Video Game Tuesday: Leadership in Gaming Groups

 

This week on Video Game Tuesday I’m covering a topic I’ve had to personally deal with recently. It’s Leadership in Gaming Groups!

What Is A Gaming Group?: Any gathering of gamers who play together regularly, wether in real life sitting side by side or virtually through an in-game system. This includes things like Guilds, Clans, etc.

Who Should Lead?: Well first off ideally it should be someone who is comfortable with being in charge and making decisions that affect the entire group. It should also be someone everyone trusts and knows.

What Do Leaders Need to Do?: They need to be active in whatever game the group is playing primarily, they can’t just drop off the map because they are bored without getting replacements for them. They also need to be flexible and willing to delegate jobs and be able to communicate well with their group members. They also need to be able to create and enforce the rules by which the group will play.

What about Real Life Emergencies?: Well shit happens, and while it may knock a leader out of commission for a while, a good leader will have back up plans with at least one other active sub leader in the group who can do everything that needs to occur while they are gone.

What Happens When We Have A Bad Leader?: Well you can ask him or her to leave, or if he just up and quit playing the game contact in game customer support if disbanding and reforming is something that isn’t feasible or ideal. Usually customer support will help out with issues like this, and they often have built in systems where players can take over if the leader is absent long enough.

What Happens If A Leader Returns After A Long Absence?: Well they should be prepared to apologize if they just left everyone hanging, they should also not expect to get any in game leadership rights back.  Leaders who bully the people who kept the group going to return the leadership aren’t worth keeping in the group.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday.