So many people play MMOs or are familiar with gaming in general that I think a book centering around an mmo will be reasonably accessible.
Heh, that's reassuring to hear, thank you. I'm mostly surrounded by people who already play them, so I wasn't sure how "general" they were. Especially to a Western audience (as I know how popular some MMO-based stories have been in the East).
I don't think an MMO would turn anyone away really. Though I know the faerie part may either seal the or deal or break it for people more the MMO part. Like take SAO, I wasn't a fan of the series after they escaped the world, so faeries wouldn't be my favorite thing unless it goes really dark. The immature type of faeries aren't my thing, but that's personal preference. But the trapped in an MMO(very solid idea). SAO sort of had a bad execution. I haven't read the light novel, though, so that might have been different than anime. But the faerie thing will come down to personal preference(if you were referring to the project mentioned in your sig?) Or the recent chinese anime king's avatar was solid. They weren't trapped in an MMO (they were this standard type on keyboard mmo but was shown on screen)and the MC was the most OP character in the world, though there was far more justification than Kirito. I would probably accept(expect maybe?) an MMO type story to have an OP MC. So I definitely think there is an audience for MMO stories, though probably more popular internationally than in the United States I think. I'm American and watch a lot of anime, but I'm not sure that's really a thing. Like is pro e-sports all that popular in the United States? Just random thoughts.
Ah, yeah, the story I'm talking about is the one mentioned in my sig. It's not about anyone being trapped in the game/transported to the game/etc, but rather about the lives of the players both inside and outside the game itself. Becoming friends, taking on challenges, interpersonal drama, how they interact with both the real world and the virtual world (and where does that distinction even lie?), stuff like that.
The fairy bit is just because I like fairies, games, and games that let the players fly around, so a game about fairies that lets you fly around is exactly the sort of thing I'd enjoy, haha. While I have...mixed feelings about SAO, I liked many aspects of the game Alfheim Online. Too bad that part of the show was the worst arc of them all :'D
I like King's Avatar, although I wish the stakes felt higher. It doesn't feel, to me, as though the MC gets challenged enough. And a lot of the things they do ingame test my suspension of disbelief as being possible with a keyboard and mouse, lol. I see the ingame aspects as more of a symbolic representation of what would actually be happening with these people playing the game. And towards the end of the season, I didn't like how much they leaned on APM as the be-all-end-all in a fight. Overall I enjoyed the show, though.
However, my story will be nothing like it, lol. My MC isn't OP by any stretch--her introduction to the game involves her choosing not to display tutorial tips (Pff, who needs tutorials?), and then having no idea how to put a quest item into her inventory. So that tells you something about her character, haha.
There is actually a genre called "
LitRPG"—novels set in MMOs..
I have no clue about the conventions of the genre or its popularity in the west, though.
Hm, I'll have to look into that, thank you for letting me know.