Books not about videogames where those are still part of the plot?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

It's always fun to me when I come across videogame/console references in books not about them.

Like, there are a quite a few scenes in "Donuts & Other Proclamations Of Love" in which Mario Kart is the centerpiece of the narrative (it even moves both the plot and character development forward in a hilarious way). There are also mentions to the original SEGA Genesis in "Retro" (that book is most certainly NOT about gaming).

A few other books I know of either use gaming as a common ground thing or directly drop names of important franchises to sort of lay down the groundwork and establishing when they take place, a bit of an awkward (but appreciated!) attempt to come across as relatable.

What other examples do you know of?

 

[bjork]

It isn't central to the plot at all, but in WORST, Abo was playing Animal Crossing for DS

 

[AncientBehemoth]

Do not want to derail the thread. I googled it and two warnings rang in my mind. First the author looks like a soy cuck. You know typical new male balding millennial in thick glasses with a beard. Second it was released in 2021 which in my memory is peak soy/feminism era.
So my question is is it about insufferable "ally" of women and does this book have "open relationship" in it? Pardon if I sound inapropriate.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

So my question is is it about insufferable "ally" of women and does this book have "open relationship" in it? Pardon if I sound inapropriate.

It certainly makes a few bold statements (not necessarily those, however).

 

[beefbowl]

High Score Girl is a romance manga but it's centered around video games. Main character understands the world and bonds with people through videogames. Especially fighting games, as the manga is set in golden age of arcades.

Also not about a center part, but main villain of Ajin is literally gets inspired by hyper-violent video games. He can be seen playing Doom or other stuff on different consoles. Really cool character.

First the author looks like a soy cuck. You know typical new male balding millennial in thick glasses with a beard. Second it was released in 2021 which in my memory is peak soy/feminism era.

What the fuck are you on about really? What kind of content do you normally consume, it literally destroyed your brain.

 

[aryes99]

High Score Girl is a romance manga but it's centered around video games. Main character understands the world and bonds with people through videogames. Especially fighting games, as the manga is set in golden age of arcades.

Also not about a center part, but main villain of Ajin is literally gets inspired by hyper-violent video games. He can be seen playing Doom or other stuff on different consoles. Really cool character.

What the fuck are you on about really? What kind of content do you normally consume, it literally destroyed your brain.

Hi Score Girls Dash follows a different path, still keeping fighting games as the main plot thread.

The first one has an anime on Netflix that I think is even better than the manga.

 

[ciro64 ciro64]

The only book I've read is literally about a videogame so I don't think I can contribute but interesting thread nonetheless

 

[bjork]

First the author looks like a soy cuck.

It's always a good thing to judge based solely on how someone looks

 

[AncientBehemoth]

What kind of content do you normally consume

Videogames related content.

it literally destroyed your brain.

I call it past experience.

Post automatically merged: May 11, 2025

It's always a good thing to judge based solely on how someone looks

That's how mentality goes for eastern people. We even have a proverb for it "Встречай по одёжке провожай по любви". Which translates to Meet person by their looks, sees them of by how you love them. As you can get from it first impression is important but it is only halve of it.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

*Sighs*.

My Rule 1 is tingling.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

It's always fun to me when I come across videogame/console references in books not about them.

Like, there are a quite a few scenes in "Donuts & Other Proclamations Of Love" in which Mario Kart is the centerpiece of the narrative (it even moves both the plot and character development forward in a hilarious way). There are also mentions to the original SEGA Genesis in "Retro" (that book is most certainly NOT about gaming).

A few other books I know of either use gaming as a common ground thing or directly drop names of important franchises to sort of lay down the groundwork and establishing when they take place, a bit of an awkward (but appreciated!) attempt to come across as relatable.

What other examples do you know of?

I utterly adore high score girl. It’ll only matter if you like street fighter but all the references really warmed my heart and it even used video game mechanics to tell the story it was really cool.

 

[wilddogsdivorce]

There's an in universe VR type game played in Ender's Game, which I remember thinking sounded pretty sick. They also play a lot of laser tag.

 

[bjork]

I suppose this thread is not complete without mentioning Ready Player One