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MetaGame
Life is a game, literally. Winners earn immortality, while losers are condemned to aging and death. D_Light, a gifted player, knows this all too well and he’s willing to do anything to win—even kill. It is no wonder then that when given the chance to enter a MetaGame—an exclusive, high-stakes, anything goes contest—he’s quick to jump at the opportunity. The MetaGame starts out well enough for D_Light, the first quest being to hunt down a dangerous fugitive, but through his own ambition, the tables turn and D_Light finds himself the renegade. Now, D_Light pits himself against his world to find the truth behind “The Game” and must decide between winning it and saving what’s left of his humanity.
This book blends emerging political and cultural trends, such as gaming culture, globalization, and the ever-increasing hegemony of corporations, with technological trends, such as genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. Oh, and if that is not enough, there's even some romance!
This book blends emerging political and cultural trends, such as gaming culture, globalization, and the ever-increasing hegemony of corporations, with technological trends, such as genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. Oh, and if that is not enough, there's even some romance!
424 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 18, 2009
93 people are currently reading
1443 people want to read
About the author
Sam Landstrom
4 books33 followersWhen I was six, I announced to my mom, "There's no such thing as time." News spread and Mom’s hippie friends started coming over to the house and asking me questions about the universe. From this promising beginning, I went on to be accused by teachers of smoking pot in the first, fifth, and ninth grades at three different schools in three different regions of the United States. Since these accusations stemmed not from Buddha Grass, but in fact from my own innate ability to zone out, I believe I was destined at birth to become a sci-fi writer!
I went on to study molecular biology at the University of Washington, worked at a DNA sequencing lab that helped sequence the human genome, and now presently work in the software industry.
Other than work, I spend time spacing out, snowboarding, writing, Dungeons and Dragons, playing board games with my 7 year-old son, programming, just about any water sport, hiking in the Pacific Northwest mountains, and spending time with my wife, two kids, and dogs.
I went on to study molecular biology at the University of Washington, worked at a DNA sequencing lab that helped sequence the human genome, and now presently work in the software industry.
Other than work, I spend time spacing out, snowboarding, writing, Dungeons and Dragons, playing board games with my 7 year-old son, programming, just about any water sport, hiking in the Pacific Northwest mountains, and spending time with my wife, two kids, and dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
November 7, 2010
I don't read sci-fi books often, but the synopsis intrigued me.
I dropped a star because for me the book gradually lost it's...sparkle, and by the end I was wondering where the finish line was. It started strong but at times during the middle I was lost. It may have been easier to follow if I had connected to the main character, D_Light, more than I did.
That said I thought it as well written and made complex relationships, and practices that are seen as taboo in today's society easy to follow, and accept.
I liked how humanity was portrayed as "jacked in" consumers dominated by TheGame and slaves to the whims of their "families". Surprisingly, the constant use of techno jargon didn't annoy me, but helped to solidify the story as I read.
I won't say I found the plot surprising or unique, at each plot point it was quite clear what was going to happen, but the explanation of how the OverSoul worked did catch me off guard, and was delightful to read.
I would not have been disappointed to have bought this.
I dropped a star because for me the book gradually lost it's...sparkle, and by the end I was wondering where the finish line was. It started strong but at times during the middle I was lost. It may have been easier to follow if I had connected to the main character, D_Light, more than I did.
That said I thought it as well written and made complex relationships, and practices that are seen as taboo in today's society easy to follow, and accept.
I liked how humanity was portrayed as "jacked in" consumers dominated by TheGame and slaves to the whims of their "families". Surprisingly, the constant use of techno jargon didn't annoy me, but helped to solidify the story as I read.
I won't say I found the plot surprising or unique, at each plot point it was quite clear what was going to happen, but the explanation of how the OverSoul worked did catch me off guard, and was delightful to read.
I would not have been disappointed to have bought this.
November 19, 2010
"Metagame" by first time author, Sam Landstrom is a cyber-punk style of science-fiction novel that is utterly original in style and scope. Essentially, it is about a futuristic society where life itself is one humongous game. Points earned equate to currency so the better player you are, the richer and more powerful you are. Top scorers are eligible for immortality.
Kudos to Mr. Landstrom for creating this world. He has obviously spent a lot of time and energy extrapolating mankind's current trends and motives into a possible future. This is a world that seems entirely plausible as well as disturbing. It is a very different world than we have now and so to bring the reader into it is a daunting task. We jump right into it and, at first, it's a bit of a shock. Lots of new words and slang terms and lifestyles to get used to very quickly. It was almost information overload for me but I stuck with it and soon became a part of it. The best way for me to describe this world and its style is to imagine a cross between the weird science/religion of the Matrix movies and almost any movie by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp in it. It's a strange journey to take but certainly an interesting one.
The problem I had is that the author is forced to spend so much of the book on building this new world for us that he has a lot less room to craft the actual story and build satisfying characters. He still manages to do a fairly good job at that but I felt the plot itself suffered the most. The vast majority of the book is about playing the game...sort of the normal mode for these characters but it isn't until the last 40 pages or so that the stakes become high enough to make a difference and I found I actually cared about what would happen next.
Sam Landstrom has certainly demonstrated some nice raw talent here for world building and setting the scenery; I feel confident he will only get better at the story telling aspect.
Kudos to Mr. Landstrom for creating this world. He has obviously spent a lot of time and energy extrapolating mankind's current trends and motives into a possible future. This is a world that seems entirely plausible as well as disturbing. It is a very different world than we have now and so to bring the reader into it is a daunting task. We jump right into it and, at first, it's a bit of a shock. Lots of new words and slang terms and lifestyles to get used to very quickly. It was almost information overload for me but I stuck with it and soon became a part of it. The best way for me to describe this world and its style is to imagine a cross between the weird science/religion of the Matrix movies and almost any movie by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp in it. It's a strange journey to take but certainly an interesting one.
The problem I had is that the author is forced to spend so much of the book on building this new world for us that he has a lot less room to craft the actual story and build satisfying characters. He still manages to do a fairly good job at that but I felt the plot itself suffered the most. The vast majority of the book is about playing the game...sort of the normal mode for these characters but it isn't until the last 40 pages or so that the stakes become high enough to make a difference and I found I actually cared about what would happen next.
Sam Landstrom has certainly demonstrated some nice raw talent here for world building and setting the scenery; I feel confident he will only get better at the story telling aspect.
October 10, 2012
3.5 Stars.
I really really wanted to give this a better rating that I gave, oh, Twilight, but I honestly, couldn't bring myself to give it a 4.
The strength of this book is the setting, which is elaborate, gorgeous, complex and frankly interesting. This writer would do wonderfully in creating roleplaying games. The downside to it is that, well, everything else is pretty weak: the structure crumbles under its own weight, the pacing is atrocious, the stakes are never that high (and the revelation of the third quest and its justification is outright ludicrous). Hell, the attempts to connect the MetaGame to the "wishes of the players" is completely nonsensical and falls flat when, later, the author tries to convince us that it was all doing by the Oversoul and her connection to the players. (Note that I REALLY enjoyed the idea of the OverSoul, when her true nature is revealed).
The characters are weak, and rather flat, with exception, perhaps, of the doctor, and that only becomes obvious at the final chapter. Lily was "perfect" and while her background was awesome, she still got on my nerves with her absolute perfection (I laughed when D_Light wonders just whose dream\wishes was it to have Lily's go through her final ordeal -- seems the OverSoul was listening to me, good lord!). D_Light was a poor protagonist, who falls for Lily at the drop of a hat, and for all of his 53 years of age, acts pretty much like a teenager all the time, Djoser is moustache twirling evil, obvious and terribly predictable.
I struggled with the book. I really did. True, I was expecting something less pan-human\futuristic and more cyberpunk, but it was still a sloggish read, despite de awesome setting we were presented. This author has great potential -- if only he took some damn writing lessons.
I really really wanted to give this a better rating that I gave, oh, Twilight, but I honestly, couldn't bring myself to give it a 4.
The strength of this book is the setting, which is elaborate, gorgeous, complex and frankly interesting. This writer would do wonderfully in creating roleplaying games. The downside to it is that, well, everything else is pretty weak: the structure crumbles under its own weight, the pacing is atrocious, the stakes are never that high (and the revelation of the third quest and its justification is outright ludicrous). Hell, the attempts to connect the MetaGame to the "wishes of the players" is completely nonsensical and falls flat when, later, the author tries to convince us that it was all doing by the Oversoul and her connection to the players. (Note that I REALLY enjoyed the idea of the OverSoul, when her true nature is revealed).
The characters are weak, and rather flat, with exception, perhaps, of the doctor, and that only becomes obvious at the final chapter. Lily was "perfect" and while her background was awesome, she still got on my nerves with her absolute perfection (I laughed when D_Light wonders just whose dream\wishes was it to have Lily's go through her final ordeal -- seems the OverSoul was listening to me, good lord!). D_Light was a poor protagonist, who falls for Lily at the drop of a hat, and for all of his 53 years of age, acts pretty much like a teenager all the time, Djoser is moustache twirling evil, obvious and terribly predictable.
I struggled with the book. I really did. True, I was expecting something less pan-human\futuristic and more cyberpunk, but it was still a sloggish read, despite de awesome setting we were presented. This author has great potential -- if only he took some damn writing lessons.
December 20, 2011
As an avid reader, especially in the Sci-Fi genre, I've encountered a fair amount of original story-telling when envisioning a (dystoptian) future society, but I have to hand it to Sam for being particularly original in the vision he casts for earth in the future decades (if not hundreds) of years from now. He takes some pretty well known concepts like genetic manipulation, MMOG and and other fairly well known elements in our current culture and extrapolates them out into some pretty fun places in this future world. Aside from your standard Sci-Fi elements, there's also some good humor throughout, some clever and interesting dialog, and a variety of different types of action ranging from the geeky to the graphic. And, of course, like most good stories, this one has a few pretty nice plot twists that, especially the final one which I did not see coming.
The story itself revolves primarily around one guy (D_Light) who's starting to ascend into the next level of success in his journey towards immortality - the goal of many in this future world where the Oversoul sees and governs all. Most of the action revolves around the title-referenced "MetaGame" which is basically a quest taking place in real life where the cost of winning or losing is very high and possibly the difference between death and immortality.
The tale is split up into 3 unequally sized acts. The first act which lasts about 6-8 chapters sets the stage, the main players and introduces some important ground rules for the world you'll be reading about. This act is pretty strong for the most part and you are more or less thrown right into D_Light's life and are playing catch up for several (slightly bizarre but fun) chapters. There's a bit of a lull around this poimt, but then there's a very strong second act that lasts all the way up to about the 70%-75% point of the book and there's a lot to like about this act. It's paced well, progresses naturally and the events all make sense and do much to move the players to the next place in the story.
Granted, it's not what I would consider "amazing" Sci-Fi, but what it lakes in polish and finesse, it makes up for in originality and unexpected turns in the story. The last act takes place largely in one location (Dr. Monsa's) and is very unevenly paced making some passages clumsy and even tedious to get through. There were also some questionable and/or confusing decisions that our protagonist makes, especially in this act, though the book does manage to refocus and end strongly in the last couple of chapters. Still, the problems in the last act didn't negate the overall quality of the book, just that I think the plotting and pacing of the events in this story could have used some more work.
So, all in all this book has a little bit of everything from action/thriller to lots of Sci-Fi elements to horror and even some romance and philosophical ground is covered. For a first effort, this book definitely shows a lot of promise and I'll definitely be watching for more Sci-Fi goodness in the future.
The story itself revolves primarily around one guy (D_Light) who's starting to ascend into the next level of success in his journey towards immortality - the goal of many in this future world where the Oversoul sees and governs all. Most of the action revolves around the title-referenced "MetaGame" which is basically a quest taking place in real life where the cost of winning or losing is very high and possibly the difference between death and immortality.
The tale is split up into 3 unequally sized acts. The first act which lasts about 6-8 chapters sets the stage, the main players and introduces some important ground rules for the world you'll be reading about. This act is pretty strong for the most part and you are more or less thrown right into D_Light's life and are playing catch up for several (slightly bizarre but fun) chapters. There's a bit of a lull around this poimt, but then there's a very strong second act that lasts all the way up to about the 70%-75% point of the book and there's a lot to like about this act. It's paced well, progresses naturally and the events all make sense and do much to move the players to the next place in the story.
Granted, it's not what I would consider "amazing" Sci-Fi, but what it lakes in polish and finesse, it makes up for in originality and unexpected turns in the story. The last act takes place largely in one location (Dr. Monsa's) and is very unevenly paced making some passages clumsy and even tedious to get through. There were also some questionable and/or confusing decisions that our protagonist makes, especially in this act, though the book does manage to refocus and end strongly in the last couple of chapters. Still, the problems in the last act didn't negate the overall quality of the book, just that I think the plotting and pacing of the events in this story could have used some more work.
So, all in all this book has a little bit of everything from action/thriller to lots of Sci-Fi elements to horror and even some romance and philosophical ground is covered. For a first effort, this book definitely shows a lot of promise and I'll definitely be watching for more Sci-Fi goodness in the future.
January 6, 2013
(Originally reviewed on Otherwhere Gazette)
From time to time, a book comes along that has such an interesting concept that it’s hard to get out of your mind. Metagame, by Sam Landstrom, is that kind of book.
The basic concept is pretty simple. On a future earth, the world has changed in some really significant ways. Instead of everyone working, everyone instead plays games. In fact, your game is usually your job, called a “grinder game.” For example, people in a law enforcement grinder game get points and rewards for catching people. You also get points for little things like dropping a company’s brand name into a conversation. Family is also less of a biological concept and more of a social one, allowing people to join a family of their choice. Of course, there are still lower and higher level players, and the higher level players are invited to play a “Metagame,” where the really big prizes are.
Religion has also changed, with the OverSoul as the deity. And it’s a deity that can grant immortality, if you get to a high enough level. You can think of the OverSoul as the operating system that runs the whole game system, including the implants in people. So people who break the rules of the game are not criminals, they’re demons. And demons are hunted by angels, which are artificial people with enhanced abilities.
Speaking of artificial people, they’re all over the place, and they do most of the dirty work. They’re also not considered people, they’re “products.” It’s the interaction of one player with a product, inside of a Metagame, that provides the story. I don’t want to give it away, but suffice it to say that during the Metagame, questions arise about what humanity really means, and whether a being that is 96.3% genetically similar to a human (the upper limit of similarity allowed for products) is truly human or not.
For a thought provoking story that is still enjoyable and very readable, it’s hard to beat Metagame. I strongly recommend it.
From time to time, a book comes along that has such an interesting concept that it’s hard to get out of your mind. Metagame, by Sam Landstrom, is that kind of book.
The basic concept is pretty simple. On a future earth, the world has changed in some really significant ways. Instead of everyone working, everyone instead plays games. In fact, your game is usually your job, called a “grinder game.” For example, people in a law enforcement grinder game get points and rewards for catching people. You also get points for little things like dropping a company’s brand name into a conversation. Family is also less of a biological concept and more of a social one, allowing people to join a family of their choice. Of course, there are still lower and higher level players, and the higher level players are invited to play a “Metagame,” where the really big prizes are.
Religion has also changed, with the OverSoul as the deity. And it’s a deity that can grant immortality, if you get to a high enough level. You can think of the OverSoul as the operating system that runs the whole game system, including the implants in people. So people who break the rules of the game are not criminals, they’re demons. And demons are hunted by angels, which are artificial people with enhanced abilities.
Speaking of artificial people, they’re all over the place, and they do most of the dirty work. They’re also not considered people, they’re “products.” It’s the interaction of one player with a product, inside of a Metagame, that provides the story. I don’t want to give it away, but suffice it to say that during the Metagame, questions arise about what humanity really means, and whether a being that is 96.3% genetically similar to a human (the upper limit of similarity allowed for products) is truly human or not.
For a thought provoking story that is still enjoyable and very readable, it’s hard to beat Metagame. I strongly recommend it.
November 6, 2017
This is one of the best sci fi books I have ever read. I loved the concept and I kept thinking about it long after I finished reading it.
December 29, 2018
Our MC's motivations just don't make any sense. He's called upon by extremely powerful people to partake in an extremely dangerous event... and then just kind of decides to antagonize the gods. "Gods." Why? No idea. Which is where the entire book falls apart for me.
After intentionally becoming a criminal, or 'demon' in the book's insistence to make everything overly dramatic, he does admit that it was all a clever ploy to... something. Look, I read it, and understood it, but it's still stupid. And much more importantly, doesn't explain why he would risk failing the actual timed quest he was on already. You know, the one given by the 'gods' who can kill him. The one he was invited on by his 'queen', who can also ruin his life on a whim. Nothing he does is worth the risk. It doesn't even read as impulsive or bad decision making. There's no effort to explain it. Not even with a subtle nod of "well, you see, our MC is sort of a dumbass." Nothing.
So our main character's lack of convincing motivations for his most important actions in the first half of the book pulled me completely out the experience. And the story never recovered for me.
The writing is fine, not great. The characters are fine, not great. The world is fine, not great. There's some heavy-handedness with how it handles some topics. The insistence to label banal things in special ways (eg, criminals are 'demons') is tiring. It's a book that screams "I'm ok!" And it is. It's ok.
It just also contains a MC that I neither like, nor understand, so 'ok' isn't good enough.
After intentionally becoming a criminal, or 'demon' in the book's insistence to make everything overly dramatic, he does admit that it was all a clever ploy to... something. Look, I read it, and understood it, but it's still stupid. And much more importantly, doesn't explain why he would risk failing the actual timed quest he was on already. You know, the one given by the 'gods' who can kill him. The one he was invited on by his 'queen', who can also ruin his life on a whim. Nothing he does is worth the risk. It doesn't even read as impulsive or bad decision making. There's no effort to explain it. Not even with a subtle nod of "well, you see, our MC is sort of a dumbass." Nothing.
So our main character's lack of convincing motivations for his most important actions in the first half of the book pulled me completely out the experience. And the story never recovered for me.
The writing is fine, not great. The characters are fine, not great. The world is fine, not great. There's some heavy-handedness with how it handles some topics. The insistence to label banal things in special ways (eg, criminals are 'demons') is tiring. It's a book that screams "I'm ok!" And it is. It's ok.
It just also contains a MC that I neither like, nor understand, so 'ok' isn't good enough.
May 30, 2017
Before I begin my review I should probably state how I got to this book and what expectations I had. About a year ago I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and absolutely fell in love with it, going so far as to recommend it to everyone who was capable of reading basically. Of course that was a debut novel and so there wasn't more I could immediately delve in to and so I started looking around for similar books but there weren't any obvious contenders. Now of course this was part of the reason I loved Ready Player One (RPO), it was original, but it still left me longing for more. So I started looking at what people who also loved the book recommended as being a similar read and that's how I came to this book.
Now on the face of it the similarity is indeed there. The idea is basically that the whole world in the future has basically turned in to a massive MMORPG, everyone plays a role in live and one can get ahead by playing well. Sadly that's where the similarity ends already. In RPO there's a blend between virtual reality and reality and that's what makes it work, here were are just left with a largely confusing dystopian MMORPG society that just doesn't quite work. The idea of having AI assistants (called familiars) and playing games to further your level and thus position in live was nice but not very worked out but what worked the least was the dystopian nature of the society. Murder and pillaging were apparently back in vogue and a class based society including all the poor treatment of the lower classes was being touted as the optimal way a human world could function. On top of that a very bleak moral seemed to be prevaling, people were there only for themselves and everything that works for bettering oneself is deemed as a good thing, even encouraged as the way to play the game. Now add sexslaves, mindless android cannon fodder and some other nasty developments to the mix and one is left with a particularly horrible picture of what life should be like. You see it's not being touted as a dystopian society, it is apparently the result of hundreds of years of distilling what the human race really needs and being kept in place because the system works for everyone. On top of that there were some truly disgusting things going on that were probably meant to shock the reader or something but that were just revulsive. For instance those familiars I mentioned earlier not only provided data etc but were also used as toilet paper, or rather as full service cleaning tools that happily took the role of toilet paper with their tongues...
So I hated this book not just because it wasn't RPO, I wasn't really expecting it to be, but because I never cared about anyone I was reading about. I didn't care about the main character who was basically just as a**hole and I didn't care about the story which was shoddy at best. I wanted to stop reading at a few points but the only thing that this book had going for it was it's brevity. So I was already at 40% when the thought of stopping first occured to me and decided to see if it got better, it didn't. Anyways don't read this book, am sure some people enjoyed it but I just don't quite see how
Now on the face of it the similarity is indeed there. The idea is basically that the whole world in the future has basically turned in to a massive MMORPG, everyone plays a role in live and one can get ahead by playing well. Sadly that's where the similarity ends already. In RPO there's a blend between virtual reality and reality and that's what makes it work, here were are just left with a largely confusing dystopian MMORPG society that just doesn't quite work. The idea of having AI assistants (called familiars) and playing games to further your level and thus position in live was nice but not very worked out but what worked the least was the dystopian nature of the society. Murder and pillaging were apparently back in vogue and a class based society including all the poor treatment of the lower classes was being touted as the optimal way a human world could function. On top of that a very bleak moral seemed to be prevaling, people were there only for themselves and everything that works for bettering oneself is deemed as a good thing, even encouraged as the way to play the game. Now add sexslaves, mindless android cannon fodder and some other nasty developments to the mix and one is left with a particularly horrible picture of what life should be like. You see it's not being touted as a dystopian society, it is apparently the result of hundreds of years of distilling what the human race really needs and being kept in place because the system works for everyone. On top of that there were some truly disgusting things going on that were probably meant to shock the reader or something but that were just revulsive. For instance those familiars I mentioned earlier not only provided data etc but were also used as toilet paper, or rather as full service cleaning tools that happily took the role of toilet paper with their tongues...
So I hated this book not just because it wasn't RPO, I wasn't really expecting it to be, but because I never cared about anyone I was reading about. I didn't care about the main character who was basically just as a**hole and I didn't care about the story which was shoddy at best. I wanted to stop reading at a few points but the only thing that this book had going for it was it's brevity. So I was already at 40% when the thought of stopping first occured to me and decided to see if it got better, it didn't. Anyways don't read this book, am sure some people enjoyed it but I just don't quite see how
September 19, 2010
MetaGame von Sam Landstrom habe ich gleich zweimal hintereinander gelesen. Einmal als Roman und das zweite Mal, um die im Buch beschriebene Vision der Gesellschaft wirklich zu verstehen.
Das Buch spielt irgendwann in der Zukunft. Die Gesellschaft ist in sogenannten Familien organisiert, deren Mitglieder jedoch nicht klassisch verwandt sein müssen, sondern eher ein Mittelding zwischen einer Firma, MMO-Gilde und Religion sind. Alle werden von der sogenannten OverSoul regiert, einer künstlichen Intelligenz, die unter Aufsicht aller Menschen die Gesellschaft steuert und reglementiert. Der Wert eines Menschen definiert sich dadurch, wie gut er “das Spiel” spielt, was im Grunde gleichbedeutend ist mit: “wie gut er lebt”, wobei “gut” definiert ist als Erfüllung der von OverSoul anerkannten moralischen Kriterien. Einfach gesagt: das ganze Leben ist ein Spiel, bei dem die Regeln kontinuierlich den gesellschaftlichen Vorstellungen angepasst werden.
Das Buch begleitet D_Light, einen hochrangigen Spieler einer Familie, wie er seinen adligen Eltern bei der Erfüllung einer epischen Quest hilft. Übersetzung: der Hauptdarsteller, ein angesehenes Mitglied der Gesellschaft, wird von den reichen und mächtigen Geschäftsführern seiner Firma als Berater zu einem Auftrag hinzugezogen.
Während die Geschichte ihren Lauf nimmt wird die fiktive Gesellschaft immer tiefer vorgestellt: was die Motivation für die Einführung von OverSoul war, auf welchen wissenschaftlichen Theorien diese Gesellschaftsform steht. Das Interessante dabei ist: diese Theorien sind tatsächlich erschienene Bücher und Paper, so dass diese Science Fiction Gesellschaft eher wirkt wie eine Vision, ein konsequent weitergedachter Versuch diese Theorien in den Alltag zu übertragen. Und das ist spannend. Vielleicht nicht vollständig realistisch, aber darum ging es bei 1984 ja auch nicht. Aber das Buch stellt interessante Fragen zu Identität, Moral, Motivation und letztendlich Menschlichkeit.
Fazit: Empfehlung für SciFi-Fans, Doppelte Empfehlung für Leute, die sich mit Game Design und Gamification beschäftigen.
Das Buch spielt irgendwann in der Zukunft. Die Gesellschaft ist in sogenannten Familien organisiert, deren Mitglieder jedoch nicht klassisch verwandt sein müssen, sondern eher ein Mittelding zwischen einer Firma, MMO-Gilde und Religion sind. Alle werden von der sogenannten OverSoul regiert, einer künstlichen Intelligenz, die unter Aufsicht aller Menschen die Gesellschaft steuert und reglementiert. Der Wert eines Menschen definiert sich dadurch, wie gut er “das Spiel” spielt, was im Grunde gleichbedeutend ist mit: “wie gut er lebt”, wobei “gut” definiert ist als Erfüllung der von OverSoul anerkannten moralischen Kriterien. Einfach gesagt: das ganze Leben ist ein Spiel, bei dem die Regeln kontinuierlich den gesellschaftlichen Vorstellungen angepasst werden.
Das Buch begleitet D_Light, einen hochrangigen Spieler einer Familie, wie er seinen adligen Eltern bei der Erfüllung einer epischen Quest hilft. Übersetzung: der Hauptdarsteller, ein angesehenes Mitglied der Gesellschaft, wird von den reichen und mächtigen Geschäftsführern seiner Firma als Berater zu einem Auftrag hinzugezogen.
Während die Geschichte ihren Lauf nimmt wird die fiktive Gesellschaft immer tiefer vorgestellt: was die Motivation für die Einführung von OverSoul war, auf welchen wissenschaftlichen Theorien diese Gesellschaftsform steht. Das Interessante dabei ist: diese Theorien sind tatsächlich erschienene Bücher und Paper, so dass diese Science Fiction Gesellschaft eher wirkt wie eine Vision, ein konsequent weitergedachter Versuch diese Theorien in den Alltag zu übertragen. Und das ist spannend. Vielleicht nicht vollständig realistisch, aber darum ging es bei 1984 ja auch nicht. Aber das Buch stellt interessante Fragen zu Identität, Moral, Motivation und letztendlich Menschlichkeit.
Fazit: Empfehlung für SciFi-Fans, Doppelte Empfehlung für Leute, die sich mit Game Design und Gamification beschäftigen.
January 3, 2011
Metagame is the story of D_Light who lives in a future in which life itself has become a game, where basic jobs have been boiled down into games in which players earn points that add up to currency and if you have enough points you can get a show at becoming immortal. D_Light is an upstart player who finds himself invited to take part in a Metagame, a prestigious, potentially dangerous game with high rewards.
First of all, as someone who has not read a great deal of science fiction, I found the world crafted in this book to be extremely interesting and original (Now, maybe this has been done before, but being new to the genre I wouldn't know). It's a world that could easily warrant further explanation in follow-up novels.
The story is relatively intriguing and I never really found myself bored with the story even though it was hard to get into at first. The main problem of the book that I had was with the characters, who seemed rather flat. D_Light didn't seem to have much of a personality, which made it hard for me to really connect to him. The same can be said for the other characters who never really seem to inhabit a set personality.
Another problem is that the writing isn't terribly great. The author has obviously never heard of "show, don't tell", because he can go into various explanations of how the world works. The problem is that it's almost necessary given that there's so much about the world that we need to understand, but it still feels rather intrusive and clumsy.
While I can list the books faults, I can't deny that by the end of the book I was rather invested in what happened, even if I probably shouldn't have been looking at the book "on paper" so to speak. It's an interesting, relatively entertaining book that will probably delight fans of science fiction even if it does have its flaws.
First of all, as someone who has not read a great deal of science fiction, I found the world crafted in this book to be extremely interesting and original (Now, maybe this has been done before, but being new to the genre I wouldn't know). It's a world that could easily warrant further explanation in follow-up novels.
The story is relatively intriguing and I never really found myself bored with the story even though it was hard to get into at first. The main problem of the book that I had was with the characters, who seemed rather flat. D_Light didn't seem to have much of a personality, which made it hard for me to really connect to him. The same can be said for the other characters who never really seem to inhabit a set personality.
Another problem is that the writing isn't terribly great. The author has obviously never heard of "show, don't tell", because he can go into various explanations of how the world works. The problem is that it's almost necessary given that there's so much about the world that we need to understand, but it still feels rather intrusive and clumsy.
While I can list the books faults, I can't deny that by the end of the book I was rather invested in what happened, even if I probably shouldn't have been looking at the book "on paper" so to speak. It's an interesting, relatively entertaining book that will probably delight fans of science fiction even if it does have its flaws.
August 20, 2013
I have always loved high-technology and dystopian style novels. MetaGame fell right into this wheelhouse. The story was easy to follow, didn't involve a confusing number of characters and was quite linear.
The overall plot was compelling and the technology appeared well integrated for the most part. In some cases there were superfluous side characters or situations which didn't really serve any purpose than a pure plot device to set up a situation before they were quickly forgotten.
The ending was a bit abrupt with the last words being devoted to spoon feeding the moral of the story to the reader with some apparent attempts at side humor to keep it from seeming like a narrator was booming a dire warning. For such an abrupt halt, the final conversation could have stood a bit of shortening as well. I think I'd have preferred to join the conversation a bit further in progress.
I did enjoy the read and would recommend it to people who enjoy these genres but I wouldn't hold it up as a great example of any of them in particular. It's a pretty light, easy read.
The overall plot was compelling and the technology appeared well integrated for the most part. In some cases there were superfluous side characters or situations which didn't really serve any purpose than a pure plot device to set up a situation before they were quickly forgotten.
The ending was a bit abrupt with the last words being devoted to spoon feeding the moral of the story to the reader with some apparent attempts at side humor to keep it from seeming like a narrator was booming a dire warning. For such an abrupt halt, the final conversation could have stood a bit of shortening as well. I think I'd have preferred to join the conversation a bit further in progress.
I did enjoy the read and would recommend it to people who enjoy these genres but I wouldn't hold it up as a great example of any of them in particular. It's a pretty light, easy read.
October 18, 2009
A fascinating and immersive read
Sam Landstrom's debut novel "MetaGame" is a well-thought-out, well-written novel about a future--maybe even a bit dystopian--time when the earth's 28 billion humans are caught up in playing games.
Landstrom's world is fascinating: he gives us glimpses into why society evolved this way. We are introduced bio-engineered almost-humans and plants, mind interface chips, nanoskins, and a mutli-level caste-driven society. The explanations are detailed enough that I got totally immersed in his world.
MetaGame essentially tells the story of how D-Light, an everyday gamer, is invited to play a special game after wishing for more understanding. D-Light's adventure and susbsequent realizations leave us with a deeper understanding of Landstrom's future society, and how we're all involved.
This was a great read, and I'm looking forward to future works by Landstrom!
Sam Landstrom's debut novel "MetaGame" is a well-thought-out, well-written novel about a future--maybe even a bit dystopian--time when the earth's 28 billion humans are caught up in playing games.
Landstrom's world is fascinating: he gives us glimpses into why society evolved this way. We are introduced bio-engineered almost-humans and plants, mind interface chips, nanoskins, and a mutli-level caste-driven society. The explanations are detailed enough that I got totally immersed in his world.
MetaGame essentially tells the story of how D-Light, an everyday gamer, is invited to play a special game after wishing for more understanding. D-Light's adventure and susbsequent realizations leave us with a deeper understanding of Landstrom's future society, and how we're all involved.
This was a great read, and I'm looking forward to future works by Landstrom!
March 6, 2010
A strong first novel that is hampered by less than impressive writing style.
Sam Landstrom's first novel introduces a fantastic dystopic society where all tasks carried out by humans are done in the guise of virtual games to earn 'points'. Your points are used to purchase assorted designer merchandise and also determine your place in society. Everything from garbage-collecting to programming new software becomes a 'game' with the goal of earning new points. In this world, a fascinating thriller is set up involving quite a few big name players of the game.
The downside to this entire narrative is that Landstrom's writing often pulled me out of the book. "Show, don't tell" is a lesson that he badly needs to be taught, with needless exposition sounding more like a lecture than a story. Include frequent typos and misspellings that editors never caught, and the book loses some of its edge by constantly reminding you that it is a new author.
Sam Landstrom's first novel introduces a fantastic dystopic society where all tasks carried out by humans are done in the guise of virtual games to earn 'points'. Your points are used to purchase assorted designer merchandise and also determine your place in society. Everything from garbage-collecting to programming new software becomes a 'game' with the goal of earning new points. In this world, a fascinating thriller is set up involving quite a few big name players of the game.
The downside to this entire narrative is that Landstrom's writing often pulled me out of the book. "Show, don't tell" is a lesson that he badly needs to be taught, with needless exposition sounding more like a lecture than a story. Include frequent typos and misspellings that editors never caught, and the book loses some of its edge by constantly reminding you that it is a new author.
April 11, 2013
Took a long time to get going and nearly lost me, but I kept at it. Somewhere under all the layers of online gaming culture the author is trying to say something. It's just a shame that so much superfluous exposition is piled on top. When you're still explaining the rules of your world at the 75% mark (no joke), you are doing something wrong. Seriously, the info dumps were out of control.
For a long time I didn't think the author knew where he was going, but then I reached the final few chapters. It turns out he had a rather complex and interesting argument to make, but seemed to not know quite how to get there. If he were to go back and really shape the rest of the book around his (surprisingly strong) ending, it would all be for the better. Also the character of D-Light never really progressed and the conclusion was weakened as a result.
I'm not an online gamer. There's definitely a market for this book... and I'm not it.
For a long time I didn't think the author knew where he was going, but then I reached the final few chapters. It turns out he had a rather complex and interesting argument to make, but seemed to not know quite how to get there. If he were to go back and really shape the rest of the book around his (surprisingly strong) ending, it would all be for the better. Also the character of D-Light never really progressed and the conclusion was weakened as a result.
I'm not an online gamer. There's definitely a market for this book... and I'm not it.
July 26, 2011
See more of my reviews at Bettering Me Up.
I do not usually delve into the world of sci-fi and I am certainly not a gamer (much to my husband's chagrin), but I could not get enough of this book. Landstrom creates a world that seems all too plausible in the far (near?) future. The characters are realistic, and arrogant, and flawed, but you can relate to them. Their names consist only of handles you'd find on the internet. No "Jennifer" or "Joshua" plain vanilla names.
There were several "Oh no!" moments, and I couldn't read fast enough to read what happened next. I was disappointed when I got to the end of the book. I wanted to read more and find out what they did a few years later.
I do not usually delve into the world of sci-fi and I am certainly not a gamer (much to my husband's chagrin), but I could not get enough of this book. Landstrom creates a world that seems all too plausible in the far (near?) future. The characters are realistic, and arrogant, and flawed, but you can relate to them. Their names consist only of handles you'd find on the internet. No "Jennifer" or "Joshua" plain vanilla names.
There were several "Oh no!" moments, and I couldn't read fast enough to read what happened next. I was disappointed when I got to the end of the book. I wanted to read more and find out what they did a few years later.
October 14, 2011
Incredible sci fi. The plot is a little weak but the world building and the 'what ifs' that make up the best sci fi stories are all there. The character is a little weak - you never really sympathize with him - but it doesn't matter, you can feel for his story and his very detachment makes you realize that this futuristic environment is almost guaranteed to create a population of veritable sociopaths. He isn't at all likable but is the most likable of his peer group. Every action he takes makes you wonder how you would respond in that environment, and to anyone who spends any time in a virtual space this vision of the future is both horrifying and realistic.
August 22, 2015
This book will make you think. For prescience, I give it five stars as the author has really captured a plausible picture of our future where pervasive gaming gives us a way to bring meaning and order to our hyper-tech lives. The writing was good but not Neal Stephenson amazing.
All that said, I will probably read it again because I want a playbook for where humanity is going and this book spells out a likely scenario.t
All that said, I will probably read it again because I want a playbook for where humanity is going and this book spells out a likely scenario.t
July 19, 2022
This was a fairly bad story with some very interesting ideas embedded in it, most notably (a) the gamification of life, and (b) the rise of the mass group marriage crossed with the online gaming clan becoming the dominant social structure. These are the ideas that keep me thinking about this otherwise forgettable book years later. They're great ideas - I just wish there was a better story around them!
August 9, 2011
I thought this book pretty interesting.
It's one of those "emerging story" books where you're thrown into the story and it's background and premise is explained as you read it.
For a first book, it's pretty darn good. You get into the characters, feel for them and there's a few twists that you wouldn't really expect.
It's one of those "emerging story" books where you're thrown into the story and it's background and premise is explained as you read it.
For a first book, it's pretty darn good. You get into the characters, feel for them and there's a few twists that you wouldn't really expect.
February 14, 2021
Not much to like in this litrpg for me. The writing was weak, the characters unconvincing and the plot weak. The ending in particular felt rushed and tacked onto a story that was more like a collection of ideas than a cohesive narrative.
October 20, 2013
Read the whole story and still have no idea what the hell was going on.
March 18, 2017
Being a bit meta with the rating here, because I really like the subject matter, and want goodreads to recommend more like it, but only liked the book 4 stars.
January 16, 2019
Loved this book wish that I could find more like it.
October 22, 2020
Great story and great writing.
August 15, 2025
I was somewhat afraid to reread this, it being one of my favorite books as a teenager, suspecting it might not hold up 15 years later.
However, I'm glad I did. While some of the general prose is a bit cringe and better left on late oughts message boards, the world building and overall predictions of gamification and widespread interconnectivity is incredible. Not to mention I think some of the social and biotechnical predictions are more likely than not to occur in the next decade or two.
So though the book suffers from being written by a "techbro", I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in how a world governed by some later form of ChatGPT looks like and what it would mean to be human in such a world.
However, I'm glad I did. While some of the general prose is a bit cringe and better left on late oughts message boards, the world building and overall predictions of gamification and widespread interconnectivity is incredible. Not to mention I think some of the social and biotechnical predictions are more likely than not to occur in the next decade or two.
So though the book suffers from being written by a "techbro", I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in how a world governed by some later form of ChatGPT looks like and what it would mean to be human in such a world.
November 24, 2018
If you're reading this one because it was recommended by Amazon because it's like other LitRPG books you've read, then don't bother, it's not even partially LitRPV. At best, it could be classified as vrlit, but that's about as close as I'd allow it to get. It's not a very good story, it's not even all that interesting, and to be perfectly honest, the whole time I was reading it, I kept wondering when we were going to see something worthwhile. Sure, there's a few interesting plot points, but these are few and far between. There was loads of potential in this book that just plain fizzled out. Throw in the incest, and you can just about write the whole thing off as a bad idea. I did not even remotely enjoy this book, and I doubt I'll read anything else by this author in the future.
November 25, 2022
DNF @ page 230. Starts off with an interesting setup - a society where everything is a game. You get game-points for doing your everyday job and for name-dropping products, but there are also other games to participate in where you can become a star - a bit like real-world social media "influencers" becoming "celebrities" in their niches because lackluste teenagers "like" them. Anyway, the first quarter is an entertaining setup but it just doesn't go anywhere, just jumps to the next quest/task/event. Might work better for someone who is a gamer but I got bored.
May 30, 2023
I'm going to be completely honest, I had a hard time always telling if the characters were in the game or in real life. But then again, life is like a game, isn't it?
For me this book was a mix of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and The Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton.
I found this especially interesting as we are breaking into the era of artificial intelligence. Where we hear/read stories about the blurring lines between games and reality.
Great book!!
For me this book was a mix of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and The Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton.
I found this especially interesting as we are breaking into the era of artificial intelligence. Where we hear/read stories about the blurring lines between games and reality.
Great book!!
November 5, 2017
I really enjoyed the character development and talent utilized in writing this book. It had more breadth than many in the "lit rpg" genre it is similar to and plays up a feature of modern life that could evolve into something like this setting presented in a "what if this continued and became more prominent" proposition. A great read and a truly enjoyable one
May 17, 2017
Do not recommend. Boring and predictable.
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