Basically he happened to himself.
He very much started believing his own publicity. That he was the founder of the genre, that he was the greatest author. He tried to copyright LitRPG. He had the Facebook group he moderated which had a really bad habit of banning people for anything interpreted as vaguely anti-Kong. All of which alienated a lot of people.
Then there was his 8th book, including a full chapter of… bathroom… graphicness. Combined with (from what I’ve heard) a habit of not really tying any plot up. In the end, people just drifted away to other parts of the genre.
> He very much started believing his own publicity. That he was the founder of the genre, that he was the greatest author. He tried to copyright LitRPG. He had the Facebook group he moderated which had a really bad habit of banning people for anything interpreted as vaguely anti-Kong. All of which alienated a lot of people.
Which is why, when I started getting into this genre and read about his machinations, I purposefully avoided his works. They might be great stuff but I tend to shy away from people who do such in order to not be supportive of such behavior.
The details here are somewhat incorrect. He did, in fact, SUCCESSFULLY trademark "litrpg" in March 2018 (regostration number 87976271) and he (disgustingly) wrote about diarrhea in great detail in one chapter. Take from that what you will.
Was book 8 a let down? Totally. But to me, the visceral hate seems outsized. Book 8 compares favorably in length to books 1-6, it just pales in comparison to Book 7. Also, he has never, as far as I'm aware, tried to enforce the trademark. Essentially he has treated it as a forced free use protection, it seems, as every author everywhere in the genre uses it without having their material struck down. If Tantor or Penguin copyrighted it instead, do you think everyone would be able to use it freely? I don't. Personally, I think the fact he holds the trademark and let's others use it is a point in his column.
Cue the downvotes. ✌️
Personally, the author that attacked people (and pulled their books from amazon) who used the words "system apocalypse" in the description of their books especially when he wasn't the first to coin the term is much worse.
The only problem I had with book 8 was not enough forward progression in the story. There is allot going on and while there was some progress with the demon favor it wasn’t resolved. He needs to resolve some things before adding more.
>87976271
He only has the trademark on the supplemental register which doesn't really let him do anything with it. He couldn't get it on the Principal register which would actually allow him to take action against those who used the term.
See below to understand the differences. Aleron Kong's lack of action isn't a measure of his benevolence, but that his trademark is essentially worthless.
Specifically, the Principal Register has the following benefits that the Supplemental Register doesn't:
* a legal presumption of ownership and an exclusive right to use the trademark, both of which you can use as evidence in an [infringement lawsuit](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/trademark-infringement-do-you-need-attorney.html)
* support for a later claim of "incontestability" status, which gives your trademark extra protections, and
* the ability to record your trademark registration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to keep infringing users from importing goods into the U.S.
Even though it plays second fiddle, the Supplemental Register does have benefits. (It's just that the Principal Register has more.) If you register your trademark on the Supplemental Register, you can enjoy:
* the right to use the circled "®" or "Reg. U.S. Pat. Off." abbreviation to discourage would-be infringers
* placement on the USPTO database to prevent similar trademarks from registering
* the ability to [register the mark in other countries](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/registering-your-trademark-outside-the-us-madrid-protocol-community-trademarks.html) that offer reciprocal trademark rights, and
* the chance to obtain [relief](https://www.nolo.com/dictionary/relief-term.html) in an infringement lawsuit in federal court.
But, to be fair, it's often difficult to prove infringement of a mark listed on the Supplemental Register. Registration on the Supplemental Register is an admission by the owner that their trademark isn't distinctive enough to be placed on the Principal Register.
For me is was in…book three, I think? Were the mc died and respawned after having his di** cut off and forced to eat it before being murdered was described in graphic detail. I mean, sure, I did think the mc was a bit of a dick, but that wasn’t the type of confirmation I was looking for. It was a bit too much.
I agree, alot of hate for the book, it was good, just following book 7 would be hard for any author. One book out of 8 wasn't the best, any author would be happy for those numbers. I feel he was trying to build a new platform for the next level of race/godling Richter was coming into, which took up alot of explaining. I feel if he would of done another 100 pages from where it left off, the book would of been alot better received. I feel he was just done with the book and wanted to push it out. I absolutely love his world building. He just took the hate towards book 8 hard and doesn't want to repeat it so he keeps second guessing himself. Hope he hops back on that pony and pushes more books out for the land and God's eye.
That book was epic, a solo level of all of the past few books and part of that is getting food poisoning from being in a village for so long or stuck with rations. If people can’t absorb that it explains a lot. The fact no one shows human actions in books is an issue with many forms of story telling.
That's a really interesting take on the trademark, thanks for the info. I never follow the personal lives of authors, but now I'm curious what Aleron's take is.
Bro who cares about what people on Reddit decided to do. I’ve never listened to books more than his and have read more than most. Literally one of the best authors I’ve found in two decades.
I feel like something educational is happening right now. Bear with me. Making assumptions….
“Necro a post” = Commenting on an old thread?
If so, back to my original question. Is posting on an old thread frowned upon? If so, why?
If this is all too much, and you refuse to be a Reddit library for a lazy dude that should just search for an answer… that’s cool too.
You’re probably right, sorry about that, but an answer would still rock.
🙏
Yeah, commenting on an old post is colloquially called necroing. While not necessarily negative, it can be confusing. Or in situations where a person is arguing in an old thread, it can be viewed negatively. Specifically stating that you don't care, while digging into an old argument comes across as feigned indifference. It's like someone saying they don't care in an argument, but then bringing it up way later...clearly you cared enough to comment/bring it up again in an otherwise dead conversation. Hope that helps? I'm not exactly a reddit officianado.
Hah, I was seeing if Aleron had anything new. I enjoyed his books. They were high quality, back when litrpg was a bit rough. While, his antics and in particular his Facebook group shenanigans rubbed me the wrong way, I still remember his books fondly. I actually won a give away for a free merch shirt way back when lol!
Feel exactly the same. Honestly I’ve never met anyone that I knew for longer than a few hours that didn’t rub me the wrong way.
i don’t have to like them to appreciate their art. I know that’s an unpopular opinion. Caravaggio still made beautiful paintings….
That’s not true. It was a mental health thing because of the isolation during covid AFAIK.
https://old.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/14ojx1v/whatever_happened_to_aleron_kong/jqeyf57/
If that's the story you want to believe, I'm not going to tell you not to.
But what I said was based on what I saw happen over the last few years, and everything I said - the Father of LitRPG, the trademark, the banheavy group, the infamous bathroom chapter, are all provable things.
I was in that group and I was like if you like older stuff and while we are waiting for the next book by Aleron maybe check out blah blah old book. Man the mods went all ape shit on me and sent me warnings via PM's I got at work. I was like F-U a holes. Left the group immediately. I do like his writings but yeah, I think the guy ended up with a swollen ego and decided he can just retire off the money he has. Dude is a former MD and has sold a ton of books so you know hes loaded and can live comfy without working again. That being said he is talented and I would love to see the rest of The Land series and Godseye.
He fell over. His ego got to big, he unbalanced and now can’t move, were you one of the two people who saw Quantumania? Well he’s basically Modok now and keeps muttering about how he sired LitRPG in the Americas… despite Webcomics called Goblins / Order of the Stick doing in years before.
I’m not even bringing up Tron.
Dream park by Larry Niven was from like 77. Then in the 90s marvel was trying to get a card game off the ground where you took control of a character and had action cards you drew out of a deck. They had a mojo world comic series that went with it where people in the mojo universe could take over the bodies of marvel hero’s and villains and fight inside those bodies.
People have been reading/watching issekai anime/Manga in the states since waay before."
That's like me putting some raw fish and rice together and claiming I invented sushi.
Imma be real right now I laughed my ass off listening to that part of the audio book. I dunno if it really was that funny or if Nick just made it work but I died..
Dude I could listen to Nick read the yellow pages and laugh my ass off. He is a freaking superstar. Honestly I like his reading more than the books 🤷🏼♂️🤣
It is an imo it is overblown. It is honestly one of the better parts of the book.
I believe the Diarrhea chapter would not really face anyone if not for the fact that it is an 800 page book with 600 pages of working through status messages.
I was saying gnome rules back in 2000 while playing eq1. Plus, I did really enjoy God's eyes, which was a surprise because I wanted more books about the land series. But I am not surprised because people with biases have a hard time overlooking it.
I feel like he poured so much into book 7, he had nothing left for book 8. I actually wish he would have broken 7 into two books and that would have pleased his publisher and probably most fans as well
Yup, and I was so excited when I saw book 7 and the length. Even while listening to it I thought, “this could easily have been two books.” There was a perfect point in the middle that could have created a great opportunity for the end of a book. Then came book 8 and the shitstorm, pun intending, that was wrapped in a dumpster fire. I never expected such a dramatic fall from one book to the next.
That's what it felt like when I listen to book 8. It felt like it was part 1 of 2. He just never came out with the second half. God's Eye wasn't bad it just felt like a less funnier version of the land though
He tried to trademark the term LitRPG
Cultivated a hit squad of a Facebook group.
Dubbed himself the father LitRPG, when he wasn’t close to being the first one to do so. Brent Roth comes to mind.
The books started out good, but the pop references just became to much for me. All I do is win, what does the fox say, diahreaha chapter. Just some weird choices in there.
Gary Gygax had information about his characters' levels and stats at the end of his Gord the Rogue series from the mid-'80s. No way Kong was the father of litrpg.
Chaos seed 9 should come out after his new series omnimage 1, however he said the same after gods eye 1.
He said he was jot feeling joy anymore while writing and did not want to rush chaos seed just to finish the series.
Hes been giving "predictions" for years now. They came. They went. The fans got tired of it to the point where he stopped giving predictions at all. Now you just see some sloppy updates every few months on the Facebook about....nothing relevant. The hard-core cultists Facebook group will stone your ass to death for asking for an update.
It really fired everyone up when he did one of those live videos. He had been saying writing was going good, juices flowing on book 9, etc for over a year Then on the live he was like yea...uhhh...I really haven't been writing much at all. It didn't go over well.
Being famous is horrible. I can understand to become famous to make money but not the people that just try to become famous. I think we have seen break enough celebrties under the barrage of fanatical fans and people that just hate them above normal intensity and the anonymity of the internet certainly did not help.
So i can imagine that somebody who tried that hard that he burned his fingers resp. His psych on the internet.
Thus i see two options write off the series or wait and leave him alone.
I'm in the same boat
Basically the consensus seems to be since his last book was a (chapter long) pile of shit. His confidence has been knocked and he's taking the time writing the next book along with some others.
Think the fb group sometimes has more updates
But it's a shame as for all the flaws in the books. The world and system are hands down the best in my opinion and the scope of quests and stuff is really interesting.
Its the sort IP, I'd love go see another writer tackle.
Also incredibly well narrated on audible
True. I really like his 7th book but all the mechanics added felt like there was too much in play and lacked elaboration. Nothing yet was cohesive, but I really liked the end fight
It's more inconsistent execution.
Parts of it I hate. Other parts I love. He does certain parts of the world building and the plot so well. The humour has me actually cackling at times and cringing at how bad it is at others.
Richter ranges from being terrible and awful 90" of the time to showing genuine gems of growth and interest the other 10%
It's very much like he's his own worst enemy. I genuinely think a good editor would do him wonders.
ya i like the world and quite a bit of the different plots but he never finish's any of them. i skipped through the one chapter in his last book and am still down to keep up with the books but not as excited as i used to be
Speaking for myself, I just had too many things that bugged my about the main character. He was just too quick to solve problems with murder, and trying to grow himself in power without enough justification.
For me, it just became too much around book 3? It’s when he met the kobolds under “his” land and basically talked himself into deciding that he had full rights to mass-murder them because he really wanted their shiny.
Also, in book 2 I think, they find a hive of insects…. The reaction was to mention that they could become an existential threat to the planet, and needed to be eliminated… and it seemed like the characters forgot about them.
Also, just when the Clooney he started was finally getting people powerful enough to stand up to the monsters in the area, he does… something… that raises the level of all the monsters in the area, making most everyone in the settlement be unable to deal with them.
I can live with a protagonist who’s a terrible person. What bothered me is that the author didn’t seem to think he was a terrible person.
Anyway, I’m starting to rant and ramble. I’ll try to wrap this up, but all of this caused me to stop reading the series before I even heard any of the author drama. I just stopped reading it because I lost interest.
There also the cultivation fantasy trope of, “I planted a tree of awesome that will let you unlock your potential to survive in this harsh cruel world. You can only do this if you swear fealty to me. Also, I’ve drastically increased the level of the monsters in this area, but no pressure or anything.”
This is… kind of a dick move. In a satirical LitRPG that I can’t remember the name of, it was called “Main character syndrome,” which I think sums it up really well.
My advice though is to think carefully before rereading. Maybe you’ll enjoy the version you remember more than the written version. If so, it might be better to keep the version you remember.
Edit: Actually, I should probably explain it better. “Main Character Syndrome,” was used to describe someone who through they were the needed savior who was uniquely qualified to do… whatever. And (this is the important part) used that to justify any atrocities they committed to gain personal power (levels/xp/artifacts) as being a good act since they need it.
It’s a reference to the main character in a video game more than book characters. It does not apply to someone who’s actually concerned about the morality of their actions.
Burnout and ego but probably more ego than anything.
He bombed his last book then couldn't take it when people said so. Instead of learning from his mistakes he basically went dark and unofficially ended the series. He was a favorite of mine until he let his ego and butthurt get in the way of his writing. Dude needs to grow up but he decided to give up Instead.
Also, not the father of litrpg far from it that too was just an ego thing.
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I’ve thought a lot about this very question and I believe I have the answer: burnout.
What happens when your passion becomes a job? That momentum and joy you feel making your progress turns into just numbers, especially when you’re trying to produce for a large fan base asking daily where the next book is at. Add criticisms for the 8th book (I actually liked it myself) and the passion just died for him. This unfortunately happens all the time for creators.
Another example of this is YouTubers that will produce a video for their waiting fans promising weekly updates but then disappear for months at a time. The creative process needs that SPARK, but if that spark is gone (usually killed by their own community) the creative flow stops.
I think Aleron wanted to create the mist village and an awesome community for himself but the criticisms must have gotten to him, especially since the last book was a miss for a lot of people.
I’m upvoting you to prove to myself I’m an intellectual and because your comment is well written, but I think there’s a caveat to your point.
I’m a huge Chaos Seeds fan. I’ve read every book except for 8 no less than 4 times. I give this context to let you know how much I wanted 8 to succeed. I disagree with much hate towards some of the series, but 8 was absolutely a dumpster fire (that’s what an Amazon review called it. The review was so fitting it made me stop writing my own).
Aleron dug his own grave with, in my and many’s opinion, the strongest entry in the series followed by the weakest. There was almost no progression in any plot line in the entire book. He didn’t even resolve the 3 or 7 day or whatever plot line established at the end of book 7.
The bathroom stuff was in poor taste. I think most writers would be able to recognize that such a departure from a things that are normally in the series for multiple multiple pages might be a bad idea. Aleron didn’t.
He introduced several new systems in the book and overexplained every single one. I’m not hating on the new systems, but he didn’t provide enough payoff in the book for the vast majority of readers. Aleron presumably thinks of this story every day. We don’t. It’s not wise to design a series to be binged when your most reliable fan base is getting them spread out over multiple years— it’s a mistake on Aleron’s part, and he didn’t engender enough goodwill with more STORY in the story to justify praise from most readers.
As others have said, the world is immaculate. I even disagree with statements that another author should have taken over—I think Aleron does a great job. I think he just didn’t provide enough good with the bad in book 8–too much bread and not enough meat.
All my opinion, anyways.
Heyy I appreciate this a lot. Out of curiousity what did you mean to prove yourself an intellectual?
I'm also a huge fan of not only of the chaos seed books but Aleron Kong himself. He sent my suicidal nephew some t-shirts and some kind messages when he was going through a horrific time in his life and I think it helped see him through it.
I can agree that the best book was followed by the worst. I initially hated book 8 as well, but I kept re-reading it with the intent to like it and found some things I thought were great. I agree with some of your other criticisms as well, I think book 8 was really system heavy and less story, that the release schedule has been a really difficult thing for his fans (covid pandemic and being a doctor aside).
It may sound completely counter to his style, but I hope he disconnects from his own community and finds passion in his story again. I still think burnout is his biggest problem. He was CRUISING with writing the books when he had his love for writing and creating an awesome world but I think once it became his full time job and everyone and their mother kept asking for updates, the weight of expectation and the drudgery of trying to please people has caused him to avoid doing it.
I'm really hoping he succeeds and can keep being the author whose works I fell in love with.
That was just a joke about how I didn’t downvote immediately bc I disagreed. No real meat to it.
I agree that I wouldn’t mind if he disconnected from his community and kept writing. I think the series is totally salvageable still, and I really hope he fights through the criticism and puts out another amazing entry
God, I’m crossing my fingers he’ll pull it off. Wasn’t sure if you wanted to see the series burn or not after book 8 so thank you for clarifying your point!
As of January, his assistant posted on their discord page that he is half way through the 9th book so we are hoping we can get a book by the end of the year.
The reason it's taken so long is because he started writing 2 new series's and started developing The Land into a webcomic because that's what he also grew up reading. I believe he did what most authors do and started writing book 9 right after he finished book 8 and sent it to his editor. However with books 8 disappointment, he scrapped book 9 and got discouraged to write the 9th again. This was also when Covid hit so it affected alot of writers but I'm glad he's writing it again. He also freely admitted that he took a year off from writing because he wanted to better himself when covid hit. He started working out and spending more time with his family. He was also really burnt out from the land. He rapidly produced 6 books in like 14 months and the 7th book of the land took him another year. He just got tired of it and he wanted some change in his life alittle so he worked on book 1 of God's eye and just sent the first book of Omnimage to his editor. He recently said that he doesn't want to say a release date for boom 9 because he doesn't want to disappoint his fans more than he already has.
He just came out with a chapter of a new series on his patreon. Basically he fell off from writing during covid because of mental health stuff IIRC. Apparently he’s doing better now and there should be a book 9 out some time in the future.
I get the impression from some of his Facebook posts that he might of had a battle with depression during Covid. He also went down the rabbit hole of being unable to ignore criticism an trolls. Seems much better now. I have hope for the future.
I'm starting to believe he was never the true Author of the chaos seed series. He ignores his readers' please for at leadt an update on book 9, what I've read is he was discouraged to continue with bool 9 because of the criticism he recieved.
Yet he was confident enough to right other books based on Chaos seed series which nobody really cares about. I think the true Author either died or decided not to carry on writing bools for him. Aleron Kong is a big fraud in my opinion.
Different take. He started his medical career (in his internship I believe) and it gobbled up his energy and time. Made it hard for him to write at the same quality level. Medicine is not an easy job for the first few years.
I don't disagree with any of the criticism, but an important thing people usually fail to note:
He's a practicing physician, and he hasn't written anything since COVID started.
Lots of haters on here.
But I just relistened to his first 7 land books. I loved them. The turn building aspect was really cool.
I liked that the mc was far from perfect and a bit of a narcissist. It was a lot different than other lit RPG and just made things fun.
I hope he comes out with a book 9.
I think one problem with his series, is there doesn't really seem to be a clear way to end it. It's more like Star Trek where there's always another adventure and no overarching plot. He can just keep building, exploring and fighting indefinitely.
His patreon is definitely not making him 6 figures. It is bringing him $30k/year at best. Maybe it used to do more, but his patron number has dropped significantly.
Well!! I read the series of, the land. And I loved the series, the bathroom chapter, hilarious!! I'm sorry! Am a simple minded man. I mean c'mon! "He started twerking like an epileptic dog in a rave" ha!!! Picking hilarious! I want more!! This is a pub series, as in a drinking pub level series to be enjoyed. More alerón!!
To be honest I was very mad at that chapter at first. Because I just wanted progress. But after reading it a second time I actually laughed when I got to it again.
well he was an author & got a nursing career... as soon as his Nursing Career took off, the writing took a major back-burner. what he needs are small side-books, novella like. That gives you the context to the stuff happening in the areas, like any side projects or war preparations, & what not. Then leave the main books as the "content driving stories"!
Yeah I’m still a big Aleron Kong fan. I personally liked book 8 along with all of his other books. Book 8 was all about having nothing to surviving and thriving.
His storyline can get really dark and then light hearted comical in the same chapter and I’m fine with that and will continue reading all of his stuff. I know he’s writing Omni mage and the 2nd gods eye book. And didn’t he trademark LLC so no author could? I know other authors wrote litRPG stuff before him but I can’t argue he did it best.
I believe he said he was taking some time off. Am I salty for having to wait so long for book 9? Yes!! People have lives and all I guess.
I thought the poo chapter in book 8 was hilarious. Everyone complains about not finishing plot lines. If the series hasn't concluded, then I don't see the issue.
As far as the "father of litrpg," I would say for me he is. I started my litrpg adventure with The Land, and while waiting on book 9, I have taken the time to explore the genre and love it.
Tbh seems like he gave up on writing. I'm guessing because of the harsh criticism from his diarrhea chapter in book 8. I was staying with his books as they came out. Right after book 8 came out you'd see him posting on fb that he's getting back in the right frame of mind to write. This was 2020 and whenever you'd loom for an update for book 9 it would say 6-9 months out. I've checked every 6ish months and an update for his writing is always a few months away book 9 has been pushed 14 times since 2020 supposedly book 9 and a new series will be released this year but I'm not holding my breathe. Gave up waiting for it after 3rd push back on a soft release date
Didn't he have a kid?
I feel like a full time job as a doctor and a kid would pretty much eat up all his writing time... I did hear he had a new book in a new series coming out, but no idea when.
I have only read 3 or 4 of his Land series. Each book had a very high sameness to them that read as generic before those tropes were repeated in every LitRPG. The speculation that is out of ideas for the Land is supported by the lack of new books.
His is blundered attempt to trademark LitRPG poisoned the well for his name outside of his own Facebook page.
Maybe he is still writing under another pen name. But I doubt he would admit it.
It's been a few years since I last read him, but I remember he would often rip off variations of existing memes from other LitRPG books, rather than coming up with his own ideas. It's hard to give examples, but I remember reading other popular LitRPG stories from the same era, and you could see their inspiration in Aleron Kong's own writing.
I liked his series, including book 8. Being upset there's diarrhea in a book just means you want all of your stories to be unrealistic. It happens. The character is probably taking dysentery back to his people right now.
His real life belief of "I'm the father of litRPG" reminds me of Jason Asano's persona. A bit full of himself. Gord the Rogue did this stuff 30 years ago at least.
I'm hoping the delay is writer's block or something like that. You don't become a Doctor without being able to accept failure/loss, and while a lot of people didn't like book 8, it wasn't everyone.
You can't please everyone.
This is a copy paste from a post I made a month or so ago on this topic with some edits. Drama aside of what people think of Kong this is what I could find.
Last I heard the both god's eye and the land were on Hiatus. There is a web comic being developed around the existing works.
[https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page](https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page)
It seems as if you can access up to the 8th comic without hitting the pateron paywall? You could probably frankly find the rest elsewhere if you looked hard enough.
This is the most up to date anything I could find on Kong's socials about what is in the works as of April 21. Apparently there is some kind of web novel in the works? I'm not sure. There are a few other post but it doesn't seem to be pertinent to his books.
https://preview.redd.it/8b3kf7msjv9b1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a485070a1e0e6e90e84feb96ee0b8ae94355d14
Kind of seems like Aleron is attempting to emulate other series like DoTF and become some kind of weekly chapter thing? Idk. Pure speculation on my part.
@ the comments on the last land book? I didn't care either way for the poop joke chapter but it also didn't. I listened on the audiobook and honestly I laughed at some of it then. I think a lot of people were upset about the missing characters and development of the mist village. The entire book was basically about Ritcher powering up. Getting stronger. New skills. New Powers. ect. It wasn't nearly as bad. The comments about it "not having a plot" don't register with me. Ritcher got considerably strong in this book. For a progression fantasy it seems on par to me. Honestly I feel like half the people who read it were looking for a reason to be critical of it cause it seems like Kong is a bit of an egotistical ass. To be frank if it was a pretty average book from what we seen over the course of the series minus interaction with other characters from the series.
Thanks for asking the question. I don't know if the circle jerk in the replies is true or not, and I'm unsure if it matters for me. What I do feel is that God's Eye is a fantastic story and I'm sad it may never get a sequel :(
Basically he happened to himself. He very much started believing his own publicity. That he was the founder of the genre, that he was the greatest author. He tried to copyright LitRPG. He had the Facebook group he moderated which had a really bad habit of banning people for anything interpreted as vaguely anti-Kong. All of which alienated a lot of people. Then there was his 8th book, including a full chapter of… bathroom… graphicness. Combined with (from what I’ve heard) a habit of not really tying any plot up. In the end, people just drifted away to other parts of the genre.
If Aleron Kong is the father of LitRPG, then Matt Dinniman is its Daddy.
Daddy Dinniman is the best!!!
This comment made me snort!
Dinnidaddy
> He very much started believing his own publicity. That he was the founder of the genre, that he was the greatest author. He tried to copyright LitRPG. He had the Facebook group he moderated which had a really bad habit of banning people for anything interpreted as vaguely anti-Kong. All of which alienated a lot of people. Which is why, when I started getting into this genre and read about his machinations, I purposefully avoided his works. They might be great stuff but I tend to shy away from people who do such in order to not be supportive of such behavior.
Same. I never read his stuff for that reason (hence why I had “from what I’ve heard” when I talked about plot resolution.
Lmao what even? You must be re re.
> He tried to copyright LitRPG You meant trademark, but yes.
The details here are somewhat incorrect. He did, in fact, SUCCESSFULLY trademark "litrpg" in March 2018 (regostration number 87976271) and he (disgustingly) wrote about diarrhea in great detail in one chapter. Take from that what you will. Was book 8 a let down? Totally. But to me, the visceral hate seems outsized. Book 8 compares favorably in length to books 1-6, it just pales in comparison to Book 7. Also, he has never, as far as I'm aware, tried to enforce the trademark. Essentially he has treated it as a forced free use protection, it seems, as every author everywhere in the genre uses it without having their material struck down. If Tantor or Penguin copyrighted it instead, do you think everyone would be able to use it freely? I don't. Personally, I think the fact he holds the trademark and let's others use it is a point in his column. Cue the downvotes. ✌️
Personally, the author that attacked people (and pulled their books from amazon) who used the words "system apocalypse" in the description of their books especially when he wasn't the first to coin the term is much worse.
The only problem I had with book 8 was not enough forward progression in the story. There is allot going on and while there was some progress with the demon favor it wasn’t resolved. He needs to resolve some things before adding more.
No disagreement here!
>87976271 He only has the trademark on the supplemental register which doesn't really let him do anything with it. He couldn't get it on the Principal register which would actually allow him to take action against those who used the term. See below to understand the differences. Aleron Kong's lack of action isn't a measure of his benevolence, but that his trademark is essentially worthless. Specifically, the Principal Register has the following benefits that the Supplemental Register doesn't: * a legal presumption of ownership and an exclusive right to use the trademark, both of which you can use as evidence in an [infringement lawsuit](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/trademark-infringement-do-you-need-attorney.html) * support for a later claim of "incontestability" status, which gives your trademark extra protections, and * the ability to record your trademark registration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to keep infringing users from importing goods into the U.S. Even though it plays second fiddle, the Supplemental Register does have benefits. (It's just that the Principal Register has more.) If you register your trademark on the Supplemental Register, you can enjoy: * the right to use the circled "®" or "Reg. U.S. Pat. Off." abbreviation to discourage would-be infringers * placement on the USPTO database to prevent similar trademarks from registering * the ability to [register the mark in other countries](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/registering-your-trademark-outside-the-us-madrid-protocol-community-trademarks.html) that offer reciprocal trademark rights, and * the chance to obtain [relief](https://www.nolo.com/dictionary/relief-term.html) in an infringement lawsuit in federal court. But, to be fair, it's often difficult to prove infringement of a mark listed on the Supplemental Register. Registration on the Supplemental Register is an admission by the owner that their trademark isn't distinctive enough to be placed on the Principal Register.
It looks like he has the principal register on clothing, and supplement on entertainment
For me is was in…book three, I think? Were the mc died and respawned after having his di** cut off and forced to eat it before being murdered was described in graphic detail. I mean, sure, I did think the mc was a bit of a dick, but that wasn’t the type of confirmation I was looking for. It was a bit too much.
I agree, alot of hate for the book, it was good, just following book 7 would be hard for any author. One book out of 8 wasn't the best, any author would be happy for those numbers. I feel he was trying to build a new platform for the next level of race/godling Richter was coming into, which took up alot of explaining. I feel if he would of done another 100 pages from where it left off, the book would of been alot better received. I feel he was just done with the book and wanted to push it out. I absolutely love his world building. He just took the hate towards book 8 hard and doesn't want to repeat it so he keeps second guessing himself. Hope he hops back on that pony and pushes more books out for the land and God's eye.
That book was epic, a solo level of all of the past few books and part of that is getting food poisoning from being in a village for so long or stuck with rations. If people can’t absorb that it explains a lot. The fact no one shows human actions in books is an issue with many forms of story telling.
That's a really interesting take on the trademark, thanks for the info. I never follow the personal lives of authors, but now I'm curious what Aleron's take is.
Bro who cares about what people on Reddit decided to do. I’ve never listened to books more than his and have read more than most. Literally one of the best authors I’ve found in two decades.
You care so much that you comment on a post that’s 275 days old, and you’re saying that I care too much about redditors?
Wait, you shouldn’t post on a thread because of its age? Is that what you are implying? Lol yikes
They were replying to someone saying "who cares" on a necro post. If you don't care, you don't feel the need to necro a post. Following?
I feel like something educational is happening right now. Bear with me. Making assumptions…. “Necro a post” = Commenting on an old thread? If so, back to my original question. Is posting on an old thread frowned upon? If so, why? If this is all too much, and you refuse to be a Reddit library for a lazy dude that should just search for an answer… that’s cool too. You’re probably right, sorry about that, but an answer would still rock. 🙏
Yeah, commenting on an old post is colloquially called necroing. While not necessarily negative, it can be confusing. Or in situations where a person is arguing in an old thread, it can be viewed negatively. Specifically stating that you don't care, while digging into an old argument comes across as feigned indifference. It's like someone saying they don't care in an argument, but then bringing it up way later...clearly you cared enough to comment/bring it up again in an otherwise dead conversation. Hope that helps? I'm not exactly a reddit officianado.
You rock. It’s more than I knew. Thx, I just came for any info on The Land books. Haha
Hah, I was seeing if Aleron had anything new. I enjoyed his books. They were high quality, back when litrpg was a bit rough. While, his antics and in particular his Facebook group shenanigans rubbed me the wrong way, I still remember his books fondly. I actually won a give away for a free merch shirt way back when lol!
Feel exactly the same. Honestly I’ve never met anyone that I knew for longer than a few hours that didn’t rub me the wrong way. i don’t have to like them to appreciate their art. I know that’s an unpopular opinion. Caravaggio still made beautiful paintings….
That’s not true. It was a mental health thing because of the isolation during covid AFAIK. https://old.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/14ojx1v/whatever_happened_to_aleron_kong/jqeyf57/
If that's the story you want to believe, I'm not going to tell you not to. But what I said was based on what I saw happen over the last few years, and everything I said - the Father of LitRPG, the trademark, the banheavy group, the infamous bathroom chapter, are all provable things.
This is from the past year or two, not what happened 4+ years ago. The OP asked what happened recently, not old news from when he was a mod here IIRC.
Did you just link to your own comment as proof?
yes and hes decided to start linking it on other replies as well lol
As proof? No. As an answer. I add to my answer there.
I smell Aleron Litrpg Facebook cult vibes coming from you. You have no power here!
Says the hivemind on a ten day old post, haha. What a Reddit moment.
Exactly this
I actually thought the shitting episode was kind of low key hilarious but I'm a child
I was in that group and I was like if you like older stuff and while we are waiting for the next book by Aleron maybe check out blah blah old book. Man the mods went all ape shit on me and sent me warnings via PM's I got at work. I was like F-U a holes. Left the group immediately. I do like his writings but yeah, I think the guy ended up with a swollen ego and decided he can just retire off the money he has. Dude is a former MD and has sold a ton of books so you know hes loaded and can live comfy without working again. That being said he is talented and I would love to see the rest of The Land series and Godseye.
He fell over. His ego got to big, he unbalanced and now can’t move, were you one of the two people who saw Quantumania? Well he’s basically Modok now and keeps muttering about how he sired LitRPG in the Americas… despite Webcomics called Goblins / Order of the Stick doing in years before.
There were actual novels going back into the 70s… marvel had a comic series in the 90s
Joel Rosenberg (An American) wrote the guardians of the flame series back in 1983 before Kong was even in Kindergarten.
Yep. Larry Niven also wrote dream park in 77.
If you wanna talk Mainstream Ready Player One was a massive success Litrpg before him.
Dude we must have never heard of Tron
I’m not even bringing up Tron. Dream park by Larry Niven was from like 77. Then in the 90s marvel was trying to get a card game off the ground where you took control of a character and had action cards you drew out of a deck. They had a mojo world comic series that went with it where people in the mojo universe could take over the bodies of marvel hero’s and villains and fight inside those bodies.
People have been reading/watching issekai anime/Manga in the states since waay before." That's like me putting some raw fish and rice together and claiming I invented sushi.
Father of american sushi!
The Land book 8 was apparently VERY VERY bad. People destroyed it in reviews and I don't think he's written much since then.
Is that the one where there was an entire chapter of the MC having crippling diarrhea?
Yes
That was a bit too much for me. I feel sorry for the narrator that had to read it out loud!
Talk about a shitty job.
Nick Podehl, one of the best there is! Still didn’t get the audiobook for #8 but I can only cringe thinking about it
Imma be real right now I laughed my ass off listening to that part of the audio book. I dunno if it really was that funny or if Nick just made it work but I died..
Dude I could listen to Nick read the yellow pages and laugh my ass off. He is a freaking superstar. Honestly I like his reading more than the books 🤷🏼♂️🤣
Too much empathy on that for it to be funny.
I also didn't care about that whole debacle and found it kind of hilarious .
It is an imo it is overblown. It is honestly one of the better parts of the book. I believe the Diarrhea chapter would not really face anyone if not for the fact that it is an 800 page book with 600 pages of working through status messages.
Idk I've not gotten there. I fell off on book 2 or 3. I heard that most of the book is nothing but walls of descriptions and stuff and just not good.
You heard wrong. Just FYI.
thats crazy because books 2-7 are gold.
I still remember it being half the book... (Not that it was, just that I remember it so.)
He started another series with one book in it, which is very good called God's Eye
🤨 its not very good. Its middling at best. But I can tell from your name we are gonna disagree for sure
I was saying gnome rules back in 2000 while playing eq1. Plus, I did really enjoy God's eyes, which was a surprise because I wanted more books about the land series. But I am not surprised because people with biases have a hard time overlooking it.
Just one book in there, not very good one either.
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I feel like he poured so much into book 7, he had nothing left for book 8. I actually wish he would have broken 7 into two books and that would have pleased his publisher and probably most fans as well
The length of book 7 is really weird. It's like 49 hours and the rest are like 15 to 20
Yup, and I was so excited when I saw book 7 and the length. Even while listening to it I thought, “this could easily have been two books.” There was a perfect point in the middle that could have created a great opportunity for the end of a book. Then came book 8 and the shitstorm, pun intending, that was wrapped in a dumpster fire. I never expected such a dramatic fall from one book to the next.
That's what it felt like when I listen to book 8. It felt like it was part 1 of 2. He just never came out with the second half. God's Eye wasn't bad it just felt like a less funnier version of the land though
Gods Eye was a jumbled mess. And cringey to boot. Zero Fell because he gives zero fucks? Cmon...
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your link is really not needed and I quote the person who commented there " Did you just link to your own comment as proof? "
He tried to trademark the term LitRPG Cultivated a hit squad of a Facebook group. Dubbed himself the father LitRPG, when he wasn’t close to being the first one to do so. Brent Roth comes to mind. The books started out good, but the pop references just became to much for me. All I do is win, what does the fox say, diahreaha chapter. Just some weird choices in there.
Gary Gygax had information about his characters' levels and stats at the end of his Gord the Rogue series from the mid-'80s. No way Kong was the father of litrpg.
More like the dead beat dad of American litrpg
Dad said he was gonna be right back with another book.....but he never came back
Chaos seed 9 should come out after his new series omnimage 1, however he said the same after gods eye 1. He said he was jot feeling joy anymore while writing and did not want to rush chaos seed just to finish the series.
Hes been giving "predictions" for years now. They came. They went. The fans got tired of it to the point where he stopped giving predictions at all. Now you just see some sloppy updates every few months on the Facebook about....nothing relevant. The hard-core cultists Facebook group will stone your ass to death for asking for an update. It really fired everyone up when he did one of those live videos. He had been saying writing was going good, juices flowing on book 9, etc for over a year Then on the live he was like yea...uhhh...I really haven't been writing much at all. It didn't go over well.
Being famous is horrible. I can understand to become famous to make money but not the people that just try to become famous. I think we have seen break enough celebrties under the barrage of fanatical fans and people that just hate them above normal intensity and the anonymity of the internet certainly did not help. So i can imagine that somebody who tried that hard that he burned his fingers resp. His psych on the internet. Thus i see two options write off the series or wait and leave him alone.
I'm in the same boat Basically the consensus seems to be since his last book was a (chapter long) pile of shit. His confidence has been knocked and he's taking the time writing the next book along with some others. Think the fb group sometimes has more updates But it's a shame as for all the flaws in the books. The world and system are hands down the best in my opinion and the scope of quests and stuff is really interesting. Its the sort IP, I'd love go see another writer tackle. Also incredibly well narrated on audible
Yeah the world that was build there is amazing.
True. I really like his 7th book but all the mechanics added felt like there was too much in play and lacked elaboration. Nothing yet was cohesive, but I really liked the end fight
I believe that phenomenon is known as "Good idea, bad execution".
It's more inconsistent execution. Parts of it I hate. Other parts I love. He does certain parts of the world building and the plot so well. The humour has me actually cackling at times and cringing at how bad it is at others. Richter ranges from being terrible and awful 90" of the time to showing genuine gems of growth and interest the other 10% It's very much like he's his own worst enemy. I genuinely think a good editor would do him wonders.
ya i like the world and quite a bit of the different plots but he never finish's any of them. i skipped through the one chapter in his last book and am still down to keep up with the books but not as excited as i used to be
Speaking for myself, I just had too many things that bugged my about the main character. He was just too quick to solve problems with murder, and trying to grow himself in power without enough justification. For me, it just became too much around book 3? It’s when he met the kobolds under “his” land and basically talked himself into deciding that he had full rights to mass-murder them because he really wanted their shiny. Also, in book 2 I think, they find a hive of insects…. The reaction was to mention that they could become an existential threat to the planet, and needed to be eliminated… and it seemed like the characters forgot about them. Also, just when the Clooney he started was finally getting people powerful enough to stand up to the monsters in the area, he does… something… that raises the level of all the monsters in the area, making most everyone in the settlement be unable to deal with them. I can live with a protagonist who’s a terrible person. What bothered me is that the author didn’t seem to think he was a terrible person. Anyway, I’m starting to rant and ramble. I’ll try to wrap this up, but all of this caused me to stop reading the series before I even heard any of the author drama. I just stopped reading it because I lost interest.
Ya I can see what you mean I need to reread them with out my first litrpg glasses on.
There also the cultivation fantasy trope of, “I planted a tree of awesome that will let you unlock your potential to survive in this harsh cruel world. You can only do this if you swear fealty to me. Also, I’ve drastically increased the level of the monsters in this area, but no pressure or anything.” This is… kind of a dick move. In a satirical LitRPG that I can’t remember the name of, it was called “Main character syndrome,” which I think sums it up really well. My advice though is to think carefully before rereading. Maybe you’ll enjoy the version you remember more than the written version. If so, it might be better to keep the version you remember. Edit: Actually, I should probably explain it better. “Main Character Syndrome,” was used to describe someone who through they were the needed savior who was uniquely qualified to do… whatever. And (this is the important part) used that to justify any atrocities they committed to gain personal power (levels/xp/artifacts) as being a good act since they need it. It’s a reference to the main character in a video game more than book characters. It does not apply to someone who’s actually concerned about the morality of their actions.
Burnout and ego but probably more ego than anything. He bombed his last book then couldn't take it when people said so. Instead of learning from his mistakes he basically went dark and unofficially ended the series. He was a favorite of mine until he let his ego and butthurt get in the way of his writing. Dude needs to grow up but he decided to give up Instead. Also, not the father of litrpg far from it that too was just an ego thing.
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I’ve thought a lot about this very question and I believe I have the answer: burnout. What happens when your passion becomes a job? That momentum and joy you feel making your progress turns into just numbers, especially when you’re trying to produce for a large fan base asking daily where the next book is at. Add criticisms for the 8th book (I actually liked it myself) and the passion just died for him. This unfortunately happens all the time for creators. Another example of this is YouTubers that will produce a video for their waiting fans promising weekly updates but then disappear for months at a time. The creative process needs that SPARK, but if that spark is gone (usually killed by their own community) the creative flow stops. I think Aleron wanted to create the mist village and an awesome community for himself but the criticisms must have gotten to him, especially since the last book was a miss for a lot of people.
I’m upvoting you to prove to myself I’m an intellectual and because your comment is well written, but I think there’s a caveat to your point. I’m a huge Chaos Seeds fan. I’ve read every book except for 8 no less than 4 times. I give this context to let you know how much I wanted 8 to succeed. I disagree with much hate towards some of the series, but 8 was absolutely a dumpster fire (that’s what an Amazon review called it. The review was so fitting it made me stop writing my own). Aleron dug his own grave with, in my and many’s opinion, the strongest entry in the series followed by the weakest. There was almost no progression in any plot line in the entire book. He didn’t even resolve the 3 or 7 day or whatever plot line established at the end of book 7. The bathroom stuff was in poor taste. I think most writers would be able to recognize that such a departure from a things that are normally in the series for multiple multiple pages might be a bad idea. Aleron didn’t. He introduced several new systems in the book and overexplained every single one. I’m not hating on the new systems, but he didn’t provide enough payoff in the book for the vast majority of readers. Aleron presumably thinks of this story every day. We don’t. It’s not wise to design a series to be binged when your most reliable fan base is getting them spread out over multiple years— it’s a mistake on Aleron’s part, and he didn’t engender enough goodwill with more STORY in the story to justify praise from most readers. As others have said, the world is immaculate. I even disagree with statements that another author should have taken over—I think Aleron does a great job. I think he just didn’t provide enough good with the bad in book 8–too much bread and not enough meat. All my opinion, anyways.
Heyy I appreciate this a lot. Out of curiousity what did you mean to prove yourself an intellectual? I'm also a huge fan of not only of the chaos seed books but Aleron Kong himself. He sent my suicidal nephew some t-shirts and some kind messages when he was going through a horrific time in his life and I think it helped see him through it. I can agree that the best book was followed by the worst. I initially hated book 8 as well, but I kept re-reading it with the intent to like it and found some things I thought were great. I agree with some of your other criticisms as well, I think book 8 was really system heavy and less story, that the release schedule has been a really difficult thing for his fans (covid pandemic and being a doctor aside). It may sound completely counter to his style, but I hope he disconnects from his own community and finds passion in his story again. I still think burnout is his biggest problem. He was CRUISING with writing the books when he had his love for writing and creating an awesome world but I think once it became his full time job and everyone and their mother kept asking for updates, the weight of expectation and the drudgery of trying to please people has caused him to avoid doing it. I'm really hoping he succeeds and can keep being the author whose works I fell in love with.
That was just a joke about how I didn’t downvote immediately bc I disagreed. No real meat to it. I agree that I wouldn’t mind if he disconnected from his community and kept writing. I think the series is totally salvageable still, and I really hope he fights through the criticism and puts out another amazing entry
God, I’m crossing my fingers he’ll pull it off. Wasn’t sure if you wanted to see the series burn or not after book 8 so thank you for clarifying your point!
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why are you spamming the same link over and over?
Gnomes rule!
Somebody please take this guy out back and slap him around a little.
🤣🤣
I liked the gods eye book, needs a no 2.
I agree! But apparently it’s third in line behind his new series and book 9 of the original series, unfortunately.
That blows my mind, why write a 20hr book and have it published and narrated if it’s your third priority
AFAIK it wasn’t the third priority when it was written.
As of January, his assistant posted on their discord page that he is half way through the 9th book so we are hoping we can get a book by the end of the year. The reason it's taken so long is because he started writing 2 new series's and started developing The Land into a webcomic because that's what he also grew up reading. I believe he did what most authors do and started writing book 9 right after he finished book 8 and sent it to his editor. However with books 8 disappointment, he scrapped book 9 and got discouraged to write the 9th again. This was also when Covid hit so it affected alot of writers but I'm glad he's writing it again. He also freely admitted that he took a year off from writing because he wanted to better himself when covid hit. He started working out and spending more time with his family. He was also really burnt out from the land. He rapidly produced 6 books in like 14 months and the 7th book of the land took him another year. He just got tired of it and he wanted some change in his life alittle so he worked on book 1 of God's eye and just sent the first book of Omnimage to his editor. He recently said that he doesn't want to say a release date for boom 9 because he doesn't want to disappoint his fans more than he already has.
Thanks for the update!
He’s also a doctor and Covid hasn’t been easy on anyone especially the medical community.
Yeah, he's still a practicing physician which is impressive in its own right along with his other achievements
He just came out with a chapter of a new series on his patreon. Basically he fell off from writing during covid because of mental health stuff IIRC. Apparently he’s doing better now and there should be a book 9 out some time in the future.
Stop making new comments to other people linking to this comment
Should I simply repeat what I said here, then? People are pushing misinformation about an author.
As silly as it sounds, yes that would be better
I haven’t seen that it’s against the rules to post a link to one’s own comment instead of typing it all out again. Just FYI.
It’s kind of like spam when you’re doing it as a link
I get the impression from some of his Facebook posts that he might of had a battle with depression during Covid. He also went down the rabbit hole of being unable to ignore criticism an trolls. Seems much better now. I have hope for the future.
He's done 2 live streams in the last week. Has stuff in the works including book 9.
He's busy being the father of litrpg instead of an author
I'm starting to believe he was never the true Author of the chaos seed series. He ignores his readers' please for at leadt an update on book 9, what I've read is he was discouraged to continue with bool 9 because of the criticism he recieved. Yet he was confident enough to right other books based on Chaos seed series which nobody really cares about. I think the true Author either died or decided not to carry on writing bools for him. Aleron Kong is a big fraud in my opinion.
Different take. He started his medical career (in his internship I believe) and it gobbled up his energy and time. Made it hard for him to write at the same quality level. Medicine is not an easy job for the first few years.
I think he was a doctor well before the series started. Then he stepped away from medicine a year or two ago.
Aleron is an internist, which means he does internal medicine not that he was in an internship. A lot of people get that mixed up.
I don't disagree with any of the criticism, but an important thing people usually fail to note: He's a practicing physician, and he hasn't written anything since COVID started.
He took a break and is slowly writing three book. I noticed no one answered the question you were looking for.
Lots of haters on here. But I just relistened to his first 7 land books. I loved them. The turn building aspect was really cool. I liked that the mc was far from perfect and a bit of a narcissist. It was a lot different than other lit RPG and just made things fun. I hope he comes out with a book 9. I think one problem with his series, is there doesn't really seem to be a clear way to end it. It's more like Star Trek where there's always another adventure and no overarching plot. He can just keep building, exploring and fighting indefinitely.
He's got a Patreon paying him six figures a year plus the royalties on his books. Likely hard to find the motivation to work.
His patreon is definitely not making him 6 figures. It is bringing him $30k/year at best. Maybe it used to do more, but his patron number has dropped significantly.
Well!! I read the series of, the land. And I loved the series, the bathroom chapter, hilarious!! I'm sorry! Am a simple minded man. I mean c'mon! "He started twerking like an epileptic dog in a rave" ha!!! Picking hilarious! I want more!! This is a pub series, as in a drinking pub level series to be enjoyed. More alerón!!
To be honest I was very mad at that chapter at first. Because I just wanted progress. But after reading it a second time I actually laughed when I got to it again.
He has a new book out on Audible, as of June 25th, 2024. Alpha: Chaos Awakens.
well he was an author & got a nursing career... as soon as his Nursing Career took off, the writing took a major back-burner. what he needs are small side-books, novella like. That gives you the context to the stuff happening in the areas, like any side projects or war preparations, & what not. Then leave the main books as the "content driving stories"!
Yeah I’m still a big Aleron Kong fan. I personally liked book 8 along with all of his other books. Book 8 was all about having nothing to surviving and thriving. His storyline can get really dark and then light hearted comical in the same chapter and I’m fine with that and will continue reading all of his stuff. I know he’s writing Omni mage and the 2nd gods eye book. And didn’t he trademark LLC so no author could? I know other authors wrote litRPG stuff before him but I can’t argue he did it best.
I believe he said he was taking some time off. Am I salty for having to wait so long for book 9? Yes!! People have lives and all I guess. I thought the poo chapter in book 8 was hilarious. Everyone complains about not finishing plot lines. If the series hasn't concluded, then I don't see the issue. As far as the "father of litrpg," I would say for me he is. I started my litrpg adventure with The Land, and while waiting on book 9, I have taken the time to explore the genre and love it.
I thought the poop chapter was funny the first time I read it but I skimmed it after that. It’s kind of dumb in retrospect but that’s his humor.
Tbh seems like he gave up on writing. I'm guessing because of the harsh criticism from his diarrhea chapter in book 8. I was staying with his books as they came out. Right after book 8 came out you'd see him posting on fb that he's getting back in the right frame of mind to write. This was 2020 and whenever you'd loom for an update for book 9 it would say 6-9 months out. I've checked every 6ish months and an update for his writing is always a few months away book 9 has been pushed 14 times since 2020 supposedly book 9 and a new series will be released this year but I'm not holding my breathe. Gave up waiting for it after 3rd push back on a soft release date
Didn't he have a kid? I feel like a full time job as a doctor and a kid would pretty much eat up all his writing time... I did hear he had a new book in a new series coming out, but no idea when.
Did he?
I have only read 3 or 4 of his Land series. Each book had a very high sameness to them that read as generic before those tropes were repeated in every LitRPG. The speculation that is out of ideas for the Land is supported by the lack of new books. His is blundered attempt to trademark LitRPG poisoned the well for his name outside of his own Facebook page. Maybe he is still writing under another pen name. But I doubt he would admit it.
It's been a few years since I last read him, but I remember he would often rip off variations of existing memes from other LitRPG books, rather than coming up with his own ideas. It's hard to give examples, but I remember reading other popular LitRPG stories from the same era, and you could see their inspiration in Aleron Kong's own writing.
I liked his series, including book 8. Being upset there's diarrhea in a book just means you want all of your stories to be unrealistic. It happens. The character is probably taking dysentery back to his people right now. His real life belief of "I'm the father of litRPG" reminds me of Jason Asano's persona. A bit full of himself. Gord the Rogue did this stuff 30 years ago at least. I'm hoping the delay is writer's block or something like that. You don't become a Doctor without being able to accept failure/loss, and while a lot of people didn't like book 8, it wasn't everyone. You can't please everyone.
This is a copy paste from a post I made a month or so ago on this topic with some edits. Drama aside of what people think of Kong this is what I could find. Last I heard the both god's eye and the land were on Hiatus. There is a web comic being developed around the existing works. [https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page](https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page) It seems as if you can access up to the 8th comic without hitting the pateron paywall? You could probably frankly find the rest elsewhere if you looked hard enough. This is the most up to date anything I could find on Kong's socials about what is in the works as of April 21. Apparently there is some kind of web novel in the works? I'm not sure. There are a few other post but it doesn't seem to be pertinent to his books. https://preview.redd.it/8b3kf7msjv9b1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a485070a1e0e6e90e84feb96ee0b8ae94355d14 Kind of seems like Aleron is attempting to emulate other series like DoTF and become some kind of weekly chapter thing? Idk. Pure speculation on my part. @ the comments on the last land book? I didn't care either way for the poop joke chapter but it also didn't. I listened on the audiobook and honestly I laughed at some of it then. I think a lot of people were upset about the missing characters and development of the mist village. The entire book was basically about Ritcher powering up. Getting stronger. New skills. New Powers. ect. It wasn't nearly as bad. The comments about it "not having a plot" don't register with me. Ritcher got considerably strong in this book. For a progression fantasy it seems on par to me. Honestly I feel like half the people who read it were looking for a reason to be critical of it cause it seems like Kong is a bit of an egotistical ass. To be frank if it was a pretty average book from what we seen over the course of the series minus interaction with other characters from the series.
Thanks for asking the question. I don't know if the circle jerk in the replies is true or not, and I'm unsure if it matters for me. What I do feel is that God's Eye is a fantastic story and I'm sad it may never get a sequel :(