Pros:
A world you can actually change.
Fairly interesting cast.
Balanced characters.
Cons:
A world you can change
VRMMO, low as dirt stakes.
MC is pretty unlikeable.
Whole world is based on ‘firsts’ essentially.
*Minor spoilers*
Right out of the gate you don’t really like the MC, at least I didn’t, he’s an anti-social loser with way too much money who just used obscene amounts of it to take every headstart spot in a game meant to revolutionize gaming because he wants to be a big shot in game. Sounds a little like pay to win.
So MC is established as egotistical and selfish in the first half hour and it’s hard to ever truly get past that first impression of him.
The world is a vrmmo and so all the stakes are essentially imaginary, MC wants to be the best there ever was in this new game and is willing to spend millions to make it happen…because games matter more than real life…I guess.
My biggest problem with the game world is that almost all value is determined by firsts. First to X gets huge renown, second to X gets squat. For a game millions of people will ultimately end up playing it’s an absurdly huge advantage to those who get in first. Not to mention that by actually being able to change the game the quests and even races that other people were able to enjoy can be erased in a heartbeat by the same system that’s being lauded. In the end it doesn’t actually make for a practical game world when most of your player base is going to be alienated if they didn’t buy it day one and don’t dedicate their freaking lives to it.
Still a fairly interesting premise and I’ll keep reading, but it’s hard to take things too seriously when death has limited consequences, largely only ratcheted up for the MC because of his own actions, and it’s just a freaking game.