thank you for your honest review dear reader, i would say that if you really believe that people wouldn't keep something secret as long as possible to have an advantage over others then maybe you haven't played enough games? in competitive gaming communities people tend to go after levels to brute force their way through everything and then they go after gear other things, a game where you get rewarded for achievements and the leaderboard offers potential fame would make people chase after those levels dont you think? ive also shown that in pursuit of levels the mc also neglects the leveling of certain skills that would require his full attention.

I'm not saying that people wouldn't keep a secret, but honestly I think half the time they don't and it ends up on a forum or in a yt video. my main issue that I was referring to was that in the beginning of the story he is the only one that shows up for the NPC classes. I think that it is fairly common for people to go around and ask all the NPC for hidden info and lore, and especially larpers and role players would be similarly interested like the mc, and both of those groups are not small. I think this is actually a major problem with a lot of books in this genre and it's not totally directed at you. it's just a really common and jarring plot hole where the author makes side characters all one single type of player when there is a variety of different play styles. not everyone is in the competitive gaming scene, and not all people that enter a game on their first day are competitive. the last MMO launch I played, I found a variety of people that approached having fun in very different ways. not everyone takes the game that seriously, and not everyone that takes the game seriously is competitive. also this isn't a dig on your writing style or anything, and I don't think the premise is necessarily your fault for having what I perceived as a huge plot hole. I will restate that I think the entire genre has that problem to some degree, and usually it's less of a problem later in the book.

well the biggest counterargument of what you've referred to is that the villages players start at are not large so finding many people is rare enough Raylock is essentially one of the "starter cities" and is actually a place where you would begin to interact with more npcs. the other major detail is that the only place to find content from the game would be the streaming service made for it and its been one day in the real world. the story shows the perspective of the mc and even if a perspective shift occurs they will not miraculously know about things that other characters know about. take the potion maker perspective for instance, they are one of the people you spoke about who are curious about the world but what makes you think they are the only one who is like that? you think there aren't players learning to craft armor and weapons? im not even a hundred chapters in and i dont like rushing things lol

you have made a fair point about the timings of the story and how early it is in the games life cycle and how isolated the setting is. I will concede on this point and continue reading.

im assuming you did not read the most recent chapters but it will explain some of the details you are worried about