History Literature / UserUnfriendly

* TheNothingAfterDeath: Death within the game is described as a player experiencing a "cool gray gauziness" for the remainder of time left in the game.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Dorinda at the end paralyzes most of the players as she plans to turn them into a painting from which she can suck their [[life energy]] to use for her own purposes.]]

* BottomlessBladder: Averted in one scene where Arvin/Harek [[NatureTinkling looks for a place in the woods to urinate]], only to be [[spoiler:knocked unconscious by attackers]]. The issue of players having "nature calls" within the game is never addressed again, which is a [[PlotHole little curious]] given there are several scenes where multiple players are in a cave or prison cell together for lengthy periods of time.

* ButtMonkey: Arvin sees himself as one throughout the game, though it's mostly due to an inferiority complex and oversensitivity to the other players' criticism, combined with [[spoiler:his concern for his mother's health putting him on edge]]. After the game is over, he's surprised when Giannine describes him as having been one of the more impressive players in the group.

* ButtMonkey: Arvin sees himself as one throughout the game, though it's mostly due to an inferiority complex and oversensitivity to the other players' criticism, combined with [[spoiler:his concern for his mother putting him on edge]]. After the game is over, he's surprised when Giannine describes him as having been one of the more impressive players in the group.

* BottomlessBladder: Averted in one scene where Arvin/Harek [[NatureTinkling looks for a place in the woods to urinate]], only to be [[spoiler:knocked unconscious by attackers]]. The issue of players having "nature calls" within the game is never addressed again.

* ButtMonkey: Arvin sees himself as one throughout the game, though it's mostly due to an inferiority complex and oversensitivity to the other players' criticism, combined with [[spoiler:his concern for his mother putting him on edge]]. After the game is over, he's surprised when Thea describes him as having been one of the more impressive players in the group.

''User Unfriendly'' is a 1991 [[YoungAdultLiterature young adult novel]] by Vivian Vande Velde, the first of three books concerning a fictional company, Rasmussem Enterprises, that produces VirtualReality [[RolePlayingGame role-playing games]] (the InsideAComputerSystem variety) in the [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture near future]]. In this novel, a teenage boy, Shelton, gets ahold of an illegal copy of a Rasmussem game set in a [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy medieval fantasy world]], and he and several of his friends are in his home hooked up to the game. The novel is narrated by one of the friends, eighth-grader Arvin Rizalli, playing as elf warrior Harek Longbow of the Silver Mountains Clan. Unfortunately, the lack of company technicians monitoring the game proves a bigger problem for them than they anticipated, especially when they realize they need to quit before the end but [[InsideAComputerSystem are unable to]], putting pressure on them to [[RaceAgainstTheClock win the game as quickly as possible]].

* ArtisticLicense: When one of the [=NPCs=] begins saying the same thing repeatedly and becomes nonfunctional, Shelton explains to the group that the program is "looping." He incorrectly defines a loop as a set of instructions that get repeated endlessly. In reality, a loop simply means a set of instructions that gets repeated at least once--which is perfectly normal and an absolutely essential part of programming. It's only a problem if there's no exit condition for terminating the loop. This is known as an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_loop "infinite loop"]], a common pitfall in programming that causes software to freeze or get stuck. Furthermore, the players seem to be under the impression that the infinite looping is caused by one of them referring to the game as a game or making other anachronistic references in front of an [=NPC=], even though there's no reason why that would happen.

* ArtisticLicense: When one of the [=NPCs=] begins saying the same thing repeatedly and becomes nonfunctional, Shelton explains to the group that the program is "looping." He incorrectly defines a loop as a set of instructions that get repeated endlessly. In reality, a loop simply means a set of instructions that gets repeated at least once--which is perfectly normal and an absolutely essential part of programming. It's only a problem if there's no exit condition for terminating the loop. This is known as an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_loop "infinite loop"]], a common pitfall in programming that causes software to freeze or get stuck.

* StoppingTheBlameGame: [[spoiler:Dominic/Nocona is furious at Arvin/Harek for letting the others know he was werewolf-bit, leading them to tie him up, but it was in response to his bullying Arvin for--justifiably--being concerned about his mom.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The players win the game with Arvin being the one who bests the Big Bad at the end, and they do it in time to save his mother from a potentially fatal aneurysm. Unfortunately, their theft becomes public and the game is confiscated from Shelton before any of them find out their scores; Arvin's friendship with Dominic seems to be irreparably damaged due to their fight during the game; Cleveland's parents aren't letting him socialize with the group anymore; and overall Arvin reports that the group is more or less broken up. Giannine, though, wins a date with Arvin by beating him in a card game.]]

''User Unfriendly'' is a 1991 [[YoungAdultLiterature young adult novel]] by Vivian Vande Velde, the first of three books concerning a fictional company, Rasmussem Enterprises, that produces VirtualReality [[RolePlayingGame role-playing games]] in the [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture near future]]. In this novel, a teenage boy, Shelton, gets ahold of an illegal copy of a Rasmussem game set in a [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy medieval fantasy world]], and he and several of his friends are in his home hooked up to the game. The novel is narrated by one of the friends, eighth-grader Arvin Rizalli, playing as elf warrior Harek Longbow of the Silver Mountains Clan. Unfortunately, the lack of company technicians monitoring the game proves a bigger problem for them than they anticipated, especially when they realize they need to quit before the end but [[InsideAComputerSystem are unable to]], putting pressure on them to [[RaceAgainstTheClock win the game as quickly as possible]].

* GhostMemory: The players all possess artificially implanted memories relating to their characters in the game, including biographical details as well as specific skills.

* ArtisticLicense: When one of the [=NPCs=] begins saying the same thing repeatedly and becomes nonfunctional, Shelton explains to the group that the program is "looping." He defines a loop as a set of instructions that get repeated endlessly. This is incorrect. A loop simply means any set of instructions that get repeated at least once--which is perfectly normal and an absolutely essential part of programming. It's only a problem if there's no exit condition for terminating the loop. This is known as an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_loop "infinite loop"]], a common pitfall in programming that causes software to freeze or get stuck.

* TwoferTokenMinority: In the game, Feordin is black and a dwarf.

* GhostMemory: The players all possess artificially implanted memories relating to their characters in the game.

** Cornelius uses another illusion spell to create a fake torch while in the orc cave. It not only isn't a real fire, but doesn't even really illuminate the cave, just helps the group make out just enough details on the cave's walls to make their trek a little easier.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The players win the game with Arvin being the one who bests the Big Bad at the end, and they do it in time to save his mother from a potentially fatal aneurysm. Unfortunately, their theft becomes public and the game is confiscated from Shelton before any of them find out their scores; Arvin's friendship with Dominic may be irreparably damaged due to their fight during the game; Cleveland's parents aren't letting him socialize with the group anymore; and overall Arvin reports that the group is more or less broken up. Giannine, though, wins a date with Arvin by beating him in a card game.]]

* TokenMinority: Arvin correctly guesses that Feordin is his friend Cleveland due to the character being black, seemingly implying that Cleveland is the only black person in the group. Also, Arvin's comment that Nocona "looked like a native American Indian" suggests not only that Nocona's player Dominic isn't Native American, but that none of the other characters in either the game or the outside world are.

Besides Arvin and Shelton, the players also include Cleveland; Dominic; Giannine; Arvin's mom; and lovebirds Noah and Dawn Marie. In the game world, Arvin (as Harek) soon meets a band of characters including Cornelius, a wizard; Feordin, a dwarf; Nocona, a Native American tracker; Thea, another elf warrior; Abbot Simon, a cleric; Brynhild, a halfling; Felice, a thief; and [[Myth/RobinHood Robin Hood and Maid Marian]]. Arvin thinks he has it figured out who's who in terms of his real-life friends as well as [[{{NonPlayerCharacter}} non-player characters]], but it turns out to be trickier than he first assumes.

* WinToExit: A partial example. The game will inevitably end after a five-day period (which only takes an [[YearInsideHourOutside hour in the outside world]]), regardless of whether they win or not. However, winning enables them to quit before the five days are up, which becomes important once they realize [[spoiler:one of the characters is having a potentially life-threatening medical emergency.]]

* NotAGame: A very literal example, when Marian first airs her suspicion that there may be real-life ramifications to what’s happening.