Based on the scores, there aren't a lot of fans of the stories posted in the Integration Era Universe yet. There are, however, a lot of people downloading and reading them.
I understand, and generally agree with the scoring. I wrote these shorts very quickly for a specific purpose: to flesh out my own understanding of the Universe I wanted to write within. Were they a little thin? Yes. Did they answer the question or provide the insight I needed for developing the universe? Yes. And that was their main purpose.
Here are a few of the real questions these stories were exploring:
Signal Zero - How the Integration Era actually began.
This is a departure from normal LitRPG. The world didn't end from a cataclysmic event. It ended because the Integration was delivered to every person in Human space. What would we all do if we suddenly had a neural interface showing us what it thought we were?
Dead Reckoning - What happens when people try to ignore the Integration? This is as much about personal choices as it is about the Integration.
Noise Floor - How does an average person, not a hero or soldier or pilot, deal with the Integration? What is a Flux rift?
Carried Forward - What would the Integration do to the business world?
Infrastructure - What is the purpose behind the Integration? How would mankind know? There isn't a real instruction manual, after all.
Load Bearing - The trope everyone expects. How a party works in this world. I chose a different focus here, singling out the leader and how they would coordinate efforts through the Integration rather than a front-line fighter going man-to-man fighting.
Unopened - What is it like for a child to gain the Integration? What would their parents do?
What I mapped - The Integration introduces a whole new social dynamic for teens. What happens when the "jock" is attracted to the "cute, shy" girl? If she has high Signal, she has agency that might surprise you.
Unverified (posting Saturday) - What does the Integration due for adults dating, trying to find that "perfect" match?
All of these developed details that feed into the universe and more complete upcoming stories. (There's even a website you can find on the integrationera dot com that has details and other fun world building.)
It's been a lot of work and fun to get to the "bigger" stories.
I'll begin posting First Contact here next week. This is a story of three high-school friends discovering the risks of the Integration Era. After that, we'll jump to one of the aliens in the universe, to see how they interact with the Integration, and what they think the upstart humans. After that, the novella that sets the stage for a full novel will post. All of these follow-on works are more character driven than LitRPG, and if you've liked my other works, you should enjoy these as well.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you do enjoy some of the tales.
-Charlie