Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AlterWorld | 2013 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 2 | The Clan | 2014 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 3 | The Duty | 2014 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 4 | Inferno | 2015 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 5 | The Battle | 2015 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 6 | The War | 2015 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 7 | The Ultimation | 2016 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 8 | AlterWorld: A Newborn God | 2022 | D. Rus | Buy |
| 9 | The Road Home | 2025 | D. Rus | Buy |
The Play to Live series begins with AlterWorld, in which the protagonist discovers that a virtual MMORPG has become far more than a game. Players who die in the real world can have their consciousness transferred permanently into the game, and the virtual world is developing its own politics, economies, and wars.
Across nine books, D. Rus builds out a world where game mechanics like leveling up, clan warfare, and loot drops coexist with genuine human drama. The series grew from a single novel into one of the defining works of the LitRPG genre, and new entries have continued into 2025.