This isn’t really intended to be a “Identify this book” thread, although it could be. It’s more of an exercise in futility, that we’ve read so many books, we don’t always drop anchor on any one of the in particular. They may be one-hit wonders, or works of an author who just hasn’t managed to break into semi-mainstream appeal.
I’ve got a few. This took place on a newly-colonized world, and the immigrants took their gaming technology with them. They have their own virtual pantheon of heroes of which gamers can assume the roles.
Each gamer gets to customize their hero however they see fit. For instance, there’s one hero whose main power is telekinesis, and gamers have figured out how to more or less exploit this ability. Telekineses works best when the user is heavy, to provide an anchor to lift, like a superheavy weightlifter. Everybody gets the same amount of points to use, so maxing out one characteristic usually makes the other characteristics subpar. The telekinetic hero could have their size maxed out, but their other characteristics would suffer, including stamina. The hero usually gets exhausted after using the power, and teammates have to wait for them to recover, which can matter if there’s a time limit.
Because this cadre of heroes is this planet’s first mythology, there are holidays, parades and celebrations for these customizable icons.
I don’t know if this part comes from the same book. I remember there’s an encounter similar to the Riddle of the Sphinx, where gamers have to try to stump the riddlemaster. One of the gamers says “Do as I say, not as I do. Say boots without shoes.” The riddlemaster replied “Boots,” which was the correct answer, but I’m still thinking there’s a flaw somewhere.
Another book takes place in the future, where an ad exec is figuring out a way to market nanobot detergent. He’s trying to deterrmine what every potential customer who sees the ad would have in common, and he decides they all fear street gangs.
So, he stages a commercial where a husband returns home from work, all beaten and disheveled, and his wife asks what happened. He says he encountered a gang of street thugs on the way home, and there’s flashbacks of the street gang kicking him around, but he tries to make it sound like he prevailed, telling his wife “I handled it.” She skeptically replies “Looks like you handled the clothes too.” She then washes his clothes with the nanobot detergent, and they look brand new. The husband fawns over the terrific job the wife did with the laundry, and she smiles and says “I handled it.”
The ad goes viral, and “Looks like you handled the clothes too” becomes a catch phrase. The street gang they enlisted for filming become instant celebrities and go on the talk show circuit. They wind up wrecking the studio and become a PR nightmare. That’s all I remember.