This anime that is set in 2022 is about a 'Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game' where you wear a this helmet (Nerve Gear) which connects to your different senses so you get the sensation of physically being there and completely detached from your own body. Players realise that unlike other games of the type, they are unable to log out and it is revealed that you will only be freed if someone reaches the 100th floor and defeat the last boss. In addition, if you are killed in the game, you die in real life and if anyone in the real world attempts manually take off your Nerve Gear, your brain will fry. YAY. I'm not far enough in the anime to know why the creator of the game would do this but I am going to assume there is some crazy lesson. Perhaps some kind of metaphor.
You follow the main character Kirito who is secretly a beta tester and is actually of an extremely high level but conceals this, perhaps to protect others around him or for self survival. There are themes of trust, friendship, revenge...and that's all I've seen so far. I have been noticing that there is an incredible amount of boob and bum (am I allowed to say that) conveniently but unnecessarily placed in shots. Lucky guys :(. I am told that eventually it will get a bit lovey-dovey and I'm sure I will stop watching but so far it's fine. The first 10 episodes at least are pretty good and if lovey-dovey doesn't gross you out then I would recommend watching it all.
What is awesome about this anime, or this game is the idea that one day games could develop into a lived experience; having jobs as innkeepers and black smiths, creating guilds and leading them, cooking (actually this one feels like cheating, you place your knife on the ingredients once and they are all diced perfectly), fighting monsters, teleporting (imagine that!). The complexity is astounding.
oh glad to know that I wasn't only one thinking of Sword arts online during thursday lecture. I actually think this sort of thing could be possible in the far future ( and when I mean far I mean some time like 50~70 years).
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this really related to what you were talking about but when you pointed out the complexity of the game (including cooking in particular), it got me thinking about some of the somewhat unnecessary aspects of games that are included.
ReplyDeleteA lot of games these days involve the more mundane everyday life actions that the character must go through before or after they have completed an intense action scene, like in Grand Theft Auto where you have to go buy a hot dog for 'health' every now and again.
If you think about it, it doesn't require much skill-set to complete these activities, so I would guess that these aspects of the game are included specifically to create a better sense of immersion in the game.
This way a player not only gets the intense high-strategy parts of the game, but also the more low-level everyday actions that link us back to reality, making the game more realistic.