Sword Art Online

[Remedy]

Originally Posted by TheCoffeeGod

That's a very good possibility.
That would also explain why there was a debug console (commonly referred to as the cheat console) down there as well.

What reason could there be for a GM console being placed in the game?
GMs, as has been shown, don't need consoles to use their powers. Plus can we not assume that the creator is the only GM/admin in the game? When a game launches, there are usually several GMs online to make sure that everything is going smoothly, yet in SAO there were 0.

[Viduus]

Originally Posted by Remedy

What reason could there be for a GM console being placed in the game?
GMs, as has been shown, don't need consoles to use their powers. Plus can we not assume that the creator is the only GM/admin in the game? When a game launches, there are usually several GMs online to make sure that everything is going smoothly, yet in SAO there were 0.

Hard to say, not quite enough info.

There's no GM's, true, but it looks like there are AI programs to help with various things. Could be that while in game, the manifestations of these programs (such as Yui) have to use consoles to take care of game business.

[Pidjiken]

Originally Posted by Remedy

What reason could there be for a GM console being placed in the game?
GMs, as has been shown, don't need consoles to use their powers. Plus can we not assume that the creator is the only GM/admin in the game? When a game launches, there are usually several GMs online to make sure that everything is going smoothly, yet in SAO there were 0.

This should thoroughly answer that:

To kind of answer this a specified GM area is normal in mmo's I'll share with you a couple screenshots from back when I was a GM for a while in RO.

This one is of what we referred to as GM Island. The sign boards in this first image were gm control panels. You could create mobs with it and other nifty things.



As an example here is Megaman and Juggernaut:



What we used GM island for was testing codes and what not. Here's me trying to figure out a reported glitch on an MVP known as Satan Morroc:



As an added bonus I'll include this image of RO Jail, where we detain rule breakers until we have discussed what they did wrong and decided on an appropriate punishment. This occupant was rather unruly and was permabanned:




EvE Online is known to have an entire star system for GMs, but I've never GM'd there, however it's found on any star map of EvE online.

[Mangina]

^Impossible not to like GM pictures.

[hoffstyle]

GM consoles aren't far fetched like Pidj showed.

BTW, I am doing the Eve 14 day trial..what a snooze fest. Does it get fun?

[azanimefan]

i worked on an mmo type environment as a DM for a time years ago... and there certainly was several DM only areas and DM only tools that existed in game as items.

The purpose is to give the DM abilities/powers/options beyond the original scope of the DM client. This is pretty common from what i know about it, because many functions that are needed aren't envisioned by the original design team, and are "hot patched" in as "items" because it's easier to script and debug a unique item/device then it is to redesign the dm client.

[Bootowski]

I'm actually two or three episodes behind right now. Trying to find the time to catch up lately. But anyways, I have a short question;

I could have sworn I remember reading or hearing from somewhere that the show was meant to have two twelve-episode seasons. Am I wrong? Most websites I look at show that it was meant to end at the twelfth episode, and yet there are an equal amount of sites saying it will air again this week and so forth.

Just curious what the deal is.

[Nihatclodra]

^25 episodes, no season break.

[Bootowski]

Originally Posted by Nihatclodra

^25 episodes, no season break.

Thanks for clearing that up. I appreciate it.

[Funari]

I just can't enjoy this thing. I've been trying to, but... no, just no.

It started out well enough with an interesting premise. I was instantly sold upon hearing about the idea of people being trapped in a MMORPG and having to fight for their lives. And for an episode or two it was pretty good. But, well, then...

...well. From what I've been able to gather from this thread, you guys probably don't exactly appreciate roriconfan's name here, but the guy did make a point in that the game has absolutely nothing to really endanger people who don't contribute, thus making sitting on your ass a perfectly viable option. It sort of removes the thrill of life and death from the equation when you can just sit back and do nothing without losing anything.

Also, the pacing of the story is one of the worst I've seen. Random time skips all over the place (especially on episode 3 which was confusing enough that I still have no idea what happened in it and in what order) and, despite the start seeming promising, they then went all the way up to floor 75 or so within about five episodes... and nothing of it was even shown, they just start wandering on higher floors without any prior notice. Then come a bunch of side stories unrelated to anything.

Judging by the progression of episodes this seems a whole lot more like a MMORPG-themed slice of life than an adventure epic... which would be fine if this was a more light-hearted series, hell, I'd certainly give a shot to a MMORPG-slice, but this series is still supposed to have a life-or-death situation going on so I'd expect a more linear progression of events instead of random jumps here and there with no connection to any other episodes shown. Well, the last couple of episodes at least seem to have moved the main plot forward, so we'll see if this gets any better. Right now it's been lacking pretty badly.

Also related to the pacing of the story: characters. Mostly Kirito. The guy drives me crazy because his personality bounces all over the place like a goddamn bungee cord. At the end of episode 2 he seems all prepared to take the role of the villain and leave everyone else for a life of badass solitude... then in the very next episode he's suddenly hanging out with a bunch of people he just met, joining their guild which wars against his principles and despite his proclamation earlier he's now too scared to say "Hey, guys, our lives are at stake here. Let's not go into a high-level dungeon." to his party.

With Lisbeth he's a jerkish playboy who breaks a girl's sword without apparently even thinking of paying for it and then taunting her all the while and he has friends all of a sudden. With Silica he's back to lone-wolf mode but is suddenly a caring big brother. With Asuna... I dunno what he even is with Asuna. If they'd spent more episodes on developing their romance instead of showing Asuna in about two, three episodes before them hooking up I could have an emotional connection of some sort, but now it just leaves me uncaring.

...Or in the middle of ragey headdesking at the end of episode 10 with its stripping, misunderstanding and tsundere punching. That kind of moronic writing has no place anywhere, much less a work with a rating as high as this one.

Asuna isn't quite as bad, but she also seems to be alternating between an action girl (...who still notably lacks any victories that aren't overshadowed by Kirito, more on this in a bit) and a distressed damsel who can't tell a stalkery subordinate to take a hike or even resist when he tries to take her away. Or say a word when her guild leader and her boyfriend decide to duel each other to decide whether she gets to leave her guild or not. While completely ignoring her own opinion and the fact it was her decision to leave yet their train of thought goes "Fight me to take Asuna from me!". Yet Asuna apparently thinks this is A-OK. Waving a sword around and winning unimportant battles does not make a strong female character.

...and there's also her maxed cooking skill which isn't really a problem by itself, someone made an excellent point of consumables being a great source of money in MMORPGs, but so far we've only seen her cooking for Kirito. Can't remember if she even said she'd only cook for him... which kind of reeks of "hey, lookie, I put my perfect waifu ideal into this series" kind of wish fulfillment from the author.

Also, despite her supposedly being strong, I currently remember exactly one battle she has won without Kirito, and that one was within a city where they didn't do any damage.

I don't count the one against Stalker Guy due to the fact Kirito ended up saving her about 5 seconds afterwards. With his bare hand which is, to my knowledge, against the game mechanics and caused more ragey confusion. ...And he didn't become a PK as a result, either.

As for the other characters, not much to say. I can't develop any kind of emotional attachment when most of them are around for roughly one episode and then vanish or die, which also leaves the death scenes pretty hollow. They also exhibit a trait I find highly unpleasant in that everyone who's nice (or tsundereish) to the main characters (mostly attractive girls) are good people and most likely fall for Kirito while everyone who's even the slightest bit unpleasant to them (mostly unattractive guys) are nasty, horrible people who will probably die soon.

Stalker Guy being the most prominent example. You can show a guy being evil in less overblown ways. Plus come on, rejected suitor-type guy being a villain? That kind of thing got old decades ago.

So far the only exception to this has been Heathcliff, but seeing as he has a unique skill like Marty Stuish Kirito and they've fought before, I wouldn't be surprised to discover he's the alter ego of the bastard who created the game or something like that.

...well, that's basically the gist of it. The fights are quite nice, but anything to do with characters is mostly cringeworthy. This week's episode summed it up pretty well. Cool fight

what with the massive flaming sword and all

... made possible by the fact that

when the main couple's little girl says "I don't wanna!" enough, they take her with them into a dungeon even Mr. Beater Kirito knows nothing about and which they've been warned is a high-level one. That's really goddamn dangerous even for THEM, much less a kid with no fighting ability they know of.

I expected so much more from this...