[Bassy]

Originally Posted by Suzerain of Sheol

Also I never got very far in SAO, but I think the world would look very, VERY different if the video game industry and market behaved in the fabulous ways it does in that show. Consumer and investor behavior would have to operate in a fundamentally different way, not to mention the things players actually find fun. And that's not even touching just how terrifying the entire premise is. I would think the fun goes right the hell out the window as soon as actually dying becomes a factor. That show is existential horror pretending to be fantasy.

I don't mean to make an essay out of this, but this is actually an issue I have pretty significant opinions on. My understanding is that the vicarious, cathartic enjoyment that comes from playing violent video games is directly enabled by the psychological distance the player is at from the content they're experiencing. It's fantasy roleplaying in the strictest psychological sense, it lets one exercise parts of their mind that wouldn't normally be stimulated in their regular lives, and to do so safely and without any sort of trauma (unless you're an arachnophobe like me playing Skyrim....)

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Well just the idea of being in a virtual reality. Despite the fact that you can die. Just leave the creator of SAO and leave the technology of being in the game lol.