Extra Anime Explanations from the Novel or Official Sources (NO FUTURE SPOILERS)
 

[mod edit: I made this into a full thread so that this information can be discussed in a place where anime-only viewers can choose whether or not they want to read it and discuss it. But this thread can only be used to discuss official explanations for content shown in the anime but not fully explained and must not discuss anything the story will reveal later. This is what I what is meant by "NO FUTURE SPOILERS". Anything that spoils or reveals future events will be deleted and the poster may be infracted.]


There seems to be a lot of speculation going on in the thread.
Figure I'll post these links. The author did some commentary episodes on twitter, and Tap went ahead and translated what he said.


Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11

Does posting this count as spoiler? (I imagine not) I figured it would clear up some stuff.

After reading the comments, GGO is quite within my expectations of a free PK system.

Well, seeing as this was split off into its own thread, I guess I'll also point out that the author will be tweeting commentary for each Episode, like he did for the first season. Tap plans to translate the commentary this time around, as you can see the two links in the OP.

I need some clarifications about how the "pro gamer" get their money.

Is it basically some form of legalized RMT? In other words they get money from other players that pay for their auctioned items and stuff?

Well, the game allows you to convert the in-game currency of Credits, into Yen, at an exchange rate of 100:1.
Most players though, don't even make enough money to pay for the monthly fee to play the game.

ggo isnt free to play? :o

Most worthwhile MMOs aren't.

But... uh... who pays? The Game Company itself? °°

Apparently, yeah. The fact you can make money off of it draws in enough people to pay for the game. And because only a few people really make a significant amount of money, they still make a good profit.

The player themselves I believe. It is possible to buy items in the game with real money.

the in-game currency can convert over into electronic money (sao ver of bitcoin), which is done by the company. There is also a RMT market where players can buy/sell/trade rare items.

the novel compare ggo to a casino. some small fraction can make enough money ingame to make a living off the game. Some make enough to pay for the cost of playing. The rest of the player pop basically subsidize the other 2 groups.

Think Eve-online with guns instead of spaceship.

It's been a while since I read Phantom Bullet so I don't remember the exact details, but didn't Sinon's mother kind of lose touch with reality after her dad died? I seem to remember that she didn't really recognize Sinon as her daughter. Am I remembering wrong on that?

You remember correctly.

I don't quite understand how character assignment works in the world of GGO.

From what I understood there is no character creation option at all and new players get randomly assigned their characters.

However since a guy wanted to buy Kirito's account, I guess it is still possible to switch ownership, which means there is a possibility to a certain degree to chose among various possibilities available (and possibly a florid market of account makers and sellers).

So my question is... is it possible in GGO for a male player to have a female character and vice versa? I mean even if the automatic assignment would only give characters of the same sex of the users, what would prevent ownership of a character to be switched to someone that is of the opposite sex?

For example the guy that wanted to buy Kirito's character initially believed it was a female model. If there is some kind of block he couldn't even use it (although he might have wanted it to resell it to a better price, considering how few female players there are, there shouldn't be such a good market for female characters).

Conversely if there isn't such a thing, shouldn't players be more careful before assuming that behind a female character there is actually a female player (as it happens in real world MMORPGs)?

IIRC, the immersiveness of VR causes problems for people who are trying to play the opposite gender, so people aren't supposed to do it. However it is done under the table.

GGO gives people random avatars. Kirito was lucky and got a rare one. Appearance customization is possible but its not free. (GGO is a for profit game after all.)

However SAO, the very first MMORPG of its kind, allowed it... before Akihiko said: "nope".

Not all VR games do it though. GGO is one of the games that Gender lock. SAO wasn't, but it eventually changed you back anyways.

I believe the novels said something about Akihiko knowing about the dangers posed by "crossdressing" in such an immersive environment that he disabled it for his master plan.

Gotta ask, is the thing Kirito and Shinon are entering really called Bullet of Bullets? That's not only an awful name, but I swear it sounds more like they're saying Ballad of Bullets.

It's Bullet of Bullets.

Dynamic tag cannot be rendered. (PrintableThread)
Think of it as a play on "Best of the best."