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Originally Posted by Swordstriker21
Look here people. Bottom line is that what Kayaba wanted to create was another world. Another complete and functioning reality. Only difference is that it had monsters, dungeons, a floating castle and other mmorpg stuff in it. If this was the case then of course the element of death will be inevitably present. I mean thousands die in reality every single day either by natural or not so natural causes. You guys are free to paint the real world as a peaceful utopia but unfortunately that's not the case (and it never has). So killing people was definitely not Kayaba's goal. It's just that it was a necessary element in order to create another functioning reality. And it's not like they absolutely had to hunt monsters or traverse dungeons to survive. They could actually settle down in a lower floor away from the front lines and live relatively peaceful lives like those fishermen. If Kayaba wanted only a pure death game then these things should not have been made possible and people should have been under constant threat of death. In the end though one of the greatest threats to human lives in SAO were humans themselves (i.e. Laughing Coffin).
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Again, if that's all he was after then most of the aspects he included were completely unnecessary. The monsters did not have to be so deadly, he did not have to create the bosses, he did not have to give them a prize worth dying, and he did not have to play a role in the game himself where he would manipulate and push players to seek out that prize. He wanted them to seek their deaths, This is what turned his world into a death game and not just a heinous trap. Hell after only 2 years, 40% of the population of his world was dead; that's a higher death ratio than even our worst wars. THAT's how dangerous of a scenerio he created. He was doing much more than just creating a world, he was trying to create a narrative that he knew full well would result in mass death. And he did all of this for his own selfish reasons. And NONE of this excuses anything he did since only a monster would kidnap 10,000 people for his own selfish dream. Really its like the only difference between him and Suguo is that Suguo was more sadistic with his desires.
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Originally Posted by Oroboro
And how the other characters relate to him in universe. The final episode makes it rather clear that many of the SAO survivors love and cherish their memories and time spent in that other world, and couldn't wait to go back. Are they all just selfish jerks, for finding joy in something that brought undue suffering to others?
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Frankly, i feel that only calls attention to how bad some of the writing in this series is; the writing was well done during the first half of the series but fast went downhill after the climax. Why? Cause in the end it does not seem like anyone even cares about what Kayaba has done. No one cares that he kidnapped 10000 people, effectively robbing them of nearly everything they had; no one cares that 4000 people died in his death game; no one cares that they ended up watching friends die; no one cares that their own lives were placed at risk; No one cares that his victims included innocent children... and all this was done for his own selfish dream... The moment he is beaten, no one ever again even mentions the terrible things he did or ever mentions his name in a negative light (except for suguo, but for the wrong reasons since he was just speaking out of jealousy).
This even extends to the choice to use the world seed. That star trek clip posted before is an adequate example of how such a situation is treated with maturity. Its logic vs morals and ethics... logically there is little reason to not use what you have just because it came from a horrible source, but morally and ethically there are many reasons not to use it; it's complicated. As such i would not be surprised if someone chose logic; that star trek clip could have ended either way. But what gets to me is that in SAO, no one bothers to ask the question and there is no difficulty behind the choice. The effect that this has is that no one seems to care about what kayaba did... you can try to say "well maybe they do", but you don't know that, you are just making excuses. A good story must show these things itself and we do not get even the slightest implication; even the simplest body language or tone of voice could have said something about how they feel about what he did. In the end, Kayaba was a selfish monster who tormented and killed thousands, but the series treats him more like a misguided genius; not a single person seems to actually act like he's a monster. By never again addressing what he did or ever bringing his name up in a negative light, the series leaves the implication that what he did was not really ultimately wrong. Something is like this is not something that should be ignored; their are serious implications about what kayaba did that should be addressed and not just hand waved.
In the end, Kayaba is a villain that wins in just about every way. He kills thousands, lives out his dream for the most part, and leaves behind a legacy; even his own death was planned; the man got away with mass murder and no one seems to care. Like I said, i can except that someone might choose logic, might choose to use the seed, what i hate most about that ending is that no one actually brings up the complexity of such a decision, because that in turn hand wave's all the horrible things that kayaba had done. Is it so much to ask that just one person in this series actually call out kayaba for his heinous inhuman crimes