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View Poll Results: Critique of Episode 08 | |||
10 out of 10: Near Perfect... | 56 | 38.62% | |
9 out of 10: Excellent... | 52 | 35.86% | |
8 out of 10: Very Good... | 24 | 16.55% | |
7 out of 10: Good... | 9 | 6.21% | |
6 out of 10: Average... | 1 | 0.69% | |
5 out of 10: Below Average... | 1 | 0.69% | |
4 out of 10: Poor... | 0 | 0% | |
3 out of 10: Bad... | 0 | 0% | |
2 out of 10: Very Bad... | 0 | 0% | |
1 out of 10: Torturous... | 2 | 1.38% | |
Voters: 145. You may not vote on this poll |
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2012-08-28, 16:40 | Link #381 |
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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I disagree that living is the same thing as enjoying. Some people enjoy life, some people hate life. It takes a certain kind of personality to enjoy living in reality too. That's just what it means to live.
Why do you live? To spend time with friends and loved ones? To make a lot of money? To enjoy or create art? To eat good food? To do work you can be proud of? To help others? I don't know anything about you, but surely you have some reason to live. So what is it about the world of SAO that makes finding such a reason impossible? |
2012-08-28, 16:49 | Link #382 |
Carbon
Join Date: Nov 2003
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we're in semantics territory, so perhaps I should clarify
maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that earlier you were arguing that you can see SAO as genuine virtual life environment, and that SAO players are merely experiencing a different kind of living I argue that this environment is too shackled. Not enough choices. That's key word: choices. With so many things restricted and pre-programmed, I disagree on calling it a online life. In fact, I have a lot of problems in calling it an online game either, because that indicates that the purpose is to have fun. As said earlier, to me this is a virtual prison. A virtual trial. It is something that you must overcome or die. And it is a trial in which you have noticeably limited options to win. Can people find paradise in hell? possibly. Does it make it hell something other that is not hell? No, I don't think so.
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2012-08-28, 17:54 | Link #384 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Many of the front-line fighters likely also consider it a fair system. Else they'd be with everyone else hiding in the starter cities. The fact that people are growing comfortable with the world means they've become used to it's methods, and have found ways to live there, and likely even enjoy their lives. We don't see a lot of unhappy people in the background during these crowd scenes, right? What would be more interesting is to see if his answer changes in the new few episodes. Assuming his relationship with Asuna deepens and he finds meaning in things other than grinding solo it's possible he'll change his opinion. Quote:
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2012-08-28, 18:30 | Link #386 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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Mostly posting just for this:
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At the end of the day, people are surprisingly resilient. They can learn to adapt, survive, and even thrive to a certain extent in situations that we might otherwise think unimaginable -- think in periods of war, or under oppressive regimes. I think this is one of those situations. Episode 8 drove this point home when Kirito and Asuna started discussing about having gotten used to life in that world, and sometimes not even fully remembering what life in the real world was like. I'm sure they're not by any means the only ones in that situation. This may or may not be hell, but it's also their reality. A child born in this world (if it were possible) would not know anything else; sooner or later, after generations pass, the rules and restrictions of this world become no different than the law of gravity. In the end, SAO is hell only in comparison to reality and because they know the difference. But how do we know that our reality isn't hell in comparison to some other reality that we aren't aware of? It's all about context.
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2012-08-28, 18:39 | Link #387 | |||
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Singapore
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If you were referring to a forfeit button, my bad. |
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2012-08-28, 19:31 | Link #388 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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The LN version of this EP's duel end: Spoiler:
I don't really see a problem with the duel option. There are obviously loopholes that result in people dying, but they apparently took a year+ to find. The simple solution to avoiding sleep PK is... don't sleep in a public location. If you fall asleep in the real world in a public place you're apt to wake up in A) Jail, or B) a dumpster without your money. SAO likely doesn't have a opt-out of duels button... that's typically a later addition to most MMO's, assuming your MMO even has such an option. |
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2012-08-28, 20:29 | Link #389 | ||
User of the "Fast Draw"
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Besides whether it's a fair system or not wouldn't really matter to the front liners. If they want to get out of there and get back to their lives they have to clear this game. If it was really unfair more people might give up, but people would keep going. I'm not even sure what being fair has to do with most of this. People would be able to adapt even to an unfair situation. Quote:
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2012-08-28, 21:06 | Link #390 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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If the inhabitants of hell are enjoying themselves, who are outsiders to judge? Isn't that the whole point of the show after all? |
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2012-08-28, 22:54 | Link #396 | |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Quote:
Last edited by Iron Maw; 2012-08-28 at 23:08. |
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2012-08-28, 23:36 | Link #397 |
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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No one chooses to be born on Earth either. You just end up here and you can either find your own happiness or die. It's your own choice.
What you seem to be missing is the fact that SAO is only particularly dangerous when you're trying to get out. If there's anything sadistic about it, that's it. You can either risk your life with the hope of getting out, or stop trying to get out at all and live a peaceful if somewhat boring life there. This is the choice that every person trapped in there is forced to make. Do I value my old life enough to risk my current life? Based on the conversation in this episode, it seems that increasingly people are choosing not to risk their lives. Which means that they consider living there a valid option. Is it "settling for less"? Sure, why not. We don't know everyone's circumstances, but we can grant this assumption without changing anything. But "settling for less" isn't the mark of being imprisoned or undergoing a trial, it's just another part of living. I'd argue that every single one of us "settles for less" every single day. You don't always get the person you love most, you don't always get the job you want, you can't afford to eat the best food every day. People go through that all the time. ...and since I know someone's going to mention PK, how exactly is that different from murder in real life? It's not different at all. Lock your doors and don't fall asleep in the middle of the street and you should be fine. The entire mystery arc was about Kirito and Asuna freaking out over the rules possibly being broken, to the point where they considered it more important than furthering the escape attempt, which tells you exactly how much reassurance the rules normally provide. |
2012-08-29, 00:57 | Link #399 | |
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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2012-08-29, 04:42 | Link #400 | |
Carbon
Join Date: Nov 2003
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SAO is really an aesop about people adapting to an oppressive environment. Some chose defiance. Some surrender to it. Some endure. Some break. True, people can endure with unhappy situations. But I think it's also true that given time they will always seek for better options. Inevitably change will happen or they will FORCE change to happen. This has once again got me thinking about AccelWorld (same author. written later) in AccelWorld, it is actually possible to not only destroy the environment, but also bend the laws of the game. In fact the whole theme of the story is to accelerate beyond set rules. This role reversal is an interesting contrast, don't you think? Right now, part of Kirito has chose to submit to his environment, and SAO is not an sandbox game. It's quite rigid But it would be interesting to see if eventually becomes the Neo of this Matrix and breaks the source code That would complete the Aesop
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Tags |
end card, weekly spoiler discussion |
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