Sword Art Online

«**Sword Art Online**» (ソードアート・オンライン, *Sōdo Āto Onrain*?), abbreviated as **SAO**, is the first ever VRMMORPG produced by Argus for the NerveGear, with Akihiko Kayaba as the development director. The online game takes place on a hundred-floor floating castle called «Aincrad».

## Background

Prior to official launch, «Sword Art Online» Closed Beta was available to 1,000 beta testers for a one month period from August to September 2022. During that period, «Sword Art Online» was lauded as an incredible experience, and it received extremely positive reviews despite the actual difficulty of the game. After the Closed Beta Testing ended, the Beta Testers were given the opportunity to pre-order the game.

   Only 10,000 copies were printed in the first batch of the game, and online sales sold out within seconds. Hard-core gamers waited in line for days to purchase the first few hard copies from many stores.

«Sword Art Online» officially started server service at 13:00 on November 6, 2022, and obtained infamy when the creator succeeded in trapping 10,000 people in the game and making it so that death in-game would mean actual death for the player. During the two-year period the game remained active, «Sword Art Online» evolved into an innovative yet complex society of individuals with mixed feelings about the possibility of clearing the game.

Psychologically, many players experienced extreme despair, grief, insanity, and sadness during the course of the death game. Of the total 4,175 deaths, just under half occurred during the first month of SAO. Combined with lethal dungeon traps and bosses, Player Killing (PKing), crime, suicides, a slowly dwindling population, and increasing difficulty on the higher floors, the prospects generally looked very bleak.

The game was cleared on July 15th, 2025 when the final boss, «An Incarnation of the Radius», was defeated.

## System

The game operates similarly to most MMORPGs with a balanced leveling system as well as a skill mastery system with some limits placed on it. The entire game is monitored and maintained by the «Cardinal System», which self-corrects any problems.

While the Sword Art Online mainframe is capable of incredible graphical and rendering capacities, it does not actually render the entire environment in full detail unless a certain region is specifically observed by a player. SAO uses a «Digital Focusing System», which brings out the finer details of an object only when a player shows interest and focuses their visual field on it. This reduces the strain on the SAO mainframe processor, which, despite its high-performance power, is incapable of rendering all marginal details of the environment simultaneously. This effectually produces the illusion that the SAO graphical and VR experience is incredibly detailed. However, the SAO mainframe has a difficult time rendering the sensation of water in baths or showers.

### Virtual Reality Experience

As a complete virtual reality MMORPG, the SAO system is capable of rendering the entire Aincrad environment with incredible realism. By stimulating nerves in the brain, it is possible to taste food, feel the wind and weather, move one's body, and live in SAO as if it were an alternate reality. However, there are several major differences that set the Sword Art Online environment apart from the real-world experience.

First, no pain is actually felt in any situation. As a result, players can undergo severe injuries and still only feel an uncomfortable tingling sensation. Second, there is no blood; in its place are red virtual gashes that are seen in the place of injuries. Third, Sword Skills allow attacks to be performed with normally impossible speed, dexterity, and power, based on the player's stats. Fourth, there are some everyday actions that simply are not done in the SAO world, such as changing clothes by hand or attempting to wield two items at the same time. There have been exceptions.

While playing Sword Art Online, players still feel fatigue and hunger, regardless of the state of their actual bodies. As a result it is an absolute necessity for all players to eat and sleep within the game; however, there is never a need to go to the bathroom.

Death or deletion in the game is visualized by fragmentation into thousands of polygon shards. All monsters, items, and players that have their HP or durability reduced to zero, disappear and fragment into polygons in such a fashion.

As a general rule, the SAO system censors mature content, such as sexual intercourse, but it is possible for players to disable this barrier if the «Moral Code Removal» option is selected in the options menu. Selecting this option also temporarily increases the quantity of tactile data, but this effect only manifests itself when all the equipment of a player is removed.

### Environment

#### Global Setting

Sword Art Online is set in Aincrad, a floating castle of 100 floors. At its base, it is approximately ten kilometers in diameter (making the 1th Floor boast an area of almost 79 square kilometers), and it is completely rendered in all dimensions. Because of the nature of Aincrad as a floating castle, there are no invisible barriers or no-access regions at the edges of the map. Aincrad's perimeter is merely surrounded by guard rails that can be jumped off of, but any player doing so will be deemed as dead after two minutes of falling.

Each individual floor has its unique climate, geography, fauna, and environment. However, each floor shares the principle of having a Labyrinth Tower that connects to the next floor, as well as the principle that the top of each tower is guarded by a Floor Boss, which has to be defeated before players can advance to the next floor. Some floors are known for being fairly cold, while others are known for flowers and forests. Most floors on Aincrad have a theme.

#### Seasons and Weather

Sword Art Online has its own «Aincrad Standard Time» and its own «Aincrad Calender» with specially named months. Known calendar months include:

* «**Month of the Plum Blossoms**» (李花の月, *Rika no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of January.
* «**Month of the Redbud**» (花蘇芳の月, *Hanazuō no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of February.
* «**Month of the Cornelian Cherry**» (山茱萸の月, *Sanshuyu no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of March.
* «**Month of the Cherry Blossom**» (桜の月, *Sakura no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of April.
* «**Month of the Apple**» (苹果の月, *Ringo no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of May.
* «**Month of the Snowbell**» (野茉莉の月, *Egonoki no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of June.
* «**Month of Hydrangea Flower**» (紫陽花の月, *Ajisai no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of July.
* «**Month of Hydrangea Tea**» (甘茶の月, *Amacha no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of August.
* «**Month of the Silverberry**» (秋茱萸の月, *Akigumi no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of September.
* «**Month of the Ash Tree**» (秦皮の月, *Toneriko no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of October.
* «**Month of the Cypress**» (糸杉の月, *Itosugi no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of November.
* «**Month of the Holly**» (柊の月, *Hīragi no Tsuki*?), the equivalent of December.
Globally, Sword Art Online has seasons and weather settings that are effective throughout the floors. Aincrad's seasons correlate with the seasons of the real world, but they are generally much milder. As a result, it is not always snowy in the winter, or scorching hot in the summer. Weather settings are generally random and quite realistic.

#### Physical Surroundings

In Sword Art Online, physical surroundings such as walls, buildings, monuments, and major features are considered '**Immortal Object'** (不滅物イモタル・オブジェクト, *Fumetsu MonoImōtaru Obujekuto*?). An error beep and a notification will sound if immortal physical objects are struck, even if by accident.

All non-Immortal Objects have a «**Durability**» (耐久性, *Taikyūsei*?) value. Durability is an important feature of Sword Art Online and is a measure of how much an item or object has been used (similar to HP), and how much it will last before it expires and shatters into polygon fragments. Clothes, equipment, weapons, potions, crystals, and food are all subject to a gradual loss of durability.

Oftentimes, players must invest significant resources into repairing and buying equipment. Many characters carry extra backup weapons into dungeons while others rely on merchants and smiths who regularly repair and upgrade equipment. Food always declines in durability with respect to time, and freshly prepared foods will disappear if not eaten soon enough. Merely dropping food can cause food to lose its durability and fragment into polygons.

## Gameplay

### Initiation and Character Creation

Logging onto Sword Art Online is done by using the voice command «Link Start» after powering-on NerveGear hardware. A brief few seconds of tunnel-vision colors are seen while the NerveGear intercepts signals from the player's brain before the powerup screen is seen. A pre-game status check then confirms the link connection of the five senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Upon logging on, a language-select is prompted, and then the login screen appears. After a welcome screen, a bright light ensues and the player can begin creating their character.

The first time a player utilizes NerveGear hardware, he or she is prompted to touch various parts of the body in order to calibrate the machine. While players were given an option to choose their in-game appearance however they liked (gender, height, girth, etc.) at first, the game avatar customisation feature was removed when Kayaba Akihiko made an announcement during the first day and changed everyone's physique to their real-world appearances, though the option to customize their eye color, hair color and style remained.

### User Interface

#### Visual Interface

In a player's display, without accessing any skills, one can see several interfaces.

The hit point bar is located on the upper left corner of one's field of vision. It displays the player's name, a visual hit point gauge, along with numerical hit points (current/maximum), and level. It also shows the hit points and names of all other members in the player's party in a smaller bar.

A clock displaying Aincrad local time can be seen in the bottom left corner of the visual field.

A «Color Cursor» can be seen over every NPC, monster, and player in the game. This cursor is either green (for players), orange (for players with criminal infractions), yellow (for NPCs), or various shades of red (for monsters). During battles, the health bar of monsters can be seen around the targeted enemy, as well as the name of the monster. Bosses typically have multiple health bars. As for a monster whose level is far and away from the levels of the players attacking it, hit point bars of that monster will be unable to see and instead indicated with an 'unknown'.

#### Touch Interface

Players can interact with the environment by tapping various key objects, including doorknobs and items. Doing so either performs the default function or brings up a floating dialogue that has several options, similar to the "right-click" on a PC.

In Sword Art Online, the Touch Interface replaces many actions and simplifies the process of actually performing an action. For example, tapping on a jar of cream to "use" the cream. Tapping again on bread automatically spreads the cream on the bread.

#### Main Menu Window

The main menu is the primary means of accessing a player's items, maps, skills, and inventory. It can be accessed by putting one's right index finger and thumb together, then pulling downwards. Immediately afterward, a ringing sound is heard and the menu appears. The menu has a white layout and is structured like so: a summary diagram on the left, circular category buttons in the middle and a detailed dialogue on the right. There are five category options: Inventory/Equipment, Friends/Guild, Communications, Maps/Quest, Settings. These five category icons scroll, and the category being accessed moves to the top.

* **Inventory/Equipment** - The icon for the category is a character icon. This is the default screen when opening the Menu interface. The left screen is an image of the body, with multiple points that allow the gamer to equip items or clothes. The right screen has three sub-menus:
	+ **Equipment** - Selecting this sub-menu will open another three sub-menu:
		- **Weapons** - The icon for this category is a sword like the one used in Equipment. This category allows the player to see *only* the part of their inventory that stores their unequipped weapons.
		- **Equipped** - The icon for this category is an armor. This category allows the player to look at their equipment that is currently on their person.
		- **Accessory** - The icon for this category is a necklace. This category allows the player to open the part of their inventory as well as another window that allows them to see the current accessories they have equipped, which includes jewelry, such as rings, necklaces, and other items of their ilk.
	+ **Items** - Selecting this sub-menu will open an additional scrolling screen on the left that lists all items. When an item is selected, it materializes in front of the player. The inventory turns red when a player has too many items.
	+ **Skills***[citation needed]* - Selecting this sub-menu will open additional scrolling screen on the left that lists all skills of the player.
* **Friends/Guild** - The icon for the category is two character icons together. The right screen has three sub-menus:
	+ **Party***[citation needed]* - Selecting this sub-menu will open three additional options. The first is «Create» (作成, *Sakusei*?), the second is «Invite» (招待, *Shoutai*?), and the third is «Dissolve» (解散, *Kaisan*?).
	+ **Friend** - Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a list of a player's friends. Selecting a single friend will produce three additional options: «Message Box», «Position Check», and «Profile». The names of fallen friends turn grey, disabling the ability to contact them.
	+ **Guild***[citation needed]* -
* **Communications** - The icon for this category is two chat box icons together. The icon flashes automatically whenever a player receives a message. Messages cannot be sent to a player who is currently in a dungeon.
	+ **Befriend** - This option allows the player to send a friend request to another player. The other player is added to the Friend List if the request is accepted.
	+ **Trade** - This option opens a trade window with another player. Trading can be used just to show another player items, or complete a trade after both parties accept the offers put forth.
	+ **Duel** - This option allows the player to send a Duel request. The player being challenged has the privilege of selecting one of the available duel modes.
	+ **Marriage***[citation needed]* This option, located at the very bottom of the Communications category, allows the player to send a marriage request to another player. Married players have uninhibited access to the other's equipment window, and their inventories are merged.
* **Maps/Quest** - The icon for the category is a balloon location icon. The right screen has three sub-menus:
	+ **Dungeon Map***[citation needed]* - Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a map of the dungeon that the player has explored.
	+ **Quest***[citation needed]* - Selecting this sub-menu will open the player's quest log, which displays information on current quests and their progress.
	+ **Field Map***[citation needed]* - Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a map of the floor that the player has explored.
* **Settings** - The icon for the category is a gear. The right screen has three sub-menus:
	+ **Option** - Selecting this option will allow the player to make changes to themselves.
	+ **Help** - Selecting "Help" will call a GM (Game Master) in the left screen.
	+ **Logout** - The logout button was disabled as of the first day of the official SAO launch. Consequently, the left-screen is also completely blank.
### Equipment

Many types of equipment exist in Sword Art Online, including armors, weapons, and so on. Players can equip them on over ten different parts of their body, including the left and right hand, head, arm, body, wrist and so on.

Equipment in SAO can be divided into two groups: «Player-made» and «Monster-drops». Player-made equipment were usually the better of the two, but even a few rare monster-drops rivaled their counterparts. However, there also exists a third group of equipment, which included those that are purchased in NPC shops.

### Leveling System

SAO uses a level-based system to determine the strength of a player. Once the player gains enough EXP, their avatar glows a golden hue, and their current level is raised by one. SAO had a level cap of 200. The leveling system in SAO is largely based on a mathematical algorithm that adds a specific number to a stat after leveling up, according to level increment. The table below explains the leveling system of SAO.

As for the near-unlimited number of Skills within SAO, the skills have to be utilized in order to be leveled up. After reaching a skill level of 1,000, that skill is said to be «complete» and cannot be further leveled. Sometimes, while training a skill, other skills could be unlocked, such as the necessity of training the «One-Handed Sword» skill in order to unlock the «Two-handed Sword» skill.

*Note: The stats shown here are the base stats of a player and DOES NOT count the bonuses given by using various equipment. This chart is taken directly from Material Edition 1.*

## Combat

### Parameters

Several factors go into the calculation of damage in Sword Art Online. Among them include the efficacy of hits (a direct hit as opposed to a scratch), the skill level of a player, the Sword Skill used, and the weapon's stats. SAO's damage calculation system is more complicated than the system in ALfheim Online.

Weapons have the following enhancement parameters that determine stats: Sharpness, Quickness, Accuracy, Heaviness, and Durability. When a weapon is given to an NPC or player blacksmith to upgrade, bonuses such as +1 or +2 are appended select categories. Players use an abbreviated notation to describe the effective bonuses on a weapon. «1A2H1D» for example, has +1 Accuracy, +2 Heaviness, and +1 Durability.

On a regular basis, these parameters cannot be seen unless a weapon is «Appraised». Selecting a weapon will only show its name and its aggregate bonuses (the sum of all enhancement parameters). For example, Kirin's «Breakwind»+48 has the parameters «10S6Q10A10H12D».

### Status Effects

*Main article: Status Effect*Status Effects, like many MMORPGs, play an important role in combat. Many attacks have a random chance of handing out status effects. They are generally not curable unless the appropriate Crystals are used. Most status effects expire after a set period of time.

### Monster Battle Mechanics

There is no «Magic» in SAO except for the different colored crystals that bring instant effects. Instead, players can fight using their «Sword Skills». Execution of Swords Skills are assisted by the system, and it can fall into any of the four properties: Thrust, Slash, Pierce, and Blunt. SAO has no projectile weapons, with the exception of Throwing Picks, darts,*[citation needed]* and chakrams.*[citation needed]*

Attempting to battle without Sword Skills is largely ineffective, and it is equivalent to waving one's sword around without doing damage. Many beginners make this mistake, and they can lose a large portion of their health if they panic and forget to use their Sword Skills.*[citation needed]*

Defeating a monster brings up a Congratulations screen with a summary of results: EXP gained, Cor gained, and Items dropped. Distribution of loot occurs automatically, and Cor is automatically divided evenly between the party/raid members while items are placed in the inventory of the person who receives it. Unlike the systems of many MMOs, Sword Art Online does not have a battle log or announce to others what items other players receive. As a result, Boss Battles can end awkwardly as there is no fair mechanism of splitting the loot among the victors. To prevent disputes, guilds often have set policies dictating the division of the loot.

In Boss Battles, being the player to deal the Last Attack produces a rare drop for the individual player.

In general, monsters cannot enter safe zones, such as towns or cities.

### Party Battle Mechanics

It is generally much more efficient to battle in parties. While there is less emphasis on Classes in Sword Art Online, and monsters can only be engaged by one player at a time, the main benefit of battling in parties is the ability to «Switch».

Switching allows a fellow party member to take the lead spot against an opponent at any time. Most monsters and bosses have a short downtime in between attacks, so switching during the gap allows an additional blow to be dealt when a monster is stunned. Additionally, the AI algorithms are known to run slower when a change of attack style (which occurs during a switch), so monsters have marginally slower reaction times immediately after a «Switch». Kirito mentions that «Switch» is one of the skills that are improvised by players without the assist of the system, also dubbed by Kirito as "a skill outside the system".

The maximum number of players that can form a party is six. Eight parties (or groups) constitute a complete Raid Group large enough to challenge bosses.

### Player vs. Player Combat

In Sword Art Online, it is possible to engage in combat with other players. Player vs. Player combat can either be authorized or unauthorized.

Unauthorized combat can be initiated by simply striking another player intentionally. This will render the aggressor's cursor icon as orange, which is visible to everyone for several hours (repeated offenses will render a player's cursor permanently orange). While anyone can be challenged in unauthorized combat, such player vs. player battle cannot occur in safe zones. Attacking a player in a safe zone will not decrease HP, but the recoil and impact of Sword Skills can be felt.

Authorized combat is essentially dueling. It is done by requesting permission from another player to engage in a duel. There are several different duel modes, which vary conditionally by concluding after the first clear blow, after HP decreases by one half, after a period of time, or death. Attacking someone during a duel will not turn any participant's cursors to orange.

Like most MMORPGs, Player Killing (PKing) is often a result of unwanted player-player combat. While death in the original Closed Beta test resulted in respawning in the Room of Resurrection on the 1st Floor, player death is permanent and real in the Official Server Service. As a result, PKing in Sword Art Online has a severity akin to murder.

## Notes

1. ↑ In An Inkling of Evil, much to the surprise of the onlooking crowd, Kirin demonstrates the ability to equip a second sword and use one-handed sword skills separately one sword at a time, giving off the illusion that she had used Dual Blades by utilizing the system loophole of «Skill Connect», during her duel with Kirito.
2. ↑ Reaching max level gives a bonus stat boost to increase the six basic statistics from 369 to 370.
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Volume 1, An Inkling of Evil, Chapter 1 Part 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Volume 1, An Inkling of Evil, Prologue I
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Volume 1, The Rose, the Lily, and Morning Dew, Prologue
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Volume 1, An Inkling of Evil, Chapter 3 Part 2
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Volume 1, The Rose, the Lily, and Morning Dew, Chapter 1 Part 3
6. ↑ Volume 1, The Torch's Inheritance, Chapter 1 Part 1
7. ↑ Volume 13, Chapter 2 Part 2
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Volume 2, Prologue
9. ↑ Material Edition 1