What's NerveGear in 'Sword Art Online?' - We Got This Covered

Warning: The pursuing nonfiction contains spoilers for Sword Art Online, Sword Art Online II, Sword Art Online – Alicization, and Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld.

Imagine having entree to a futuristic exertion instrumentality that could marque you consciousness similar you were really surviving wrong of a video game, with your senses of touch, hearing, sight, smell, and sensation each remaining arsenic vivid arsenic successful the existent world. It would beryllium similar entering an alternate reality, possibly adjacent preferable to this one, depending connected its design. It sounds awesome, right? And yet, this technological “gift” yet harms the 10 1000 players of virtual world crippled Sword Art Online, who go the literal hostages of the breakthrough NerveGear developed by Akihiko Kayaba, the sociopathic gamemaster down the full atrocity.

Although we lone spot it look successful a fewer of Sword Art Online‘s scenes, NerveGear is the instrumentality that’s astatine the bosom and halfway of the kidnapped players’ woes. So, what is this troublesome apparatus, however does it function, and what is its past successful the satellite of Sword Art Online?

The past of Sword Art Online‘s NerveGear

Image via Crunchyroll

In the satellite of Sword Art Online (with the communicative taking spot successful an alternate mentation of modern-day Japan), exertion has progressed astatine a faster complaint than successful existent life, giving emergence to a convincing virtual world strategy by 2022. Invented by Sword Art Online‘s villainous gamemaster Akihiko Kayaba and distributed by his company, Argus, NerveGear is the archetypal portion of breakthrough exertion that makes this possible.

As the world’s archetypal VRMMO (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online) and Kayaba’s 2nd-generation FullDive (the enactment of linking to a virtual reality) machine, Sword Art Online‘s NerveGear is an precocious virtual world headset that’s designed to nexus a video crippled player’s encephalon to a virtual world. In different words, it offers a realistic acquisition of surviving successful the game’s fake world, portion closing disconnected the brain’s consciousness of the existent satellite successful the meantime.

In Sword Art Online‘s archetypal episode, we are introduced to NerveGear arsenic protagonist Kirito prepares to participate the recently released game. As shown successful the episode, it’s a streamlined grey helmet, equipped with a bluish rectractable visor, with its sanction written crossed the front. It possesses an interior artillery (making up 30 percent of its weight) arsenic good arsenic interior representation for storing game-related data. The larboard connected the broadside lets players plug successful a ligament for artillery recharge oregon extended online sessions. The 3 LED lights connected the beforehand bespeak power, web connection, and encephalon interface status. (If the past airy listed turns red, this means that the user’s encephalon is nary longer operational, a calamity that occurs for galore of the players successful Sword Art Online.)

The mentation for however NerveGear provides a virtual world acquisition for the players of Sword Art Online is reasonably simple. Its high-density microwave transceivers are capable to entree the user’s brain, thereby sending fake signals to their 5 senses. They tin besides artifact each brain-to-body question commands (keeping the subordinate from moving their assemblage portion successful FullDive, frankincense preventing immoderate imaginable injuries) arsenic good arsenic body-to-brain sensory information, efficaciously shutting the subordinate disconnected from the existent world.

As experienced by the casualties of Sword Art Online‘s decease game, NerveGear’s high-powered microwaves tin beryllium utilized to fry a player’s brain, thereby ending their beingness successful the existent world. (Akihiko Kayaba programmed the game’s operating strategy to bash this erstwhile a player’s “Hit Points” fell to zero.) They tin besides fig retired what a user’s look looks like, which is wherefore the players of Sword Art Online look successful their real-life forms during the endurance game.

To utilize NerveGear successful Sword Art Online, first, the crippled console indispensable beryllium placed implicit the player’s head, and the Ethernet cablegram connected to it indispensable beryllium plugged into the wall. Then, the idiosyncratic indispensable prevarication down successful a harmless and comfy position, and activate the console by speaking the words “Link Start.” After that, the instrumentality volition statesman loading the inserted game, and the PWR, WAN, and BLK indicators volition look coagulated oregon blinking.

The destiny of Sword Art Online‘s NerveGear

Image via Crunchyroll

In the story, aft the Sword Art Online debacle, Argus stops producing NerveGear, and the Japanese authorities seizes and disposes of the remaining devices. Subsequently, astir virtual world players power to utilizing its successor, known arsenic the AmuSphere, a 2nd-generation FullDive console with comparatively minimized transceivers. This caller virtual world instrumentality is almighty capable to forestall players from harming themselves during the game, portion not wholly shutting disconnected their sensory input successful the existent world.

However, immoderate NerveGear stay successful existence. During the aboriginal fractional of Sword Art Online‘s archetypal season, Kirito uses the apparatus to find Asuna successful ALfheim Online, apt undergoing the traumatic acquisition of utilizing a NerveGear alternatively than an AmuSphere owing to clip and wealth constraints. (He is capable to support his instrumentality aft a palmy dialog with Kikuoka Seijirou, a high-ranking authorities official.) Gabriel Miller, an antagonist who appears aboriginal successful the Sword Art Online series, is besides shown to person one.

Although NerveGear is nary longer mainstream successful the satellite of Sword Art Online, the ground-breaking invention leads to the commencement of caller FullDive virtual world consoles, specified arsenic the AmuSphere, the Meducoid, the Soul Translator, and the Brain Implant Chip.