The MMORPG manga
PostPosted:Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:07 pm
I picked up this thing called Sword Arts Online and it's about these guys who hook up to a VR device into some MMORPG and then can't leave the game if you die in the MMORPG you die in real life too. It's not the first time there's a manga about MMORPG, but I noticed these things are about as far away from a MMORPG as Captain Tsubasa is an accurate depiction of soccer. Now I realize that there are some limitations even when you're writing about a MMORPG, since usually to spice things up they have permadeaths (wouldn't be too interesting if you can just keep on wipe over and over!) which is clearly not possible in most MMORPGs, so you got to have people who are considered supernatural even by MMORPG standards. You start with some protagonist, and obviously he's supposed to be super powerful and stuff. So in his conversation with the server's most powerful guild it was like: "Don't underestimate this guy, he's an Alpha tester and he's at least 10 levels higher than you!" I mean seriously, 10 levels higher? This is apparently a MMORPG with no level cap that people have been playing for 2 years. Unless you play 24/7 there is ALWAYS someone who is 10 levels higher than you!
Then the hero runs into the guild leader of the server's uberguild, who is a tank whose health has never went below 50%. I'm guessing the point here isn't that this guy always has an army of healers around to make sure his HP never drops below 50%, so the implication is that this is some legendary tank who never takes damage or something. Again, if you ever played a MMORPG you know that the health loss of a tank has almost nothing to do with the tank himself. If you want to say he is a legendary tank who has never lost aggro to DPS I can certainly buy that. You can say he's a legendary tank that DPSes as well as a DPS, or that he once defeated a boss after the rest of his group wiped. The only way a tank's health never drops below 50% would be if you've some kind of godmode hack (which is actually the case here).
I think it'd actually be pretty fun to read about the adventures against the 25 boxer, or the PvPer who can always hide behind a pillar, or overcoming having a Leroy Jenkins on your team. Then again, Japan brought us FF14, so maybe their understanding of MMORPGs is limited. The hero of SAO apparently ended up with like 7 girls like your generic harem manga and all of them are really girls too!
Then the hero runs into the guild leader of the server's uberguild, who is a tank whose health has never went below 50%. I'm guessing the point here isn't that this guy always has an army of healers around to make sure his HP never drops below 50%, so the implication is that this is some legendary tank who never takes damage or something. Again, if you ever played a MMORPG you know that the health loss of a tank has almost nothing to do with the tank himself. If you want to say he is a legendary tank who has never lost aggro to DPS I can certainly buy that. You can say he's a legendary tank that DPSes as well as a DPS, or that he once defeated a boss after the rest of his group wiped. The only way a tank's health never drops below 50% would be if you've some kind of godmode hack (which is actually the case here).
I think it'd actually be pretty fun to read about the adventures against the 25 boxer, or the PvPer who can always hide behind a pillar, or overcoming having a Leroy Jenkins on your team. Then again, Japan brought us FF14, so maybe their understanding of MMORPGs is limited. The hero of SAO apparently ended up with like 7 girls like your generic harem manga and all of them are really girls too!