Thoughts on VRMMO stories with time compression (Bofuri, Accel World, etc.)

[classicdrogn]

Medical therapy versions were apparently the first limited-production version of the interface equipment in Sword Art Online and related series, from what I recall - medicubes or something like that, versus the standard Nerve Gear. There was something about how they gave a slightly better response time than the consumer units, I think? This led to a short (I think one of mine) a few years back of the scene at the beginning of SAO where Kayaba hands out the mirror items that make everyone's ingame avatar match their real body, with a character who had been in an accident and lost their legs and dominant arm horrified at being stuck, crippled again, in the world that was supposed to be their escape and had just been turned into a deathworld instead of harmless fun.

fake edit: Checking the SAO wiki reveals that Medicuboids are actually 3rd gen equipment, contemporary to the Amusphere that replaced the Nerve Gear and didn't have the high-powered scanner etc. capable of doing damage if run at the actual maximum instead of nominal power. Meh, the point was that therapeutic purposes are not unknown for the technology. They'd probably be useful for stroke rehab, to let people quickly (at least from an outside perspective) relearn physical coordination, language, or other skills - as long as the accelerated VR time didn't put more physical stress on the brain anyway.