A twist on my "Kayaba as AI-Creator-ghod" idea further up the page occurred to me. Kayaba wants to ensure his Homo Sapiens Cyber offspring survive and thrive, right? So... what if every human player who dies in SAO... dies b/c their meatbrain gets overwritten by one of Kayaba's Kids who died in-game? After all, it'd be a shame to waste all the delicious useful meat (Kayaba's an efficiency fetishest, when it suits him)....
Extra horror points if each HSC has no idea this is going to happen until they wake up wearing a corpse, with enough memories "inherited" from their host to allow them to convincingly play the part of their host in meatspace, if they choose. Kayaba's idea of a "5th column" of sorts to help safeguard his children's future.
Double-extra horror points if it's less an overwrite than a mental invasion, with both minds forced to either battle for dominance or come to some kind of accommodation. And we thought the canon SAO Survivors needed All The Therapists....
Extra horror points if each HSC has no idea this is going to happen until they wake up wearing a corpse, with enough memories "inherited" from their host to allow them to convincingly play the part of their host in meatspace, if they choose. Kayaba's idea of a "5th column" of sorts to help safeguard his children's future.
Double-extra horror points if it's less an overwrite than a mental invasion, with both minds forced to either battle for dominance or come to some kind of accommodation. And we thought the canon SAO Survivors needed All The Therapists....