Hello, this is Reki Kawahara. Thank you for picking up Sword Art Online 5: Phantom Bullet, the fifth in this series and my tenth published book overall.
When it comes to online games, there are two other very popular genres aside from the MMORPG: the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, and the First-Person Shooter (FPS) game.
I enjoy both types, but if I get started on RTS games, I’ll run out of paper, so let’s put that aside for now.
As the name suggests, an FPS is a gun-based game in which the player sees directly from the perspective of the character he plays. This genre arose in America, and in terms of the number of games and players, they still easily lead the world. When playing online against them, I’ve often wondered if I was actually up against the great sniper Simo Häyhä. Just imagine me running around at top speed, then hearing a tiny pop from across the map, only to fall to the ground with blood streaming from my forehead. Or if it’s a close-quarters fight, they’ll easily dodge around my assault rifle fire, then run up and shank me with a knife (in this case, I wonder if they’re actually Steven Seagal reborn). Of course, that could be my own lack of skill speaking!
PvP play in MMOs is very heavily affected by differences in level and gear, but FPSs are much more determined by player skill, as there’s little difference between characters’ in-game abilities. One of the inspirations for the Phantom Bullet arc in SAO was a desire to depict that kind of gaming “strength.”
The problem is that while I enjoy FPSs, I know next to nothing about actual guns…You might think that I’m tossing out all kinds of gun names and terminology like it’s second nature, but that’s entirely an illusion I’ve put on. I’m sure that an actual expert in guns would read this and throw the book aside in disgust, but I hope you can accept any inaccuracies as “just within the game.”
To my editor, Mr. Miki, for fixing up my drafts despite the many other tasks on his plate, to abec for the delightful illustrations of our two (hah!) heroines in this volume, and to you, dear reader, for noting my previous warning about getting off track last book and continuing onward anyway, I dedicate head shots of pure gratitude. Hope to see you next time!
Reki Kawahara — June 10th, 2010