The NerveGear (ナーヴギア, Nāvugia) is an advanced Virtual Reality Headset invented by Kayaba Akihiko.
Appearance
The NerveGear is a streamlined dark grey helmet with a light blue visor, which seems to be retractable, and the words "NVG NerveGear" written on the front in black ink. It has an internal battery, which encompasses 30% of the NerveGear's weight, and internal memory to store data from the games. It also has port on the side that allows players to plug in a wire to charge the battery, or to have extended play sessions. The headgear features three LED lights on the front rim that indicate power, network connection, and brain interface status respectively.
History
The NerveGear was invented by Kayaba Akihiko and distributed by the company Argus. It was designed to project a virtual world into a player's brain and make them experience all the sensations of the world while making them largely unaware of what was happening in the real world.
During a beta test of an early version of the console, beta testers would apparently wander their homes and beat up people who they mistook as enemies, with at least one player beating his roommate to death. This resulted in numerous lawsuits and the NerveGear was given the ability to paralyze its players to prevent this from happening again.
Despite this, popular gaming company Bethesda Softworks was intrigued by the prospect of the NerveGear. They approached Argus and asked them to make a Virtual Reality MMORPG for them, which was later named Sword Art Online. Due to the complexity of the game, it had two delays, and even then, the game was not ready.
With Bethesda unwilling to give Kayaba another extension, Kayaba proceeded to work for three weeks without sleep in order to get the game released on time. But this resulted in the game having numerous glitches, one of which caused the NerveGear to overheat and, apparently, resulted in the players' heads exploding when their Avatars died in game, killing them in real life.[1][2]
After SAO was cleared, the NerveGear was largely viewed mundanely, as the glitch was unique to SAO, and people were allowed to keep using it to play games. Although most people avoided using it and opted to use the newest VR Headset, the AmuSphere, instead.[3][4]
Usage
To use the NerveGear, the player wears the game console over their head. Then it is recommended for the player to find a comfortable position to station the body, usually a bed. Afterwards, the game will load upon utterance of the initiation words, "Link Start".
Known Users
| Image | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Kazuto Kirigaya | Participated in the beta test of Sword Art Online |
|
Klein | N/A |
|
Girl Guy | N/A |
|
Fatty | N/A |
|
Kayaba Akihiko | Creator of the console |
| Stephen | Acquaintance of Kayaba | |
| Timmy | Stephen's son | |
|
Diabel | N/A |
|
Kibaou | N/A |
|
Tiffany | N/A |
|
Corvatz | N/A |
|
Asuna Yuuki | N/A |
|
Fluffles | Cat playing the game |
|
Jeffrey | N/A |
|
Keita | N/A |
|
Sachi | N/A |
|
Rosalia | N/A |
|
Silica | N/A |
|
Schmitt | Participated in the beta test of Sword Art Online |
|
Godfree | N/A |
|
Kains | N/A |
|
Yolko | N/A |
|
Johnny Black | N/A |
|
Grimlock | N/A |
|
Griselda | N/A |
|
Lizbeth | N/A |
|
Kuradeel | N/A |
| Sam | N/A | |
| Bob | N/A | |
|
King of Ashes | N/A |
|
Sasha | N/A |
|
Yulier | N/A |
|
Thinker | N/A |
|
Nishida | N/A |
|
Shinichi Nagata | Bought the console secondhand to play ALfheim Online |
References
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