Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-121.219.157.62-20150401050156/@comment-6697950-20160826072936

Yes, the novel clearly said that the new owners found the data of Aincrad in their servers and decided to make use of it. RECT copied the entire server, including even player profiles and their items (though these weren't incorporated to the actual game, so they weren't really useful). Pina's case should have also been stated in some side story, but I don't recall which.

Anyway, ALO was taken over by a new company. Why would they leave a player with admin credentials in the game? Moreover, Heathcliff's account was protected with a complex, alphanumeric password. The only reason Kirito was able to access it was because Kayaba dictated the password to him. Do you really expect someone to remember a complex password after just hearing it once?