Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-108.6.48.60-20141221154843/@comment-6697950-20180828041755

How exactly does it do that? One SAO survivor =/= another. For starters, most SAO players either never left the safety of towns or stayed in low/mid level areas where they wouldn't be risking their lives. Then a majority of them never continued playing any other game. Then, even those who actually battled frequently in SAO and still continue playing other games aren't necessarily playing them as hardcore as they used to. Kirito is a prime example of this - in the battle against Death Gun, Kirito was overwhelmed as he hadn't been as actively maintaining his combat skills as Death Gun. Just being an SAO survivor doesn't mean shit unless you're actually putting in some effort.