- GGO redirects here. You may be looking for the Sword Art Online episode or the Alternative "Gun Gale Online" episode.
«Gun Gale Online» (ガンゲイル・オンライン, Gangeiru Onrain?, abbreviated as GGO) is a VRMMORPG, developed and operated by an American company called Zaskar, that emphasizes on gun usage. It is the setting for the Phantom Bullet Arc. One of the main events in GGO is the multi-player versus player tournament known as the Bullet of Bullets (BoB).
The game started operation in April 2025[1] and has become the most famous Sci-fi VRMMO game in the Sword Art Online Universe since then.[2]
System
Gun Gale Online was created with the help of the free VRMMO game development support package, called «The Seed», and utilizes FullDive technology to set players inside a post-apocalyptic world. It is thus part of «The Seed Nexus», allowing players from other games that are part of the nexus to convert their avatars in the game into GGO and vice versa, though at the cost of not being able to transfer items, having the avatar's stats adjusted to maintain the relative strength between the two games and the player not being able to use the same avatar in the previous game unless it is converted back again.
Setting
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, which had become a wasteland after a huge war long ago, that people had returned to on space ships.[3] The capital city of the game, called SBC Glocken, with SBC meaning Space Battle Cruiser,[2] was originally the spaceship that was used to return to this planet. A huge city of ruins from the war, which has an unlimited number of automated fighting machines and mutant creatures that await adventurers, sleeps beneath the capital city.[3]
Gameplay
The basis of the game's gameplay is to increase one's level, which in turn increases stats that are increased based on player's choices. These stats determine how a character plays and operates in the game, the interval selection can not be altered later, so players must know how they wish to develop in the long-term.
Stats
- AGI (
敏捷力[4] or 敏捷性[5] , Binshou-ryoku, or Binshou-sei or Ajiriti?, Agility) - Affects the player's fire speed (decreases Bullet Circle appearance[6] and stabilisation time[7][6]) and evasive ability.[7] Also affects the player's run speed.[3][5] - DEX (器用さ[5][8], Kiyōsa?, Dexterity) - Narrows the area of the Bullet Circle (increases accuracy).[9] The stat is also needed for setting traps.[5]
- LUK[4] (幸運[4] or 運[5], Kouun or Un?, Luck)
- SEN (知力[5], Chiryoku?, Sensibility)
- STR (筋力[4][5][8], Kinryoku?, Strength) - determines the carrying capacity and ability to wield certain guns
- VIT (体力[4] or 耐久力[5][8], Tairyoku[4] or Taikyūryoku?, Vitality) - Determines the number of hit points the player has.[citation needed]
Skills
- Main article: Skills (GGO)
As many other VRMMO games, Gun Gale Online also has a system of skills, most of them are related to the weapons the player use, while others are used to create weapons such as «knife creation» and «weapon creation» skills.
Currency
Credits is the form of currency used in Gun Gale Online. The initial amount received at the start of the game is 1000 credits.[2]
GGO is the only[10] VRMMO game that has a «game coin to real money conversion system». Not only can players purchase credits with Japanese yen, but credits earned inside the game can be converted into yen, at a rate of 100 credits to 1 yen (the rate in December 2025).
Weapons
There are mainly two types of guns in Gun Gale Online, with each of them have different advantages and disadvantages that limit their use.[3]
- Optical guns - firing light-based ammunition, they are used primarily to hunt mobs. Their advantages include being lighter, having longer effective range and precision as well as smaller magazine size than live ammunition guns do. However, defensive equipment can be used to disperse the damage of optical weapons, making them ineffective against players. Optical guns are all given fanciful names and shapes.[3]
- Live-ammunition guns - meant for player to player battles as they are capable of ignoring most counters meant for optical weapons. The bullets of such weapons can pass through defense fields and are able to deal higher damage per hit as compared to optical weapons. However, the disadvantages include having to carry extra heavy bullet magazines around and the fact that live bullet trajectory is affected by wind and humidity. Guns in this category are all originated from guns that exist in the real world.[3]
- Non-gun weapons, like the Kagemitsu G4[2] or an estoc crafted from battle cruiser armor plating metal[11], also exist in this game.
Log-out
Gun Gale Online utilizes the soul-less logout, like the system used in ALfheim Online, where the user can immediately log-out in safe zones, but in the field the body remains soul-less for a period of time and then the user is logged out. In the soul-less state, the user can be killed and have their items stolen, if their body is left unguarded.[3]
Squadron
In place of guilds and parties, GGO uses a squadron-type team play. Some squadrons prefer hunting monsters, while others prefer battling against other players.
Servers
There are two separate servers for Gun Gale Online: the American and the Japanese servers. Until the aftermath of the first BoB, anyone from the American server could choose to play on the Japanese server and vice versa, though only a few players chose to play on a foreign server.[8] This also meant that an American could participate in the Japanese version of the BoB. However, after the first BoB, the two servers were separated, meaning that American players could no longer connect to the Japanese server and vice versa,[8] though an American player did somehow manage to get into the 4th BoB despite the regional block.[12]
Other
To play Gun Gale Online, a player must pay a connection fee of 3000 yen every month.[10] Players are given six months window time to pay the connection fee. If a player does not pay the connection fee within six months, the account of the player will be deleted.[12]
GGO is the only VRMMO game with «Pro» players, meaning players who make their income solely from the game's «game coin to real money conversion system».[10] They convert credits earned in-game into yen and could use them to pay connection fees, and potentially even for their living.
Because the game is running over legal gray zone, no real world contact information about its operator is provided, thus all game-related operations, like joining activities, can only be done in-game via terminals, which can be found in areas like the presidential estate in SBC Glocken.
References
- ↑ Eight months before the events of Volume 5, Chapter 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Volume 5, Chapter 6
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Volume 5, Chapter 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Volume 5, Prologue
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Gun Gale Online Volume 1, SECT.1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 A tweet about the effects of AGI in GGO by the author.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Volume 5, Chapter 4
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Volume 6, Chapter 12
- ↑ A tweet about DEX in GGO by the author.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Volume 5, Chapter 1
- ↑ Volume 6, Chapter 14
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Volume 9, Prologue II, Part 1