Ethics, Safety, And Security Concerns

[gonnn]

Moderation note: This post was split from How Long Until We Could Make A Real Sword Art Online (sao) Nerve Gear Type Device, because that long thread is being broken up into threads by subject to make them shorter and more readable.

 

This thread is for discussion of concerns about possible abuse or misuse of immersive virtual reality

 

These are very good questions about the technical part of the project, although i don't think i can answer them I will make another question, but from the psycological aspect of the VR.

 

Could the use of such a device be banned or restricted to normal people?

Having in mind only the recreational aspect of the Nerve Gear, could this cause problems to average gamers, such as lower the productivity in work, lack of sleep, no socializing... coming from a posible "abduction" that the game could cause to people? 

I mean, if you can go to a world like the one in SAO, beautiful and thrilling, or any other imaginable world and do things such as fly, fight, travel, on your own home, could this cause the lost of motivation in real life? Wouldn't work or deal with ordinary problems became dull and unsatisfying when you can do all you dreamed about in different worlds, beautifully created (and maybe photorealistic) only by plugging a device and putting a helmet on? Can people who spend a huge time in a virtual world "forget" the difference between the virtual and real world and have the same behaviour on both?

If we develop VR to a point where we can drink or eat and "feel" it like in SAO, could people die of thirst while playing? (maybe it's a bit extreme example, hope you understand what I mean). 

 

This is what iI fear most about the project, not the technical difficulties, as I have huge faith on science, but who could people deal with this, maybe bringing a new conception of the world or making develop psycological problems as the result of not being able to deal with reality after going to a perfect world.

 

All I can think of is a restriction of the device that could only let the players be one or two hours playing and disabling the device for the next three or four hours. Maybe a little extreme, but even I can think of the idea of going to explore new worlds, or do sword fights to see how people felt in ancient times much more appealing than my everyday life.

[TimberEyes]

I think the restriction to a few hours is actually a really good idea. Also, I've been wondering for a while, but would you be able to use the NG in place of sleeping? It looks as though the user's in a sleep sort of phase anyway, although I don't know what sort of mental effect it would have.

[zazz54]

I was also thinking about what another poster wrote about those who would become obsessed with a VR world. Indeed, there will be that, there always is abuse in any venture or "new" something. But restrictions probably will have little effect. About the best we can do is leave the suggestion, "User beware; this device could become addictive." To me it's about like everything else; if we attempt to inhibit, we'll create monsters.

[gonnn]

I was also thinking about what another poster wrote about those who would become obsessed with a VR world. Indeed, there will be that, there always is abuse in any venture or "new" something. But restrictions probably will have little effect. About the best we can do is leave the suggestion, "User beware; this device could become addictive." To me it's about like everything else; if we attempt to inhibit, we'll create monsters.

I though about the restriction because in my opinion, nowadays a huge amount people would prefer to spend time in the virtual reality than in the real world. If it's correctly developed you can do almost whatever you want, and, for example, if anybasketball fan had the money and time to play in this NG, would more likely prefer to play with Michael Jordan in the United Center than studying, working, or doing anything else. 

That's why I think that some restrictions in time could prevent it from being completely banned because of the psycological dependence that it can generate in some players, just like what happens with drugs, for example.

[pgrmdave]

That's why I think that some restrictions in time could prevent it from being completely banned because of the psycological dependence that it can generate in some players, just like what happens with drugs, for example.

 

Exactly - it would be just like what happens with drugs. Or alcohol during prohibition.

[CraigD]

Could the use of such a device be banned or restricted to normal people?

Having in mind only the recreational aspect of the Nerve Gear, could this cause problems to average gamers, such as lower the productivity in work, lack of sleep, no socializing... coming from a posible "abduction" that the game could cause to people?

Gonnn, I believe you mean “addiction” (a compulsion to repeat a behavior (usually drug use)) rather than “abduction” (forcibly taking someone away against their will).

 

Video game addiction has been a recognized psychological and social problem for many years, increasing as the game have become more engaging and enjoyable, so I expect that improvements will continue to increase their addictive potential. As with any addiction or other psychological problem, we should as individuals and via governments and non-government agencies help people with such problems. I don’t think legal bans or restrictions, or technological impediments (such as mandatory “breaks” built into the games) are a good or effective approach to this. In my opinion and experience, psychotherapeutic counseling is.

 

Virtual reality computer systems are already being used by psychiatrists and psychologists, on a limited and experimental scale, to help people. For example, people with debilitating phobic (fear) disorders have been treated by exposing them to the objects of their phobias (such as high places, spiders, and snakes) in a VR simulation.

 

In the future, I hope that immersive VR can be used not just for games, but also for psychotherapy. One of the difficulties in present day psychotherapy is physically getting patients and therapists together. VR “as good as physically being there” – usually called “telepresence” – could alleviate this problem. VR based on true brain reading devices could be better than ordinary physical presence, providing a therapist with information about emotion and unconscious thought they can at present only guess at from observing physical clues.

 

Immersive VR could similarly improve almost any activity that at present requires physical interaction, such as schools, professional conferences and workplaces. Many people, including myself, already work in essentially a kind of physically abstract telepresent mode – for the past 5+ years, the majority of my professional interactions have been via teleconferencing rather than face-to-face get-togethers.

 

I think addiction to immersive video games is more a problem of a compulsion to play games to the exclusion of other activities. This compulsion was a problem before computers were commonly available. For example, concerned psychologists and social scientists and commentator worried, in the 1970s and ‘80s, with some good cause, about paper-and-pencil roll-playing and tactical gamers being “addicted”. Computers and computer networks allowing large numbers of people to game together in realistic 3-D simulated worlds has made roll playing and tactical gaming more accessible, so increased the number of people suffering various degrees of game addiction, but the real cause and effective treatments of it is rooted not in computer technology, but human psychology.

 

I mean, if you can go to a world like the one in SAO, beautiful and thrilling, or any other imaginable world and do things such as fly, fight, travel, on your own home, could this cause the lost of motivation in real life?

As an anime fan who’s watched the SAO/ALO/GGO series with a critical eye, I’m pretty confident I wouldn’t prefer flying, fighting, and traveling in these worlds to doing it the physical world, because despite the depicted immersive VR technology (NerveGear, and its 2nd generation replacement, AmuSphere), these in-game activity doesn’t seem very realistic to me. The sword fighting, for instance, seems video-game like, with player movements (or brain activity) triggering preprogrammed avatar movement rather than being accurately represented by the avatar.

 

As a matter of game design, this is necessary, if it truly accurate replication of the player input, their avatar would move the way the player does in the real world. People with little fighting or general physical talent and/or training would be as clumsy and ineffective in the game as in real life, and the game would provide little “escapist entertainment”.

 

Many people who enjoy and have practiced sword fighting in the real world, such as myself, eventually find “trigger” game mechanics like this disappointing. Gritty and unspectacular as real world sword fighting often is, it’s realistic, limited only by rules needed to assure people don’t get seriously injured, and full of surprises and subtleties not present – and not desired – in computer simulations of it. It’s fun to “drive” a supernaturally tough, strong, skilled game avatar, but for me, no replacement for real physical play, even if I’m not very tough, strong, or skilled.

 

There’s a deep game design principle in play here, presenting as a balance between realism and escapist wish fulfillment. Different real-time character-immersive games balance this differently, “accurate” games such as driving simulator at one end, FRPGs like SAO (there are, in the real world, a few SAO video game, available only on the Sony Playstation Portable and Vita handheld systems) on the other.

 

Wouldn't work or deal with ordinary problems became dull and unsatisfying when you can do all you dreamed about in different worlds, beautifully created (and maybe photorealistic) only by plugging a device and putting a helmet on?

But that’s not what’s depicted in SAO/ALO/GGO!

 

Main characters Kirito, Asuna, and a few others have very nice in-game lives because, for various reasons, they’ve won lots of experience, treasure, and insider connections in the game, resulting in the game giving their avatars unusually high abilities, characteristics, and access to special features. Beginning players, with zero in-game experience point, starting money and equipment, don’t. They have to put in long, hard hours of gameplay to advance their characters to a point where they can have great victories and nice things.

 

Though it’s not shown in the anime, I imagine that, as in present day MMORPS, many new ALO and GGO players are frustrated by the difficult of progressing in the game, and quit after a little play, finding their ordinary, real-world lives less frustrating.

 

Can people who spend a huge time in a virtual world "forget" the difference between the virtual and real world and have the same behaviour on both?

I don’t think this would happen, even with a game system as immersive as those depicted in SAO, except in rare cases involving people with severe pre-existing mental illness of the schizophrenic kind, as happens with books, movies, and video games today.

 

Of course, our experience shapes our personalities, so in-game events influence out out-of-game behavior. For example, there’s solid (and disturbing) scientific evidence that watching violent movies and playing violent video games desensitizes people to violence. However, while this may make some people less socially nice and kind, there’s no scientific consensus that it make them more than a little more likely to act out movie or video game violence in real life.

 

Most people have a well-developed and effective ability to separate fiction from reality. I don’t think even vast improvements in technology, like SAO’s NerveGear, or my imagined SDVRG systems, would overwhelm this ability in people who were not already schizophrenic, nor he absence of such technology prevent schizophrenics from having symptoms of that mental disease.

 

If we develop VR to a point where we can drink or eat and "feel" it like in SAO, could people die of thirst while playing? (maybe it's a bit extreme example, hope you understand what I mean).

Some people play video games to the exclusion of eating and drinking properly. I’m not aware of anyone actually dying as a result of such self-neglect, though many speculate that this is because most people like this (a common term for them is hikikomori) are young, and cared for by parents. Rarely, video game addicts have neglect others so severely that they died, such as the 2010 death of the 3-month-old child of Prius Online players Kim Jae-beom, and Kim Yun-jeong (see ”Couple: Internet gaming addiction led to baby's death”).

 

That self-neglecting gaming addicts are a known problem in the fictional world of SOA is mentioned in this episode and later episodes of its season, when it's revealed that police dismiss several clever murders of high-status gamers as them having died of natural causes due to their extremely unhealthy life styles.

 

All I can think of is a restriction of the device that could only let the players be one or two hours playing and disabling the device for the next three or four hours.

In South Korean government and private groups have tried a number of approaches to treat video game addiction, including timer software like you describe, though its use is voluntary. There most successful programs appear to be counseling programs, such a “boot camps” that aim to teach young people how to socialize rewardingly in non-gaming settings. (see ”Virtually addicted: Weaning Koreans off their wired world”)

[gonnn]

Even though I agree with you in your arguments, I think that we can't really compare a fully functional Virtual Reality system to a regular videogame, and the addiction that it can cause may be very different.

 

We can see thousands of different videogames, with different ambientation, plot, characteristics... Some are cinematographical, others are dark and scary, you can explore, fight, survive and many other things that we don't have the chance of doing in everyday life (if we could nobody would play videogames). The great majority of players play to feel like they can do things impossible otherwise. For example, I enjoy playing Battlefield, but wouldn't risk my life in any of the situations seen in the game. I like playing Assassin's Creed, but I am kind of a pacifist and wouldn't kill anybody or jump from buildings.

 

What I try to say is that a fully functional virtual reality gives you the chance to be whoever you want to be, but not like in a videogame where you are sitting in your couch, but live all this things. You can kill, fly, fight, do parkour, and whatever the game developers think about, and do this in a game that you feel like the real world. While you are playing your reality is the one in the game, you are an assassins jumping from buildings in Jerusalem, a survivor running away from zombies, a knight fighting a dargon. You can be all that in a short period of time and even though the great majority of us aren't addicted to videogames we can't say that we will be the same with the virtual reality.

 

What I am more concerned about, even though I would completely support developing VR and would probably buy it the first day, is that exposing young people whose minds aren't completely developed to a reality where they can be merciless killers, for example, would have terrible consecuences in their minds. And I am worried about this because in SAO Asuna and Kirito would be like 16 years old or so, and a huge amount of videogames players are kids or teenagers, and they are the people that would buy these games.

 

English is not my first language so I make a lot of mistakes while writing, but I hope you all understand what I mean.

[Five2Fly]

Hey there everyone. I am also one of those people who made an account explicitly for this thread. I just wanted to tell you guys that I am right behind you guys 100%!!!!! I can tell you right now that there is a huge interest in this technology (both for the gaming aspect and medical advances) but this talk about nerve reading bring up a question. What about nerves that fire abnormally (that goes off randomly and can cause hallucinations?) how would you be able to cancel those abnormalities out?

 

And also about the addiction factor for the NG. Most people do use video games as stated earlier, to escape reality. And I just wanted to support the fact that it just needs to be labeled for its addictive abilities as gamers would most likely try to find away around any break program written in there! They labeled cigarettes as a warning that it can cause cancer, but people still smoke them.

 

I just wanted to post that out there, cause I want to help as much as I can too! So hopefully now that I'm starting college I can develop more knowledge applicable to the NG

[EdwinETTang]

Happy New Year everyone! Though it's kind of late now. :P But getting back to topic, now I get that shared dream concept. That could be a possibility for VR to work.

 

I thought we might want to have a distinction between the groups of people we might be thinking about regarding the case of addiction because I get lost easily. Addiction to using the NerveGear/VR will be a problem, but if we're talking about addiction in the sense to that of gambling and drug, I think that most of the people labeled as "addicted" to VR may not be addicted at all. Like some of you have said, some users may resort to VR as a means of escape from real-life, but they're not the kind of people who can't control how much they play (like in the case of an actual addiction). In that case, if parents/guardians or worried friends notice a change in sociability, they could seek help from counsellors to deal with real-life situations. 

 

I like how having a discussion about the creation of the actual NerveGear managed to branch out the topic to several disciplines of study like engineering, biology(Neuroscience), biological engineering and psychology etc. Just goes to show how much cooperation between different fields are required in order to make the NerveGear happen and the possible consequences of having it.

 

I'm guessing all of us commenting on this thread would love to work on a NerveGear together and see it come to fruition. I'm currently a student studying game design so if a device has been made with it's software, I'd love to help program a game for it etc. At the same time I'm studying Neuroscience on my own so I hope to contribute as much as I can.

Edited January 2, 2015 by TanglingTreats

[Five2Fly]

RedicicleV2, I believe that it's just a launch for the game itself, considering that it also came out approximately the same time in the SAO series (if I'm not mistaken, and if I am feel free to correct me! I could be wrong) and also I didn't see anything related to the nerve gear. Again, I could be wrong! But maybe some other people can look at it to see if it's legit!

 

Also a thought occurred, when I studied psychology (just high school, nothing advanced) we were told about a sorority prank. The new applicants who wanted to join had to go through a series of tests, and one of them was to fall out of an airborne helicopter (being that the helicopter was only up a few feet off the ground, they led the candidates to believe that they were much higher up off the ground) and when one of the candidates fell out, he died. Something about the brain being tricked into thinking he was much higher and shutting down before he would hit the ground. So if in the VR system, some scenario happens that causes the avatar (or player if you prefer) to fall hundreds of feet and hit the ground. What is to say that the brain fails to realize that it isn't real? Or maybe just enforcing to the player that it is JUST a game and is not real in any way shape or form. Maybe repeating it would help the brain adapt to it as if it were a dream.

 

Again I'm nothing special. And I want this to work as much as the rest of you guys do! But I thought it might be something to address.

[Zachjmac]

Five2Fly I agree that the link RedicicleV2 posted looks like just the game and nothing related to Full Dive Virtual Realiy. The show SAO started in the year 2022 which is probably why the release date of the game is 2022.

 

Link for anyone who didn't see it

http://www.indiedb.com/games/sword-art-online

 

That's an interesting theory that the brain might not interpret the game as a game and be sent into shock. IMO There are so many things that could go wrong with FDVR that can only be addressed when an actual working prototype is finally constructed. Someone should start a master list of things needed to make NerveGear a reality.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Zachjmac

[Kilravok]

Addint to my above rant a little of my view on risk of behavorial addiction to VR games.

 

It is true that there already are videogame addicts, and most of them have not much of a social life.  However, there are some online videogames that do the opposite, providing a social life to people with severe social anxieties or agoraphobia.  The ones I know about are SecondLife and IMVU, but I am certain there are a few more.  I have come to view those videogames as communication platforms, rather than as games.

 

Somebody mentioned hikikomori in a previous post as someone who rather spends his time with games and stuff than to go out and socialize.  That is not quite correct, to my k nowledge (which may be wrong). 

Not going out in preference of indoor hobies (video games, anime, porn, etc...) certainly makes one a social recluse, but would be refered to as otaku. 

A hikikomori isolates themselves due to social anxieties, not just because their favorite passtime happens to be indoorsy.  Some otaku are in fact quite social (pen&paper roleplayers, tabletop wargamers, etc...). 

A hikikomori plays videogames and reads books and watches tv because there is not really anything else one can do when cooped up alone in a room.  Without the help of professional therapist, which can be expesive if your national health service doesn't cover that kind of thing...if your nation even has such a thing as national health service..., MMOs are the only way a hikikomori would ever have a social life. 

Now, I fully agree that MMO games are not good enough, not even SecondLife or IMVU comes anywhere near to the social contact a person needs for emotional and mental health, but a full dive VR world would be next to indistinguishable form reality, not only in sensoric quality but also in inter-personal and social interaction.  Who knows...if you guys really mannage to build it, I might actually have some friends some day...

but...no preasure..

[KiriyagaKazuto]

Hello! I also, like many others, have created an account just to be apart of this. If a website is being a created to start this project, I would like to be apart of it. I would like to focus on the psychological, social aspects, and just the overall reception and usage of such a product, if we are assigning ourselves to sides of this project. I am a very big fan of the show, and I think we all agree, that we would like to see something similar to it in real life. 

 

Now, on the topic of abuse and regulations:

- To limit something is to make it more desired. Why is alcohol highly abused in the United States, but not in Germany? Why is porn such a sought after thing in countries that try to prevent it and hide nudity in everything when other countries that have very few, to no restrictions, seem to have less? It seems like many things, with exceptions such as possession of firearms for some reason, that are restricted end up having more negative effects, to an extent. Again, there are exceptions to everything. MOST people will be able to use VR responsibly while returning to the real world without a problem. It is like video games now. While I agree that there will be a higher percentage of abuse than any other video game to date, I would still expect it to be like video games today and video games in the past. People predicted the TV would destroy our brains, but people have the ability to make judgement calls about how to spend their time. I really like planning video games, but I know when it is time to do other things and when it is time to hang out with friends. I would also say that I have a pretty good grip on life (which MANY people claim and it is very difficult to know if the claims are true or not, but therapists have told me I do, so you are just gonna have to put faith in my anonymous, virtual words) and can see both sides to issues. People really like sex, and there are people that have addictions to it, but for the most part, we can handle it.

 

-So now to the issues. Though I do believe most people will be O.K. with little to no restrictions at all. BUT since the saying goes, "You spend 80% of the time dealing with 20% of the people." we will look at some ways that we could lower that percentage of addiction, and prevent it altogether. I would suggest most of the tools that can help with keeping track of time, and getting a break being almost entirely optional. In any game, it should be required to have a in-game clock with real-time, as many MMO's do today. Also, for those who had a Wii and played Wii Sports for a prolonged time, it asked you and recommended that you take a break, and of course, you had the ability to reject it and keep playing. If that was done at correct intervals (1, 2, or even 3 hours), and in "Out-of-Combat" instances only with MMO's, I believe it could be effective and not a nuisance or hinder the immersion. There should also be a Timer option in the "NerveGear Menu" (Like how every system has a homepage) where you can set an alarm so that you get a reminder because you might have plans later and you need to get ready to leave in 2 hours, or something of the sort. Or even if you want to restrict yourself to only playing for an hour or how ever long you choose. We could go into Parental Controls if we truly wanted, but that can come up later. As long as we state that "Viewer discretion is advised" and "Play at your own risk" with other messages similar that cover legal issues, I think it will be O.K.. There will be a whole other section of gaming therapy that will be created, but that is just what is going to happen no matter what. As technology advances, we will advance, but stepping into unknown territory is going to lead to unpredictable circumstances and situations that we, as a society, will have to tackle along  the way until we solve it. 

 

-As soon as something like a NerveGear pops into someone's mind, one of the first things people tend to think of is how evil and corrupt it could be, which is reasonably valid. It is something that needs to be looked at so we can find the line and prevent things from becoming evil. If, indeed, the NG must be physically connected to your brain, you immediately run the risk of being taken over by an outside source. If someone were to DDoS SAO, would the game servers crash and leave NG continuing to prohibit you from using your body? If so, there needs to be an automatic disconnection process that happens in any sort of event similar to that, whether it be an internet disconnection, or an intrusive third party entering your NerveGear. Maybe a warning like Windows has whenever you open ANYTHING. Safety precautions would be a HUGE HUGE HUGE issue on many peoples minds, no pun intended, and I am completely willing to be a part of the team that thinks about these issues. The NerveGear would need to be something as easy to access, and to use, as your computer, and feel even safer than your computer.

 

Again, if a website is being created to start this project, I would like to be a participant! I am truly amazed at this forum and the way it has proceeded and I am looking forward to putting my own contributions into it. I am 18 and in the U.S.A.. VR is something I am super excited for, and hopefully will see, in my lifetime. My email is [email protected] . Please contact me when the website is up so we can all collaborate. I am planning to major in International Business and minor in Japanese, so I could also possibly help with the consumer side of things as well.

[Five2Fly]

What about those guys out on the internet that hack into the systems (I would say hackers but that doesn't seem like the correct term I'm looking for) for the sole purpose to either steal information, or in something so vulnerable, use their skills to injure or kill a person while in game. We learned from people like the so called "Lizard Squad" who are able to break into places that are supposedly impenetrable, that anything can be broken into. So I'm a little worried about is that we could run into an issue like that. Would we eventually have to build our own security system(s) or just head out on the market, buy what's out there and hope for the best?

 

Not trying to be negative, but it's something that came into my head while reading the previous post.

[KiriyagaKazuto]

What about those guys out on the internet that hack into the systems (I would say hackers but that doesn't seem like the correct term I'm looking for) for the sole purpose to either steal information, or in something so vulnerable, use their skills to injure or kill a person while in game. We learned from people like the so called "Lizard Squad" who are able to break into places that are supposedly impenetrable, that anything can be broken into. So I'm a little worried about is that we could run into an issue like that. Would we eventually have to build our own security system(s) or just head out on the market, buy what's out there and hope for the best?

 

Not trying to be negative, but it's something that came into my head while reading the previous post.

This is my main concern, to be honest. I completely understand the concept you are put forth about the immersion, but I think the pain part is something that should have an option to have on or off, and here is why: 1. Some people would like it, and some people wouldn't. It has the potential to put fear in some players by knowing that a slight amount of pain could occur. I don't really know how much force you are thinking about, but PTSD could be something that could come in to play for people who might have had past experiences, or even have a new one created by the DDW. I could also imagine DDW being used to treat PTSD in some type of therapy as well, however. 2. On the other hand, I definitely could see how cool it would be to have some force being given in almost any game. The vibration in a controller is a neat concept that has a surprising amount of impact in a game. Imagine being fully immersed in a Madden game, or NCAA and getting a tackle. That would be interesting. If the force was reduced, and wasn't harmful but still present, I think it would be a heck of a lot of fun. Fighting games would become 20x more realistic. MMO's would be interesting to have that vibration controller feeling when you get hit, but imagine being a tank and having taunted 10 guys... That could be a really weird feeling. 

 

If it could be possible to have it as in option, like how you can choose whether you want the graphic content in the video game or not, I think that would be excellent. Those that want it for the experience can have it, and those who aren't a fan can still enjoy the VR experience the way they choose. Also, I thought about the hacking situation. You know how Windows asks you whether you want to run something or not everytime you open an application? What if we had a system like that that could catch a 3rd party source trying to come in and open up or run commands and warn you that it could be an invader trying to harm you. But again, as long as those multiple actuators had a set limit and couldn't push out a high enough force to cause harm on the user, I think it would be O.K..   

[Kilravok]

Not all hacking is done for damage, a lot of it is to discredit the system owner or cause panic.  Even with the safety settings in the DDW, it would still be potentially noticable if the system got compromised and tht alone would cause fear to use it again, even if the safety settings are purely mechanical and can only be altered with a wrench and screw driver, not by software input. 

Of course that would still be safer than using an fMRI or intrusive system, which would have all safeties purely digital and therefor hackable. 

However, if one was to use the intrusive method with the micro-fibers as described way back in this thread, the size of the intrusive elements would be so miniscule that one can hardly consider it intrusive at all, probably not more intrusive than the osmosis of deodorant chemicals into the skin.  Using that method would allow a hardware, and thus an unhackable mechanical, limitation on what parts of the brain can be accessed and written into.  I believe we all agree, the only parts that would need to be accessed by the writing elements are the sensoric brain centres.  With hardware limitations and buffers/dampers to limit the strength of a sensation or data pulse, there would be no physical trauma to any part of the body only very limited risk to damage to the brain, digital brainwashing/personality manipulation would be near impossible since neither memory nor associative centres would be accessible and the only damage that a hack might cause would be PTSD. 

PTSD however can be cause by any form of VR, be it the DDW or the NerveGear, even if there is no hack or cyber attack.  You just need to log into a Final Fantasy XXVII or Call of Duty17 game that, despite warnings, screenshots, video reviews and PG ratings, is more gory and realistic than you had anticipated, and you are damaged goods.  But naturally, the same level of gore and realism can be used in a therapeutical manner to cure PTSD.  All VR needs a User Beware policy.  For questions and side effects, please consult your doctor or computer dealer.

 

KiriyagaKazuto, I would like to join you in the Human Ethics department, if I may, even if I am most certainly not a certified expert, I am certainly certifiable and on two opposite extremes of the demographic spectrum. ^_^ Although...I also would like to be in the PR and Design department, and in the ThinkTank.....:(

Edited January 18, 2015 by Kilravok

[CraigD]

What about those guys out on the internet that hack into the systems (I would say hackers but that doesn't seem like the correct term I'm looking for) for the sole purpose to either steal information, or in something so vulnerable, use their skills to injure or kill a person while in game. We learned from people like the so called "Lizard Squad" who are able to break into places that are supposedly impenetrable, that anything can be broken into.

Speaking as a professional computer security system expert and designer/programmer of many years, I assure you that not every computer system can be broken into. Most can, because absolute security is expensive and time consuming, so the amount of risk to the system due to vulnerability to intrusion is weighted against the potential cost of the intrusion, but technically, it’s not difficult to make a system that is both easily available to many poorly authenticated users of a specific program – such as players of MORPG like SAO – yet completely secure against alteration of the program by unauthorized programmers – hackers – provided that the computers of all authorized developers use special software and are physically secure. Absolute, 100% security is essentially a result of absolute secrecy, which can be provided by cyphersystems using one-time pads. One-time pads are even proof against brute force attacks involving arbitrarily large numbers of arithmetic operations, such as those hypothetically possible by quantum computers that don’t yet (and possibly never will) exist.

 

In short, adequate security is low in my assessment of the challenges to creating deeply immersive VR system like the fictional deep dive from SAO. Of course, it shouldn’t be ignored, but I wouldn’t worry about it.