Sword Art Online

[Kraco]

I would think that with GGO being as fictionalized as it is, that all of it's guns would be similarly fake. Kind of like how all the cars in GTA games are obvious references to real vehicles, but they are all renamed and slightly altered so as not to violate trademarks.

There are millions of gun otaku, or lesser aficionados, all around the world, so preferably game studios would actually want to use models and names of real guns. In the past they more readily did. They even sometimes paid the arms manufacturers some nominal compensation for the trademarks. I recall EA made a while ago a decision to drop the payments but to continue using the models. The gun makers haven't always been happy with their products appearing in games because of the negative image shooters have accumulated due to populistic politicians and non-governmental organizations demonising games to further their own agendas. However, I imagine things are a bit different in Japan due to their draconian copyright laws. GGO is supposed to be American, though, so in that sense real gun models in the game wouldn't be out of the question.

In short, lots of people like to see real brands and models in games. I'm not much of a gamer or gun fanatic, but even I like to see guns I recognize, instead of totally fictional ones. Non-MMO PC MP games invariably get real guns introduced as mods, which tells something about their popularity.

[DarthEnderX]

In short, lots of people like to see real brands and models in games. I'm not much of a gamer or gun fanatic, but even I like to see guns I recognize, instead of totally fictional ones.

I like to see real guns too...in games that take place in the real world.

If you aren't in the real world, there's really no point in it. And at this point, any given Borderlands weapon manufacturer gets more brand loyalty from me than any real world one.

[Kraco]

I like to see real guns too...in games that take place in the real world.

If you aren't in the real world, there's really no point in it. And at this point, any given Borderlands weapon manufacturer gets more brand loyalty from me than any real world one.

How much in the future is GGO supposed to be? AK-47 is an ancient weapon already but you can hardly watch news from great many conflict zones without seeing them in copious numbers. M16 is no different. Even forgetting that, gun designs are hardly random. I reckon most guns that stood the test of time were designed by professionals. It could be slightly challenging for game developers to compete with that and come up with many novel models that look as convincing. Pew pew laser guns are a different thing since they don't exist in reality and nobody thus expects them to look one way or another, other than to look futurisic.