Reality and Dreams in Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online started with a bang, introducing a world that was full of danger and death, a game that had suddenly become the reality of those who were stuck there. Kirito as the central character appears to have accepted this new reality, and has moved on, learning to cope with the idea that a simple slip up could mean death in the real world. However, he has gone out on his own, wishing to have as few problems to deal with as possible. As a character he is afraid of responsibility, and more importantly he is afraid of having to deal with the responsibility of another players life. During the first episodes when they cleared the first floor dungeon we see an important character (at least to the gathered players) die due to ignorance and what could be argued as stupidity. He believed utterly in the data gathered by all those who had been beta tests (he was among them), and thought that with such knowledge they would be able to clear the dungeon with ease. He therefore discounted the possibility that Kayaba may have changed things in this game in very subtle ways, thus invalidating such information.