I don't understand the hate for SAO season 1

I've never seen such hate for any other anime as much as Sword Art Online. You see the hate everywhere on social media platforms. And for a while it even colored my opinion on it. But I've been rewatching a lot of animes I've enjoyed or even rewatching animes that I didn't enjoy that much. When I rewatched all season of SAO, I realized that season 1 was actually a lot of fun. <br>The reason season 1 is so good is because it came at the right time. At the time that season 1 was released there weren't many animes that allowed someone to experience what it would be like to be in a virtual reality world. Even now there aren't a whole lot of animes that are purely about virtual reality games. When I first started watching anime in 2020, I never had seen an anime like it.SAO would probably be fun to watch even if it had the same story but a different setting. I'm not sure what it is but there's just something special about watching anime with a virtual reality setting. This same reason is why Ready Player One was so fun to watch. <br>Most of my criticism for SAO season 1 is criticism that I also have for other animes with virtual reality settings. I feel that SAO season 1 didn't really explore what a virtual reality world would be like and the limits of what a virtual reality world could do. I feel that it barely explored the mechanics of the world that the characters were in. I feel like they barely explored what it would be like to survive in a virtual reality world. I feel like they gave the gamers in SAO season 1 a lot more money and skills than they would have in real life. I feel like the story was too fast paced. I also feel that season 1 didn't focus enough on the negative impacts of being stuck in a virtual reality world for a long time. I feel like they barely explored the psychological impacts on the characters. <br>These are the same types of complaints I have with any animes/manga with virtual reality worldsettings. <br>I understand why a lot of people would who hate anime with a virtual reality setting would hate SAO season 1.