No idea bout the manga, but ive read all the lightnovels out there atm. Basically yeah its a start, that will become more evidently in the underworld arc (biggest one afaik 5 o 6 books), going on the AIs route.For those of you out there who read the manga, is SAO about the take the whole "NPCs have gained a mind of their own" sort of thing as in Log Horizon? That's what I was feeling from that last episodes interaction.