[quote=@GarlandDaHero]
[@MatthiasAngel]

Here's an idea:

The characters we play as are actually the in-game avatars of the players actually playing the game, or something along those lines. The game is in open beta, so a bunch of players sign up, create characters, and jump in.

As for the end goal, how about something along the lines of the game itself being revealed as malware created by the game's developer, and the players' goal is to find the main core of the program through some sort of debugging or something similar, like a glitch, and destroy it? It's a bit more complex so it might not be what you're looking for, but I'd at least give it some consideration.
[/quote]

I would rather have real people playing to skip the whole "The year is 2900 and we have computer pod things that send people into VR and it's definitely not Sword Art Online or anything." But then again I would have a lot more freedom with a virtual world in regard. And I can limit the physical abilities of people.

Would it be better for people to know they're in a video game? Or for people to show up and not know it? The less I have to talk about HOW they got there, the better, and I'm not going to have a very diverse group of people if they're all gamers.