How to summarize the whole SAO, Sword Art Online, franchise?

Question

So yesterday I way talking to my mom about SAO. I'm really bad at explaining stuff so I think I might have confused her when I was talking about it. I was also jumping around from the story. For example I was talking about the beginning then went to the end, then to the middle, back to the end, then back to the beginning. After struggling to explain it to her I tried to summarizing it, but I'm also bad at that so I had a hard time doing that too.

Can someone please summarize it for me like that I can explain it better to my mom. I told her the main point of the first season, Sword Art Online 1, which was that people got stuck in a game and to get out they had to clear out levels. I also told her that if you die in the game you die in real life. I pretty much told her the main point of the the first season, but didn't get that into the second one.

Answer 1

It's difficult to summarize the entire franchise (through season 2) in a single sentence, so I'll split it up by arcs, ignoring the small arcs. These may have slight spoilers, but I try to keep it limited to the introduction elements of each arc. It's not as short as Dimitri's, but it helped when I was convincing my friends to watch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Season 1, Arc 1:

A technology has been developed that allows users to fully insert themselves into a video game to the point where they cannot sense the outside world at all. During the first release and testing of this technology, the developer changes the program so that the players are trapped and the game becomes their life. In order to leave, they must beat the game but with one deadly twist: if they die in the game, they die in real life.

Season 1, Arc 2:

At the end of season 1, the game is completed and most players are released, but some of the players have still not woken up from their game-induced coma. The main character from the first arc (Kirito) notices that Asuna (another teammate from the game) is one of those who hasn't woken. More games are created using the same immersion technology, and eventually a picture circulates for one of the more popular ones. In this picture, there appears to be a girl trapped in a cage. Kirito believes that girl to be Asuna and joins the game to save her.

Season 2, Arc 1:

Another immersion game goes wrong. A player appears to have the ability to kill players in the game and to have them die in real life. Kirito, with his vast experience with these games, is asked to join the game to do reconnaissance and to try and stop the killer.

Season 2, Arc 2:

I really need to rewatch this one, and it's my favorite, so I don't want to spoil anything.

Answer 2

Hereby an attempt for a simple summary of the franchise for somebody that does not usually read/watches manga or anime, in a simple yet understandable way.

All though it is a short summary, it does contain implicit spoilers, read at your own discretion.

In the year 2022 A gamer named Kirito gets stuck in a very anticipated Virtual reality game called Sword art online, or SAO for short. Due to a evil twist of the game developer, players can no longer log out and have to for their lives as death in game means death in real life.

The story revolves around Kirito as he struggles to survive, together with the friends he made and lost on the way to finding a way out.

The story is followed up by other games called Alfheim online(alo) gungale online (GGO) and underworld (UW). The story progresses from Kirito the gamer, to Kirito the developer. As his interests shift more and more towards the virtual reality hard and software.