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A Future Wrapped in 1980s Culture

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By Janet Maslin

• Aug. 14, 2011

Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” is a book filled with references to video games, virtual reality, ’80s pop-culture trivia, geek heroes like E. Gary Gygax, and funny-sounding cult items like Frobozz and Raaka-Tu. Yet it works for people who like books without pictures too.

Mr. Cline is photographed on the jacket standing in front of an open-flapped DeLorean, like the one in “Back to the Future.” He looks a bit like the filmmaker Kevin Smith, one of the few people on the planet who may be capable of catching all of Mr. Cline’s geekoid references. (Mr. Cline himself wrote the screenplay for the 2009 film “Fanboys,” about unusually fanatical “Star Wars” devotees.) Another is the science-fiction writer John Scalzi, who has aptly referred to “Ready Player One” as a “nerdgasm.” There can be no better one-word description of this ardent fantasy artifact about fantasy culture.

With its Pac-Man-style cover graphics and vintage Atari mind-set “Ready Player One” certainly looks like a genre item. But Mr. Cline is able to incorporate his favorite toys and games into a perfectly accessible narrative. He sets it in 2044, when there aren’t many original Duran Duran fans still afoot, and most students of 1980s trivia are zealous kids. They are interested in that time period because a billionaire inventor, James Halliday, died and left behind a mischievous legacy. Whoever first cracks Halliday’s series of ’80s-related riddles, clues and puzzles that are included in a film called “Anorak’s Invitation” will inherit his fortune.

Halliday was “the video-game designer responsible for creating the Oasis, a massively multiplayer online game that had gradually evolved into the globally networked virtual reality most of humanity now used on a daily basis,” Mr. Cline writes. Part of what has made Oasis so attractive is that real life on an impoverished, resource-depleted Earth has grown increasingly grim. So the characters in “Ready Player One” spend their time as avatars bewitched by online role playing. They live as shut-ins and don’t know one another in the flesh. Art3mis, the hot-looking blogger and warrior who becomes the novel’s heroine, may actually be an overweight middle-aged guy named Chuck.

The book’s narrator is a school kid named Wade Watts, whose parents at least had the foresight to give him the alliterative name of a superhero. But Wade’s real circumstances are not exciting. He lives in a tall block of stacked mobile homes and escapes to an abandoned van to adopt his online persona. He goes to school because he has to; his video console and virtual-reality visor will be taken away if he flunks out. But his school avatar is often seen slumped at its desk, sleeping. That’s because Wade is busy being an alter ego called Parzival. Like Art3mis he spells his name funny because the other spellings are already taken.

Wade is obsessed with “Anorak’s Invitation,” not least because there’s something fishy about it: the extras seen with Halliday have been digitally borrowed from old John Hughes films . There’s no knowing what actually happened to Halliday. But Halliday’s knowledge of 1980s trivia was so thorough that Wade is determined to match it. (As a full-time gamer he is competitive by nature. And what else has he got to do?) So he knows everything about every episode of “Family Ties” and every coin-operated arcade game. “Ready Player One” takes its title, sentimentally, from the phrase that signaled the start of games from that era.

In “Anorak’s Invitation” Halliday mentions one of his sentimental favorites, the Atari game Adventure, and the Easter egg that its creator, Warren Robinett, incorporated into it. And now it’s time to start looking things up, if you are hooked by Mr. Cline’s premise but unfamiliar with his huge frame of reference. An Easter egg is a secret sign or clue or whatnot that may be embedded in a game, and Halliday has deliberately created an occasion for egg hunting. A great many egg hunters, known as “gunters” for short, do nothing but try to find Halliday’s eggs. Reader, ask yourself: Would you be interested in Wade’s story if you weren’t sure he was smarter than all the other guys?

Because Wade needs at least a few friends, he bonds with Art3mis and three other avatars. They become known as the High Five when they start racking up high numbers on the cosmic scoreboard. Mr. Cline describes their progress with a winking appreciation of the culture clash that ensues when Wade, a humble schoolboy, reaches the Tomb of Horrors to lock antlers with Acererack the Demi-Lich from Dungeons & Dragons. But “Ready Player One” crosses a line here, when its virtual-reality fetish leads it into Dungeons & Dragons for real.

The book gets off to a witty start, with Wade and his cronies slinging insults about one another’s knowledge of fantasy films and using ’80s-vintage movie quips like “Don’t call me Shirley.” ( From “Airplane!” of course.) And if they are capable of arguing endlessly about “Star Wars” trivia, they’re also living in a 27-sector virtual-reality world arranged like a Rubik’s Cube and where the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” realms are right next door to each other. (See “nerdgasm,” above.) So the breadth and cleverness of Mr. Cline’s imagination gets this daydream pretty far. But there comes a point when it’s clear that Wade lacks at least one dimension, and that gaming has overwhelmed everything else about this book.

Still it will be interesting to see how “Ready Player One” becomes (as is planned) a movie based on a book about songs, TV shows, games and movies. And when lines like “Continue your quest by taking the test” are said out loud.

READY PLAYER ONE

By Ernest Cline

374 pages. Crown Publishers. $24.

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Ready Player One Book Review

The novel Ready Player One is set in the future in the year 2044 and is a science fiction novel. In the book, the world is experiencing global warming, overpopulation, and many other types of social and economic problems. To escape these problems a man by the name of James Halliday creates a free virtual world called the Oasis. A person can enter the Oasis by putting on a headset and after it is on, that person is transported from the real world into a complete and different virtual reality. In this virtual reality a person can be and do just about anything.

A person can be taller or cooler; they can climb Mt Everest or fight dinosaurs. AfterJames Halliday dies without any friends or family, he annouces to the whole world that he has hidden an Easter egg (which is a prize) in the Oasis. The first person who solves the various riddles and finds 3 hidden keys will win the game and be able to claim the Easter egg which is Halliday’s entire fortune and control of the OASIS. Ready Player One is a book that would appeal to many different groups of people. The book itself is a video game, full of with quests, avatars, heroes, bad guys, and tons of references to pop cuture of the 80’s.

Most kids these days have grown up playing video games. Reading Ready Player One where the main characters plug into an online world that has adventure, action and where they can be anyone they want would be very, very appealing to young adults. The main characters in the book have to use their knowledge about the the 80’s music, movies and literature to solve riddles. They also use their gaming skills to fight bad guys and the billion dollar prize provides incentive for everybody to win. For younger people who may not be as familiar with the 80’s pop culture, it is still easy to follow the plot and enjoy the book.

Another group of people that the book might appeal to are young adult females. One of the main characters in the story is a very fierce, independent young woman who competes wiht the boys to find the hidden Easter egg. In addition to This strong independent female character in the book is a major competor in the competition would also appeal to girls who would read the book.

Finally, another group of people that Ready Player One would appeal to is anyone who grew up in the 1980’s. Eighties references are jam packed throughout the whole book. In order to solve the riddles and find the hidden keys, the main characters in the book need to have an in-depth knowledge of the 1980s pop culture. There are references to 80’s music, movies, popular actors, actresses and musicians and one-liners throughout the book. For anyone who is an 80’s trivia nerd, the book would be very entertaining to read and re-read. For younger people who migh not be as familiar toe the 80’s pop culture, it is still easy to follow the plot and enjoy the book.

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Evolution and Teamwork (Ready Player One by Ernest Clin Book Review)

What if there was a way to live a totally new life? Wade Watts, the main character of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, can do just that with the OASIS, a virtual reality system with infinite possibilities. Unfortunately, it is easy for people to get addicted to the software, and Wade is no exception. Author Ernest Cline expresses the theme of teamwork vs isolation in Ready Player One through Wade Watts character development from a self-minded addict to a selfless “sober” man.

The theme of Ready Player One is Teamwork versus Isolation. Cline elaborates that a balance is needed between the two. The first and second acts of the book heavily favor isolation. Wade finds the first key in Halliday’s contest without any outside help. Around the middle of the book, Aech, Wade’s best friend, offers partnership between himself and the other members of the “high five”, the nickname for the five people who found the first key fastest. The others quickly shut down the idea (Cline 244-245). When Wade and Samantha start to build a good relationship, Samantha decides to abruptly end things because she believes that it was a preventing her from winning the contest. Despite showing downsides of teamwork, Cline shows that it is still necessary to have individual success. He implies Wade would not have won Halliday’s hunt without his friends helping him during the final task. Winning the contest was a great individual success for Wade and his friends, one that would not have been possible without their willingness to help each other out. This theme is further pushed forward through Wade’s character development.

Wade Watts begins Ready One as a single-minded addict with little social life, and ends it as a selfless, “sober” man. His “addiction” is the OASIS, a virtual reality video game that has taken over the world. He uses it to distract himself from his struggles in the real world, “We’d been born into an ugly world, and the OASIS had been our happy refuge,” (Cline 52). Wade’s addiction gets worse before it gets better. After he is dumped by his girlfriend he falls into a deep depression, claiming to hardly be able to get out of bed in the morning (Cline 295). His depression makes him give into his addiction, and he spends every waking moment in his virtual world. He spends so much time there that he begins to consider it his real life (Cline 304). He would have been unable to snap out of his addiction without the help of his friends. With their help, he meets James Halliday, creator of the contest that drives the plot of the book, who fully locks the addiction away by telling him, “… as painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness…Don’t make the same mistake I did, don’t live in here forever.” (Cline 567). With the help of his friends, Wade breaks free of his attachment to the OASIS.

Wade develops into a more charitable and collaborative person as well. His main goal is to win James Halliday’s immense fortune by finding three keys hidden in the OASIS. Selfishly, he rejects any help from others in his quest to find the keys. He and his friend even cuss out clans, groups of people that work together to win Halliday’s fortune. (Cline 60). His selfish nature is only amplified when he finally obtains the first key. He is thrust onto an international spotlight within hours. With this fame came countless sponsorships willing to pay him to endorse their products. He accepts every one of these offers. Wade’s ego grows more and more, and his celebrity-like lifestyle pushes his closest friends away. He would have continued down this egotistical path if it were not for the antagonists. The antagonist of Ready Player One is IOI, a corrupt organization that is hungry for power. He finds files on their computers revealing they are planning to kill his friends. This discovery launches Wade’s turning point into a better person. He is only looking at these files so he can use the information to win money for himself, but as soon as he sees this, he risks his plan’s success to warn his friends. After winning Halliday’s fortune, he splits it between himself and the High Five, solidifying his new generous personality. Wade turning into a selfless and more collaborative person helps develop the book’s theme of teamwork vs isolation.

Wade Watts character drives the theme of teamwork versus isolation in Ready Player One. Author Ernest Cline uses Wade’s struggles with addiction to show that you can not overcome everything by yourself. He explains that working individually is better than teamwork in the right situation. Teamwork helps achieve individual success.

Works Cited Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Crown, 2011.

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Bob on Books

Thoughts on books, reading, and life

Review: Ready Player One

Ready Player One , Ernest Cline. New York: Broadway Press, 2012.

Summary: A virtual world quest created as the last act of a gaming programmer in which a real prize of $240 billion is at stake pits Wade Watts and a rag tag group of “gunters” against a ruthless corporation .

I might be one of the last people to come to this ten year old story since made into a motion picture. I have to admit, dystopian novels with a gaming theme are not my thing. If it weren’t for the fact that the author was born in Ohio, I may not have given it a second thought. But as a lifelong Buckeye, Ohio authors, whether they still live here or not, are my thing. So here goes.

It’s 2044. Climate change and the attendant breakdown of civil society has rendered much of the planet, and much of the United States a dangerous wasteland. Wade Watts lives in a ghetto in Oklahoma, consisting of trailers “stacked” on scaffolding. While he lives with his aunt, he spends most of his time in a secret hideaway in which he has connected his computer rig and “haptic” gear, in a virtual world called OASIS, created by perhaps the greatest of all game programmers, James Halliday. He attends virtual school here, and when not in school pursues a quest that not everyone thinks is real. He is a “gunter,” a serious gamer looking for the “egg” Halliday left behind as his last bequest five years ago. The prize? $240 billion in real world currency. The quest involves obtaining finding three keys, entering three gates, and successfully competing three contests. No one has even found the first key.

Wade, whose avatar is Parzifal, has spent the past five years immersing himself in everything he can learn about Halliday, all the games he created and played, the movies he loved, the places he lived, the music he listened to, to try to even find a clue to where the first key is located. The ‘Bible’ of the gunters is The Almanac. Wade discovers the first clue by noticing 112 notched letters that give him the information he needs to find the first key. And that leads to him being the first to complete the first challenge, beating a formidable foe, at an ancient arcade game. But he wasn’t the first to find the key. Another avatar, a female, Art3mis, was there first, but Wade won first. And in the informal code of gamers, he gives her a clue that helps her win and be the second to have collected the first key and pass through the first gate.

He’s not the only one in the small group of rivals. There is his best online friend “Aech” (pronounced “H”), and later Daito and Shoto, who become the fourth and fifth to pass the first gate after Parzifal, Art3mis, and Aech. Each is working on their own to win. Yet each will come to depend more and more on the others. And Wade as Parzifal and Art3mis (“Samantha” in the real world) develop an interest in each other–at least as they get to know one another through their avatars.

Parzifal becomes instantly famous in the gunter world. The treasures he wins afford him the chance to “level” up and acquire even more. The endorsements he acquires gives him real world funds. He will need them. The gunters aren’t the only ones after the Egg. So is a group called Innovative Online Industries who not only want to win the Egg, but gain control of the OASIS. They are known as the “sixers” for the six digit employee numbers that identify them. The chief of these is Nolan Sorrento, who tries to lure Parzifal to work with them. When lures fail, he resorts to threats to blow up Wade’s stack and kill him. Wade considers it a bluff, and were it not for his hideaway, he would have been. The stack where his aunt lives is bombed. It’s not a game anymore, and more people will die before it is over.

Wade uses his endorsement money to move from Oklahoma to Columbus, Ohio to be near where the main OASIS servers are and creates a state of the art setup to pursue the quest. The remainder of the book describes the pursuit of the second and third keys and gates, the tension between rivalry and friendship with his small circle of “gunters” who have to outwit the massive resources of the sixers.

The book is full of gamers lore, from Dungeons and Dragons and some of the earliest computer games to the highest tech in a virtual reality world. A non-gamer like me could have done with a bit less. But the plot is twisty enough to keep it interesting, with moments where it looks like all was lost, and then other surprises we would not have anticipated, and of course, the resourcefulness of Parzifal and the other gunters.

The backdrop to this plot is interesting as well. The immersive experience of this virtual world becomes the place where everyone spends time, because of OASIS, which facilitates education and commerce as well as massive multi-player online role playing games. It is a world with its own politics as well as actors who want to dominate the environment for their own profit. It sounds eerily like what Facebook’s re-branding as Meta would like to do.

As Cline’s plot unfolds, his characters begin to face the question of whether there might be more to the relationships they have and maybe the life they live in the “real” world, as dystopian as it is, than they have considered so far. Yet the irony is that all of these are formed online in a far more attractive world. Real neighboring in the stacks, except for passing conversations, is dead. If the eco-disasters and breakdowns in public order that some foresee come to pass, the book raises the interesting question of whether the resilience will be left to resist and try to restore or preserve the best of our culture or whether most will opt for escape to some virtual “oasis.”

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Ready Player One

Ernest cline, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Ernest Cline's Ready Player One . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Ready Player One: Introduction

Ready player one: plot summary, ready player one: detailed summary & analysis, ready player one: themes, ready player one: quotes, ready player one: characters, ready player one: symbols, ready player one: theme wheel, brief biography of ernest cline.

Historical Context of Ready Player One

Other books related to ready player one.

• Full Title: Ready Player One
• When Written: 2000-10
• Where Written: Austin, Texas
• When Published: 2011
• Literary Period: 21st Century American Science Fiction
• Genre: LitRPG Science Fiction
• Setting: Outskirts of Oklahoma City; Columbus, Ohio; the OASIS, in the year 2045
• Climax: When Wade successfully obtains Hallidays’ Easter egg
• Antagonist: The Sixers/Nolan Sorrento
• Point of View: First person, from the perspective of Wade Watts

Extra Credit for Ready Player One

Art imitating life. Like Wade in the novel, Ernest Cline drives a vintage 1980s DeLorean sports car in real life.

A puzzle inside a puzzle. After the publication of Ready Player One , Cline announced that the novel contained its own Easter egg, and whoever could complete a series of trials similar to those in the book would win their own DeLorean. The winner was announced in 2012.

Ready Player One

By ernest cline, ready player one essay questions.

How does Ernest Cline find a balance between the future and the past in Ready Player One ?

Ready Player One is a contemporary science fiction novel, set in the year 2045. The future is one of extreme technological progress and realistic, immersive virtual reality, but also one rooted in the past. The society that Cline describes is obsessed with the 1980s. This has interesting implications for understanding life in 2045, as well as for remembering life in the 1980s.

Will Wade Watts press the Exit Button?

This is a question that has been intentionally left unanswered. Either decision would hold a multitude of implications for the future of the world. To destroy the OASIS would be to reinvest human interest into the real world, but it would also damage the economy and leave millions unemployed. To keep the OASIS would mean to ignore the threat it poses to humankind. Wade loves the OASIS but has also witnessed firsthand its power to separate humans from their own humanity.

Is Aech’s identity reveal explored enough?

When Aech reveals the truth of her identity to Wade, Wade proclaims: "But it really doesn’t matter […] you’re my best friend" (319), and the matter is soon dropped as irrelevant in the face of their emotional bond. Wade doesn't think too much longer about how even in the OASIS, a white male avatar was afforded more respect than a black woman. This implies that racism carried over into the OASIS, that Aech's experience, and that of other black women in the OASIS, is not entirely similar to Wade's own.

What would a fair society look like within the OASIS ?

The nature of the game caused a number of social concerns that did not exist before its creation. When Wade and Art3mis win the game, they decide to spend their money changing the world for the better. What initiatives would they have to take to combat inequality? How about to regulate the IOI?

Analyze each of the keys and gates.

For example, the First Key was gained by following the directions to an old Dungeons & Dragons module. D&D is an important game to Halliday because it is the formula of D&D that inspires him to create a universe with multiple worlds and avatars. This gate emphasized Wade's skill and knowledge over his physical power and gave him the resources he would need for the rest of the game. Wade showed that he was a skilled and brave player, but also that he was willing to help out a complete stranger and competitor and give her a hint about how to beat the game. Also interesting is the fact that Wade wins by playing as Player Two. What might this mean in reference to the title?

Ready Player One Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Ready Player One is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What slight edge does Wade have on the other gunters? How did he use it to his advantage?

Wade has a sense of how Halliday's mind was working when he created this game and he might have a slight edge in the fact that he knows Halliday as well as he does through his extensive research and his own fascination with everything 80s.

as parzival moves through the tomb of horrors what item does he obtain ? How can these benefit him

Parzival found the Copper Key. He believes that the riddle from the key is guiding him to Middletown, a replica of Halliday's hometown of Middletown, OH, Wade heads there in search of the gate.

Why do you suppose Wade ignored Aech’s messages?

From the text:

Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto had all tried to contact me since receiving my e-mail, but I hadn’t answered any of their phone calls, e-mails, or chat requests. I saw no reason to tell them what I intended to do. They couldn’t do anything...

Study Guide for Ready Player One

Ready Player One study guide contains a biography of Ernest Cline, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Ready Player One
• Ready Player One Summary
• Character List

Essays for Ready Player One

Ready Player One essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

• Devastation with Detachment: The Instability of Video Game Immersion in 'Ready Player One'

Lesson Plan for Ready Player One

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Ready Player One
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Ready Player One Bibliography

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Book Review

The setting is the year 2045 in Columbus, Ohio or so it seems. However, in actuality, the majority of the book takes place within a virtual world created by James Halliday titled the OASIS. The OASIS was the go-to escape from the disorder and destruction of the real world. It was the place where anybody could build their very own character and be whoever they wanted.  It was also somewhere they could get a job or go to school outside of the real world. When James Halliday died six years prior, he created an “easter egg” or in other words something hidden within the game designed for players to find. This easter egg could only be found after acquiring three keys: the copper, jade, and crystal key. The keys were only obtainable after deciphering a clue and completing a designated challenge. After gathering all three keys and attaining the easter egg you would gain access to Halliday’s fortune and control over the OASIS. The main character Wade Watts sets out to do this exact thing when he encounters real-world trouble with an organization called IOI that wanted control of the OASIS for personal gain and power. Throughout the book, Watts gains friends who help him to keep IOI from getting the easter egg. This basically starts a war inside the OASIS.

I believe the Commandant of the Marine Corps put this book on his reading list for several reasons. One of the reasons being that the book demonstrated good communication skills and valiant teamwork to overcome obstacles. Another reason could be Wade Watts’s use of research and intellect in his mission to find the easter egg before IOI. Most of the characters presented traits and skills I would expect to see in my fellow Marines such as determination, motivation, and hard work. They also showed the three core values of a Marine which are honor, courage, and commitment. 

I learned from this book that by working together with your allies and choosing to never give up despite obstacles you can accomplish whatever you set out to do. You must work with what you have and never let your emotions cloud your judgment and get in the way of the mission. Do not underestimate yourself and the skills that you possess instead value them and use them to your advantage. I would implement some of the things that I have learned by exercising challenges with other Marines that would have them play to their specific skillsets.  I would also try harder to be a team player in all situations and listen to my fellow Marines during tough scenarios or challenges. Listening to the people around you is a big part of being not only a good leader but an effective one. The characters all showed a lot of development and growth which I also think is an important thing to take away from this story. Growth and change are how we become better individuals and better Marines. I would recommend this book to anyone, Marines, and civilians alike. This book is not only entertaining, but it also demonstrates the values of teamwork and leadership. It shows the importance of friendship with your allies as well. It is a simple and easy to read book for any age group, but especially so for young adults. The genre and setting of the book make it more appealing to young minds. However, despite the fun, video-game-based setting of the book it still maintains themes that can be informative to anyone. This book impacted my career as a Marine in many ways, but the biggest takeaway for me was the teamwork. It clearly showed that you cannot do everything alone and that you have to learn to rely on your friends.

While reading Wade Watt’s difficult journey towards his goal I learned a lot from him and the other characters, as well as from the plot of the story itself. The author did an amazing job of implementing strong themes, values, character growth, and life skills into the book. Ready Player One gave me a look at what it is like to overcome challenges and come out on top even after having to struggle through obstacles and controversy. I feel refreshed and confident in taking some of the things I learned back to my unit and to my family.

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“Ready Player One” Novel by Ernest Cline Essay

The novel “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline opens with a lengthy explanation of the story of James Halliday and the elaborate puzzle that he has set up. However, the actual opening scene is in chapter 1, which introduces the main character, his situation, and his relationship to the plot. The protagonist, Wade, lives in a trailer park that is tightly packed with people and sees gun violence regularly (Cline 13). The situation is indicative of the overall condition of a significant part of humanity, and the boy’s foremost desire is to escape the situation. The massively popular virtual reality game, OASIS, is the primary means for him to do so, but his extended family tries to drag him back to reality.

The introduction’s climax is the scene where the abusive aunt finds Wade with a laptop and decides to take it away to pay rent. The event shows that the protagonist does not have any people who he can rely on in the real world. The boy proceeds to go to his secret hideout and do what makes him feel safe. His favorite activity is playing OASIS, which he uses for a variety of purposes, including education and socialization. As can be seen throughout the chapter, many other people use the game as a form of escape as well. The display sets up one of the primary conflicts of the story, which is that of people choosing to ignore reality in favor of virtual pleasures.

Innovative Online Industries, the main antagonistic force of the novel, is an archetypal corporation, exploitative and dehumanized despite consisting entirely of people. In Chapter 14 of the book, its representative, Nolan Sorrento, contacts the protagonist, Wade, and offers him a job with the so-called Sixers. It is quickly revealed that the corporation would go to great lengths to obtain his knowledge, easily choosing to fire a powerful executive like Sorrento. Nevertheless, Wade refuses, and IOI threatens to detonate his home, proceeding to do so when he declines their offer again. The chapter serves to illustrate IOI’s willingness to resort to any manner of measures to achieve its goals, disregarding livelihood and life itself.

The chapter opens with a demonstration of corporate power, as IOI shows off its array of weaponry and other online valuables. The financial resources of a large corporation make individual resistance incredibly difficult, if not outright impossible. Wade notes that “the larger clans had been openly plotting to nuke the Sixer Operations Base for several years now, but they’d never managed to get past the defense grid or reach the planet’s surface” (Cline 134). Even if people devote a lot of time to become more powerful in the game and group together, they are unable to match IOI’s capacity to deploy personnel and money in the pursuit of its goals.

With the narrative that resistance is meaninglessly established, the corporation attempts to enlist Wade’s assistance. Sorrento describes its vision of the changes it intends to make to OASIS in an attempt to convince him that it is not as evil as the rumors would suggest. His idea is that IOI would “start charging everyone a monthly user fee. And increase the sim’s advertising revenue” in return for “avatar content filters. [And] Stricter construction guidelines” (Cline 137). In essence, IOI would increase monetization while reducing users’ freedom. The restrictions would serve the promotion of a safe and advertiser-friendly image for the sake of further revenue. Ultimately, IOI is not concerned about anything but money, earning its poor reputation.

During the discussions, Wade begins to make demands that he considers unreasonable with the purpose of irritating and intimidating Sorrento. He is aware that the interaction is not personal and that Nolan is expressing the will of the company’s executives. The acquisition of OASIS would be a massive gain for the corporation, especially considering it that would not cost anything above what it had already invested. Therefore, it is not surprising that IOI agrees to give Wade a massive bonus and an extremely well-paying position. However, the executives also do not require a discussion to decide to fire Sorrento in exchange for the limited information possessed by the protagonist. They have no regard for the people working for IOI and consider them disposable, a common criticism against real corporations.

The corporation’s power and complexity lend its managers the conviction that it can engage in illegal activities and emerge unpunished. When Wade refuses IOI’s offer, Sorrento reveals that he knows the protagonist’s real name as well as other sensitive information. The information was obtained through bribery of the virtual school’s administrators, showing the company’s willingness to exploit the system. However, IOI is prepared to go further and kill people for the sake of its ambitions.

Sorrento asks, “do you think anyone will care about an explosion in some ghetto-trash rat warren?” (Cline 140). The threat is later executed when Wade decides to call IOI’s bluff, and everyone in the trailer where Wade lives and close to it dies in the event. The crime is not punished until the end of the book, where the protagonist exposes it to the public.

Wade’s refusal to accept the company’s terms ultimately does not stem from idealistic conceptions despite their importance to the global conflict of the book. As he states, “I could not come up with a single good reason why they would let me live, […] The only move that made sense was to kill me” (Cline 142). IOI, like many modern corporations, cannot be trusted to do anything that does not directly contribute to its immediate goals. It will use whatever tools are at its disposal to create maximum profits, be it people kept in conditions of near-slavery or outright torture and murder. The parallel here is that a real corporation may resort to such measures, as well, if it is safe for it to do so.

Ready, Player One? It offers a critique of the concept of corporations, and Chapter 14 contains some of the book’s most detailed insights into Cline’s opinion on the danger of letting them have too much power. Corporations tend to view profit as their sole goal, unlike privately-owned companies such as Gregarious Simulation Systems, which are driven by the owner’s vision. They disregard the people who work for them as disposable cogs in the machine, diminishing or suppressing individuality. Lastly, they are ruthless and will employ whatever underhanded and illegal methods they can use safely, and so they cannot be trusted. Cline’s message is that corporations are evil entities that are only capable of ruining existing works.

Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Crown Publishing, 2011.

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IvyPanda. (2021, June 2). "Ready Player One" Novel by Ernest Cline. https://ivypanda.com/essays/ready-player-one-novel-by-ernest-cline/

""Ready Player One" Novel by Ernest Cline." IvyPanda , 2 June 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/ready-player-one-novel-by-ernest-cline/.

IvyPanda . (2021) '"Ready Player One" Novel by Ernest Cline'. 2 June.

IvyPanda . 2021. ""Ready Player One" Novel by Ernest Cline." June 2, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/ready-player-one-novel-by-ernest-cline/.

1. IvyPanda . ""Ready Player One" Novel by Ernest Cline." June 2, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/ready-player-one-novel-by-ernest-cline/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Ready Player One" Novel by Ernest Cline." June 2, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/ready-player-one-novel-by-ernest-cline/.

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Ready Player One

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Is the OASIS a useful, productive escape from a harsh world or a distraction that creates additional real-world problems?

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Main Ideas of Ready Player One Novel

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Film Review: “Ready Player One”

“Ready Player One” is classic Spielberg at work, brimming with both dynamism and old-school action adventure.

First things first — “Ready Player One” is one of those movies you watch for the spectacle. Not for any profound themes, not for any intricately woven plotting, and definitely not for deep contemplation. You watch it for the medley of pop culture, vibrant colors, and explosive action. For pure entertainment.

“Ready Player One” is based on Ernest Cline’s polarizing novel of the same name, which honestly, I didn’t like. The book played heavily into the 80s nostalgia factor. Translation: It pretended the only surviving pop culture was from the 80s, and then proceeded to bash readers over the head with it (which many apparently enjoyed). Of course, the clunky prose, long paragraphs listing movie and video game titles, and overall inelegant storytelling didn’t help.

So, coming in with extremely low expectations (mentally prepared to suffer for two hours), I was happy to see that director Steven Spielberg’s take was only inspired by the source material. Of course, the basic premise is still shared: It’s 2045, and living in virtual reality is the only thing anyone ever does since real life “is a bummer.” Twenty-seven years from now, America becomes a dystopian future where most of the population has fallen on hard times, so everyone just plays VR games all day.

Fair enough.

Technology-wise, the VR system that encompasses the movie is very plausible — only a few steps up from today’s platforms. The system in “Ready Player One,” dubbed OASIS, is founded by a recently-deceased character named James Halliday. As his last will and testament, Halliday promised all his wealth and fortune to the player who can find the three easter eggs he’s planted in his VR multiverse. Scruffy protagonist Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) acts as the audience’s pop culture ambassador, narrating all of this to give the viewers some initial grounding. Then, with dull-but-necessary exposition out of the way, Spielberg finally launches into the good stuff: the hunt for these easter eggs.

As a story, “Ready Player One” benefits a lot more from the cinematic medium. Where the book contrived long paragraphs of blatant “references” via exposition and corny dialogue, the movie translates all of this into raw visual and auditory energy. We don’t have to read lengthy descriptions of Wade’s car, and how many movies or TV shows it incorporates, we just watch it in action. We don’t have to read on about the varied cultural tastes of his friends, we notice them in the background. As a form of entertainment, Spielberg’s adaptation is already a step up. Coupled with decorated film composer Alan Silvestri’s soaring score and a select choice of songs, it has a very old-school adventure movie vibe.

And yet, both the movie and book suffer from the fact that plot is secondary for “Ready Player One”: the story is really just an excuse to mash pop culture together in an extended celebration of nostalgia. This inevitably results in some structural inconsistencies and questionable character choices, but again, depth isn’t really the point. What narrative there is allows for a lot of fun, resulting in a fast-paced action adventure movie that culminates in a surprisingly heartfelt conclusion.

The takeaway is this — Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” is a kinetic visual trip through contemporary nerd culture and geekdom. It’s a highlight reel of the past few decades, smashed and condensed into a pulpy, cinematic ride. Even if you don’t get all the references, it’s still a solid time.

Grade: B Director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Lena Waithe, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen Release Date: March 29, 2018 Rated: PG-13

 Image courtesy of CNET

• Science Fiction
• Steven Spielberg
• Tye Sheridan
• Virtual Reality
• Win Morisaki

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