Author: Ernest Cline
Publisher: Arrow Books
Publication Year: 2012
Language: English
Format: paperback
Pages: 372
It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle. Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.
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Ready Player One sets in the future, 2044 to be exact. The world is in a mess
and people seek for escape through a virtual reality game called OASIS. OASIS
is an immersive open world game in which players can finish quests or pretty
much do whatever they want. James Halliday, the creator and founder of OASIS
is a multimillionaire and a legend. After he died, he left a will which
invites OASIS players to hunt for an easter egg within the game. The term
easter egg refers to the hidden message which in this case is a will which
allows the player who finds it to inherit OASIS and prize money. To find the
egg, the player must first obtain three keys to open three gates and each gate
contains riddle which lead to the next one. Because of Halliday’s obsession
with video games and 80s pop culture, the riddles are full of reference to it.
Most of OASIS players are participating on the hunt of Halliday’s egg,
including a boy named Wade Watts. Aside of the individual players, there is a
greedy company called IOI who’s also participating in the hunt in the hope of
gaining control over OASIS. IOI plans to turn OASIS into a profit making
machine by charging people who log into the system. After five year of no
progress, crowds’ interest starts to wind down but then suddenly one name pops
on the scoreboard. Wade Watts, the protagonist, managed to obtain the first
key. The hunt for the egg then gets exciting again and Wade must race against
IOI to keep OASIS as the utopia for the people.
I know I’m kind of late to the game because this book was hyped several years
ago. Most people who’ve read it seem to love it and I can understand why. It
is such a fun book full of pop culture reference. Video games, 80s songs,
movies, you name it The contrast between high technology virtual reality and
the old school reference gives a nice touch to the story. However, as much as
I love pop culture references sometimes it’s just too much. There are times
when the main characters explained in much detail how awesome or cool a movie
and/or a video game is. Also, I find it a little bit weird how the main
character is able to memorize every single line of movies. He must really have
nothing else to do if he could find time to do all that (which I guess he
really does have nothing to do considering the world situation).
Because I read it when the buzz has died down, my expectation from this book
is not high I just want to have some fun. When people said that this book is
full of video games references, they’re not kidding. When I was reading this
book sometimes I feel like I’m back in Game Design class especially the
introductory lesson on the history of video games. It’s still fun to read and
it’s nice to know that programmers are being appreciated because developing a
game is not as easy as it looks.
The hunt and the riddles are exciting. If only I get all the references
perhaps I could play along in the hunt. However, I feel bothered by how there
are deus ex machinas scattered throughout the book. It doesn’t only happen
once in the end. Some might actually set up earlier (like the Pacman coin) but
some are just too easy (like how convenience it is that Wade is highly skilled
in a game that happens to be important in solving the riddle). Anyway, if you
don’t mind those then it’s fine.
One takeaway from this book is to remind us that it’s better to experience
real world instead of the simulated one. The characters in this book doesn’t
have a choice because their world is pretty messed up. They are using OASIS to
take refuge. There’s the global energy crisis, climate change, poverty, famine
which when I think about it again, not so distant from where we actually are
now which is scary. So while we can, let’s enjoy it. Let’s put down our gadget
and go outside. All in all, Ready Player One is a fun book to read. If you
enjoy reading science fiction and don’t mind the geekiness overload within, I
recommend this book to read.
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