Ready Player One

[SlackerinDeNile]

Eh, isn't that his arc?

He's a selfish basement dwelling nerd who wants the money to live as a slobby bastard until suffering and meeting the others makes him want to help the world with Art3mis.

He wasn't really a basement dweller to begin with and he's well-meaning, I don't see how he's any less selfish than any other character. I mean his emotional and social problems are pretty understandable given his upbringing and the world around him.

He did become an anti-social 'hikkikomori' in the second act, but that's only because it was the best life he could afford at the time, his life was in danger and he was a fugitive of sorts and he was too invested in the contest at that point.

Keep in mind as well that he was still a teenager, he was bound to have a more cynical, immature and masculine-influenced view of the world. It's true that his experiences with Artemis help him to mature but without her he wasn't any less selfish, it's possible that had she still rejected him he would have killed himself and I still don't feel that the super-best-happy ending fits his arc or the story as a whole.

[FaxModem1]

Having seen the film, and now working through the book, I have problems with the premise.

Essentially, the OASIS is an opium den because the real world has gone to pot, and people want an escape. However, fixing the world isn't really brought up, even when our heroes have the money and power to do so.

Instead, it's an embracing of just giving up and stop trying to make the world better. This would be great as a commentary on mankind, civilization, and hesitance to actually improve things. Instead, it comes off as hypocritical.

Key example: In the film, Wade's selfish step-uncle blows all their hard earned saved money for a new house on some buffs for his character, in a bid to win a fortune in some sort of online match, and loses everything in the process. Morally reprehensible, right?

What does Wade do once he wins his first key? Does he get what's left of his family out of the Stacks and into somewhere better? No, he buys himself a better game suit, and then uses the rest of the cash to buy in-game items. I guess it's only wrong when the step-uncle does it?

This lack of awareness is there constantly throughout the film, and the book as well. As others have noted, they list pop culture, but never why it's enjoyed, or why these characters return to this stuff. It feels rather shallow. Think about how most of us love Star Trek. Every one of us can say why we personally love it. This is not there in the book or the film. Instead, it feels more like checking off boxes, without caring what is in the boxes

It's that lack of care that makes it hard to stomach, and makes the OASIS and Ready Player One feel a lot more shallow than it should.

[SlackerinDeNile]

That's a very good analysis Fax and another one of my issues with the story and Kline's writing.

[CharlesPhipps]

I think the primary problem with a lot of readers is that they think Wade is to be admired.

Wade is an asshole.

He learns to be a better person as part of the book's story arc.

The movie also removes the moral, "Billionaires should use their resources to improve the world."

[SlackerinDeNile]

I don't know, I never thought Wade is to be admired but I don't think he's an asshole, he's a lonely teenager whose had a rough life, of course he's going to be seriously flawed. I'll admit I don't like the way he's written a lot of the time or his dialogue with other people and his relationship with Artemis, but this was stuff I just put the blame on Ernest Kline.

I got the impression from the beginning that a lot of Kline's personality, personal views of himself, taste and preferences were put into both Halliday and Wade, hell the way Wade pretty much perseveres and gets everything he wants by the end is very reflective of most personal wish-fulfillment fantasies.

Regarding that moral, I detest Ayn Rand, her views and others like her so I naturally think that no single human being or a small group of human beings should be allowed to hoard wealth and resources. I'm still not completely sure what Kline's view on this is since throughout the story we get a conflicted attitude to it from just about everyone. Wade is nice enough to share it with his friends but is there any guarantee that they're not just going to hoard it the way Halliday and Morrow have? Can they really do anything in the long term to help preserve or improve the human race? It's a side of the story that is touched upon now and again but it's just kind of there in the background.

[GandALF]

I get the feeling that somewhere there's a much smarter first draft that is a ruthless takedown of the whole "geek chic" or "nerd culture" marketing gimmicks in which the real purpose of the egg hunt was for Halliday to teach someone like him to avoid his fate and destroy the Oasis, the remnant of that being the button and the "reality is real" line.It would explain Wade's unlikability and the stalkery parallels with Atermis and Kira: the original story was about Wade overcoming those flaws.

But it seems Cline then decided that he had to get some of that geek chic money and butchered the story.

[SlackerinDeNile]

I was wondering that too, the book does feel as if it is geared towards presenting entertaining stereotypes to a general reading audience. Kline pretty much explains everything and even if you don't get a reference he'll usually just spend a sentence or two describing it, which admittedly makes the book less fun to read for genuine geeks.

[CharlesPhipps]

Well, he shares the money because he's no longer interested in it the way he used to be. He'll want to make the world a better place the same as Art3mis.

And the ending also is that Wade doesn't even actually care to log on again.

[Admiral X]

Anyone else notice that a lot of what is seen as "good" lately is highly referential to other work seen as "good"?

[CharlesPhipps]

Anyone else notice that a lot of what is seen as "good" lately is highly referential to other work seen as "good"?

Given I sold 15,000 copies of The Rules of Supervillainy its first year which is all about making fun of superheroes as well as referencing Star Wars--what works works.

Clerks, Joss Whedon, and Dresden Files.