Ready Player One: Is it really an OASIS?

Set in the semi-near future, “Ready Player One” is a story about a dystopian America where the only escape and easiest way to earn money is the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), a virtual reality simulation that is available to anyone for a quarter. The low price makes it easily accessible to the public, almost all of which are in poverty. Before the creator of the OASIS, James Halliday died, he left an Easter Egg (something hidden, typically in a video game but also in all forms of entertainment, by the creator) hidden in the game that was only announced prior to his death. The person who found the Easter Egg would gain Halliday’s fortune and control of the OASIS, but it wouldn’t be easy. They would have to complete a series of riddles and gates to earn three keys in order to find the actual Easter Egg. This launched a worldwide hunt for the Egg. These egg hunters, referred to as ‘gunters’ in the novel, joined forces, while others decided to do it solo. Innovative Online Industries (IOI) controls most of the world’s entertainment industry, except for the OASIS. The Hunt gave IOI a chance to control the OASIS and take away the freedom and escape it provides to the world. Nolan Sorrento, the man in charge, sends Sixers to search and kill in the OASIS. Sixers are gruntmen for IOI and are considered as a joke to the gunters.

The story focuses on one teenage boy trying to best the competition. Wade Watts, or Parzival in OASIS, is a poor student who devoted his time and his life to the Hunt. Even after five years passed without anyone finding the first key, Wade spends all of his free time researching Halliday and the 80’s, the time period Halliday grew up in and loved the most. His effort pays off when he is the first person to find the first key and complete the first gate. But his success leads to the success of others and, eventually, IOI. The Hunt soon becomes a real life danger to the High Five, the first five users to find the key.

The novel, written by Ernest Cline, is an incredible feat of creativity and realism. A very possible future dependent on the OASIS, the only escape from the energy crisis created by the lack of fossil fuels. In the OASIS, you can be anything and do anything. Plus, it provides the only hope that the people in Cline’s world can see.

The movie, directed by Steven Spielberg (who is referenced in the novel as an amazing director), took a creative twist to the book and its story in order for it to become a movie. Since Halliday is obsessed with the 80’s, Cline includes many pop culture references to the movies, music, games, and television. There are a couple parts in the book where the characters have to play the part of the main character in Halliday’s favorite movies. They have to do what the story says to, quote it word for word and make the same movements. Since this probably isn’t possible, with the rights to the movies, it just wouldn’t really make a good scene to watch. Some of the other challenges include completing an entire game or beating the high score, which also isn’t very interesting to watch and would take too much time. There was more live action in the movie than the book. This makes sense though. Since it’s a movie, the all consuming virtual reality isn’t very possible to replicate entirely. So while there were many adaptations to the novel, it makes sense in a cinematic perspective.

That said, some of the adaptations didn’t make sense. In the novel, Wade doesn’t get along with his aunt. In the movie, they seem very close. Additionally, some characters who had died in the book, don’t die in the movie. There were also scenes that were moved forward in the timeline, and important scenes that were cut out entirely. The movie takes place within a couple of days, despite the book taking place over the course of about a year. The love story between Parzival and Art3mis is very rushed and confusing in the movie while the book was slower and made more sense. One character, I-R0k, is a teenager that goes to school with Parzival and Aech (Parzival’s best friend that he met in the OASIS) and tries to blackmail them into giving him the information to get the first key. In the movie, this character is a money grabbing ninety-ninth level mage who spends his time looking for artifacts that give the owner special powers and teaming up with Sorrento. The High Five are friends and work together as a team in the movie, while they were only acquaintances who each refused to work together (except for Daito and Shoto, who were brothers) in the book. Many scenes were changed to better fit the take on the movie but left out some of the best parts of the book.

Visually, the movie was absolutely gorgeous. The colors and special effects made the virtual reality seem real. The Easter Eggs hidden in the movie were amazing to see and find as a viewer. Many of Spielberg’s best movies had little Easter Eggs that were an amazing shout out, like the T-rex from ¨Jurassic Park¨, the Flash and Gizmo from ¨Goonies¨ hidden in the graffiti, Parzival’s car is a tricked out DeLorean from ¨Back to the Future¨, the set of ¨The Shining¨ was used as a challenge to get one of the keys, Aech creates a perfect working replication of the Iron Giant, Art3mis has the motorcycle from ¨Akira¨. There are also modern day Easter Eggs. Such as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider and Tracer from Overwatch both make guest appearances, several characters from Street Fighter can be seen throughout the movie, soldiers from Halo and Battletoads are both seen fighting. There are many more references and Easter Eggs to find throughout the movie, just as there were in the novel.

All in all, I thought the book was amazing and that the movie was a well thought out and planned adaptation of it. There were some parts in each that I thought could be changed or left out, but the writing is amazing and the visual effects are stunning. I highly recommend each if you like sci-fi and pop culture. If I had to give it a rating, I would give both the movie and the book a four out of five stars.