Ready Player One

Blog Post #7

Ready Player One

Ready Player One was the first novel written by Ernest Cline about an easter egg hunt in world set in the future involving virtual-reality. We follow the main protagonist, Wade Wyatt, and his journey in finding the an easter egg the billionaire creator of the virtual reality world (aka OASIS) hid in it. This novel touches on many interesting things; climate change, corruption, virtual reality, 1980's pop culture and (of course) interactive fiction.



Because the novel is set in 2045, we are introduced to a new kind of earth. It's a bleak one filled with the terrors of overpopulation, a failing economy, energy shortages, and climate change. The novel explains how this world is one affected by human error and has been failed because of the damaging ways in which humanity lived for so long. Instead of proactively trying to fix Earth, most people find escape in the OASIS, which is a hyper-realistic virtual reality paradise that people can go to school in, work from, play games on, and get away from all of their troubles.

Something I found absolutely riveting were all the different 80's references sprinkled throughout this book. These references were seen because of James Halliday. He was the creator of the OASIS and he was absolutely obsessed with the '80s. That was the time in which his childhood and teenhood took place; so of course he looked back on that era with fond memories. Immersing yourself in '80s culture was a must if you even wanted a chance in finding the easter egg Halliday hid in the OASIS. Because of this, the text is sprinkled with tons of references of 80's films, music, video games, cars, and computer knowledge.

Here is a list of some of the references I thought it would be cool to look at (broken into categories of course):

MOVIES/TV

• WarGames -- this is done during the first gate when Wade is transported into the 'movie' and has to recite dialogue as Matthew Broderick's character
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Ladyhawke -- Wade staunchly defends this movie in a brief scene of the book as Aech trashes it (and it seems Halliday also had a love for this movie)

MUSIC

• Rush -- probably the most referenced musical artist as it was Halliday's favorite band (albums and songs were referenced)
• Wham!
• Schoolhouse Rock
• Journey
• Cyndi Lauper 

VIDEO GAMES/GAMES

• Dungeons & Dragons
• Joust
• Pac-Man
• Adventure for Atari

INTERACTIVE FICTION

• Adventure
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Zork