Thursday, December 27, 2018

Ready Player One

Book: Ready Player One
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : References

Basic Information:
Author: Ernest Cline
Edition: ePub on Overdrive from the Fresno County Public Library
Publisher: Crown Publishers
ISBN: 030788743X (ISBN13: 9780307887436)
Start Date: December 23, 2018
Read Date: December 27, 2018
374 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Language Warning: Medium
Rated Overall: 3 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
In the year 2045, the earth no longer supports all of the people at its high rate of energy, food and space consumption. So people are forced to live in the “stacks”-mobile homes stacked high-30-40 homes high. Cars are a high end luxury and people are rationed or scrounge for food.

The only outlet for pleasure is an online world called OASIS. But the creator of OASIS, the world's richest man, died 5 years ago. JD Halliday died leaving no heirs and only a game to be played within OASIS. But the winner of his game would inherit all of his wealth, over $240 billion dollars. The catch is that like in all good online games, there are certain things you need to accomplish. In this case, find the three keys to the three gates which lead to the tests to see if you are the worthy of the fortune.

But after five years, nobody has even found the first key. This leads to Wade Watts or as his online aviator is known: Parzival-a corruption of the Arthurian knight Percival, to figure out where the first key is.

Parzival finds the key and meets another aviator named Art3mis who is on the right track to find the key. By finding the key, he realizes that the gate is in a replica of Hallidays old boyhood home. He is able to open the gate and pass the test within. There he finds the clue to the second key.

But now things take a sinister turn. There is a commercial group called the IOI who wants to win the inheritance. Sorrento is the chief person and does not play by the rules. He tries to bribe Parzival. But he refuses, but IOI also revealed they knew who the real person behind Parzival was and threatened to kill him. Even then Parzival did not acquiesce, thinking it was a bluff. After the virtual meeting, Wade hears a big explosion and sees that the mobile home in his stack-and the whole stack-has been blown up, including his Aunt and the only friend he has, an old lady,

This causes Wade to run and go incognito. But he is now able to search for the second key. There are at least four other “gunters”-those who are dedicated people looking for the keys-who find the first key as well. Also the IOI people have a whole army of avatars working for them and they swarm the areas to find the key and gates.

IOI finds the second key and is able to go through the second gate. But this is the clue which the others need and they quickly figure out where the key is. So all of the avatars who are at all eligible come to the virtual planet where the key is. Parzival figures out a way in, finds the key and unlocks the second gate.

But as noted before, the IOI does not play by the rules. Daito real person is found out. Just as Shoto and Daito get the key, the IOI comes in and kills his real world person by throwing him out a window. This affects all four of the other avatars. While they do not work together, they become friendly.

The IOI has locked down the location of the third key and gate with an impenetrable shield and an army to back it up. Wade-at least is alias becomes an indentured servant to IOI. With his hacker skills he breaks into their system and gathers information. He also requisitions a droid to deliver and detonate a bomb within the shield. He then makes his escape and gathers the remaining four high scorers for a conference after warning them that their identities have been compromised.

The aviators get together and start planning what to do when Ogden Morrow shows up and offers a place of refuge. They take it. He, being very wealthy arranges for all of their transportation needs to his hide away in Oregon. Wade only meets Aesch, while his love interest remains isolated from him.

They fight the battle of all battles and Parzival gains entrance to the gate and wins the inheritance. He then finally meets his love interest and the book ends.


Cast of Characters:
  • Wade Owen Watts-main character. Teenage boy
  • Ogden Morrow-Partner with Halliday, but estranged through a falling out. Wants those who love to play, win the inheritance
  • Parzival-Wade's online moniker
  • Aech-Parzial’s best aviator friend
  • James Donovan Halliday-founder of the virtual world OASIS
  • Art3mis-game blogger, love interest of Wade, even though they have not scene each other
  • Kira Morrow-Wife of Ogden Morrow. Has died in a car crash. Ogden’s guiding light, and Halliday’s secret love interest.
  • Daito-Japanese partner in the virtual world with Shoto. Gets killed off by the IOI
  • Shoto-Japanese partner in the virtual world with Daito.
  • Nolan Sorrento-head of IOI. evil


Expectations:
Recommendation: Laura from book group
When: Fall 2018
Date Became Aware of Book: 2016
How come do I want to read this book: Seems like an easy quick read in a fantasy setting
What do I think I will get out of it? Something to read


Thoughts:
Reminds me of a book which was written with a movie in mind. Or some child’s fantasy. Also it is someone who who enjoys the 80’s and maybe some of the 70’s.

Indio Girls would be the perfect music to listen to while reading this book.

Prologue
The Hunt and its rules are laid out. You need to go through three gates, take a test to see if you are worthy. To unlock a gate, you need to find the key. Halliday gives you an initial riddle to solve about where the key is. The key will give you a riddle about where the gate is. Then the test will give a clue about where the next key is.

Chapter 1
Wade describes how he escapes into his virtual reality from the ugliness of the real world. He says that inside of this world, his worries slip away.

To Wade, OASIS was the biggest library imaginable. He read everything he could and OASIS had it all. But with knowledge comes insight. He found out the truth about the world around him, not the knowledge the adults fed him to protect him. He found in the old books truths when people were not afraid to be honest. He found out that the world was going downhill and fast. He also learned to disbelieve in God. You sort of wonder about the adults. Did they also just not believe and understand the truth of their situation? Maybe they were refusing to face it? Wade decided to hide in OASIS. Maybe the adults were hiding in ignorance?

What happens to every human which has existed? They die. What happens after they die? Wade thinks there is nothing beyond that. A pretty pessimistic view.

Chapter 2
Interesting that Wade could be himself in a fake world, but had a hard time in the real world. This calls into question what is the real Wade?

Chapter 4
Explains how OASIS was started. Small, but was able to get going by licensing from its competitors. Then they let others design worlds within their universe.

The book was written in 2011. He makes mention that the Great Recession was in its third decade. So the author envisions that the 2008 recession would not stop, but would continue to decline. I think he got that wrong. Maybe not the lack of resources though.

Wade feels like a kid standing in the world’s greatest video arcade without any quarters. That is a great visual.


Chapter 5
Sometimes you just have to get in the right group. Halliday was an outcast until he was invited to a group which played Dungeons&Dragons. I think the same can be said for Wade.

Cline points out two things:
  1. Shopping is America’s pastime
  2. In a virtual world, you can buy things pretty cheaply, allowing you to shop. For the maker of the virtual stuff, there is negligible expense. Consequently, a virtual world is almost pure profit.
Chapter 6
Knowing is half the battle

You’d be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever.

Sometimes when you read one book, there are illusions to something which you read in another. Such as there is a reference to certain letters notched, in a certain book in Ready Player One. When laid out, they form a rhyme pointing to where one of the keys were. This sounds very similar to what Elizabeth Wells Gallup thought she saw in the writings of Shakespeare-a hidden message. In Gallup’s case, Elizebeth Friedman figured out that these where not a hidden message but just imperfections and that Gallup, however earnest and honest she was was seeing things. The book? The Woman Who Smashed Codes.

Chapter 12
To Halliday, creating games was a necessity. It is what made him tick. So when his partner was asked if there was any hints to be shared, Morrow said that Halliday wanted everyone to share his obsessions… this contest is his way of giving the entire world an incentive to do just that. As a coder, I can understand this obsession.

Chapter 18
Art3mis thinks that Wade does not love her, but only what she is showing of herself. But isn’t that true all the way around? Even in reality, we only show partial pieces of ourselves.

Chapter 19
Going incognito, Wade tries to cut himself off from all human contact. Even to the extent where he has his food delivered in a way where he does not make contact with anyone. He also paints his windows black so he cannot see out and others cannot spy on him.

Wade’s “rig” which he used to feel and “be in” the OASIS world. But in a moment of insight, he understands that this whole set up is designed to deceive his senses. It really was a barrier to him being in the real world. Isn’t that the way with anything of illusion?

Chapter 25
Sort of sad that your best friends hide behind an illusion and filter of an avatar.

Chapter 27
His plan to get behind the IOI shield and to get the crystal key, enter the third gate and win Halliday’s prize was outrageous and had to depend on both luck and his skill. Also the teamwork of his friends.

Chapter 29
Wade felt out of place in real life without his virtual reality gear.

Chapter 30
Sounds like IOI had bad security. Not that Wade could break in-he had bought credentials to certain administrative functions on the black market. But more because that admin could give more authority than what the original credential had. He was able to look at his own and others security dossiers.

To my eyes, [Wade] the birthmark did absolutely nothing to diminish her beauty. If anything the face I saw in the photo seemed even more beautiful to me than that of her avatar, because I knew this one was real. True enough. Sort of like seeing a touched up photo of Yosemite may be beautiful, but the real thing is just jaw dropping.

Chapter 32
Halliday was an atheist. So why was one of the cules: charity, fope, faith? He correlates that to The heart and the brain and the body from Schoolhouse Rock! Interesting how words of Faith gets incorporated into our lives and stick with us, even if we lose the Faith.

And even then, remember Jesus’ words about entering into the Kingdom of God as children? That was something which the IOI minions did not have-an understanding like a child. So they did not associate the final words of faith, hope, charity with something childlike. Remember the simple will confound the wise.

Chapter 37
Video games, a spectator sport?

I guess Monty Python’s Holy Grail is a geek movie. Never have been able to get into as some have.

Chapter 38
After Wade completes the final test, an image of Halliday appears. He walks Wade through things and ends it with the reason why he built OASIS-he was scared of reality. Halliday says that was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real. A good reminder, but also not very deep.

Chapter 39
Is the only reason why Wade realizes that Art3mis did the right thing in breaking off the relationship is because they won? If they had lost, would it still have been the right thing?


Evaluation:
This was a good and fun read. But not a life changing book. As I was reading the book, I had two thoughts: 1) I thought Ender’s Game was similar in tone and better written. 2) Annie Dillard in A Writing Life notes that she cannot image a sorrier pursuit than struggling for yearrs to write a book that attempts to appeal to people who do not read in the first place. I think that is what Cline did here. This later thought is where I thought it was going. He was writing a book to have a movie made-which it was in 2018.

It takes place in a world racked by limited resources and where about the only source of pleasure to the common person is a virtual reality universe called OASIS. The person who has the major share of ownership in OASIS has died leaving no heir. But he leaves a challenge: be the first to find the three keys, going through the three gates and pass the three tests and you will inherit his $240 billion fortune.

For five years, no one has been able to solve where the first key is located until Wade Watts stumbles into it. Then the action picks up. He acquires four other friends who are trying to be the first, but a major corporation with no morality wants the money and will not stop at doing only the ethical. The book rides us through Wade’s adventures in gaining the inheritance.

But is that it for the book? Essentially yes. Be prepared for a lot of 80’s culture references-I do not know if Cline was trying to bring in this audience or not, there is just a lot of it-maybe ⅔’s of the book. The one conclusion it makes is that real reality is better than virtual. Other than that, enjoy the read, but do not look for depth.

 
Notes from my book group:

This was not read for any of my book groups.

Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
  • Why the title of Ready Player One?
  • Does this story work as a fantasy or dystopian?
  • Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
  • Which character was the most convincing? Least?
    • Which character did you identify with?
    • Which one did you dislike?
  • Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
  • Do you think the world is heading towards a dystopia as Cline envisioned?
  • In what context was religion talked about in this book?
  • Was there anybody you would consider religious?
    • Was the book overtly religious?
    • How did it affect the books story?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?
  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
  • What “take aways” did you have from this book?
  • What central ideas does the author present?
    • Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual, medical, or scientific
  • Describe the culture talked about in the book.
    • How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
    • What economic or political situations are described?
    • Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
    • What was memorable?
Questions and Topics for Discussion from Publisher
1. The OASIS becomes a part of daily life for users around the globe. What virtual realms (Google, Facebook, iCloud) do you depend on? What is at stake in the war against IOI, the internet service provider that wants to overturn Halliday’s affordable, open-source approach? Is it dangerous to mix profit and dependence on technology?
2. Explore the question of identity raised in the novel. What do the characters’ avatars tell us about their desires and their insecurities? In reality, does our physical appearance give false clues about who we really are? How does Parzival, transformed into a celebrity gunter, become Wade’s true self?
3. With a narrator who vividly captures the human experience, Ready Player One delivers a world that is easy for us to imagine. In the novel, what was at the root of the grim downturn for Earth’s inhabitants? Could your community start looking like the stacks by the year 2044?
4. How does love affect Wade’s rational mind? Would you have given Art3mis the tip about playing on the left side to defeat the lich (page 99, chapter ten)? Did you predict that she would turn out to be a friend or a foe?
5. How does public school in the OASIS compare to your experience in school? Has author Ernest Cline created a solution to classroom overcrowding, student apathy, and school violence?
6. In his Columbus bunker, Wade puts on so many pounds that he can no longer fit comfortably in his haptic chair. How would you fare in his weight-loss program, described in chapter nineteen, featuring a simulation gym, coaching from Max, and a lockout system that restricts his diet and forces him to exercise?
7. Wade’s OASIS pass phrase is revealed on page 199, at the end of chapter nineteen: “No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful.” What does this philosophy mean to him at that point in his life?
8. How is the novel shaped by the 1980s backdrop, featuring John Hughes films, suburban shows like Family Ties, a techno-beat soundtrack, and of course, a slew of early video games? Did Halliday grow up in a utopia?
9. Discuss Bryce Lynch’s financial situation, rigged so that Wade could infiltrate IOI. When does Wade become willing to “die trying”? How did you react to the image of debtors being forced into indentured servitude?
10. Wade doesn’t depend on religion to make moral decisions or overcome life-threatening challenges. What does the novel say about humanity’s relationship to religion? What sort of god is Halliday, creator of the OASIS universe?
11. Despite their introverted nature, the book’s characters thrive on friendship. Discuss the level of trust enjoyed by Halliday and Og, and among Wade, Aech, Art3mis, Daito, and Shoto. How is true power achieved in Ready Player One?
12. In the closing scenes, Halliday’s reward proves to be greater than mere wealth. What is Halliday’s ultimate prize? How did the rules of Halliday’s game help him determine the type of player who would likely win?
13. In his quest for the three keys, Wade is required to inhabit many imaginary worlds, including movies, video games, and a simulation of Halliday’s childhood home. Which of these virtual realities appealed to you the most? What sort of virtual reality is provided by a novel?



New Words:
  • Gunter: Combination of [Easter] egg hunters
  • Noob: a person who is inexperienced in a particular sphere or activity, especially computing or the use of the Internet
  • Oologist: the branch of ornithology concerned with the study of birds' eggs
  • Cojones: courage or testes
  • Impecunious: having little or no money; penniless; poor.
  • Dilettantes: a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.
Book References:

Good Quotes:
    • First Line: Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest.
    • Last Line: It occurred to me then that for the first time in as long as I could remember, I had absolutely no desire to log back into the OASIS.
    • Knowing is half the battle. Chp 6
    • You’d be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. Chp 6

      References:
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