Ready Player One

Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel by American author Ernest Cline. The narrative chronicles the life of 18 year old Wade Watts as he searches a virtual reality universe in an attempt to win the game creator’s fortune. The novel is set in 2045 in a dystopian future where the economic and societal complications from a global energy crisis have caused most of society to escape to a virtual world called the OASIS. The OASIS was created by the late James Halliday, a tech businessman and 1980s pop culture fanatic. Halliday has willed his half-trillion-dollar fortune and ownership of the OASIS to whoever can first find an Easter Egg he hid in his virtual world before passing.

The protagonist, Wade Watts, was inspired by a combination of Cline himself and several of his friends. The character James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS, was based on Willy Wonka in combination with the personalities of Howard Hughes and Richard Garriott. Halliday was given a birthday close to Cline’s real life birthday. This choice was to allow the novel to feature a multitude of references to the 1980s, the time period both Halliday and Cline grew up in.

On March 29, 2018, a film adaptation of the novel was released in theaters. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Cline and Zak Penn. On November 24, 2020, Cline released a sequel to the novel, Ready Player Two. However, the sequel received a far more negative reception.

The novel brings light to various ethical issues associated with the increasing prevalence of virtual reality. It’s themes focus on the over-reliance on virtual reality by users, as well as the lack of regulation of major corporations in virtual reality. In the novel, Innovative Online Industries (IOI), is the internet service provider that offers most users access to the OASIS. The company and it’s unethical business practices are used to represent how companies in the future may take advantage of virtual reality and its users if the technology is not properly regulated.

Themes & Ethical Issues

Virtual Reality allows users to physically interact with a computer generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment. To produce a realistic experience, basic human senses are simulated using high definition VR goggles, noise canceling headphones, touch feedback technologies, and multisensory masks.

Over-Reliance On Virtual Reality

This technology can be applied to various different fields, such as entertainment and education. In the world of video games, technology such as the Oculus Rift is pushing boundaries to create a more immersive and realistic virtual reality experience for users. This innovation in the field has applications in the gaming industry and other serious fields. These innovations have both benefits and drawbacks, and Ready Player One explores the consequences of the increasing popularity of virtual reality.

In the novel, Wade attends school in the OASIS. This allows him to receive a high quality education with access to countless resources, despite his difficult financial situation. This access to resources allows the OASIS schools to better standardize their education system and allow all students opportunities to succeed. Similar to the novel, there are many real world examples of virtual reality being used to advance the education system in a variety of fields.

In the field of medicine, virtual reality can be used to simulate medical situations. This innovation allows students to face a variety of different situations and learn from any mistakes they may make. This would allow students to make more mistakes without real world consequences.

The technology can also be used to visualize and recreate the anatomy of the human body, and allow professionals to easily view areas that are difficult to see in the real world. This not only allows for students and professionals to learn more about the human body, but also allows for practice of more specific surgeries. The procedures are filmed in high definition in real life and then combined with models of the body, allowing students to simulate operations. These simulations can also allow users to practice applying sutures in a safe and realistic environment.

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has praised virtual reality training methods due to their effectiveness in standardizing instruction in students and for the benefits of using VR training before treating real life patients.

Innovations in virtual reality are being used to enhance safety precautions in pilot training, with the VR based Flight Simulation Training Device. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency approved the first device of its kind in 2021, which will allow training pilots to virtually practice dangerous maneuvers. About 20% of accidents occur during training flights, so this training is focused on a high risk area.

Ready Player One also explores the subject of over-reliance on virtual reality through the characters of Wade Watts and Ogden Morrow. In the novel, the majority of activities that people used to do in the real world, such as work, school, and socializing, are now done on the OASIS. The creation of this virtual world has enabled people to dismiss all of the problems in the real world. Instead of trying to save reality, humans have abandoned it.

The character, Ogden Morrow, distanced himself from the OASIS, after witnessing how it completely took over Halliday’s life and sanity. He feared the program would cause damage to both users and society as a whole, and moved his efforts toward trying to fix real world problems. It becomes clear that his fears were more than justified, with a prime example being the protagonist of the story, Wade, and his reliance on the program.

Wade is dissatisfied with his reality and uses the OASIS as an escape. However, his interest in the OASIS quickly evolves beyond just a hobby and eventually consumes every moment of his day. By trying to escape reality, he developed a physical addiction to being in virtual reality which caused him to completely isolate himself from society. In the depths of his addiction, he had no meaningful human connections and deteriorated both his mental and physical health.

"In real life, I was nothing but an antisocial hermit. A recluse. A pale-skinned pop culture–obsessed geek. An agoraphobic shut-in, with no real friends, family, or genuine human contact. I was just another sad, lost, lonely soul, wasting his life on a glorified video game." - Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

Wade eventually loses his sense of reality, and begins to treat the OASIS as the real world and the real world as a game. This has disastrous consequences as he refuses to give up the location of the Copper Key to IOI when threatened. Wade makes the choice that not disclosing the location of the key is worth the risk. IOI then blows up his family’s trailer resulting in the death of his Aunt and many of his neighbors. Wade views his life as a video game, and fails to see that his in-game actions have real life consequences until it is too late.

“I’d come to see my rig for what it was: an elaborate contraption for deceiving my senses, to allow me to live in a world that didn’t exist. Each component of my rig was a bar in the cell where I had willingly imprisoned myself.” - Ernest Cline, Ready Player One