Ready Player Geek

Recently, I picked up a new book called “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline. It was recommended to me by a close friend whom I depend on for most of my literary recommendations. The book caught me by surprise. I had read a lot of books on video games. I had read a lot of books based on a dystopian world. I had also read a lot of books on the 80s culture. But Ernest Cline managed to somehow meld all the three genres together. And none of it seemed out of place.

The book is based on a dystopian world, caused due to energy crisis. In this world, people spend hours on the online simulation called OASIS created by James Halliday, the greatest geek to have ever lived. This simulation, which started off as a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO), escalated to include all kind of real world experience from schooling to shopping. It had several original and all the virtual reality world ever created put together in a single universe. So great, that one could finally travel from Tatooine to Middle Earth. It was everything an all-round virtual reality could hope to be. Then, one day James Halliday passed away. And suddenly a few billion dollars was up for grabs. And the genius that Halliday was, he declared to the world that he had hid an egg in the game in a room which could be opened by 3 keys found on OASIS. Whoever found the egg would gain those few billion dollars. As is wont from humanity, a group of corporate cheaters started to take the game by storm. The egg hu8nters, also called gunters, were divided into two sides. Sixers, from the corporate company, and solo gunters who would make alliances sometimes. And their best clue was Halliday’s Alamanac, which consisted every minute detail of Halliday’s life. Yet, even after 5 years, no one had found even the first key. Interest in the competition waned. Until a school boy called Wade Watts found the copper key. And suddenly, he was on the run online, as well as offline. A race to the egg began.

Interesting, right? A thrilling plot, virtual reality, treasure hunt, and a LOT of 80’s reference. What more could one want. The entire story rose up to it’s reputation. It had a brilliant ending. It was one of those books that, when you finished it, you had an empty feeling in your heart. And then I went online.

Although many reviews were good, some were against the book. 2 major complaint. One was trivial, saying that the 80s reference looked forced. I did not pay attention to this one. The other one caught my eye. It was headed on the lines of “Do we really want to have such a future as described in Ready Player One”.

It asked whether we really wanted to end up in a world where people spend hours online in a virtual world. And end up forgetting the real one. Do we really want a world where people escape from reality, and lose all social skills?

My answer to that is, haven’t we already? Here we have a world, where you can be anybody you want. Doesn’t even have to be human. Be an elf, if you want. This world includes schools, and other facilities that you can have on websites, with a 3 dimensional effect to it. And if people spend hours online, it is because they want to escape reality. And why should we deny them that, when it is us as a race who has created such a world that humans themselves need to escape from. Why is virtual universes treated as such a taboo, especially when it is in a near-dystopian world? Virtual reality provides relief to the brain, along with an outlet of frustration. The lack of such outlets have given rise to crime in the human society. In a virtual world, you may be killed, maimed even, but none of these will reflect on your real world body. Isn’t that a safer way to live? Also, the only people who will lose track of reality are the people who have nothing to tether them to reality anyways. So isn’t it better they have a place where they can recreate their personalities and live a fruitful life.

The effects of living virtually can be argued. The pros and cons may be weighed. But as far as the fate of our world and humanity is concerned, it certainly doesn’t deserve the disdain it receives now.