(Ready Player One 10K Poster)
Set in a futuristic Earth, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One seeks to examine the nature of the relationship between people and technology. In an effort to avoid human interaction, James Halliday, an eccentric inventor, creates what’s known as the OASIS, an augmented reality in which a person can be anyone or anything they choose. Many users of the OASIS, including the main protagonist of the story, Wade Watts, begin to consider the alternate reality as their only one. The ability to morph yourself into different characters and beings gives people an escape from their ruined world. Although the escapism of the OASIS’s immersive virtual reality provided a safe haven for people to be their true selves, the environment hindered the formation of genuine personal connections, highlighting the negative impact of virtual reality on these connections.
The novel is set in 2041, and the human population is plagued with global challenges, including a persistent energy crisis, looming effects of catastrophic climate change, and the presence of widespread famine, poverty, and disease (Cline 3). In the face of these circumstances, the creation of the OASIS provided a sanctuary, a place untouched by real-world problems. An escape from the harsh realities of their existence.
As opposed to conventional apartments, people found themselves confined to tightly packed quarters within stacked trailers. Faced with such cramped living conditions, many sought relief by immersing themselves in the OASIS, often dedicating a significant portion of their time and livelihood to this virtual refuge. Through this deliberate escape, people sought refuge from the bleakness of their current circumstances, and provided themselves with relief from the challenges of their real world. This detachment lead to people neglecting real world responsibilities, relationships, and experiences. By prioritizing the virtual over the real, individuals become disconnected from genuine human connections and miss opportunities for personal growth.
Representation of how people were living. 15 people would be living in one trailer and stacks contained around 5 trailers (Wimmer).
The protagonist, Wade Watts, uses the OASIS as an escape from his life with his distant aunt and her abusive boyfriend . Wade spends hours everyday in this alternate reality to avoid conflict with his guardians. Because of this Wade is never able to work out his issues with his guardians since he spends so much time avoiding them. His guardians eventually die in the novel and Wade is never able to get closure over their deaths and the possible relationship he could’ve had with them. Being able to escape into the OASIS gave Wade temporary relief from his life and his relationship with his guardians but he was never able to properly connect with them.
Wade (leftmost), next to his Aunt’s boyfriend (middle), and Aunt (right), after his Aunt and her boyfriend kept the food stamps meant for Wade. (Nolan)
Another aspect of the appeal of the OASIS and virtual reality in general, was that a person could make their avatar anything they wanted. As stated by Parzival, Wade’s avatar, “People come to the Oasis for all the things they can do, but they stay because of all the things they can be: tall, beautiful, scary, a different sex, a different species” (Cline 7). Creating an online avatar completely separate from your current self, allowed for a different kind of self expression that people were able to use and discover. According to Lesley Procter in the 2021 Journal of Communication Inquiry, “Due to the interaction of parasociality, immersion, and identity, the avatar-persona and user cease to be separate entities”, ultimately saying that a person and their avatar become one entity after extended use due to shared experiences. While creating a deeper connection with one’s avatar allows a user to better understand themselves, being the idealized version of yourself and having others know you as your ideal self ultimately has detrimental effects. As individuals become more invested in their avatars and the ideal version of themselves, they may come to struggle with understanding their true identity outside of a virtual world. This could lead to a confused sense of self and confusion about personal identity.
Parzival, especially in the beginning of the novel, constantly changes the appearance of his avatar, unhappy with the way he presents himself. This is a direct reflection of Wade’s dissatisfaction of his own appearance in reality. Wade constantly tries to make Parzival as attractive as possible and changes his appearance multiple times during the initial stages of the novel. The constant changing of a persona avatar and striving to become your ideal self can ultimately result in loss of authenticity. The avatar you create no longer becomes a true representation of your identity, but the identity you wish to have. Loss of authenticity in a person results in an absence of trust and genuine interaction. Personal connections built on the false pretenses of who a person is, lack the sincerity that would only be found in the real world. An example of such is Parzival’s best friend in the OASIS, a character named Aech. The pair traverse the OASIS together, unaware of the other’s true identity. However, later in the novel, Parzival and Aech meet each other in the real world, and Aech is revealed as Helen, as a young African-American woman. This undermines their friendship, as Parzival is friends with the avatar of Aech, not with the real world Helen. Although the two eventually forge a friendship outside of the OASIS, their relationship was forever changed by the truth of Aech’s identity.
Helen (right) next to her OASIS avatar Aech (left). (Demeter)
While augmented reality creates new possibilities for immersive experiences, excessive engagement and bonding with avatars can have truly negative consequences. Escapism, detachment from the real world, identity distortion, and loss of authentic relationships are among the many negative consequences that come from not spending enough time in the real world, and excessive amounts of time in a virtual one. Creating a balance between the virtual world and the real one and prioritizing genuine human connections is incredibly important for creating a rounded social life and having meaningful social experiences in the current digital age.
Works Cited:
Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Gyldendal, 2018.
Demeter, Richard S. “Helen next to Avatar Aech.” “Ready Player One” Botched the Book’s Biggest Reveal, https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f8/c0/49/f8c04905fdba97400c4d29968401709a.jpg. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Nolan, Peter. “Susan Lynch.” Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument – Who Is Susan Lynch?, Blogtor Who, https://www.blogtorwho.com/susan-lynch-doctor-who-the-ghost-monument/. Accessed 28 June, 2023.
Procter, Lesley. “I Am/We Are: Exploring the Online Self-Avatar Relationship – Lesley Procter, 2021.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2021, journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0196859920961041. Accessed 28 June 2023.Ready Player Poster. https://www.celebritynooz.com/img/readyplayerone.jpg. Accessed 29 June, 2023.
Ready Player One 10K Poster. https://images.hdqwalls.com/wallpapers/ready-player-one-10k-poster-mq.jpg. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Ready Player One Poster. https://www.celebritynooz.com/img/readyplayerone.jpg. Accessed 7 Mar. 2023.
Wimmer, Chris. Ready Player One “Stacks.” 22 Mar. 2018.
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