Ready Player One Themes

Ready Player One is a dystopian science-fiction novel written by Ernest Cline in 2011. It was a New York Times bestseller, won an Alex Award from the American Library Association, and won the 2012 Prometheus Award. There is currently a film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg, set to be released in spring of 2018. The novel includes notable themes such as multiple versions of reality, identity, competition, immortality, and the underdog versus “The Man.” Ready Player One is packed with pop culture references, including literature, video games, movies, music, and more.

Ready Player One is a dystopian novel, and as such, takes places in the futuristic setting of the year 2044, with the entire world held in the clutches of many global, economic,

Art3mis and Aech, Wade’s friend, both also make it through the gate. Unfortunately, a multinational corporation, Innovative Online Industries (IOI), also notices Wade. The company’s main goal is to take complete control of OASIS and monetize everything. The head of operations, Nolan Sorrento, sends Wade an email, offering him a job to help IOI find the Easter egg. Wade refuses. Sorrento offers him five million dollars to tell him where the first key and lock are; again, Wade refuses the offer. Sorrento moves to threats, telling Wade he will kill him in real life if he refuses to help. Still the teenager says no, and shortly after, the trailer where Wade and his aunt live is blown up under the guise of a meth lab explosion. Wade narrowly escapes, but his aunt does

He tells his friends of his discovery, just as Sorrento publicly announces the location of the Crystal Gate, and his heavy defense surrounding it.

Parzival goes undercover to infiltrate IOI, disguising his avatar and using black market passwords and security exploits to hack the company’s system. He finds damnable evidence, including footage of Daito’s murder, the attempt on his own life, and future plans to kill his other friends. He is able to escape, and the group plans a gathering of avatars to take IOI down. Wade, in real life, gathers with several friends at a safe haven in Oregon, and they prepare for the final showdown.

Wade is able to use his tech skills through Parzival to hack IOI’s system and bring down their defenses surrounding the Crystal Gate. An epic battle ensues. Parzival unlocks the gate, but IOI uses an item called a Cataclyst to destroy everything: the castle, the gate, and all the avatars. Parzival, though, has an extra life (from the Pac-Man game quarter previously thought useless), and finally enters the Crystal Gate. He plays through many different characters from video game and movie pop culture, and gains complete control of OASIS. He resurrects his friends and wipes the IOI