Opening : Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest. I was sitting in my hideout watching cartoons when the news bulletin broke in on my video feed, announcing that James Halliday had die during the night.
Closing : 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.
Review : Ready Player One is set in a post-apocalyptic world in 2044. Most of humanity seek to escape from dreary reality to live in the OASIS, an online game that gradually evolved into the globally networked virtual reality world. The central plot revolves around OASIS users searching for the founder James Halliday’s Easter egg so to inherit his fortune and the company.
I’ve watched the RP1 film (which is fascinating) so I have a general idea of the plot lines. And I thought my imaginations would got tainted by the film itself because I have some sort of visual anchor and expectations. But damn the story is vastly different. The biggest changes from film to book are the challenges themselves which make total sense. A breakneck race through NYC would be much more entertaining and visually resplendent than completing Joust arcade aye.
It has a flood of 80s pop culture references. As someone who didn’t live through that time period, I just don’t relate to it. And most of the time, I had to Google it. Even so it’s a blast of a read. The pacing is incredibly gripping and action-oriented. Once you dive into the story, it’s almost like you’re actually there and you’re part of the High Five.
Here is one of my favourite excerpts.
“Good Morning, Mr. HotCock007,” I droned. “Thank you for calling technical support. I’m tech rep number 338645. How may I help you this evening?” The customer courtesy software filtered my voice, altering its tone and inflection to ensure that I aways sounded cheerful and upbeat.
“Uh, yeah…” HotCock007 began. “I just bought this bad-ass sword, and now I can’t even use it! I can’t even attack nothing with it. What the hell is wrong with this piece of shit? Is it broke?”Chapter 30, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
“Sir, the only problem is that you’re a complete fucking moron,” I said.
I heard a familiar warning buzzer and a message flashed on my display:
COURTESY VIOLATION — FLAGS: FUCKING, MORON
LAST RESPONSE MUTED — VIOLATION LOGGED
IOI’s patented customer courtesy software had detected the inappropriate nature of a response and muted it, so the customer didn’t hear what I’d said. The software also logged my “courtesy violation” and forwarded it to Trevor, my section supervisor, so that he could bring it up during my next biweekly performance review.
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