READY PLAYER ONE: A Novel by Ernest Cline

For the whole time I've been reading the book, I have been calling it 'Game Player One'....why?

Explanation for the title-
On the eighties coin operated video machines the phrase, Ready Player One is what appeared when you deposited your quarter.

Finished Tu 5/9/17.

This book was recommended to me by Shane Miller, the contractor who is remodeling my kitchen. When he was telling me about the novel I found it on Amazon and then noticed that the library had it on Axis 360. I downloaded it before we finished talking about it. I'm really going to enjoy the library's ebooks.




"READY PLAYER ONE takes place in the not-so-distant future--the world has turned into a very bleak place, but luckily there is OASIS, a virtual reality world that is a vast online utopia. People can plug into OASIS to play, go to school, earn money, and even meet other people (or at least they can meet their avatars), and for protagonist Wade Owen Watts (WOW) it certainly beats passing the time in his grim, poverty-stricken real life. Along with millions of other world-wide citizens, Wade dreams of finding three keys left behind by James Halliday, the now-deceased creator of OASIS and the richest man to have ever lived. The keys are rumored to be hidden inside OASIS, and whoever finds them will inherit Halliday’s fortune. But Halliday has not made it easy. And there are real dangers in this virtual world. Stuffed to the gills with action, puzzles, nerdy romance, and 80s nostalgia, this high energy cyber-quest will make geeks everywhere feel like they were separated at birth from author Ernest Cline".


Set in a dystopian world of the future, 2045. Due to neglect and overwhelming problems, the 'real world' is ignored and most people live primarily in the virtual world of OASIS. Visors and haptic gloves are used to seamlessly interact with the virtual world.

James Halliday and a man named Morgan co-founded the virtual world of OASIS. When Halliday dies without an heir, he leaves all of his billions to the finder of an 'Easter Egg' within OASIS. The winner must successfully complete three stages or gates.

1.) RPO, 2.) the Jade Key, and 3.) the Crystal Key

The game has been on for five years and Wade Watts, a poor kid who lives in a vertical trailer park (stacks) outside of Oklahoma City finds the key to the first gate.

THE PROTAGONISTS-
Perzival (Wade Watts)
Aesch (H)
Ar3tmise
Two Japanese brothers (not really related, but 'brothers by game')


'gunters' The hunters for the Easter Egg.

'IOI'- The international Internet Service Provider and if they find the egg and get the billions they plan to monetize (introduce advertizing and charge for websites) the virtual world of OASIS and thus make it available only to the rich.

'The Sixers'- These are the army of hunters working for the IOI. Most are indentured servants to IOI and they use their employee numbers for their surnames.

The big reveal-
Ar3timise is a girl and she's just as beautiful as Wade imagined, but she has a large Port-wine stain on her face. Wade could not care less.

Aesch (He thought that his friend's name began with an 'H') Aesch is not male but a large, Afro-American lesbian. But Wade and Aesch are still 'brothers'.

He splits the winnings with his friends.