What Is Ernest Cline's Ready Player One Create A Utopia?

Tom Bissell, in his essay, “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” has described video games and how they are unique and different from movies, books, or even interactive films. Bissell says “I came to accept that games were incompetent with almost every aspect of what I would call traditional narrative.” This is showing the readers that even though there is a plot and story line, as characters can control and alter the story line or outcome by what you do or see throughout the game.

But the only thing stopping them is their disbelief in being able to change the real world and not just the virtual world. She later brings up the work of an economist named Edward Castronova looking for a reason for people putting many hours and cash in a video game. As he puts it "We're witnessing what amounts to no less than a mass exodus to virtual worlds and online game environments." Backing up his claim by stating how gamers do more things in video games than they do in real life because of the feedback and rewards they get from gaming than living. This led Jane into to thinking about how we can make the world function like a game to get gamers to be able to contribute to the real world as they would in the virtual world. Helping not only us but also helping them with their struggles of feeling like they are no help to humanity and that they aren't able to do what they do in gaming can't be done in society. Then Jane gave a history lesson on a game that was played with a sheep's knuckle, and how it was invented in the kingdom of Lydia, during a time of famine. Since games are used to escape real world problems. This allowed the kingdom to endure 18 years of famine.

Have you ever wondered how so many people can play video games for hours? Or how gamers can connect to people in the “virtual world” and learn life lessons? In the book, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and the article “Becoming Part of Something Bigger Than ourselves” by Jane McGonigal says “the single best way to add meaning to our lives is to connect our daily actions to something bigger than ourselves and the bigger, the better” (446). In 2009, McGonigal’s best video game, SuperBetter, went viral. The popularity from the video game increased gamers to battle health challenges like depression and anxiety. Mcgonigal's video game also increased better communication skills between friends, family,

On March 29, 1972 in Ashland, Ohio, the author of Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, was born. Cline had promising careers as a spoken word artist and screenwriter. However, his main or primary occupation was “geeking out.” He chose this path because he had a love for pop culture, which influenced his life greatly. In his early life, he had several odd jobs: short-order cook, fish gutter, plasma doner, elitist video store clerk, and tech support drone. During Cline time working at a low paying tech support job, he was allowed access to the Internet. This gave his accessibility to divulge into his pop culture obsession. Working as a video store clerk also helped. Cline was a self-proclaimed lifelong video game addict and his favorite video game was Black Tiger. This game influenced or played a role in many of his works.

The next day as I walk through the school doors, I see Hunter glaring at me. Remembering what my mom said, I continue walking to class. I go to my first two periods and I read the book Utopia by Thomas Moore through both my classes. When the lunch bell rings, I jump up from my seat and head to the cafeteria where I sit down at my usual table alone. I start eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwich as Hunter and a bunch of his friends enter the cafeteria. I freeze in fear and I start to become enraged. My hands start to shake and my face turns bright red with anger. Without thinking about it, I stand up towering over Hunter. Hunter’s friends begin to laugh at my idiotic decision. I become even more enraged as I hold my hands up in front

Is there such thing as living in a true utopia without some underlying trait that ruins the true perfection? What may seem like a utopia filled with peace and prosperity, very well might be the illusion given by true horror and chaos. The definition of a Utopia is described as “A place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions” (“Utopia”). In the world of 1984, Winston Smith lives in Oceania, which is perceived as a utopian society. The members of society are divided into 3 different sections, the inner party, outer party, and the proles. Winston’s life takes place in the outer party, where everyone is constantly under surveillance, personal thoughts are prohibited, and freedom is not really an option. Winston is however different from most of society, because he is self-aware of what is going on around him. He does not conform to what is expected. Oceania and Doomsday preppers are both a good example of what an illusion of a utopian world is. A utopia can transcend to a dystopia talking about doomsday preppers, when members closely follow propaganda which ends up controlling their lives, and citizens constantly try to conform to some image.

Imagine a society that arrests innocent people for owning a book. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury builds a world that firefighter’s burn down houses that have books instead of preventing fires from happening. In Montag’s society, burning book is a way to get rid of all the past knowledge because they don’t want their citizens to go against the society. In this utopia society, everyone looks exactly that same and they lack communication. Bradbury creates a futuristic community that doesn’t allow citizens to read books because they want all of their people to be content.

In a world that is centered around technology and the media, it is no wonder that Harris and Kelbold fell into the violent virtual world of video games. Doom, the boys’ favorite video game, displays you as a space marine whose mission is the kill people on the planet. High levels of violent graphics and the Satanic imagery embedded violent thoughts in the boys’ minds (“Nineteen Minutes”). The video, Natural Born Killers, also put aggressive thoughts into the boys’ minds (Rosenburg).. These media images as well as hateful music, planted the seeds of the future massacre in both Harris and Kepold’s minds. In a world of criticism, Peter also turned to the virtual world to escape. His interest turns to HTML code as well as violent music. Grand Theft Auto, his favorite game, ranks points by killing innocent people. He ends up creating his own video game, Hide and Shriek, in which his avatar runs through the school slaughtering jocks, bullies, and other popular kids. (Helium)

Ready player one by Ernest cline is a book that takes place in the year 2044 and it is a dystopia world. A teen name Wade Watts spends most of his time in a virtual reality world called the oasis, in it you can play 80’s games, attend school and even make real money to buy things either in the real world or in the virtual world. He spends most of his time in the oasis because he has nothing better to do in his lonely boring real world. The oasis was created by a man name James Halliday, halliday was a big fan of the 80’s culture and in the book, he passes away leaving all his rich fortune to the person who finds the Easter egg. The main character wade watts dedicate his whole life finding James halliday Easter egg.

In the fictional novel, Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, the main character, Wade Watts makes a joke about a comparision of being signed up to a corporation and rolling around in glass naked. Wade Watts lives in the year 2044 and it is a disaster. Living in post-apocalyptic Oklahoma City, his only get away from reality is to escape to the virtual reality of the OASIS. The OASIS is a giant video game that takes the player away to a different virtual world than the one they are living in. Wade is usually online in the OASIS because he feels that it is the safest and most fun place to be in. He is in his last year of highschool and he was telling the readers that he said he would much rather prefer being a full time “gunter” (a person dedicated

John Pilger’s documentary, Utopia (2013) exposes the government’s failure to invest in Aboriginal communities and Australia’s ongoing mistreatment of Indigenous Australians. The Aboriginal community of Utopia in central Australia live in third-world conditions and Pilger explores the experiences of Indigenous Australians and what he terms "the denigrating of their humanity" (Pilger. J, 2013). The town, Utopia reveals that Indigenous health has not improved since Pilger’s similar documentary 28 years ago called The Secret Country (1985). This documentary draws on documentary techniques and the power of language to position responders.

“Michael spoke against the wind,to a girl named Tanya.”(Dashner 1) so begins the storyline of the book. In The eye of Minds, author James Dashner tells the story of a young gamer named Michael who has to stop an insane hacker who tends to bring mass destruction. The plot of the story is set in the future where gaming set in virtual reality, a place called “VirNet”. These contains tons of games and one of them is called the “LifeBlood”. It's a virtual representation of real life. The only good thing about this game is that you cannot die. Dashner’s first novel “Eye of minds” sets starting point for the “Mortality Doctrine” series. This book is a must-read because of the adventures they have throughout the book and the unexpected turns in the

such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man" (40).  In

Imagine a world, that is anything and everything. Race a dream car. Meet a superstar. Go to Paris, New York, London, or even see the Great Pyramids. A virtual reality - an idea that is coming to life, an idea that will change the world, whether it be good or bad. Ernest Cline, the author of Ready Player One, warned us that virtual reality is going to change the world. Ready Player One is a story about a teen named Wade, in a world where video games are everything. A virtual reality world called the OASIS changed the world into a place where people are antisocial and don’t care about the world anymore. Change with VR can already be seen with the invention of the TV, the phone, the iPhone, and numerous other inventions, It’s already happening - the world is blowing up over Vive, Oculus, Hololens, and more, and VR is going to make things happen: such as solving problems. Is change happening? Are problems going to be solved? Yes, we can already see change.

game, just to avoid being harassed by men around them. That situation may sound ridiculous to and can upset a majority of the population. One should not feel the need to hide their real gender just to attend a baseball game. So why should women feel the need to hide their gender in online gaming? According to a Tedx Talk speaker Stirling Little, sixty-eight percent of women playing video games have reported hiding their real gender for fear of harassment. If someone were to identify themselves as a woman online, it would be unavoidable to receive sexist comments from other players. As a society we have accepted the idea of harassing women as a social norm. In the novel Ready Player one by Ernest Cline, [basics of the book/summary] we are introduced to examples of characters hiding their genders online in order to be taken more seriously. We can compare Ready Player One to today’s society when it comes to gender issues. In both the novel and society, women have limited job opportunities, are objectified for their sex, and are associated with feminine phrases used by others to insult someone. The public has to start caring about how they treat women online because they make up more than half of the gaming population. If people really want their games to stop following the gender stereotypes, they need to look at themselves as a whole and change the way they think.