The Ready Player One Generation

Dystopian Future or Imminent Reality?

Following the trailer for the Ready Player One film, the hype around the book has been massive.

I have a bit of an unwritten rule that once I’ve seen a book referenced more than three times I add to my reading list. Well having seen this book on every single reading list ever made in 2017, I thought it must be worth a read.

The book is set in a not quite dystopian future where people have access to a virtual world called the Oasis. In this world, everyone has a personal avatar that they control. It’s at the point where most people live out their whole life within that virtual world.

One of the best aspects of the book is that the world created is very believable.

With the popularity of mobile phones and the personal worlds that people live in through their screen, it’s not a stretch to think that people would get on board with a virtual world that they could feel they are physically in.

But how close to a Ready Player One world are we currently in?

Let’s talk about VR

It feels like we’re at the edge of a tipping point in the VR, we’re just one keynote away from a technology that will change how we interact with the world…

The only problem with that is that we’ve been strolling on this edge for the last 6 years from when Google Glass was first announced.

If you remember the announcement, there was a buzz in the tech community like I’ve never seen before.

This was going to be the biggest jump in portable technology since the iPhone was released.

Tech nerds (proudly including me) have been waiting for the next frontier in this area.

Tablets had their 15 minutes of fame when the world went crazy for them, then realised they don’t even do anything and not one person in the world needs one.

If tablets had their 15 minutes, smartwatches had their Vine length time in the spotlight. They promised a lot but consumers ultimately decided that they don’t do enough compared to a phone to warrant widespread adoption.
I was one of the chumps (great word) that bought a Moto 360 when it first got released in the UK. To be fair, I really liked it when I got it so I wouldn’t call it a wasted purchased but after forgetting to wear it for a week I found no reason to come back to it.

So the Google Glass was announced, the freshest VR platform backed by one of the biggest tech giants in the world… it must be destined for greatness.
It was released… a handful of people bought it… no one said much about it… there was no huge commercial roll out and it died out.

This showed us a few things;
There is an appetite for VR
It has to provide something phones do not

Point two is the key one for me, being able to see a little screen in your vision is interesting, but unless it beats pulling out the little screen in your pocket it will die out like Google Glass did.

Here come the gamers

Gamers are a passionate bunch and if there is a way to improve our games we’ll be the first ones to put down some cold hard cash to invest.

A good sign for VR is its adoption by the gaming community.

When the Oculus was announced it had the same type of buzz Google Glass did within gaming circles.

You can track their similarities as the VR hype significantly died down in the following years, the idea was always great and the consumers were willing but this new subsection of the industry was being held back.

The issue was with pricing, hardware, and games.

With VR being an add-on to existing console or gaming PC it represents quite a heavy cost for an average consumer.

There is also the issue of the hardware being powerful enough to run the VR headsets with the games at a quality that will keep the illusion of the experience intact.

Finally, there is the games library that was small when the first VR devices were released. As time has gone on this has been updated and there are now AAA titles available making the purchase better value for the mainstream.

The Case for the Oasis (almost rhymed)

Mobile phones are an epidemic that the world has gladly accepted. They are an amazing tool, you can search for the answer to any question, watch a video on any topic or just entertain yourselves with hours of games.

But we’re at the point where for some people, their online life is replacing their real-world life.

People are putting their likes, retweets, and streaks as more important than personal relationships or their own health. It’s an easy escape where you can be eternally distracted if your real life is unsatisfactory.

If you’ve read Ready Player One, our world is just like the world the characters are living in.

They just have a better medium.

Final Thoughts…

Overall I’ll give this book a 9/10 on the arbitrary scale of book rankings. It was one of those stories where you easily get lost in the world created and feel a bit sad when the adventure finishes.

The whole book is elevated by the premise being something that we could be facing so props to Ernest Cline for making me think about the ideas presented in the book after I’ve finished it.

Buy the book here.