Ready Player One (2018)

[SilentRoamer]

@SilentRoamer I wasn't aware we were at odds with our discussing the male protag, or in any way near forum rule transgression. If you're happy, I'm happy.

If you mean supporting the maleness (or as I said, the whiteness) might be a transgression of rules, I'd disagree. We're talking ethnology of gamer/geek culture here. There is a heavy bias to white males in that regard which - thank goodness - is changing. And there are countless times I've seen (and supported) threads about the marginalisation of women in SFF (although not, strangely, horror). It goes both ways and so far -as is the norm for chrons - it's been discussed maturely and sensitively.

Hey no worries, I've seen threads blow up fast and don't want to go there. I think I misread your initial posts tone, hard to parse tone and intent on the net.

I disagree with your assertion there is a heavy white male bias in gamer/geek culture. I guess I just don't believe that a particular group being more represented in a particular activity is indicative of a heavy bias. There are also lot of other non white influences, I mean for a start Japan has a huge influence on gamer/geek culture overall both in terms of hardware deployed into the marketplace and also the cultural influences on the games. JRPGs and cosplay are inherently Japanese and part of wider gamer/geek culture.

What about the naivety of mentioning his real name and that he had bought the top of the range suit, which then allowed 101 to track him down, and ultimately meant he was responsible for the death of his aunt, step-uncle and the majority of his friends and neighbours (something he seemed to get over rather quickly)?

In the book did he also do that?

It doesn't strike me as something that a "better gamer/gunter" would do. In the film they also made a reference to him being so inexperienced and unsophisticated that during the first task he had not joined a Clan yet. So, they were certainly trying to paint a picture of him being simple and naive but intelligent and tenacious. That made him unlike the other gamers/gunters but quite like Halliwell himself. At least, that was my take on it.

In the book Parzival starts on planet called Ludus which is basically the school and starter planet. OASIS items require real world cash or OASIS cash of which Wade has neither. He couldn't even teleport off of the planet. He spent almost all of his time studying Anoraks Almanac which was a list of 100s of games, films, books, tv serials, music and all things pop culture. Those particular pop culture references were what made a gunter and Wade was really knowledgeable in the books as he spent most of his life studying pop culture. Including being very, very good at the games there were considered canon.

In the book the starter challenge is just a video of Halliday giving a clue - so everyone who watches it has an equal chance of figuring it out. There are basically gates as in the films but also the clues that lead to the gates.

In the books Wade would never join a clan just to increase his chances - it didn't really go into this in the film but a lot of gunters thought that Clans were basically selling out. High Five (the name for Parzival, Aech, Art3mis, Shaito and Daito) only forms after they are placed in real world duress and danger.

In the books as in the film your online Avatar and real world persona are not supposed to be linked in any way and in the books IOI hadn't been particularly crazy until they blew up his caravan in the stacks. He had no real way to know they knew who he was and after that he took a lot of pains to avoid them (including creating a new identity which he used to get inside IOI) because Wade was a hacker.

Basically in terms of skill The High Five were the best individual gamers, with Wade being the best, at least in the books. In terms of gaming - this also refers to games within games - so theyre in the OASIS but they're playing 80s games.

There's one point in the book where Wade freaks out how deep he has gone - he is in OASIS in a world, playing a game and then in that game starts another game - it's a great little moment.

Wow long post.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Am currently reading the book and plan to watch the film very soon - but before I do, can I ask - does the film go through the film sets of Wargames and Bladerunner like in the book? Just that if so, I'll watch those with the kids before we watch Ready Player One, just so that they get the references.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Am currently reading the book and plan to watch the film very soon - but before I do, can I ask - does the film go through the film sets of Wargames and Bladerunner like in the book? Just that if so, I'll watch those with the kids before we watch Ready Player One, just so that they get the references.

Nope. They go through the set of THE SHINING. Not sure if you want to scare the bejeesus out of your kids watching that to prep them for READY PLAYER NOW

 

[Brian G Turner]

Aw, boo.

Still, I'm going to add 2001 and Bladerunner to the family viewing this year, anyway.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Yeah, the changes from the book to the movie were both interesting and disappointing. Cramming a long book into less than 3 hours must be a challenge.

 

[Brian G Turner]

They go through the set of THE SHINING.

That is so odd - it's not even mentioned in the book!

What about the naivety of mentioning his real name and that he had bought the top of the range suit, which then allowed 101 to track him down, and ultimately meant he was responsible for the death of his aunt, step-uncle and the majority of his friends and neighbours (something he seemed to get over rather quickly)?

In the book, he never gave his name - IOI bribed their way through the school system, and found his location that way.

Btw, I think there was a misunderstanding before about the term "vanilla", which IMO was simply used to mean "plain and uninteresting" rather than anything else.

Anyway, very much enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to watching the film - even though it seems to be very different.

 

[Vince W]

If you enjoyed the book Brian I suggest you skip the film. It's a major let down.

 

[psikeyhackr]

If you enjoyed the book Brian I suggest you skip the film. It's a major let down.

All you have to do is watch the trailer to see it must be significantly different. Since I was expecting it to be different I was not too bent out of shape but still not as good as the book.

Daemon and Freedom by Danial Suarez are better than RP1 though more serious.

 

[Brian G Turner]

If you enjoyed the book Brian I suggest you skip the film. It's a major let down.

Since I was expecting it to be different I was not too bent out of shape but still not as good as the book.

Yeah, I'm taking the second approach - pre-warned, to limit my expectations.

 

[Vince W]

Yeah, I'm taking the second approach - pre-warned, to limit my expectations.

Do the same with Armada, if you choose to read it.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Do the same with Armada, if you choose to read it.

I suspect I'll give that a miss - I don't hear many people recommending it, and I desperately need to get through my existing but ever increasing TBR pile.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Do the same with Armada, if you choose to read it.

Here we diverge. I actually put off reading Ready Player One because of what I expected. When I finally read It I was somewhat shocked at liking it. So naturally I started Armada. Armada was what I had expected RP1 to be and I quit 1/3rd of the way in. No intention of going back. So, evaluate your own tastes and take your chances. LOL

 

[Brian G Turner]

Finally watched it and enjoyed it.

I can understand why Spielberg made changes to the story make it more visually appealing, and I think for the most part it worked. I've no idea why he swapped the Bladerunner set for The Shining, though - possibly a rights issue, though I noticed a couple of added touches of horror in general.

Anyway, a decent film, but as ever, the book is better.

 

[Judderman]

I watched this on a plane. 'Twas quite entertaining, probably better than expected. The races in the games were great. Reminded me of playing Wipeout games. The game playing characters were reasonably interesting. The first half kept me watching. But similar to most CGI films it descended into some not particularly interesting battle action and bad guy takedown towards the end.
As others have said it didn't show much of people playing games constantly possibly being super unhealthy etc. Perhaps you could say they did activity from using the VR suits. The hero is even shown to be quite athletic on his way to his gaming den.

 

[Glitch]

I've no idea why he swapped the Bladerunner set for The Shining, though - possibly a rights issue

The rights for Bladerunner were denied due to Bladerunner 2049 coming out.