What Does Ready Player One Mean

The influence of space Throughout our lifetime, we have been told to act a certain way and dress or speak at a specific location. In the novel by Ernest Cline called Ready Player One, Wade has to act a certain ways in order to survive the Oasis. Space can affect the way you act, whether it is real life or virtual. Wade uses the Oasis in order to escape reality. The spaces can vary from a church to a classroom. From a young age, we have been taught how to act according to a specific location. At certain places, there is a formal guideline about how you should interact with its environment. Space is important because it modifies who you are into a someone you should be. Throughout the novel, Wade has to make the necessary decisions that change him. He has to compromise or give something up for something else. To begin, when Wade had found the copper key he couldn’t tell his best friend because he knew it was something that could not be shared. He had to be secretive of all the secrets that could potentially hurt him. He purposely avoided all messages from his best friend until he knew what he was going to tell him. When Wade finally gets the chance to talk to him, he couldn’t fully have
a conversation with him because he was scared he would let out any information. Aech responds to Wade and says ,” No worries. I totally understand. I wouldn’t want for you to accidentally drop any hints”(123). In other words, Wade doesn’t talk to someone who he used to everyday. When he does talk, he has to censor himself to not give information. On the scoreboard and there was a fascination about his avatar. At this point, no one knew who he was. He received lots Nungaray 2 of business offers. He had to come to each meeting and put up a front that he wasn’t interested. They offered him a lot of money, but he couldn’t show any sign of interest. Wade narrates,”Doing my best to hide intimidation I felt, I rolled my eyes and said, Whatever man”(137). In other words, Wade has to act like he doesn’t care where in reality, he does. This quote shows that Wade has to appear that he is not interested in the deal. He has to continue with the front because he doesn’t want them to think that he falls easily. Wade’s main reason for his existence at the Oasis is to escape his reality and to enter this almost perfect virtual world. When he logs in the Oasis he is escaping reality. His life in the stacks is not the best. His aunt likes to take advantage of him and has no one to look out for him. At the Oasis, he is able to go to school and make friends without someone physically knowing him. This can relate to the real world because people use social media such as Facebook to depict themselves as whoever they want to be. In the Oasis, Wade is able to act like a complete different person without anyone finding out. In real life, Wade has no actual friends, but in the virtual world he has a best friend. Once he is on the scoreboard, everyone wants to know who this avatar is but outside the Oasis he is still the same Wade. However, Wade has the control to change himself in the Oasis due to the fact that there are no rules. Ernest Cline states,” Your avatar’s name on that scoreboard is going to change everything”:(97). In other words, the person he is in this virtual world is nothing alike to who he really is in real life. Wade became an important person over night but in his real life nothing has changed. Space can affect the person you are. At certain spaces, there are guidelines about the way you speak or act. For example, at church you are to be sitting down, paying attention and not making noise. At a library, you are to be quiet. Depending on the environment you act differently. When we are around our parents, we don’t act the same way as with our friends. With our parents we are not allowed to say inappropriate things or do certain things. When we go for an interview we know that we have to be dressed in a formal manner. Space itself tells the person what we can or can’t do. Online through social medias such as snapchat or instagram, we are able to demonstrate someone who we might not be.
No one is going to know who you are, which means no one will ever know if you fake the person you are. The user has the ability to control the way they are seen because everything is through a computer. Majority of the time this is what usually happen. People fake who they are in the way that they upload pictures that aren’t them or fake their interest. For example, when people use online dating apps they use fake pictures to attract someone.At some point, this is what Wade does. He talks to plenty of people online when in reality he doesn’t have many friends. Online no one knows that he lives in the stacks or that his aunt is only looking out for her best
interest. Ultimately, space influences the way we are. The place will guide you in the sense in which way you should act. In my personal life, the way I act around my friends is not the same as when i'm with my family. In Ready Player One, the way he portrays himself in the Oasis is nothing alike to who he is in real life. People online such as Wade, are able to display someone who they might not be because they know no one will know.