I just finished Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, a sci-fi novel about a computer programmer and video gamer at hunt for a hidden bit of code (called an Easter egg) in a virtual reality program.
The year is 2044 and most people spend more time in a virtual world called OASIS than navigating the real world, which has turned into a miserable and dangerous place filled with wars, poverty and crime. (More than now, even.) The main character, Wade Watts, is a schlubby teenage coder and avid gamer eking out lonely existence. In a funny coincidence, I know someone in real life named Wade, who writes code and excels at video games (especially all the early ones - from Atari to Robotron - mentioned in this novel). But I digress. The fictional Wade enters a contest to find an “Easter egg” - basically, a puzzle hidden in the code by the creators of OASIS. The “Hunt,” as it is called, that Wade enters involves solving a series of puzzles in the virtual world to reap a financial windfall in the real one.
The real life Wade assures me that this novel is technologically accurate - there was indeed an Easter egg written into the code of an early video game (Adventure) back in the day, as mentioned in the book. However, the novel does require one slight suspension of disbelief: the computing power and technology to create such an advanced, simulated world did not exist at the time that OASIS was supposedly developed. This is a minor quibble, though, and I almost feel petty for mentioning it. Besides, it was probably necessary to advance the plot.
I am neither a video gamer, nor an avid techie, yet I found this novel to be totally engrossing. It helped that I remember the plentiful pop culture references to the 1980's, but it's more than that. It is the classic quest novel, with an everyman hero you can root for, a rollicking, action-packed plot, some geek romance, and plenty of wit. I highly recommend it for gamers and non-gamers alike. A totally fun read.
No comments:
Post a Comment