Ready Player One gave myself an 80's history lesson right off the bat. Wade is an extremely smart individual who is eager to escape his own life and adventure into OASIS. This in my opinion is due to his own standing on the current economical scale. In reality, he is poor and unwanted and OASIS gives him a new world which he can flourish. Even though in this virtual reality to start with he is also financially poor. This is evident when I-rok calls Wade "Captain No-Credits". The rich still attacking the weak to feel better about themselves. Halliday's challenge gives Wade and every other poor struggling soul a chance out of the "stacks". It seems that the modern day middle class has been crushed and you either have money or don't. Another financial play in this story is IOI a corporation founded on winning the contest, and taking control of OASIS. They want to use OASIS as an advertising platform to make even more money. The rich keep on getting richer. It would turn this utopia back like reality. My hope for the future of this story is that Wade will remain on this own and not fall into corporate hands. I think Wade is too much of an individual to let this happen, but who knows money changes people.
I agree with your thoughts here, I don't think Wade will change at all. I know money does change some individuals but Wade is different and knows better. I guess maybe if he gets an offer of a life time that would be worth more than winning the game he might take it. But i the Wade wants the satisfaction of winning the game too. With Wade already being labeled as lower class, if he doesn't win the game I think he will still be the same guy, but if he does win it will change everything for him. Wade could become the next James Halliday if he finds the egg.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really fascinating how you looked at Ready Player One from a financial perspective. It does seem like the middle class is no longer in existence in the world inside the novel. However, while it may not exist in the natural world in Ready Player One, it did seem like there was a middle class in the OASIS. For example, Wade could never afford to travel after school and was stuck on Ludus, but most of his classmates had at least enough extra money to travel and level up their avatars. Lastly, I also believe Wade is too strong to give into the IOI, no matter the price, especially since the corporation would change the OASIS into a business tool, making it something people like Wade could no longer afford, something Halliday would never have wanted.
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