Ready Player One Read-Through: Chapter 15

Content warning: death, references to abuse and drug use, sexism, racism, tokenism.



Wade logs in to find that Ludus is being invaded by a squadron of Sixer gunships, searching for the tomb. Why they brought in gunships if Ludus is a no-PvP zone is not explained.

Wade is in hiding; he is a fugitive, not that he will try hard to stay off the radar, literally.

He contacts Aech. He explains everything that has happened to him, and Aech shows more emotion over the deaths and Wade's newfound homelessness than Wade does. The concerned, scared friend asks:


"What about your family?"
       "It was my aunt's place. She's dead, I think. We... we weren't very close" This was a huge understatement, of course. My aunt Alice had never shown me much kindness, but she still didn't deserve to die. But most of the wrenching guilt I now felt had to do with Mrs. Gilmore, and the knowledge that my actions had gotten her killed. She was one of the sweetest people I'd ever known. (Page 149)


And that's it. That is the closest thing to grief and guilt Wade ever expresses in the book.

The tactless way he dismisses his very recently-deceased aunt is almost appalling. The readers only got to know her for half a page, for fuck's sake! We weren't given a chance to get to know anything about Alice, other than that she was abusive, neglectful, and a drug addict. She was a lazily-written-in trope and a plot device, but surely there must have been something else to her? She must have had feelings? She was Wade's mother's sister - how did her sister's death affect her? To take drugs too? Instead, the author made a conscious decision so that the reader, like Wade, would not think anything of Alice, other than that she was Wade's abusive guardian.

Speaking of Wade, even an abuse victim would feel something upon hearing the news of an abuser's (their own or someone else's) death. Relief, plain shock, numbness, horror, anger, closure, sadness at a lost life, regardless of how that life was spent - something! Wade's reaction can barely be described as apathy.

He is unsympathetic towards the dead, period. The deaths of everyone he ever knew in the real world. He still has the OASIS, and that's all that matters; that's all that ever mattered. The one-note dead plot devices are very, very infrequently mentioned from this moment forth. There's no trauma because the author forgot to include any.

Our hero is one step closer to becoming a sociopath.


I realized that I was sobbing. I muted my audio so Aech wouldn't hear, then took several deep breaths until I got myself under control again. (Page 149)


It's okay to cry in front of your friend, after what you've just been through! You're bereaved.

Oh yeah, I forgot: manly men of the '80s don't cry. They don't have emotions, apart from anger. They rise above grief and traumatic experiences immediately, and on their own. No comfort and support to be found here, that's girly! Toxic masculinity strikes again! Sociopathy is encouraged again.

Case and point, after Aech vows red hot revenge on Wade's behalf:


"Where are you right now?" Aech asked. "Do you need help? Like, a place to stay or something? I can wire you some money if you need it."
        "No, I'm OK," I said. "But thanks, man. I really appreciate the offer."
        "De nada, amigo."
        "Listen, did the Sixers send you the same e-mail they sent me?"
        "Yeah. Thousands of them. But I decided it was best to ignore them."
        I frowned. "I wish I'd been smart enough to do that." (Page 149)


You think!?

And he reacts to his fuckup with a frown. That's it. He frowns at a regret that destroyed his life and world, or it should have destroyed his life and world. Show no emotions, remember.

Aech assures Wade that it wasn't his fault (right, sure), and he proposes a gunter meeting in the Basement, with the top five gunters on the Scoreboard, to talk about this development. Gunters hanging out, and seeing Art3mis again - this automatically cheers Wade up!

"My world is falling apart and everyone I ever knew and loved is dead, but geek meetings and my boner make everything better!"

At the meeting, Aech gives Wade a hug, which he describes as "surprisingly comforting." There is a lot that can be interpreted and unpacked from such a tiny moment like this. It could be that Wade is merely surprised at having felt something like that in a virtual world where he isn't even physically present for the hug. It could be that he had rarely been hugged in the real world, so this is what he means by a surprising comfort, long since unknown to him. Or it could be surprising in that, as a man living off of the toxic masculinity influence of the retrograde past, he didn't ever expect to feel comfort or affection of this kind. Or it could be read as queer subtext. But anyone who has read Ready Player One would know that that is definitely not the case. No homo!

The five top gunters call themselves the High Five. When Art3mis shows up, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl calls Aech's '80s-style Basement the coolest thing ever. She mentions that it is a perfect recreation of Morrow's basement, proving that Aech has as many ideas and thoughts of his own as Wade does.


"You've got a permanent spot on the guest list. Log in and hang out anytime,"
       "Really?" she said, clearly delighted. "Thank you! You're the man, Aech."
       "Yes," he said, smiling. "It's true. I am." (Page 151)


This is not as obvious as the "Caucasian male" foreshadowing in chapter 3, but it's still rather clumsy.


They really seemed to be hitting it off, and it was making me crazy jealous. I didn't want Art3mis to like Aech, or vice versa. I wanted her all to myself. (Page 151)


Priorities! You possessive, entitled prat! Blood on your hands, family all dead, remember?

=sigh= Now we are introduced to Shoto and Daito, the other two top gunters.

There is no easy approach to saying this: they are entirely one-note Japanese stereotypes. They are both samurai warrior avatars, they bow a lot, and they talk a lot about honor. Don't believe me? Think I'm being oversensitive and too PC? Read this:


"Greetings." the taller samurai said. "I am Daito. And this is my little brother, Shoto. Thank you for the invitation. We are honored to meet all three of you."
       They bowed in unison. Aech and Art3mis returned the bow, and I quickly followed suit. As we each introduced ourselves, Daito and Shoto bowed to us once again, and once again we each returned the gesture.
       "Alright," Aech said, once all the bowing had ended. (Page 152)


I've been to Japan this year. I've visited a Japanese shrine, and attended a tea ceremony. And there had been far, far less bowing there than in this small passage, where two Japanese people are just greeting and introducing themselves at a meeting. Four times bowing is mentioned in the above quote.

This kind of stereotyping is not necessarily meanspirited or horribly offensive. It's more embarrassing than anything else. At best it's laughable.

However, could it be an homage to traditional samurai? A sign of love for Japanese culture? It could be interpreted as quite admirable, in fact, as a tribute to Japanese history; as represented by actual Japanese people, as we'll find out later that Shoto and Daito really are of that ethnicity, and do actually live in Japan, not America.

But seeing as they are the only Asian characters in Ready Player One, I'm going to have to come to the conclusion that this is indeed tokenism, playing on the most basic, hackneyed ethnic stereotypes, as written by an American white man.

Art3mis discovers that the Sixers have put up two force fields over the Copper Key tomb to keep other gunters from entering. Ludus is a no-PvP zone. But are there any laws in the OASIS? Daito says there aren't. That is irresponsible, disorderly, chaotic, dangerous and terrifying. Who'd want to live there?

No protection against infiltration, hacking and reprogramming? Couldn't the IOI hack into the system if they tried? No system is 100% full-proof, after all.

This is Halliday's fault, again. He could have programmed something for the OASIS to prevent a disaster like this. If he was so smart, why wouldn't he have predicted this? There is no procedure against anyone cheating in the hunt, as far as anyone knows.


"But how can they do this?" Shoto asked, his young voice brimming with rage. He looked to his brother. "It's not fair. They're not playing fair!"
       "They don't have to. There are no laws in the OASIS, little brother," Daito said. "The Sixers can do whatever they please. They won't stop until someone stops them."
       "The Sixers have no honor," Shoto said, scowling. (Page 153)


This is all Shoto and Daito are: catchphrase-spouting tokens.

Wade relates everything that happened to him to the gunters. After the initial shock wears off, it's back to business. No thought - none whatsoever - for the people who died, because they were not Wade. Because Wade doesn't care.


"Jesus," Art3mis whispered. "No joke? They actually tried to kill you?"
       "Yeah. They would have succeeded, too, if I'd been at home. I was just lucky." (Page 154)


Lucky for you, you selfish, unfeeling bastard!

Hey, take a shot every time someone in Ready Player One mentions how lucky they are! Double if it's Wade! Eighties references have got nothing on this!

The brothers bow to Wade for being the first gunter to find the Copper Key. There is a sizing of each male avatar's penis before Art3mis, the lone female avatar, brings the meeting back onto the topic at hand, like the IOI being after them and wanting to kill each of them. When Wade reveals what he saw at the IOI virtual headquarters, about the immersion rigs that allow anyone at the company to control any Sixer avatar at any time, at any turn:


"Cheating bastards," Aech repeated.
"The Sixers have no honor," Daito said, shaking his head.
"Yeah," Art3mis said, rolling her eyes. "We've established that." (Page 156)


Yes we've established that Daito and Shoto are nothing but wind-up tokens. Move on.

Seriously, Worf and Prince Zuko combined didn't go on this much about honor.

Things seem hopeless. The Sixers have the advantage over the gunters. Aech argues with the distrusting brothers (mainly Daito), who don't want to work as a team with the High Five, and Daito is suspicious that any of the avatars in the room could be a Sixer spy. He's not being paranoid there; that is entirely plausible. But it is literally laughed off by Art3mis. And she's meant to be the voice of reason.

She's mostly on the sidelines here, by the way, being ignored, like a good girl. Never interrupting the men talking, nor a potential manly brawl coming. Because manly men!

Daito and Shoto, after Aech insults them, log out of the Basement.


"That went well," Art3mis said, once their avatars had vanished.
I nodded. "Yeah, real smooth, Aech. Way to build bridges."
"What did I do?" he said defensively. "Daito was being a complete asshole! Besides, it's not like we were asking him to team up, anyway. I'm an avowed solo. And so are you. And Art3mis here looks like the lone-wolf type too." (Page 157)


How was Daito being a "complete asshole", Aech? You were the one being an arrogant, insulting prick to him. Daito is right to be cautious about all of this.

It is also disturbing to have these two particular characters hate each other in this book, in hindsight. Hindsight meaning Aech's real self.

Art3mis leaves for shits and in giggles, totally appropriate for the situation at hand, as you can tell. These kids grew up inside a virtual reality simulator, alright. Aech teases Wade about his obvious crush on her:


"Stop being a dick."
"It's understandable, man," Aech said. "That girl is super cute." (Page 158)


Art3mis is hot and cute and the boys got dibs on that object - priorities! Feminism!

The best friends continue to insult one another (because that's just what guys do, I suppose), talking about the riddle to the Jade Key. A stack of comics fall to the floor in the Basement; this isn't important right now.


"Relax. It was a glitch." He rested a hand on my shoulder. "Listen. Let me know if you change your mind about needing a loan. Or a place to crash, OK?"
      "I'll be alright," I said. "But thanks, amigo."
      We bumped fists again, like the Wonder Twins activating their powers. (Page 159)


Grief? What grief? Trauma? What trauma?

And it's okay to ask for help and support in times of crisis, Wade Watts! Like everything else concerning feelings and the heart (that don't involved "thinking with your dick", that is) in Ready Player One, this doesn't come back. Wade learns nothing from this experience.

These are just inklings of what I mean when I say that this book is toxic and dangerous. It's messages are, after all, long-engraved into our culture as they continue to persist to this day. Let's not let Ready Player One's future in the 2040s become, in any aspect, a reality.

Chapter end.