Ready Player One Read-Through: Chapter 16

Content warning: references to drugs, class and tragedy.



From Wade's whole world being destroyed thanks to his own hubris, to what's up on the Scoreboard today! It is filled with Sixers winning the Copper Key and clearing the First Gate one by one; their numbers are listed under the High Five's names. The IOI have immersion rigs for their employees to cheat, but they cannot simply hack the whole of the OASIS altogether.

As we sidestep that plot hole, we learn that gunters everywhere are attacking the Sixers' force fields to get into the tomb, and another planet Ludus is created for the school students to continue studying (now there's fast-thinking respect for education). Eventually they succeed in blowing up the force fields with heavy artillery and enough bombs to nuke the whole of the OASIS if the area wasn't a no-PvP zone. Violence and war solve everything!

Here's one particularly heartbreaking paragraph concerning the explosion at the stacks:


It seemed that the Sixers had also planted a large amount of drug manufacturing equipment and chemicals at the scene, to make it look like a meth lab in one of the trailers had exploded. It worked like a charm. The cops didn't bother to investigate any further. The stacks were so dense around the pile of crushed and charred trailers that it was too dangerous to try to clear them out with one of the old construction cranes. They just left the wreckage where it was, to slowly rust into the earth. (Page 162)


A great human tragedy, so carelessly dismissed among old junk. Human bodies and garbage are one and the same in this future. When people happened to live poor they died poor, with no one left to care. Remains are just left in the wake of a wreckage, to rot and rust, to be forgotten about. Forever.

How does Wade feel about all of this?

Nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. He up and leaves town to get an apartment of his own as soon as he delivers this exposition, told in a tragic manner but eliciting no human thoughts and feelings of his own on the matter. He packs everything he owns, all for the OASIS - no keepsake from Alice or Mrs. Gilmore; they are not even mentioned in this chapter - and he leaves the stacks, adding, "I didn't look back."

Our hero.

It is in this chapter that we finally get to spend some time in the real world. It is very refreshing, and adds to the worldbuilding. Wade, as a famous gunter, has credibility in the OASIS underworld, involving an illegal data-auction, and he can afford a new identity and apartment of his own, as well as a new Social Security number. He has become a fugitive, a criminal, and a certified sociopath in less than twenty four hours. Our hero.

His alias is Bryce Lynch - a Max Headroom reference, which I'm sure none of the Sixers doing their own digging into '80s references will catch up on! Max Headroom is a pretty big milestone in pop culture of that era. Great job being discreet, Mr. Lynch!

Oh but back in the virtual reality - yeah, he has an OASIS connection on the bus towards his new pad, knew it was too good to be true:


Once my new identity was set up, I began searching the Columbus classifieds for a suitable apartment and found a relatively inexpensive room in an old high-rise hotel, a relic form the days when people physically traveled for business and pleasure. The rooms had all been converted into one-room efficiency apartments, and each unit has been modified to meet the very specific needs of a full-time gunter. It had everything I wanted. Low rent, a high-end security system, and steady, reliable access to as much electricity as I could afford. Most important, it offered a direct fiber-optic connection to the main OASIS server vault, which was located just a few miles away. This was the fastest and most secure type of Internet connection available, and since it wasn't provided by IOI or one of its subsidiaries, I wouldn't have to be paranoid about them monitoring my connection or trying to trace my location. I would be safe.
      I spoke with a rental agent in a chat room, and he showed me around a virtual mock-up of my new digs. The place looked perfect. I rented the room under my new name and paid six months' rent up front. That kept the agent from asking any questions. (Page 164)


I typed all this in whole because it has to be seen in whole to be believed. Wade is such a lucky rich boy, isn't he! It's like he'd been blessed by leprechauns at birth! Breezing into a new life no problem in less than two pages, right after tragedy struck his old childhood home. Plus plus plus, convenient OASIS connection in his new apartment!

Who ever said that a hero's journey needs to have obstacles and challenges?

It's almost as if his family and home being dead in the ground was the best thing that ever happened to him; and in fact he'd been waiting for an opportunity like that as an excuse to leave the real world for good and immerse himself into virtual reality non-stop!

Wade gets off the bus into his new hideout:


As I stepped off the bus, I suddenly felt as though a heavy weight were resting on my chest. I was having a hard time breathing. Maybe I was having a panic attack. I forced myself to take deep breaths and tried to calm down. All I had to do was get to my new apartment, set up my rig, and log back into the OASIS. Then everything would be alright. I would be back in familiar surroundings. I would be safe. (Page 165)


Remember, the OASIS is not addictive!

The real world sucks, so it's okay to escape it as often as possible - got it. Even when people are out to kill you.

This is the second time in one chapter where he says, "I would be safe." to mark the end of a paragraph. Safe, my arse. Idiot.

He enters his physical self-imposed prison sentence. We end the chapter - and Level One - on this lovely note:


My apartment was on the forty-second floor, number 4211. The security lock mounted outside  required another retinal scan. Then the door slid open and the interior lights switched on. There was no furniture in the cube-shaped room, and only only one window. I stepped inside, closed the door, and locked it behind me. Then I made a silent vow never to go outside again until I has completed my quest. I would abandon the real world altogether until I found the egg. (Page 166)


Why do people like Ready Player One again? This is dangerous. This is a dystopian novel that thinks it's a utopian dream. It is pure fantasy, like - pardon me for the trite and regressive comparison - Twilight for boys, or Twilight for gamers. The unintentional horror is obvious.

OASIS not addictive, my arse.

Fuck you, James Halliday.

End of chapter 16, and Level One. Onto Level Two now, and it only gets worse from here on out. Be very afraid. Be cautious.