Post by omega on Mar 27, 2018 8:45:31 GMT
A 2011 novel by Ernest Cline, adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg to be released March 2018.
Aside from the major theme of nostalgia (the 80’s are woven through every page), there’s the theme of obsession. It’s the heart of characters like Wade, Art3mis and Aech, who define their self worth by how much 80’s trivia they know and can recite at a moment’s notice. Wade spends all his free time reading 80’s science fiction and fantasy, watching 80’s movies, playing 80’s games or listening to 80’s music (he reflexively names the title, artist, album and release year when he hears the opening of a song). He only has two people he has regular contact with in the real world, one of which is the obligatory relative who they’re stuck with, and the other being the nice lady downstairs, and they are both killed off a third of the way through with one brief scene each (I won’t be surprised if Mrs Gilmore is cut out of the film, or Aunt Alice).
in a way, Halliday’s greatest flaw is his inability to relate to anyone outside of his 80’s nostalgia, which he passes on to the gunters through the Hunt. I’m only halfway through the audiobook (seven hours to go), so outside keeping absolute power of the hands of the IOI it could be justified. Imagine if the determination the gunters show was channeled into finding solutions for the problems faced in the real world. Clearing more living space (trailer parks are trailers stacked on top of each other, with collapses being common enough to be normal) or solving the energy crisis. Program an OASIS world to have real world laws of physics and use that to simulate possible ideas. Maybe that’s the sequel.
The world of the OASIS is fascinating, and exploring it beyond Wade’s quest and the 80’s nostalgia would be great. How people are trying to solve the real world problems when everyone just wants to jack in where the digital grass is greener. Or the inner workings, maybe a troubleshooter who corrects buggy code. A massive system like the OASIS, something has to go wrong, and when lives, or at least minds, are at risk, are there contingencies? It’s perfect for world building, literally in more than one sense.
Aside from the major theme of nostalgia (the 80’s are woven through every page), there’s the theme of obsession. It’s the heart of characters like Wade, Art3mis and Aech, who define their self worth by how much 80’s trivia they know and can recite at a moment’s notice. Wade spends all his free time reading 80’s science fiction and fantasy, watching 80’s movies, playing 80’s games or listening to 80’s music (he reflexively names the title, artist, album and release year when he hears the opening of a song). He only has two people he has regular contact with in the real world, one of which is the obligatory relative who they’re stuck with, and the other being the nice lady downstairs, and they are both killed off a third of the way through with one brief scene each (I won’t be surprised if Mrs Gilmore is cut out of the film, or Aunt Alice).
in a way, Halliday’s greatest flaw is his inability to relate to anyone outside of his 80’s nostalgia, which he passes on to the gunters through the Hunt. I’m only halfway through the audiobook (seven hours to go), so outside keeping absolute power of the hands of the IOI it could be justified. Imagine if the determination the gunters show was channeled into finding solutions for the problems faced in the real world. Clearing more living space (trailer parks are trailers stacked on top of each other, with collapses being common enough to be normal) or solving the energy crisis. Program an OASIS world to have real world laws of physics and use that to simulate possible ideas. Maybe that’s the sequel.
The world of the OASIS is fascinating, and exploring it beyond Wade’s quest and the 80’s nostalgia would be great. How people are trying to solve the real world problems when everyone just wants to jack in where the digital grass is greener. Or the inner workings, maybe a troubleshooter who corrects buggy code. A massive system like the OASIS, something has to go wrong, and when lives, or at least minds, are at risk, are there contingencies? It’s perfect for world building, literally in more than one sense.
