I don’t remember much from the 1980s. That’s the kind of statement people jokingly say about the ’70s with the implication that drugs were involved. For me, the lack of recollection had to do with being a small human.
But I do remember one key invention from that era: the Nintendo Entertainment System. I can’t begin to imagine the number of hours my siblings and I spent playing games like Bases Loaded, Gauntlet 2 and Super Mario 3.
Put that system in the hands of young people today, and they basically have no idea what’s happening, like 16-year-old Tori in the video below:
“I mean, I’ve played with like a PlayStation 2,” she says, “but that’s as old as it gets for me.”
That lack of knowledge would significantly hamper these kids if they lived in the world of Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One.”
The story takes place in the 2040s and follows as people to unravel a game left behind by James Halliday, the creator of a massive online world. He announces his entire wealth will go to the person who wins the game that involves finding three keys and making it through their respective gates.
Halliday is obsessed with the 1980s, the decade in which he was a teenager, so the game involves numerous references to the video games and other culture from that decade. People trying to win his game play every game he did and watch every ’80s movie in search of the slightest hint. The main character in the story is a teenager named Wade, who attends high school in the massive virtual world and gains worldwide noteriety as the finder of the first key.
I won’t say any more about the plot, because you should just go read this highly engrossing story. But I will mention two things that made me laugh.
Within the virtual school, everyone has an avatar just like many of us do for various online things now.
“The school’s strictly enforced dress code required that all student avatars be human, and of the same gender and age as the student. No giant two-headed hermaphrodite demon unicorn avatars were allowed. Not on school grounds, anyway.”
Where is this school located, Boringtown? Imagine how much more fun school would be if all of your classmates were represented by ridiculous characters!
Outside of school, Wade goes by the name Parzival. Unfortunately, as mentioned, the school is a no-fun zone in which he has to be himself.
“Students weren’t allowed to use their avatar names while they were at school. This was to prevent teachers from having to say ridiculous things like “Pimp_Grease, please pay attention!”
Again, think how great it would be if this policy did not exist. I would attend class solely for the purpose of hearing a teacher call on Pimp_Grease to explain the significance of the Magna Carta.
This book has so many more good references, so many in fact that I didn’t even stop to flag them as I blew through Parzival’s quest to try to win the game. You will enjoy it, and then want to immediately go play something.