Based on the 2011 sci-fi novel of the same name by Ernest Cline, Steven Spielberg’s 2018 film, Ready Player One takes us to in the dystopian 2040s. At this point, people have lost all hope in improving our world’s worsened conditions. Instead, virtually everyone would find sanctuary in a virtual reality known as the OASIS. There, an individual could be whoever they wish and venture to anywhere they desire.

Before his death, the co-founder of the OASIS, James Halliday, played by Mark Rylance, announces a competition to locate an Easter Egg in a gate which requires three keys to open, each of them scattered across the OASIS. They who earn all three keys and obtain the Easter Egg would be prized with complete owner ship and control over the OASIS. The main character played by Tye Sheridan, Wade Watts, a Gunter (shortened from egg hunter) through his avatar, Parzival, and his four friends Art3mis, Aech, Daito and Sho set out on a quest to find the Easter egg before it gets in the hands of the IOI corporation run by CEO, Nolan Sorrento, played by Ben Mendelsohn.

            In this current age, we find many who would rather escape the troubling real world through video games, movies, books and television, among other means than try to face it and make a difference, with only a mere sense of optimism, hoping that all things would work out on its own without us having to do anything about it. Ready Player One shows us just how far that could take us. There’s virtually no hope left for the real world, resources have depleted, the world’s economies are in shambles, overpopulation has worsened, and an increasing number of people around the world are living in slums. There’s not even the faintest feeling of optimism, everyone’s given up. The only thing that seems to matter is the OASIS, a fake reality that everyone turns for comfort.

            It’s broad, virtually endless range of features makes it intensively addictive. A user’s actual name and appearance are never revealed in the OASIS. Users pick an avatar - either an original character or a character that served as a pop culture icon, and will be recognized and identified through said avatar and the name provided for it. The OASIS consists of multiple worlds, each with a different theme. A user could embark on a dream vacation to some tropical island in one, or join the armed forces in a virtual war in another. The OASIS even enables its users to earn currency by various means which they could use both within it and outside in the real world. All that the OASIS has to offer is enough for one to base his entire life off, causing him to lose touch of the real world almost completely.

            Like anything else created by human beings, the OASIS does have its disadvantages. Dying in the OASIS would have you lose all that you’ve earned, bringing you back to square one.  There was on instance in the film where Wade’s aunt’s boyfriend dies in battle in the war world of Planet Doom after borrowing some of Wade’s controls which proved to be ineffective, which costs them their chance of leaving the slum where they live in, known as “The Stacks”, a collection of trailers and mobile homes stacked into towers.

            The OASIS is also more vulnerable to being claimed by multinational corporations, which is where the film’s main protagonist, Nolan Sorrento, CEO of the IOI corporation steps in, hoping to increase the company’s revenue by acquiring the OASIS as an asset. Today’s political climate shows us a scenario which isn’t so different. For years, corporations such as Verizon and AT&T as well as the FCC have made multiple attempts to extend their control over the internet.

            In short, Ready Player One gives us a lecture about our connection with the real world. While reality is cruel and frightening, and it’s fine to find means to take refuge from it for a while, we shouldn’t distance ourselves from it so much for another, more artificial one that’s more vulnerable to destruction. The film ends on a happy note with Wade and his friends finding the Easter egg as well as getting to know each other’s actual identities in the process, yet closing the OASIS every Tuesday and Thursday so people won’t completely fall out of touch with reality.