.Virtual Book Club

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

From the publisher's website:

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days.

When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. 

Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. 

Explore some more books by authors mentioned in Ready Player One!

Try some of the video games mentioned in the book!

*** WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! ***

Each week, VBC discusses sections of the book together. Below is a collection of weekly discussion questions posed by VBC leadership and members. Be aware that these likely include spoilers, so please do not scroll further if you have not read the book.

Week 1: Orientation meeting

1. What do you expect from this book? Do you have any preconceived notions of what might be covered?
2. Do you have any topics, genres, or decades that you are very interested in? Tell us about them, and why you could talk about them all day long.
3. If you had to design an avatar to represent you online, what would it look like? What sort of abilities would it have? How do these things compare to the real you?
4. In the book, the virtual realm of the OASIS in the center of daily life for many people worldwide. What virtual realms do you depend on? How do you use them, and what would you do if they suddenly were not available?
5. Friendship is a major theme in this book. Have you ever made a friend online? How does that experience differ from making a friend in the "real world"? If you met the online friend IRL, what was that experience like? Were they what you expected?

Week 2: Chapters 0-9

1. This story is set 21 years in the future, with the implication that the OASIS has already existed for some time. Does this near-future setting impact you as you’re reading?
2. Conflict between reality and illusion is already evident in these chapters. What’s more real - real life or OASIS life? Why? How does this compare with today’s real life vs. online life?
3. So far, we’ve seen a lot is stark contrasts - Scarcity and abundance, poverty and extreme wealth. How do these power dynamics impact the characters and their journey so far?
4. Nostalgia is a huge theme in this book, both related to experiences you’ve actually had personally, and experiences you have learned about second-hand and wish you had. Can you relate at all to the feelings expressed by Halliday or Wade?
5. Hyper fixation is a quality shared by many characters in this story, past and present. (Halliday with the 80s and creating the puzzle, Wade with learning about Halliday and discovering his clues, etc.) Discuss the implications and impacts of hyper fixations on the characters we’ve met so far. Is this good or bad, or somewhere in between?
6. Discuss Wade. What do we think of him so far? Is he a reliable narrator? Is he likeable?

Week 3: Chapters 9-19

1. Let’s talk about Wade’s experience with Sorrento at IOI headquarters. How did this make you feel? What would you have done in this situation? Was Wade’s choice the right one? How do you think this experience impacted Wade in this section, and may continue to impact him in the long run?
2. When Wade shares this experience at IOI Headquarters with his fellow Gunters, they have mixed reactions. How do you feel about their individual reactions? Could you relate to any one member more than another?
3. Wade’s dedication to self-protection and continuing the quest is evident in his immediate change of location, new protections, and enhanced personal regime. Do you feel this was justified? Do you think he should have done anything differently?
4. Let’s chat about Parzival and Art3mis’s relationship. How do we see it changing over this time? How might it be impacting the Hunt? Where do we see it going in the future?
5. Fun question: Wade has to recite every word from the movie War Games in order to advance in the hunt. If you were in a similar situation, what movie, album, tv show, book, etc. do you feel you know well enough to be able to recite?

Week 4: Chapters 20-29

1. Did your opinion about any of the secondary characters change while reading this section? How?
2. Did any of the cultural connections in this section make you feel more or less connected to the story?
3. What was your reaction to Wade’s plan? How might this turn out in the rest of the story?
4. We get a glimpse into the real world outside of the OASIS in this section. What is your reaction to that?

Week 5: Chapters 30-end

1. Now that we've finished the book, what are your overall takeaways? What can, or should, we learn from this story?
2. Did you find the ending satisfying? Why or why not?
3. What do you think is next for the characters in the story?
4. If you have seen the movie, how did the book compare?