Ready Player One

A comparison between the novel and the film

The following article is not a review as such but more of an analysis of certain aspects of the novel and the film that stood out to me as strange or moving. A word of warning: if you have not read the book or watched the movie then I suggest that you do not read this because it is going to contain mega spoilers for you. That being said let’s get to business!

For those that have read the book and watched the film, there is one thing that can be agreed on: the novel and film are very different and share only a few core similarities. For starters: the contest is entirely different aside from the fact that the contest still revolves around finding the keys to gain access to Halliday’s Easter Egg. But that is just about where the similarities end.

1.) Parzival’s attendance at school on Ludos.

In the start of the film, we briefly see Ludos in a camera flyby of the OASIS. It is so fast that if you blinked you probably missed it. Understandably, because the film does not follow the same challenges as the novel, it makes sense that Spielberg did not see the necessity of including it in the film or to make it part of the first challenge. However, I feel this to be a mistake for various reasons.

Wade is a poor kid living in The Stacks. In the film, his aunt speaks about their problems to pay rent and buy food vouchers which further proves their poor circumstances and general lack of OASIS credit. In the novel, this is further highlighted by the fact that other families share their trailer with them to split the rental. In the novel, it is stated that the OASIS is free for everyone to play but the way that GSS makes their money is from avatars paying for transportation and/or teleportation within the OASIS.

Keeping Wade’s financial situation in mind: how could he afford an OASIS console and haptic gloves? It is simple: he did not purchase it. A standard OASIS console and haptic gloves are issued when attending school on Ludos in the OASIS. Parzival states multiple times that he does not have any credit which is why he spends his time in the avatar starting zone or on the planet Ludos where he attends school. And the only reason he can move between these two areas is because the school covers transportation fees between these two areas. Yet, despite Parzival’s lack of credit, at the start of the film we see Parzival choosing a new haircut for his avatar which even Aech remarks as being costly.

The novel also mentions that vehicles are very expensive in the OASIS and often difficult to obtain implying that it requires the avatars to complete challenging quest chains to obtain the items and completing these quest chains requires gear which Parzival does not have because he is unable to transport to other areas in the OASIS in the first place. So, Parzival owning a Delorean before even getting the coins after obtaining the Copper Key is highly improbable. In the book and the film, it is mentioned that Aech makes credit by streaming and competing in death matches. But there is no mention in the film as to how Parzival was able to afford to even enter the race challenge as a poor kid from The Stacks.

Apart from all these inaccuracies, Halliday would not have programmed the first challenge to be as the film portrays it and here is why: Halliday did not want to restrict access to the OASIS in any way which is why the OASIS is free to play. In a similar fashion, he did not want to limit access to participation in the contest either which is why it makes sense for the first challenge to be hidden on the planet Ludos. Ludos is a none-PvP zone meaning that even a fresh level 1 avatar could gain access to the dungeon which concealed the first key. Even the dungeon itself is made up of elaborate puzzles to be solved suggesting that the dungeon did not require a high level or gear to clear (Parzival was only level 3 when he cleared the dungeon). Upon arriving at the Lich King and having to defeat him at Joust, even if you failed and got killed by the Lich King, you could just respawn, travel to Ludos and try again without having lost much as a low-level avatar. The completion of the dungeon fully relied on the avatar’s skills making it accessible to anyone with the knowledge to clear the dungeon. Upon obtaining the Copper Key, Halliday also programmed the avatar to receive 100 000 coins which meant that Halliday himself intentionally provided the avatars with the means to travel to other areas in the OASIS to continue the quest for the second key. By not including this information in the film, a large gap is left in Halliday’s character and gives rise to a lot of inaccuracies in the film.

2.) I-Rok and his connection to Parzival and Aech.

In the film, all that we know about I-Rok is that he has been hired by Sorrento to obtain rare artifacts, such as the Orb of Osuvox, and to track down Parzival which makes I-Rok appear to be some type of rogue gunter/mercenary. In reality, I-Rok is not very knowledgeable and is actually quite jealous of Parzival and Aech. The film does not provide I-Rok with a clear motive, aside from money, to actually find Parzival for Sorrento and thus, comes across as simply being one of Sorrento’s goons.

The plot would have been a lot juicier had it been revealed that I-Rok and Aech attend the same school on Ludos and I-Rok is jealous of Aech and Parzival for their knowledge and skills as gunters. This would also reveal that I-Rok, like IOI, is not true gunters. Or that I-Rok’s desire for revenge is simply greater than his will to find the Egg.

3.) Ogden Morrow as ‘The Curator’ in the film versus Ogden Morrow in the novel.

In the novel, despite having been in hiding from the media for over a decade, Morrow appears to be putting himself in the limelight after Parzival obtains the Copper Key. I find this strange because one would think that Morrow would now want to be in hiding more than ever to avoid curious fan’s queries with regards to the contest. Instead, Morrow invites The High Five and a series of other important guests to The Distracted Globe in celebration of his birthday putting himself and the famous contestants in the open since The Distracted Globe is located in a PvP zone.

While this scene is important in both the novel and the film for relationship development between Parzival and Art3mis, it is also important in the film because this is where Parzival and Art3mis discover a clue towards obtaining the Jade Key. I do not see the relevance of the party in the novel though as it does not seem to suit Morrow’s personality. Although Morrow’s actions were badass when IOI decided to crash his party, and he effectively protected Parzival and Art3mis, they would never have been in harm’s way if he had not hosted the party in the first place.

Morrow also reveals, at the end of the novel, that he has been watching over The High Five by frequenting visits to The Basement (Aech’s private chatroom) which is why he was able to help them at the end. Morrow promised Halliday that he would assist from the sidelines to ensure that his contest runs smoothly so it is understandable why he chose to stick closely to The High Five and, possibly, why he invited them to his party since he had been spying on them all that time and wanted to, perhaps, make up for the feelings of guilt. This is speculation, of course, but I think I am just biased because I preferred the film’s portrayal of Morrow as ‘The Curator’.

In the film ‘The Curator’ was an ‘NPC’ that was stationed at the entrance of The Halliday Journals and acted is a VI that would assist gunters in their search through the content. As ‘The Curator’, Morrow was able to constantly observe the movements of all gunters as they searched Halliday’s ‘brain’ which makes it an ideal place for Morrow to keep an eye on the progression of the contest. The Halliday Journals also served as the only place in the OASIS where Morrow could be around his lifelong friend and mourn his loss which I consider to be quite touching.

While Morrow from the novel and Morrow from the film are both looking out for The High Five and to maintain balance in the contest, I cannot help but prefer Morrow as ‘The Curator’ because he was remaining hidden from the media while carrying out the last request of his friend. I feel that the film did this better than the novel.

4.) Daito and Shoto – Brothers or not?

In the novel, it is revealed that Daito and Sho are not actually blood-related. Instead, Daito and Sho are two Japanese guys that discovered one another in the OASIS and developed a strong friendship. Since you can be whatever you want to be in the OASIS, Daito and Sho decided to be brothers which I consider to be truly touching.

Becauase of how touching this is, I am sure a lot of you had the same reaction when Daito died. I think my mouth hung open for a few minutes after reading that chapter. When IOI murdered Daito, it was heartbreaking and Shoto’s mourning was even more so. As if we needed more of a reason to despise IOI? While this added fuel to the revenge-seeking fire that the remainder of The High Five needed to make the final push, I cannot help but feel that the movie did it better since they did not have to kill off one of the beloved High Five. However, battle requires sacrifice, but I would have preferred if Daito could have survived. There are other ways to fuel revenge such as a simple hostage situation.

5.) Aech is a girl?!

If you have read the novel and watched the film then this might not come as a surprise to you. But, even having watched the film first, I did not realise that Aech is a girl. I did have my suspicions when Parzival was going on a ‘date’ with Art3mis to The Distracted Globe and Aech was trying to talk him out of it. This gave me a sense of unsureness because I considered that Aech could be doing this because she is jealous of Art3mis. And one of the reasons could be because Aech is a girl and has had a crush on Parzival but never acted on it. Of course, if you have read the novel, you will know that Aech is a lesbian so she was truly just looking out for Parzival but it was a safe assumption to make at the time.

The reason for Aech’s gender-swapping in her avatar is not just because she identifies herself as a male in her sexuality, but because of much deeper seated racial and gender reasons instilled within her by her mother.

Aech’s mother’s avatar was a white male and she told Aech that by posing as a white male it made doing business in the OASIS a lot easier because people took her seriously. This in itself is a reflection of the world today: it is sad that people cannot accept others for who they are. The way you look on the outside should not affect the way that people treat you. Quite interestingly, I wrote an article on gender swapping before discovering that Aech is a girl – feel free to check that out if you are interested in reading more about gender swapping and why people feel the need to do it.

Even though Aech is a girl, this does not change the plot in any way and her and Wade remain to be best friends. If anything it is a good addition to the story because it tackles the ongoing gender and race superiority issue that affects the world even today making it highly relevant and relatable to readers fighting similar battles in real life.

These aren’t the only things that I have noticed in the comparisons between the film and novel, but they are the most prevalent to me at this point in time. I will continue to add to this feed as time goes on. Let me know in the comments section if you have noticed anything that should have been in the film / should not have been in the novel!