So, I saw Ready Player One (RPO) yesterday, at the very last session (9:30am) at my local cinema.

So, I saw Ready Player One (RPO) yesterday, at the very last session (9:30am) at my local cinema. There were five of us in the audience, which is what I more or less expected. Overall I found this to be a fun film for a blockbuster. A little predictable in some ways and with some obvious plot holes/silliness (see below), but one the whole not a serious film.
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:SPOILERS BELOW
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Picking the film apart
I read a comment a few weeks ago that it got virtual worlds wrong, but OASIS isn't something like Sansar or Second Life. Rather, it's a MMORPG like World of Warcraft or Legends or even Trackmania Unlimited (the race at the start of the film was so much like a hyped up TMU race!). The difference is that in a MMORPG the content of the game is controlled by the owners of the game (with a smaller amount of user created content), whereas in a virtual world most of the content will be created by the users/players.

In a virtual world there will also have to be owner content as well, but it usually will be exclusive places to go or live in, and won't dominate the content. For example, Onverse is a MMORPG because 99% of the content is owner made and controlled, like accomodation, shops, and places you can visit. 3rd Rock or Craft World - both Opensimulator grids - have mainly user created locations, commodities, and events. There's also a certain degree of owner created and controlled content, but that's also perhaps because the owners want to participate within theor own grids.

Anyway, OASIS being a MMORPG and not a virtual world has some implications. RPO has a similar set of assumptions as Surrogates (2009). That film had people staying at home in an immersive VR setup while their robot doubles (the surrogate) did everything outside. Instead of entering a virtual world, people had virtual versions of themselves in a real environment. In both cases however there was an assumption that the system used had a monopoly, that they "were the only game in town". At the end of Surrogates the master server is disabled and the connection between people and their surrogates is broken. People are forced to leave their cocoons and confront the "meat world" in their own bodies. I suspect that in a real situation like this there would be a run of violence and confusion.

But in OUR world, you don't see such a monopoly. The internet isn't run by only one company, with a hierarcial network. Instead it's numerous networks and servers and the net is thr protocol by which they communicate. In the Surrogates example, it'd be likely that there wouldn't just be ONE surrogate server or only one company running those - there's be dozens (and probably only some of the surrogates would be shut down at the end of the film)! Likewise in RPO, there wouldn't just be OASIS, there'd be the competitors as well!

One of the best scenes in the film is when the security chief is returning to head office and watching person after person on the streets, involved in the virtual battle. But what'd be more likely is that some would be, others wouldn't, not because they couldn't be bothered, but because they were plugged into something else.

The other issue I find that's unrealistic is that of scale. Is it the majority of the world that uses OASIS, or just the majority of those who can in the USA? It's doubtful that there'd be many players from China, even in 2045. Even if we just assume this is a USA-only thing, and say 50% of the population there was involved (doubtful) that might be say, 100 million playing. Well now, by 2013, Second Life had approximately one million regular users, and you saw any number groups, businesses, organisations and associations in it. A hundred million active players would see a lot more groups of players, and many more businesses (other than IOI) being involved. In such an environment how could you keep anything SECRET in the "win OASIS competition"? For every participant there'd be millions watching the race, and watching Parzival and others drive backwards and suddenly win. Unless there's only 5 keys of each type (unclear), EVERYONE would be doing that, not just 5 players! And that'd be the same for businesses with a stake in OASIS. There'd be a huge industry in data/resource mining in the game, and the corporate teams would dominate the contests. But we don't see that, we only see IOI as the "evil corporation".

And speaking of IOI, why on earth would they have virtual enforcers/soldiers using FULL HAPTICs? They'd only need sight/hearing and limited touch to do their jobs, whereas having full haptics would be a hindrance in a combat situation. If your opponent can pain and hurt, and your troops can't, then you have the advantage.

Looking at the film as an experience, it's most enjoyable if you're game and media savvy. I just loved the fact that a Gundam launched from Serenity took on MechaGodzilla! But I only get full enjoyment because I'm famiali/a fan of Firefly/Serenity, the Gundam series, and Godzilla. Likewise, when I heard "Anál nathrach, orth' bháis's bethad, do chél dénmha" I knew exactly what it was and where it'd come from, because I'm a fan of Boorman's EXCALIBUR (1981). When we (the audience) see Aech make a fool of herself in The Shinning simulation, that's funny because we're familiar with Kubrick's film version and know what to expect, whereas Aech doesn't. And also of course, the score makes a big difference in this film. When Parzival's driving the Delorean around we here its them from Back to the Future, when MechaGodzilla starts stomping about, we get the Godzilla theme. All of this makes the film so much more enjoyable when you're familiar with the source.

So what do we learn from the film? Probably that...
...VR/MMORPGs can be fun;
...VR/MMORPGs can be obsessive;
...you can't trust corporations;
...Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days that OASIS's competitors have increased patronage; and
...the meat world is more important than the virtual world?

I'm not so sure about the last one. It's what we're told at the end of the film, but it's not shown that way in the film. Will have to wait for the sequel.