Focus on the Reality
Chapter 4
Focus on the Reality
Besides the qualities of an ideal leader, Wade Watts also teaches us the importance of the real world. At the beginning of the book, most of the people spend their time in OASIS. Wade Watts said, “OASIS was like a daily basis.” (p.14, 2008, Cline). As you can see in this quote, everyone spends most of their efforts, money, and times to the OASIS. Additionally, after James Halliday’s death, the easter egg hunt started. Halliday announced the prize of the hunt will be huge, and more people spent time in the OASIS. Therefore, people gave less interest, into the real world, and the real world went devastating.
However, throughout the story, Wade Watts realizes the importance of the real world. Firstly, he experienced true love. Wade met Art3mis in OASIS and felt true love. However, Wade realizes that real love is not able to happen in virtual reality. The love wasn’t happening in the OASIS, but as soon as Wade and Art3mis met in the real world, they fell in love. Secondly, Wade learned a lesson at the end of the easter egg hunt. When Wade won the Easter egg hunt, the avatar of James Halliday comes up and speaks with Wade. “I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” (p.364, 2012, Cline). The reason why Halliday made the OASIS was he didn’t felt the real world as a home. Therefore, he was afraid in the real world, but eventually, he realized that the real world is the only place to feel true happiness. That was the reason why the real world was special.
Messages to us
I think the importance of reality also connects with our lives. Through this decade, technology has been significantly improved, such as mechanics, and the internet. However, I think that people are forgetting the importance of reality nowadays, because of the technologies. Almost everyone has their own electronic devices. Additionally, I think the phone users are using their devices more than enough. We can easily see people using their devices everywhere, including the streets, restaurants, and home. Modern people are losing their time to spend on reality, socialize with a real person. They are using their time to rather play games, socialize with an unknown person. As James Halliday said, we only can feel true happiness in the real world. Therefore, I also think "Ready Player One" suggests us to spend more time and focus on the real world.