On The Nightstand – Ready Player One – 2/9/2018

I’ve been traveling again this week – several days in Phoenix – and have been able to finish a couple of new books as a result.  I’m still working my way through “The Forgotten War” by Clay Blair but, at almost 1,200 pages, this book is a tome and it’s not available on my i-book app so it didn’t make the trip.  A final review will have to wait until next week.

I decided instead to spend some time with “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline.  I’d been meaning to read this one – given that the movie is scheduled for release on March 29, 2018 – and since it speaks to so many things so close to my heart.  I’m also going to apologize in advance for the length of this post but those of you who read to the end will – I hope – not criticize me too harshly for over-writing.

The book has been described as an homage to the popular culture of the ‘80s – a decade I claim as my own – and it is that – but I actually found it to be much more.  It’s really a comprehensive tribute to so much of what defines – for the lack of a better term – “Nerd Culture” – comic books, anime, science fiction and fantasy and computer games.  At its heart –  on its most basic level – it’s a celebration of gamers, the history of gaming and gamer culture.

That’s where it speaks to me most directly.  I have been, still am and always will be a gamer – not a serious or skillful one – in fact, if you listen to my son – I’m pretty awful.  It doesn’t matter – I still play computer games and I still love them – even as a perpetual noob.  I started with pen and paper D&D when I was in High School and with the earliest console / computer games like Spacewar, Pong, Dungeon, Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork.  We were early purchasers of an Atari 2600 and it had pride of place in our family room.  I don’t even want to think about how many quarters I burned in Arcades like Aladdin’s Castle while I was in High School – Galaga, Centipede, Tempest, Missile Command, Joust, Defender and so many others.  After purchasing my first computer – around the time I headed to College in the late 70s and early 80s – I became an unabashed devotee of games like Ultima Online, Ultima Underworld, Baldur’s Gate, Betrayal At Krondor, Command & Conquer, Doom, Warcraft, Starcraft, Dungeon Keeper and sooooo many more.  As good as all these games were and as much fun as I had playing them, EVERYTHING changed on November 23, 2004 – the release date for World of Warcraft (WOW).

I bought WOW the day it came out and I was lost to the world for quite a while afterwards.  That was more than a game – that was a world and a society that many of us truly lived within – all too often to the exclusion of far more important things – for a very long time.  We adventured, we made friends, we stalked and killed enemies, we came together to form guilds, we built businesses and amassed fortunes and we saved our virtual world – over and over and over.  It was immersive and amazing and gloriously fun – and it was – at times – far more satisfying than the real world in which we actually lived.

WOW defined a category of games called MMORPGs – Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games – and for those of you who have played WOW or one of the other popular MMORPGs – you’ll feel right at home in this book.  Most of the book actually takes place within the mother of all MMORPG called the OASIS.  For those of you who haven’t played one of these games, it might feel a bit disorienting at first but you’ll eventually get comfortable switching between RL (real life) and time in game.

I won’t describe the plot in detail – anyone interested can read the book or see the movie – directed by Steven Spielberg.  It’s only necessary to know that the story involves a competition within the virtual world of the OASIS – the outcome of which has significant ramifications for a global society that has come to depend on and largely live within the OASIS.  It also pits a small group of teenage gamers against a huge, well-resourced, demonstrably evil corporation.

Here are some of my impressions.  First and foremost, this is teen fiction – it’s about teens, for teens and drips with the passions and emotions and internal conflicts that many of us likely struggled with when we were teens.  Secondly, it’s very simply written and you can fly through this book.  I read it on auto-pilot – took less than a day – skimming large portions.  You don’t lose or miss anything by doing so.  The plot is simple and linear and not particularly complex.  The language and writing are pretty basic.  The characters were pretty simple and straightforward – acknowledging as I say this that it will sound pretty arrogant to most younger readers – it would have to me at age 15.  At that age, I felt like I was complex and deep and so smart and far more passionate about meaningful things than most of the adults around me.  I didn’t realize at the time that all those adults who didn’t seem to enthusiastically acknowledge the importance of what I was saying and feeling and thinking were actually just watching me grow through the same awkward stage that they’d all experienced themselves and knowing – with hind sight – just how much I didn’t know and that things were going to get a whole lot more complex – pretty darn quickly.

Having said all that, I really did enjoy the book – likely because of the time spent in game and the Author’s amazing historical knowledge of computer and console gaming and “Nerd Culture” resonated with me.  It was a wonderful walk down memory lane that I really enjoyed.  Anyone who lived through and loved the 80s – anyone who loves and identifies with some / all aspects of “Nerd Culture” – any gamer – is really going to enjoy this book.  I’d recommend you get a copy and read it before you destroy the opportunity to do so by going to the movie.  It’s a fun trip.

There’s one other reason I really enjoyed the book.  I’ve said before that my favorite books are those that make me think about myself, about who I am to those around me, about what I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong.  I don’t believe that this book has any real or lasting literary value but it did prompt me to do a bit of that in a very specific way.

My son is the gamer that I always wished I could be – he’s played a lot and he’s extremely good across multiple genres – MMORGPs, Strategy, 1^st Person Shooters.  There was a time – long, long ago – when he used to watch me play.  These days – it’s usually me watching him and it’s a joy to do so.  It’s actually one of the things that has connected us over the years.  There was a year when he and I actually took a vacation to LA so that we could join the studio audience watching Riot’s League of Legends North American Championship tournament.  After the matches, we’d go out for dinner and then head back to the hotel room where we both spent hours in game – playing late into the night and ordering room service.

I’d be the first to say that I wasn’t a perfect parent and I didn’t create the perfect young life for my son while he was growing up.  Between ages 1 and 10 – he lived in 3 different countries – far too many different homes and schools – as he and the rest of the family followed me from place to place around the world and around the US over the course of my career.  He lived through a tough divorce between two parents who never figured out how – post-divorce – to co-parent.  For an incredibly intelligent young person, he had some challenging school years – never really taking it as seriously as I thought he should.  Long to short – he had a fairly complicated and challenging young life.

One very consistent part of his young life during all those challenging years was his gaming.  By the time he was in High School, he spent lot of time in game – playing far too late into the night – letting it eat up his weekends – impinging on the time many of his peers spent doing homework or playing sports or hanging out in person.  I’m pretty sure that most parents would feel that I wasn’t forceful enough about balance.  I occasionally confiscated his laptop or put limits on time in game but I never chose to be the authoritarian about it that I could have been – possibly due to the feeling of hypocrisy it would have left me with – given my own gaming and the fact that it was an interest he’d originally picked up from watching me.

I can’t tell you with any certainty why I made the choices I did – maybe because I understood a little too well the attraction of time in game.  Here’s the truth – life is hard work – putting yourself out there and fulfilling your responsibilities and doing your best every day and working to be a constructive and productive and positive person – particularly for all those you care about – is not easy.  It takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort and you fail all too often and sometimes you get hurt and sometimes you hurt other people and you make mistakes every single day.  For a teenager, I can understand all too well how much of a sanctuary time in game can be.  Even as an adult, I can assure you that it sometimes feels like a pretty attractive option.  With all the ups and downs I dragged him through over the course of his young life and given what I knew was a challenging situation – I probably just didn’t want to deprive him of that sanctuary.

I think I enjoyed the book because it prompted me to think back through all of those years and all of those choices – it gave me some important, introspective moments – and for that I really am grateful.  I’m particularly grateful because – as it does in the book – everything comes out OK – not perfect but OK.  He’s taken control of his undergraduate education – selected the school that he wants to attend – and is getting ready to start there in the Fall Semester.  He’s taken control of his life – cooking, cleaning, shopping, managing a budget.  He’s learned to live with consideration and kindness and thoughtfulness towards those around him.  Most importantly, he’s met and connected with a wonderful, smart, pretty, caring young woman who seems to value him for all the good things he brings to the table and is committed to what looks like a really fulfilling relationship.  Short to long – he’s growing up and he’s doing it pretty darn well.  Good job Buddy.