|
Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh transphobia.
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 18:47
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 11:20 |
|
|
steinrokkan posted:I would probably read a version of RPO where the protagonist developed a progressively greater hatred for popculture as he was forced to reenact incoherent fragments from the memory of a senile rich rear end in a top hat. It’s amazing how there are so many different ways to turn this into an interesting story and we got the lame escapist fantasy of a sadbrained Ohioan instead
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 18:59
|
|
|
Shark Sandwich posted:It’s amazing how there are so many different ways to turn this into an interesting story and we got the lame escapist fantasy of a sadbrained Ohioan instead Even keeping the rest of the story exactly the same, a better writer could have extended the action sequences like the Tomb of Horrors to actually show Wade cautiously making his way past all the traps and narrowly avoiding being killed. Or even have him get killed by the bullshit traps (maybe more than once) to follow up on his plan to just keep trying as a Level 1 avatar until he brute forced his way through it. And then instead of just playing an arcade game, he actually gets his avatar transported to a huge 3D version of the Joust game board and has to fight Acererak for real, including the stomach-churning change when he reaches the "end of the screen" and wraps back around to the other side.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:11
|
|
|
I'm on the run from a massive corporation with unlimited resources who blew up my home, my only family, and several other hundred people. I'm taking extra steps to make sure they still think I'm dead. But also I'm going to hang out in front of massive crowds of people flaunting my name everywhere.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:17
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:Even keeping the rest of the story exactly the same, a better writer could have extended the action sequences like the Tomb of Horrors to actually show Wade cautiously making his way past all the traps and narrowly avoiding being killed. Or even have him get killed by the bullshit traps (maybe more than once) to follow up on his plan to just keep trying as a Level 1 avatar until he brute forced his way through it. Yeah that’s the other thing. It’s not the constant references so much as they’re handled and a hamfisted and totally boring way. There’s no humor or really anything. It’s just a list of things Cline liked when he was kid mashed up with a lovely xerox of snow crash.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:32
|
|
|
steinrokkan posted:I would probably read a version of RPO where the protagonist developed a progressively greater hatred for popculture as he was forced to reenact incoherent fragments from the memory of a senile rich rear end in a top hat. The idea I had to save it was to go full cyberpunk and replace the visors with actual headjacks and direct brain-computer interface, streamline the whole "To find the keys you must become the ultimate 80s nerd" stuff, then make the "prize" Halliday's uploaded consciousness, ready to overwrite whatever goober was best able to mold themselves to fit his obsessions. For bonus points, make him look like the Master Control Program. From there we can have a horror on the dangers of getting lost in nostalgic cultural consumption, and/or a lesson about the need for friends and making something unique of oneself.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:32
|
|
|
I was about to agree that the narrative would be better if, at the very least, Wade didn't care much about the 80's and just treated it like a job. The problem is that the book is written so poorly that if Wade didn't explicitly tell us a few times that he loves the 80's, it might as well have been just a job. And it still sucks.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:41
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:Even keeping the rest of the story exactly the same, a better writer could have extended the action sequences like the Tomb of Horrors to actually show Wade cautiously making his way past all the traps and narrowly avoiding being killed. Or even have him get killed by the bullshit traps (maybe more than once) to follow up on his plan to just keep trying as a Level 1 avatar until he brute forced his way through it. This is how I'm hoping Spielberg does it. Or even better, changes how the contest works. Or at least how to get the keys and open the gates. Can you imagine? A re-enactment of War Games in a simulation inside a simulation that's part of a movie? There's no way Spielberg keeps any of that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:48
|
|
|
I imagine when your singular hobby/interest/way of life/job consists of mindlessly consuming media so you can later regurgitate it word for word you'd probably develop the skill to absorb it easier. So Wade probably enters a semi-comatose state when hes re-watching the Snorks in its entirety for the 18th time that allows him to stay up for 56 hours at a time.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:56
|
|
|
Proteus Jones posted:This is how I'm hoping Spielberg does it. Spielberg apparently changed every single challenge. According to early reviews, one of them is finding out that Halliday went on a date once with a girl to see The Shining and having to find a copy of her in the Overlook Hotel, including dealing with elevator blood flooding it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 19:58
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:Even keeping the rest of the story exactly the same, a better writer could have extended the action sequences like the Tomb of Horrors to actually show Wade cautiously making his way past all the traps and narrowly avoiding being killed. Or even have him get killed by the bullshit traps (maybe more than once) to follow up on his plan to just keep trying as a Level 1 avatar until he brute forced his way through it. tomb of horrors is uniquely suited to that as far as D&D modules go, because high numbers basically don't help you rogue was a 1980s game so making it randomize each time would be an era-appropriate detail as well
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 20:02
|
|
|
Orthodox Rabbit posted:I'm on the run from a massive corporation with unlimited resources who blew up my home, my only family, and several other hundred people. I'm taking extra steps to make sure they still think I'm dead. But also I'm going to hang out in front of massive crowds of people flaunting my name everywhere. Look, you've got to take some risks if you're ever going to have the chance to touch a virtual titty.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 20:07
|
|
|
I'm gonna throw out one more update today because I may not be able to get to a computer tomorrow. We also get some of the most embarrassing stuff in this chapter. Oh, I forgot to mention one plot point that's actually not too important but resolves one question you probably had: school was closed for a day to hastily copy everything to a new planet, Ludus II, leaving the original Ludus for Sixers and gunters to fight over. quote:It was a Friday night, and I was spending another solitary evening doing research, working my way through every episode of Whiz Kids, an early-’80s TV show about a teenage hacker who uses his computer skills to solve mysteries. I’d just finished watching the episode “Deadly Access” (a crossover with Simon & Simon) when an e-mail arrived in my inbox. It was from Ogden Morrow. The subject line read “We Can Dance If We Want To.” Wade emails Art3mis and confirms that she got an invitation as well. He figures the other members of the High Five probably got invited too, but Aech competes in a globally televised PvP match every Friday night and Daito and Shoto never enter PvP zones unless absolutely necessary. quote:I spent over an hour tweaking my avatar’s hair and trying on different skins to wear to the club. I finally settled on some classic ’80s-era attire: a light gray suit, exactly like the one Peter Weller wore in Buckaroo Banzai, complete with a red bow tie, along with a pair of vintage white Adidas high-tops. I also loaded my inventory with my best suit of body armor and a large amount of weaponry. One of the reasons the Globe was such a hip, exclusive club was because it was located in a PvP zone, one where both magic and technology functioned. So it was extremely dangerous to go there. Especially for a famous gunter like me.  Just remember that for this whole scene, Wade is dressed like loving Buckaroo Banzai. Neonoir is a stereotypical dystopian cyberpunk planet, permanently night with streams of flying cars traveling between towering skyscrapers as gangs of leather-clad cyborg NPCs roam the streets. The Distracted Globe is a massive cobalt blue sphere 3 kilometers in diameter, floating 30 feet off the ground with a crystal staircase up to the entrance. quote:I made a big entrance when I arrived in my flying DeLorean, which I’d obtained by completing a Back to the Future quest on the planet Zemeckis. The DeLorean came outfitted with a (nonfunctioning) flux capacitor, but I’d made several additions to its equipment and appearance. First, I’d installed an artificially intelligent onboard computer named KITT (purchased in an online auction) into the dashboard, along with a matching red Knight Rider scanner just above the DeLorean’s grill. Then I’d outfitted the car with an oscillation overthruster, a device that allowed it to travel through solid matter. Finally, to complete my ’80s super-vehicle theme, I’d slapped a Ghostbusters logo on each of the DeLorean’s gull-wing doors, then added personalized plates that read ECTO-88.  Setting aside the comically embarrassing ride, you may ask yourself "Will the DeLorean's ability to fly through solid matter ever appear in the story?" The answer is no. In fact, the car doesn't do a single thing from this point forward! Once it enters Wade's pocket here, we never see it again. Wade passes through a crowd of thousands of death threats, autograph requests, and screaming declarations of love up the crystal steps to the door. Gravity on the inside of the club adhered him to the inner surface of the sphere, with the empty space in the middle serving as a zero-g dance floor that anyone could simply jump up into. Hundreds of avatars are already flying and twirling around the "dance floor" above him. quote:In the middle of all the dancers, a large clear bubble was suspended in space, at the absolute center of the club. This was the “booth” where theDJ stood, surrounded by turntables, mixers, decks, and dials. At the center of all that gear was the opening DJ, R2-D2, hard at work, using his various robotic arms to work the turntables. I recognized the tune he was playing: the ’88 remix of New Order’s “Blue Monday,” with a lot of Star Wars droid sound samples mixed in. It would be a lot more badass if these drinks were actually real, because I'm pretty sure a 19-year-old nerd would spew out her nose the first time she tried to knock back scotch. R2-D2 suddenly beams out like a Star Trek transported, to be replaced by Ogden Morrow wearing his usual outfit: baggy jeans, sandals, and a faded Star Trek: The Next Generation shirt. The freshly 73-year-old avatar cues up a dance remix of "Rebel Yell", which Art3mis loves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXo5dsAHOpo I'm gonna pretend it's this version, because this book sucks. Art3mis and Parzival take to the skies, with Og remixing the song on the fly and spinning the globe around them like a vinyl record. Art3mis decides to show off by transforming her legs into a mermaid tail. quote:When I reached her, she took my hand. As she did, her mermaid tail vanished and her legs reappeared, whirling and scissoring to the beat. This is another scene that would be a lot better in a better book, or a movie. At the very least, tell us what it's like for Wade to be experiencing this weird body morphing, or his emotions as his body melds into her own. Instead of some kind of beautiful bonding moment, we learn that it looks like a lava lamp. The dance ends as "Time After Time" begins playing, leading them to turn back into humans and slow dance. quote:And then, before I could stop myself, the words just came out. Wade you idiot. quote:“Of course not,” she said. “That isn’t what this is about. At all.” I'm not sure exactly what to think about this. On the one hand, she's right: they've never actually met in person, and it's very possible that she never even viewed their friendship as a relationship. On the other, she's been behaving a lot like this is some whirlwind romance, from kissing him after their Rocky Horror date to flirting with him and inviting him to a rather intimate dance. And when Wade tries to profess his love for her, she doesn't start with "I'm sorry, I just view you as a friend." She tries to come up with reasons why he shouldn't be in love with her in real life. As we'll see from Art3mis later, I think her reaction here has less to do with a lack of attraction toward Wade and more to do with self-hatred. As "James Brown is Dead" comes on the club speakers, the roof suddenly explodes. Over a hundred Sixers swoop in with blaster pistols blazing, and the club erupts into a gunfight. I promise, I'm telling this with the exact level of excitement and gravitas that Cline does. Art3mis and Wade both have body shields, and she effortlessly incinerates a dozen Sixers with plasma ball spells (which makes me wonder why these guys are a threat?), but it's looking like they're going to die to the dulcet tones of LA Style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN8e9b2ON8s quote:I glanced up at the DJ booth just in time to see it crack open as the Great and Powerful Og emerged from within. He looked really, really annoyed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 21:15
|
|
|
iospace posted:Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh transphobia. Oh, it gets worse. There's a certain character that i have a lot to say about, but I'm holding on until it comes out in the story. chitoryu12 posted:Spielberg apparently changed every single challenge. According to early reviews, one of them is finding out that Halliday went on a date once with a girl to see The Shining and having to find a copy of her in the Overlook Hotel, including dealing with elevator blood flooding it. There's so many staged film junket bits of Stephen Spielberg calling Ernie Cline a "visionary" at this point that it just makes you want to cry.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 21:37
|
|
|
This thread is doing God's work. What a tire fire of a book.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 21:38
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:It would be a lot more badass if these drinks were actually real, because I'm pretty sure a 19-year-old nerd would spew out her nose the first time she tried to knock back scotch. A joke this good would have almost justified the entire work for me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 21:39
|
|
|
Paladin posted:A joke this good would have almost justified the entire work for me. We see in later chapters that it's possible to order food for delivery directly from OASIS to let you experience eating in it better. This book would be a lot better in a more advanced future with Star Trek-style replicators hooked up to rigs or the aforementioned direct brain jacks, so ordering scotch on the rocks really is scotch on the rocks in the simulation. And Wade's Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster just loving murders him.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 22:00
|
|
|
“Flibbertigibbet” - in my experience this antiquated word usually gets applied to young women and implies not only are they overly chatty, but the subject of their chatter is frivolous. For the female lead to use that word repeatedly to describe herself is as Clineian as the non-stop references.Old Kentucky Shark posted:There's a certain character that i have a lot to say about, but I'm holding on until it comes out in the story. I appreciate in advance your labor in discussing this.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 23:21
|
|
|
The thing I hate most about that description of the car (which I also have had the displeasure of seeing irl) is that Cline clearly doesn't know that the Flux Capacitor and the Overthruster Oscillator are the same exact prop, and that knowing this fact makes me an even worse 80s nerd than Cline. Sigh.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 23:51
|
|
|
Renegret posted:I was about to agree that the narrative would be better if, at the very least, Wade didn't care much about the 80's and just treated it like a job. Well yeah, it would require the character to be developed beyond "80s trivia dispenser"
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 23:53
|
|
|
It's weird but when Cline describes his super-cuzstomized Delorean all I can think of is the car Homer Simpson designed for his half-brother's company Just a Frankensteinian mishmash of "Cool" things thrown together with no thought for how it all looks together. I wonder why an entire planet used for schools is prohibited from PVP while a popular social zone isn't. Just seems inconsistent. And I hate everything that's been in the last two posts. At least that's consistent.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:36
|
|
|
Gnome de plume posted:Just a Frankensteinian mishmash of "Cool" things thrown together with no thought for how it all looks together. Welcome! This bowl is for your tears. No spilling!
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:37
|
|
|
Here's a question If the 80s poo poo is because of "the hunt" and something he got into as part of the challenge of finding the egg, who is Wade? Like, who is Wade as a person. If the nerd poo poo is all something he sought out as a job, what kind of person is he beneath all that. Like, if he could get any car he wanted, and was not perpetually trapped in a state of obsessiveness brought about by his poverty, what car would he want? How would he dress? What would his interests be? What was wade before he became the caricature of a broken old man's obsessions. Who is he beneath it?
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:40
|
|
|
You assume that Cline has a personality?
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:43
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:Here's a question He’s nothing and never was anything. He explains his childhood in the proper first chapter. He was raised on a steady diet of VR games and old movies and TV to distract him from his mother’s OASIS sex work job. He can’t even socialize in real life and 100% of his confidence and self-image is as Parzival.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:44
|
|
|
steinrokkan posted:You assume that Cline has a personality? He had at least enough agency to choose to define himself by pop culture trinkets chitoryu12 posted:He’s nothing and never was anything. Yeah, but those are things that happened to him. Who IS he? Like, even the most shy anti-social isolated kid with a tragic upbringing has an essence of "self" to him. It feels like Wade didn't actually exist until the book started, the back story a recitation of facts rather than the establishment of a person
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:46
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:He had at least enough agency to choose to define himself by pop culture trinkets I mean, that just shows he's an opportunist, not that he has any depth Cline is a parasite, who just happens to fill a successful niche.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:47
|
|
|
quote:Parzival: He’s been my best friend for five years. Now, spill it. Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation? quote:“You only know what I want you to know. You only see what I want you to see.” She placed a hand on her chest. “This isn’t my real body, Wade. Or my real face.” This could be an interesting Chekov in the hands of a better author.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 00:56
|
|
|
steinrokkan posted:I mean, that just shows he's an opportunist, not that he has any depth He’s lucky, not a schemer. In all the other parallel universes he died unremarked.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 01:24
|
|
|
Yond Cassius posted:This could be an interesting Chekov in the hands of a better author. Pile "Aech and Art3mis are the same person" onto the list of better plot twists this book COULD have had.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 01:54
|
|
|
I feel like she has to be who she is for Cline's self insert narrative.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 02:23
|
|
|
Paladin posted:Pile "Aech and Art3mis are the same person" onto the list of better plot twists this book COULD have had. That is much more interesting, and I wish we got that instead.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:I feel like she has to be who she is for Cline's self insert narrative. The creepiest part is how you can feel Cline congratulating his authorial stand in for being attracted to someone of "rubenesque" stature. It's also hilarious how Wade is shocked every single time at the thought that someone's online persona doesn't match their real life physical state, despite A) tweaking his own avatar and B) interacting with the world solely through the internet.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 02:38
|
|
|
Paladin posted:Pile "Aech and Art3mis are the same person" onto the list of better plot twists this book COULD have had. You just reminded me of one of my favorite novel series, in which such a twist is pulled off amazingly well. Thinking about those books is so much better than thinking about RPO. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 02:48
|
|
|
Yond Cassius posted:This could be an interesting Chekov in the hands of a better author. The book is full of Chekhov's guns but every one of them gets pawned for meth money.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 03:29
|
|
|
Wade is the ultimate result of the person who uses pop culture and “nerdy” media in place of an actual personality or self-improvement.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 03:30
|
|
|
BobHoward posted:You just reminded me of one of my favorite novel series, in which such a twist is pulled off amazingly well. Thinking about those books is so much better than thinking about RPO. Thanks! C’mon now. Share.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 03:32
|
|
|
Just finished reading through the thread...why Spielberg latch onto this? The whole thing is gutter trash.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 03:38
|
|
|
SUPERMAN'S GAL PAL posted:Wade is the ultimate result of the person who uses pop culture and “nerdy” media in place of an actual personality or self-improvement. And humor. There are several places where he says "she got my joke" even though he didn't make a joke, he just made a reference.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 03:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 11:20 |
|
|
The whole 'friends don't really count if its only online' really shows Clines age, the idea that its only physical meetings that matter. For kids raised on a VR sandbox that is apparently as immersive as real life, it makes little sense. Even with text and maybe voip, myself and mates have made long lasting friendships, regardless of geography. Some I've since met which was more of a milestone, others I still haven't and have no feelings of lessening the connection. Its the kind of thing a paternal figure would say, not one half of said relationship. As for Wades 'character', lets go Plinkett on him- RLM posted:You must describe the character without mentioning: Here goes... ________ __________ ________ _________ He's an arsehole ___ ________ ______ __________ ___________ _____ _______ _________ __________ ______________ ______________
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2018 03:48
|
|
