WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Ready Player One novel and, potentially, for the upcoming film adaptation.


Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One officially releases this weekend, meaning audiences will finally discover if the legendary movie maestro was able to pull off the adaptation many deemed impossible. But first, let's uncover everything you need to know before experiencing the pop-culture extravaganza!

REVIEW: Ready Player One is A Huge Spectacle with a Muddled Message

The Not-Too-Distant Future

Before diving deep into the major players that populate Ernest Cline's hit novel, it's important to fully understand the story's nearly post-apocalyptic setting.

Ready Player One begins in the year 2044 (2045 in Spielberg's film adaptation), and it's not a future that one would find particularly inviting. The depletion of fossil fuels has generated a worldwide energy crisis, leaving the global economy in a state referred to as "The Great Recession." Global warming and rampant overpopulation have rendered the planet devoid of almost all resources, so citizens understandably become desperate for an escape route away from their dreary existences.

Then, with a little help from two technological pioneers, they discover a world packed with so much imagination that even Willy Wonka himself would perform a double take.

Enter the OASIS

During events that pre-date the novel, video game developers James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) spent a decade and an astronomical amount of money to transform virtual reality gaming into a resource just as intertwined throughout society as the Internet is today. Dubbed the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), their product worked as both a virtual Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game and always-online society where just about anything is possible. People could not only use it for recreational purposes (like piloting Ultraman, for instance), but eventually even logged in to the OASIS via a VR headset and haptic feedback system to work jobs or attend schooling.

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Halliday and Morrow were crafty enough to make the one-time cost of the device cheap enough (the equivalent of a U.S. quarter) so basically anyone could partake. Contained within, however, in-game purchases and virtual fuel required to move around the OASIS' 10 light-hour wide environment cost credits that translated into real-world currency. As a result, Halliday and Morrow quickly made back all the revenue they dropped into the program's development cycle, and became two of the wealthiest men in the world once use of the OASIS became omnipresent.

But after several years, Morrow realized that the two had created an escape that was too perfect, as people the world over quickly forgot about their real-life problems to a dangerous degree. Fearing that he had helped society fall further into disarray, Morrow left the company, and Halliday, behind. Halliday took over sole ownership of the OASIS, and maintained it until his death.

The typically reserved creator did not depart quietly, however, as it was his last will and testament that sets the narrative of Ready Player One in motion.

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The Hunt Begins

Halliday's death triggers the release of a video issued to all OASIS users that puts forth a simple, yet almost impossible challenge: uncover the co-creator's "Easter egg" hidden somewhere within the OASIS, and receive ownership of the man's entire multi-billion dollar fortune and administrative control of the virtual world. This would be the equivalent of owning Apple, Amazon, and Google simultaneously, so the OASIS naturally becomes a frenzy.

Halliday was well-known for being obsessed with the 1980s, so video games and pop culture from the decade become in vogue all over again (this has obviously been expanded to include pop culture from many different avenues for the film, with the movie's trailers boasting references to various properties ranging anywhere from Gundam to Overwatch). Egg hunters, otherwise known as "Gunters," become convinced that the bygone era contains at least some type of clue to the location of the final prize, which Halliday said will be unearthed after three special gates scattered throughout the OASIS have been unlocked.

Years go by with anyone being able to so much as find a single key, leaving many wondering if the whole thing was a giant hoax set up by Halliday. That is, until Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) proves them wrong.

Parzival

The novel's narrator and protagonist, Wade Watts, lives with his aunt in the "Stacks," a dilapidated housing district in Oklahoma City (although the novel's settings appear to have been condensed to just Columbus, Ohio in Spielberg's cinematic rendition). Wade is more popularly known by his OASIS name, however: Parzival.

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A dedicated Gunter, Wade believes strongly in the existence of Halliday's prized goal, and spends almost all of his free time absorbing every bit of 1980s nostalgia he can get his hands on. Since Gunters not only have to find the Egg, but be able to prove their worthiness through trials, too, Wade is an expert on '80s-themed pop culture.

Using his wits and perseverance, Wade is able to track down the location of the first key, and in doing so confirms that Halliday's challenge was not a prank. Parzival becomes a household name overnight, but the fame comes at a price.

Sorrento

Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) is an executive at Innovative Online Industries (IOI), the internet service provider for most of the planet. Acting as the head of the corporation's Easter Egg-hunting division, he sees that ownership of the OASIS would give his company a monopoly over the globe's most valuable virtual resources, and ruthlessly pursues its location at all costs. Backed by his employer's seemingly unending resources, Sorrento oversees all of the robotic IOI avatars that can be seen committing dastardly deeds throughout the film's trailers.

Unfortunately for Wade, discovering the first Key puts him squarely on Sorrento's radar, a place that Parzival will soon discover isn't a place one wants to be, as the cold and calculated Sorrento will stop at nothing to get his hands on the final prize.

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Art3mis

Wade's discovery of the first Key makes him a well known commodity overnight, but he is just one of many famous Gunters who are all vying for Halliday's secret.

Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), whose user name appropriately homages the Greek goddess of the hunt, is bold and relentless, electing to rely more so on her own intelligence and abilities than the help of others. Her skills prove time and again throughout the story to be even more impressive than Wade's, putting the two Gunters in a complex position. Both want the Easter Egg for themselves, but see that working together might be necessary to prevent the OASIS from falling into the wrong hands.

Aech

After meeting at school inside the OASIS, Aech and Wade's shared tastes in music, video games and most importantly, Gunting, led to the two becoming best friends. While Art3mis and Wade have a more antagonistic response to each other as they hunt for Halliday's Easter Egg, Aech and Parzival often have no issues working together, and pass clues to one another to aid in the search.

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Aech's real world identity is unknown to Wade, leading to the abbreviated nickname that's pronounced like the letter "H," the first letter of the character's mysterious name. Aech's OASIS specialties consist of Player Vs. Player combat and first-person shooters, meaning that the talented Gunter's skills will be vital in the fight against Sorrento and his horde of IOI minions.


In theaters March 29, Ready Player One is produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and co-written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Win Morisaki, Lena Waithe, Hannah John-Kamen, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Ben Mendelsohn, TJ Miller, Ralph Ineson and Letitia Wright.