Name____________________________
Mr. Carr
CP English 12: Period _________
4 January 2016
Ready Player One – Final Discussion Questions
Questions About Versions of Reality
1. Is the OASIS inherently bad? Or good? Or is it what a user does with it that matters?
2. Let's get meta-physical: Is OASIS real?
3. Why is OASIS more immersive and addictive than the video games of today, or of the
'80s?
4. How does living in the OASIS, a virtual world where anything is possible, affect a user's
perception of the real world?
Questions About Identity
1. How does Wade's online identity, Parzival, differ from his real-life identity? What
qualities remain the same and which are different?
2. Physical appearances aside, how does Helen's online identity, Aech, differ from her reallife identity? Are they all that different?
3. Anorak is an avatar programmed by Halliday. From what you know about Halliday, how
similar was he in real life to Anorak? What changes did he make, if any, when
programming Anorak?
Questions About Appearances
1. Are people dishonest if their avatar differs in appearance from real life, like Aech, whose
avatar is almost 100% opposite in every way from her actual physical appearance?
2. When many relationships are 100% online, like Wade's before the end of the novel, is
real-life physical appearance of any importance?
3. Why does Samantha/Art3mis alter only one aspect of her avatar's appearance—her
birthmark?
4. Why does IOI (the Sixers) require all of its employees to use the same online
appearance?
Questions About Competition
1. What drives millions of people to hunt for Halliday's egg? Are their motivations all the
same?
2. Does the competition for the egg strengthen or harm Wade's various relationships? How
so?
3. What aspects of Wade's life have made him so competitive?
Questions About Friendship
1. Besides Halliday's quest, what do Wade and his friends have in common?
2. Would Parzival, Art3mis, and Aech have teamed up if they hadn't been required to by the
game?
3. Do you think Wade's friendships will change now that he knows his friends outside the
OASIS? If so, how? If not, why not?
Questions About Perseverance
1. What drives Wade to persevere even when the odds are stacked against him?
2. Before the Copper Key is found, why do some people give up trying to discover it?
3. Over the course of the Hunt, Wade ends up taunting Sorrento into killing dozens of
people, shaves off all his body hair, and sells himself into indentured servitude. Where do
you draw the line between perseverance and insanity?
Questions About Dissatisfaction
1. By fleeing into OASIS and abandoning reality, is Wade part of the problem that keeps the
world going down the tubes? Why or why not?
2. In a world like the one depicted in Ready Player One, is it possible to find fulfillment
outside of the OASIS? If so, how? If not, why not?
3. Is anyone in the novel not dissatisfied with his or her life?
4. In what ways does Halliday achieve immortality?
5. Wade's avatar, Parzival, gets infinite health and experience points as a reward for
winning the contest. How will this change his OASIS experience? Will it change his real
life in any way?
6. Is Wade comfortable with death?
7. What are some of the reasons Wade doesn't feel safe in the real world?
8. How does Wade make the OASIS his home?
9. How does Aech's home reflect her as a person?
Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
1. What do you think Wade will do with his winnings? What dreams might he fulfill?
2. If Wade and his friends hadn't found the Easter egg, what do you think Wade would have
done with his life? Did he have any other dreams?
3. Do you think Halliday intended OASIS to be the world-consuming virtual reality it
became, or did he plan for it just to be a game? Where do we draw the line between the
two?
4. What kinds of dreams can OASIS users achieve that they can't in the real world?
Ready Player One Questions
1. Wade describes the 21st century as "the dawn of a new era, one where most of the human race
now spent all of their free time inside a videogame." (5.42) Is that a world you'd want to live in?
Why or why not? What are the benefits? The drawbacks?
2. This book is jam-packed with references to 1980s pop culture. Did Ready Player One make you
care more about the eighties? Less? About the same?
3. Ready Player One shows a dystopian future. Do you see any parts of the book as coming true?
4. What will Wade do with Halliday's fortune? What would you do with that kind of money and
power?
5. Do you think Wade will ever push the big red button that will delete OASIS?
6. Is Samantha/Art3mis in love with Wade?
7. Wade's car is a Frankenstein's monster mash of cars from Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, and
Knight Rider. Is this an original idea? Can you make something original when you are building
things solely from others' creations?
8. Why did Halliday decide to give all his money away in a contest? Why not leave it to charity?