Ready Player One Vol. 2

      As I've progressed in reading "Ready Player One", I've realized that this game can be just as deceiving as it sounds. After reading the assigned section, I've come to see that Wade has really dedicated his whole life to this game. It's insane to me how far the Sixers went just to find and destroy Wade, even after they have blown up his home and taken away everything he's ever known. Even though Wade has dedicated his whole life, time, and money just to finding the egg, I still believe he does play fair in the game. He doesn't want to make any enemies besides the Sixers, instead he wants allies. He tries his best to make an alliance with Daito and Shoto, by inviting them to do the Ultraman TV series quest. I thought it was noble of Wade to give Shoto and Daito the Beta Capsule artifact, after all the hard work he put into the quest. "You two should keep the Beta Capsule. Urutoraman is Japan's greatest superhero. His powers belong in the Japanese hands" (205). I was taken back that Wade would give up something that he worked really hard for, and put a lot of his extra time into, time that could've been spent hunting down the Jade Key. All in all, though, I applaud to him because he was generous enough to hand them the artifact without even second guessing it. If I were playing in the game, Wade is someone I would definitely want to be allied with.

      On another note, the Sixers are going to extreme lengths to cheat and scam off of other player's hard work, like Art3mis, Wade, Aech, Daito, and Shoto. They also bought the Tablet that allows them to track the locations of other players, which is definitely a cheating mechanism that they have against every other player in the game. I thought it was very unfair of them to build a forcefield around the Tomb of Horrors, not allowing any other gunters to hunt for the Copper Key. I think it's really unfair that the Sixers are even allowed to play in OASIS, but there's clearly individuals that are smarter and faster than the whole clan of Sixers, which explains why they have to follow everyone else's footsteps and have to buy mechanisms that they think will help them succeed in the game. What's even worse is that they take the business of the game, outside of the game. First, they blew Wade's whole trailer park up in flames. Then, they kill Daito. It's very unfair and unappealing that they try to destroy not only people's OASIS lives, but their real lives, as well. Even though they have things like the Tablet to help them, they still are weaker and less intelligent than individual players like Wade and Art3mis. No matter how hard they try, it always seems like they fail at whatever they do.

      Another part of the section that struck me was when Art3mis told Wade that she could no longer see him. I get that she wants to focus on the game and ultimately finding the egg, but I can't help but feel that Wade and Art3mis should be together. Wade makes it fairly clear that Art3mis broke his heart, and in a way it makes me sad, and feel for him. I question if her ultimate goal was to make Wade fall in love with her and blind him, distract him from hunting the egg, and then leave him heartbroken making him want to give up. Part of me believes that this is true, but another believes that she found herself becoming too invested into Wade like he was with her, and she decided to make the better decision for them both. I'm in the middle. Although Art3mis makes every attempt to ignore Wade, I feel as the reading goes on, she'll break and give into him.

      After reading pages 99-248, I can feel this book starting to grow on me. I'm really excited to progress in the reading of Ready Player One. I can't wait to see what the Top 4 have in store for the Sixers, and what will happen between them all.