That's the idea the book tries to convey, but even to the extent it gets idealized we see that Oasis is overmonetized and poor people have a harder time enjoying themselves compared to those who are better off. At one point Wade gets stuck on the education world because he doesn't have enough money to travel to other worlds.

Not that money doesn't buy entertainment in our world also, but we have a variety of free options too.

[–] Toribor@corndog.social 3 points 10 months ago

Exactly. The virtual world is still a dystopia that just looks like paradise. It's a virtual world that is designed specifically to introduce scarcity so it can be monetized. You can be anyone and do anything... As long as you can afford it.

It's got all the same problems as the real world, but some people can be Ultra Man or something if they're rich.

[–] Marsupial@quokk.au 40 points 10 months ago (1 children)

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/torment-nexus

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I didn't know that meme, and the original tweet is funny and really hits the nail on the head for a lot of things...

But from what I've seen of the movie, Ready Player One is more like "Please create the Oasis, so that asshole can have fun".

[–] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Yep, Ernest Cline was always pro Torment Nexus.

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 31 points 10 months ago

Snowcrash was a dystopia too but that didn't stop tech bros from jerking it to the metaverse.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago

I think most govts and corporations see the word "dystopia" and understand "how-to manual"