Reality

So it is now the end of Ready Player One. I had a lot of fun reading Ready Player One. Wade is a different person than when he started his adventure. Wade has realized that his world is a distopian, and has hope to change it. When Wade first meets Art3mis he says he wants to leave the earth with video games. I don't think that Wade would do that now that he is at the end of the book. Wade now has hope for reality. Life is not just necessities to continue to play video games, but is an experience in its own right. Finding out the appearance of his friends is also important. Anonymity is a key component of separating the OASIS from the internet, meaning not being you is as important as the world not being earth. Art3mis, Aech and Wade all alter their appearance. Art3mis to erase a birthmark, Aech to escape sexism and racism, and Wade to hide his obesity (which he only confronts when it gets to the point that it would prevent him from playing video games). While avatars allow people to put their best foot forward by covering up flaws they also remove the humanity of people, making them less real by making them too perfect. As Wade mentions in the quote in the quiz today there is nothing simulated that is quite as good as real people.