Ready player one: Group three provocation

As our three triumphant protagonists walk through the third gate, they hear a loud explosion before they were engulfed in light. They all had been killed in the game by a huge bomb. The bomb took out everyone and everything in the sector. Aech, Art3mis, and Parizval are shown the replay of their death before they get the oh so dreaded game over screen. However, Parzival doesn’t get taken to the game over screen. He gets taken to a screen that says, you have an extra life. He respawns in the middle of the battle field, which was completely destroyed by the blast, and he sees has only one thing from his avatar’s last life: a quarter. The same quarter he won from beating Pac-man. This quarter “was a single use artifact that gave my avatar an extra life” (Cline 36.408).

What if Parzival never played a perfect game of Pac-man? How would you feel in Aech’s and Art3mis’s position? Do you this artifact a one person only artifact or could more people go a find this artifact? Do you think if Parzival would’ve changed his play style if he knew he had an extra-life in his back pocket?

 

Level 3: Provocation

Towards the end of the hunt, the four protagonists, Parzival, Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto all meet up at Og’s house in Oregon. Og’s house is a secluded place that the IOI could not track them in the real world while they were finishing the hunt for Halliday’s prize. As the four protagonists arrived in Oregon, Art3mis informed all of the others that she wanted to focus on the mission and to not meet each other until it was over. As Og was showing Aech and Parzival around, Og began to drift into the subject that they should focus on the mission as well. Before they go their separate ways and into the OASIS, Parzival asked  a question that Og had always ignored. The question was that why the relationship between him and Halliday shattered. Og surprisingly answered Parzival, and said that it was due to that bridge was destroyed because of Halliday’s jealousy of Og and Kira, Og’s wife. The fight that “looks to be the most epic battle in video game history” (Cline,325).

What do you think would happen if Halliday married Kira instead of Og? Do you think it would’ve been the same outcome or would the jealousy that Og would have be not as severe as Halliday’s? Why would Og only tell Parzival this answer? Do you think Og sees a lot of himself in Parzival and thinks he’s the only hope for the OASIS even though Og is the only invincible avatar in the OASIS?

Level 3: Provocation

Near the end of the hunt for Halliday’s East egg, some of the gunters were eliminated from the game.  Art3mis, Aech, and Parzival were working together to try and successfully complete the third stage.  During this time, the Sixers attempted to kill every gunter using the Catalyst.  Wade was one of the only gunters left, because he had previously won a special quarter.  Wade stated that he received the quarter “after playing my perfect game of Pac-Man on Archaide” (Cline, 345).  This quarter allowed Wade to have an extra life when he would have been killed by the Catalyst that was used by the Sixers.

Why would the Sixers have used the Catalyst at this point in the game?  Should they have used it earlier?  Do you believe that the Sixers were aware of this advantage to Wade?  Why would Cline have waited until the end to reveal this big power that Wade had previously won?