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Lauren Andrade

Mrs. McKay

IB ELA 11

22 February 2022

How is Power Represented in Ready Player One?

No matter where you live or what time period you live in, power has always played an

important role on how our world develops. It can help govern the people, create order, and

advance our society when used correctly, but can also cause chaos and destruction when used

incorrectly. One such example of the consequences of power is shown in the movie Ready

Player One, which focuses on the protagonist, Wade Watts, and his journey to obtain all three

keys in the game and, thus, control of the Oasis, a virtual game, before Innovative Online

Industries, a company that holds the power inside and outside of the Oasis. By including

examples of power in the Oasis, illustrating how power dictates society, and showing the

consequences of power in the real world and the Oasis, Spielberg wants to educate society on

how power can be very dangerous, moving people to take action against potential misuse of

power.

In the Oasis, there are several ways to gain power, some with more consequences than

others. The most common way for players to become powerful is by collecting artifacts and

money. With artifacts, one is able to do certain things that other players wouldn’t be able to do

otherwise, such as creating a magic barrier. With money gained in the Oasis, players are able to

trade and purchase artifacts, helping them to gain more power of the Oasis and improve their

experiences in the Oasis. People participating in the Oasis can become powerful because they

can collect money and artifacts since the Oasis is basically open to everyone. If people have the
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equipment to participate in the Oasis, they can join; there are not standards one has to meet

physically or mentally in order to become part of the Oasis. All players start from the same point,

and they gain money through doing certain quests or tasks, helping them to gain artifacts and

power. However, because anyone with the right technology and resources can access the game

and artifacts, more people can gain an advantage over others and abuse the power they have. For

example, Innovative Online Industries murdered anyone in the Oasis that could pose a potential

threat to them taking over the entire Oasis; other people killed people to gain money, all of which

enabled these companies and people to gain more power over the Oasis. This leads to the

possibility of companies misusing their power in the Oasis, further cementing Spielberg’s point

that power can be misused, inspiring people to be watchful and prevent inappropriate uses of

power.

Another way to gain power is through completing the game within the Oasis: find the

three keys hidden through three different games to find the easter egg left by the dead creator of

the Oasis, James Halliday. The egg allows for the player to get special abilities and every item

Halliday had, including complete control of the Oasis. Through this game, a player could gain

absolute control of the Oasis because the tournament is open to everyone. Thus, if a company

known to abuse their powers–in this case, Innovative Online Industries–completes the three

games, then they could gain the powers granted by winning the tournament and egg, enabling

them to use their newfound power to control the gaming experiences of everybody in the Oasis

and exploit all of the players for money and artifacts. By showcasing how vast the egg’s power is

and how it could completely change the Oasis, Spielberg enforces the belief how power is very

dangerous when in the wrong hands, so people need to do whatever they can to prevent the

wrong people from gaining extensive amounts of power.

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To further support his point, Spielberg provides visual examples of how power dictates

society and ranking in the real world, the world outside of the Oasis. Throughout Ready Player

One, Spielberg constantly provides images of the stacks, the buildings where most people live. In

the stacks, everybody’s houses are stacked on top of each other, and they live in a filthy, empty

space. Meanwhile, the rich live in larger houses and have expansive companies, such as Nolan

Sorrento and his company, Innovative Online Industries. Nolan Sorrento, Innovative Online

Industries, and other rich people and companies are able to control society because of the amount

of money they have, shown through them having the ability to destroy opponents in the race for

the easter egg and control over the Oasis. Since people such as Nolan Sorrento are wealthy, they

have the money and resources to buy everything they need to not only dominate the Oasis, but

the real world as well. If someone does not act satisfactorily, such as Wade Watts when he keeps

gaining the keys, the rich are able to threaten, bribe, and silence these people because, with

money and resources, they have the power to do so. Companies such as Innovative Online

Industries are able to control how the real world works, allowing them to effectively manipulate

society to fit their needs through abuse of power. By including these details in the film, Spielberg

is able to effectively communicate the idea that it is easy for the rich and resourceful to gain and

misuse power, so we must guard against misuses of power as much as possible.

Throughout Ready Player One, many consequences from inappropriate usages of power

appear in the Oasis and the real world, such as the enslaving of people in debt by Innovative

Online Industries and the elimination of almost all of the players on the Oasis by Nolan

Sorrento’s character. Nolan Sorrento and Innovative Online Industries are able to gain more

power through money; they exploit people by loaning them money and, when those people

cannot pay back their debts, they use them to advance further in the Oasis. For instance,
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Samantha’s father became indebted to Innovative Online Industries because he could not pay

them back the money which he borrowed. So, Innovative Online Industries placed him in a

loyalty center to work for them on the Oasis, where he eventually died. Later on, Samantha was

also sent to a loyalty center in her father’s place; the only difference was that she was able to

escape. This shows that, through the money generated by Innovative Online Industries’ slaves,

Nolan Sorrento is able to buy artifacts that give him and Innovative Online Industries more

power in the Oasis, allowing him to effectively murder all but one of the players on the Oasis

when he was losing the battle against all of the other Oasis players. Since the people have to pay

back their money, they are forced to work under Innovative Online Industries, giving them the

power over their lives and in the Oasis. Thus, money is able to further Innovative Online

Industries’ hold on society, giving them more power and, consequently, more chances to abuse

their power. Spielberg effectively shows how money directly correlates to the amount of power

companies have in Ready Player One, and educates people that the possibility of money being

used as a means to gain power is more realistic than imagined. We can already see that, in

today’s society, money is used to elevate a person’s status, giving them more power to do as they

please. By indicating the drastic repercussions of misuse of power, we are able to realize that we

must do everything in our power to prevent the abuse of power and degradation of our society.

However, power is not always dangerous. Although Ready Player One mainly focuses on

the misuse of the power by Innovative Online Industries, there are also examples of beneficial

usages of power. For example, after completing all the games and gaining all three keys, Wade

Watts has the power to end the Oasis or be the sole proprietor of the Oasis, but he instead

chooses to decline the ownership and continue playing as a normal player. Instead of using his

power to control everybody in the Oasis, Watts chooses to use his power and decline, thereby
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giving people the freedom to play in the Oasis without having to sell their souls only to play the

game, just as many did to Innovative Online Industries. Thus, Spielberg also conveys that not all

power is evil and destructive; the nature of power depends on its wielder. So, instead of focusing

our efforts on destroying all powerful people, we need to keep the power that enables order and

peace in our society while guarding against and ending misuse of power.

Throughout Ready Player One, Spielberg exposes viewers to the darkness of abuse and

misuse of power to call the audience to unite against exploitation of power. Even when a certain

group of people gain so much power that it seems hopeless, we have the ability to unite and push

back against inappropriate uses of power, giving us the power to establish order, define our own

lives, and unite in events of larger magnitudes, such as wars.

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Works Cited

Spielberg, Steven A., director. Ready Player One. Written by Ernest Cline, Warner Bros.

Pictures, 2018.