The Video Games That Inspired Ready Player One
Summary
In this article, we delve into the video games that inspired Ernest Clin to write Ready Player One and how they influenced the creation of the virtual world, the Oasis. Clin talks about various classic arcade games, including Dungeons & Daggerath, Zor, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Black Tiger, and Tempest, which were featured in his book. He also reminisces about Adventure, a game that inspired the plot of his book, and Sword Quest, a video game contest that awarded grand prizes worth thousands of dollars. Clin also discusses how various video games, including EverQuest, World of Warcraft, Tennis 4-, Space Wa, Colossal Cave, Combat, and Atari games such as Space Invader, Pitfal, Kaboo!, Star Raider, The Empire Strikes Bac, Star Maste, Yars’ Reveng, and E.T., have influenced the creation of virtual reality.
Table of Contents
- Classic Arcade Games
- Adventure and Sword Quest
- Virtual Reality
Classic Arcade Games
Ernest Clin talks about how classic arcade games such as Dungeons & Daggerath, Zor, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Black Tiger, and Tempest have influenced his writing. He explains how he played these games and how they influenced the creation of the virtual world, the Oasis, in his book. In Ready Player One, the protagonist Wade has to complete challenges based on these games to unlock gates and win the final challenge. Clin also mentions Adventure, another game that offered a virtual world to navigate with various creatures, items, and labyrinths.
Adventure and Sword Quest
Clin reminisces about Adventure, a game that inspired the plot of his book. He talks about the thrill of finding the first-ever Easter egg hidden in the game and how it inspired him to create a similar Easter egg hunt in his book. Clin also mentions Sword Quest, a video game contest that awarded grand prizes worth thousands of dollars. He explains how the contest inspired him to create a similar contest in his book.
Virtual Reality
The speaker discusses various video games that have influenced the creation of virtual reality, including EverQuest, World of Warcraft, Tennis 4-, Space Wa, Colossal Cave, Combat, and Atari games such as Space Invader, Pitfal, Kaboo!, Star Raider, The Empire Strikes Bac, Star Maste, Yars’ Reveng, and E.T. He talks about his personal experience with these games, including collecting every Atari 2600 game ever made and building a cockpit to play Star Raiders. Additionally, Clin mentions getting blisters from playing Centipede and how Battlezone helped inspire his second novel, Armada. These games have created new human relationships and inspired the creation of virtual reality.
Conclusion
Ernest Clin’s Ready Player One is a testament to the power of video games to inspire creativity and imagination. The book and subsequent movie adaptation have brought attention to classic arcade games and their influence on virtual reality. Clin’s personal experiences with these games have helped shape the virtual world, the Oasis, in his book and inspired the creation of virtual reality.
