Go see Ready Player One

The best movie about VR to inspire creators to build the future.

Michael Eichenseer
VRdōjō
3 min readApr 5, 2018

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Anorak holds the key to the future of VR in the OASIS — Ready Player One, Warner Bros.

If you’re at all interested or excited about VR, Ready Player One is a must see.

Spielberg's adaptation of Ernest Cline’s VR filled world is a perfect picture of what VR could be with idealized technology of today. Sure, today’s graphics aren’t as good, but the hardware to create the experiences felt by players in the OASIS are possible today, and for a few thousand dollars not millions.

While the book’s story is arguably better, the movie’s story works wonders for the film format. I’m not going to get into the story much here, as the movie speaks for itself. As a reader of the book my only comment is some of the movie’s events take place rather quickly, which can be jarring. The movie more than makes up for these moments with incredible visuals, clever transitions between reality and the OASIS, and an entertaining cast.

Prepare for a world with the OASIS.

After watching Ready Player One I am more hyped than I already was for the near future of VR. This is a great movie to pump up any struggling VR developer or creator. The movie contains lessons both eye opening and belly busting for VR creators. Anyone who is discouraged by the VR landscape today should sit down and soak up this movie.

Don’t think hundreds of millions of people will dive in? How many people spend their free time today glued to a screen? Netflix’s biggest competitor is sleep. What if our screens not only displayed entertaining stories, but took the viewer anywhere they could imagine? “If” is long gone, now it’s a matter of “how” and “when” and you can be a driving force for the future of VR.

The world of Ready Player One won’t come into fruition precisely. By time visual fidelity of HMDs reach the levels of the movie, the hardware could be quite different. Moore's law has surprise and disappointed before. Truth is, the possibilities of VR today are incredible, we just haven't tapped them yet.

VR is an ocean ready to be sailed.

Virtual reality today is a blue ocean anyone with patience and persistence to learn and build can make waves in. The platform will only ever get bigger, now will always be the time to start.

Ready Player One is seeding the minds of thousands with ideas for the future of VR. Even if you don’t have a new idea because of it, the momentum of VR is growing around you. Its acceptance becoming normal. Last year in the office I worked, only three people knew what a Vive was. Now everyone there knows what a Vive and Oculus are, and many of the gamers have one.

Go see Ready Player One and seed your mind with the future potential of VR.

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