History YMMV / ReadyPlayerOne

* CondemnedByHistory: In TheNew20s, it seems that many now view the novel as a symbol of everything wrong with late 2000s/early 2010s geek culture: between the plot coming across as a juvenile PowerFantasy, use of nostalgia as a substitute for actual quality, and seeming glorification of arrested development, nerd elitism, franchise consumerism, and retreating from reality into a fantasy world, it's now becoming harder and harder to admit to ever being a fan. The author's follow-up novels laying the original's mistakes bare by [[FranchiseOriginalSin repeating them without improving on them]] and the various real-world scandals involving said culture (see HarsherInHindsight below) did not help matters. To [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/26/17148350/ready-player-one-book-backlash-controversy-gamergate-explained quote]] Constance Grady, writing for ''Vox'':

* CondemnedByHistory: In TheNew20s, it seems that many now view the novel as a symbol of everything wrong with late 2000s/early 2010s geek culture: between the plot coming across as a juvenile PowerFantasy, use of nostalgia as a substitute for actual quality, and seeming glorification of arrested development, nerd elitism, franchise consumerism, and retreating from reality into a fantasy world, it's now becoming harder and harder to admit to ever being a fan. The author's follow-up novels laying the original's mistakes bare by [[FranchiseOriginalSin repeating them without improving on them]] and the various real-world scandals damaging the once-positive image of said culture (see HarsherInHindsight below) did not help matters. To [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/26/17148350/ready-player-one-book-backlash-controversy-gamergate-explained quote]] Constance Grady, writing for ''Vox'':

* CondemnedByHistory: The novel was a smash hit and instant bestseller when it debuted in 2011, hailed by both critics and readers (especially those within geek culture) for its nostalgic affection for '80s pop culture, its fun, lighthearted GenreThrowback to the escapist WishFulfillment sci-fi and fantasy adventure films of that decade, its cool [[TheMetaverse virtual reality setting]], and its ProudToBeAGeek message. The movie rights were sold even before the book hit shelves, with [[SelfAdaptation Cline himself writing the screenplay]]. However, even at the time there were some critics who took issue with the book, seeing it as a juvenile PowerFantasy that relied on the NostalgiaFilter of its readers to cover for an unlikable protagonist and a message that seemed to celebrate arrested development, nerd gatekeeping, and retreat from reality into a fantasy world. By the time the [[Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018 film adaptation]] premiered in 2018, after a long series of scandals had battered the once-positive image of both geek culture and Silicon Valley tech companies, public opinion on ''Ready Player One'' had soured, with a poorly-received [[Literature/ReadyPlayerTwo sequel in 2020]] only seeming to bury the book further. Nowadays, when ''Ready Player One'' is brought up, it's usually to dismiss it as hollow, lazy pandering to geek culture and a symbol of its worst excesses, one that was only ever popular because readers were tickled by its barrage of references to beloved '80s properties. To [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/26/17148350/ready-player-one-book-backlash-controversy-gamergate-explained quote]] Constance Grady, writing for ''Vox'':

** Everything people have complained about in Ernest Cline's later novels (unlikable, arrogant, entitled, show-off protagonists who hold onto petty grudges, overusing pop-culture references to nostalgia-bait the audience, generally clunky plotting) is present to one degree or another in ''Ready Player One''. But unlike most of them, at the start of the novel Wade is an underdog whose resentment is at least understandable, rather than one of the most powerful and important people in the world, and the argument could be made that the story is at least ''kind of'' about him growing beyond his flaws and becoming less selfish before the sequel shows [[AesopAmnesia he really hasn't]]. [[Literature/{{Armada}} Zack Lightman]], meanwhile, doubles down on the WishFulfillment aspects of Wade's character to such an extent that his lack of humility and delight in petty revenge and one-upsmanship are thrown into stark relief pretty quickly, with a story that fast-tracks him to the place of comfort and power that Wade has to work for and mostly keeps him there, enjoying his genetically optimized gamer weed and other luxuries while cracking jokes and pop-culture references, with his fellow pilots despite the extreme stakes of his situation. It all serves to make him less fundamentally relatable, and therefore undermines the WishFulfillment.

** Everything people have complained about in Ernest Cline's later novels (unlikable, arrogant, entitled, show-off protagonists who hold onto petty grudges, overusing pop-culture references to nostalgia-bait the audience, generally clunky plotting) is present to one degree or another in ''Ready Player One''. But unlike most of them, at the start of the novel Wade is an underdog whose resentment is at least understandable, rather than one of the most powerful and important people in the world, and the argument could be made that the story is at least ''kind of'' about him growing beyond his flaws and becoming less selfish before the sequel shows [[AesopAmnesia he really hasn't]]. Zack Lightman, meanwhile, doubles down on the WishFulfillment aspects of Wade's character to such an extent that his lack of humility and delight in petty revenge and one-upsmanship are thrown into stark relief pretty quickly, with a story that fast-tracks him to the place of comfort and power that Wade has to work for and mostly keeps him there, enjoying his genetically optimized gamer weed and other luxuries while cracking jokes and pop-culture references, with his fellow pilots despite the extreme stakes of his situation. It all serves to make him less fundamentally relatable, and therefore undermines the WishFulfillment.

** Everything people have complained about in Ernest Cline's later novels (unlikable, arrogant, entitled, show-off protagonists who hold onto petty grudges, overusing pop-culture references to nostalgia-bait the audience, generally clunky plotting) is present to one degree or another in ''Ready Player One''. But unlike most of them, at the start of the novel Wade is an underdog whose resentment is at least understandable, rather than one of the most powerful and important people in the world, and the argument could be made that the story is at least ''kind of'' about him growing beyond his flaws and becoming less selfish before the sequel shows [[AesopAmnesia he really hasn't]]. Zack Lightman, meanwhile, doubles down on the WishFulfillment aspects of Wade's character to such an extent that his lack of humility and delight in petty revenge and one-upsmanship are thrown into stark relief pretty quickly, with a story that fast-tracks him to the place of comfort and power that Wade has to work for and mostly keeps him there, enjoying his genetically optimized gamer weed and other luxuries while cracking jokes and pop-culture references with his fellow pilots despite the extreme stakes of his situation.

** All three novels are filled to the brim with 1980s pop culture references, which was more enjoyable in the first book as many of the references were to things even the average person would likely be familiar with, while also including a few more obscure references for fans of those works; while some readers found it a bit much, it was generally tolerated. ''Armada'' and the sequel has far more obscure references that few people outside their niche fanbases are likely to understand and to make matters worse, ''Ready Player Two'' even gets some of these references factually wrong, making it harder for anyone to appreciate. ''Armada''[='s=] explanation for why Zack Lightman is so obsessed with the 80's, trying to form some kind of connection with his DisappearedDad, is also seen as an excuse to recycle ''Ready Player One''[='s=] schtick with a much weaker plot justification.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Everything people have complained about in Ernest Cline's later novels (unlikable, arrogant, entitled, show-off protagonists who hold onto petty grudges, overusing pop-culture references to nostalgia-bait the audience, generally clunky plotting) is present to one degree or another in ''Ready Player One''. But unlike most of them, at the start of the novel Wade is an underdog whose resentment is at least understandable, rather than one of the most powerful and important people in the world, and the argument could be made that the story is at least ''kind of'' about him growing beyond his flaws before the sequel shows he really hasn't. And the barrage of pop-culture references that was novel and tightly-integrated into the plot in one book quickly became grating in later books that either reused said plot or couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to get audiences to put up with them.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Everything people have complained about in Ernest Cline's later novels (an unlikable, arrogant, entitled, show-off protagonists who holds onto petty grudges, overusing pop-culture references to nostalgia-bait the audience, generally clunky plotting) is present to one degree or another in ''Ready Player One''. But unlike most of them, at the start of the novel Wade is an underdog whose resentment is at least understandable, rather than one of the most powerful and important people in the world, and the argument could be made that the story is at least ''kind of'' about him growing beyond his flaws before the sequel shows he really hasn't. And the barrage of pop-culture references that was novel and tightly-integrated into the plot in one book quickly became grating in later books that either reused said plot or couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to get audiences to put up with them.

** The book is famous for its heavy focus on properties from the 1980s and 1990s despite in taking place in 2044. It could've had commentary about effects of reboot culture, the current obsession with nostalgia and how future society is [[CreativeSterility still focused on the same entertainments from over half a century prior]], but instead it only talks how awesome old shows and movies are. It also could have talked about the shallow nature of nostalgia, that the only reason old properties remain popular in 2044 isn't because people naturally like it but because it's the key to winning Halliday's fortune and control of the OASIS.

** It is noted that a PosthumousCharacter had set the world record by playing a perfect game of VideoGame/PacMan in "just under four hours". Less than a year after the book was published, the world record was actually set at 3 hours, 33 minutes[[https://kotaku.com/5875131/you-cannot-top-the-new-pac-man-world-record]].
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Wade holds people who call in to the tech support hotlines where he works (first voluntarily, later as an indent) in searing contempt, seeing them as lazy incompetents who should ReadTheFreakingManual. While this is likely to [[CatharsisFactor strike a chord]] with anyone who's ever worked in tech support, it comes across a bit differently to people who are more used to being on the other side of the equation - feeling frustrated and confused by some user-unfriendly piece of technology and then having to subject themselves to an equally demoralizing [[ForInconveniencePressOne tech support process.]] There is also the fact that Wade is literally getting paid to sit there and answer those inane questions -- if everyone adopted the do-it-yourself values that he holds to, he'd be out of a job!

** Wade takes a page and a half to talk at length about how religion is a stupid idea and there's no God. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact the only adult who is remotely nice to him, Mrs. G, is devoutly religious and he acknowledges that her faith is how she deals with their CrapsackWorld, just as the OASIS is for him, and he is [[spoiler:most heartbroken by her death when his home is attacked]].

* JustHereForGodzilla: The ISO-9000 standard "YA teen dystopia" plot is pretty much there to justify the massive bounty of 80s and 90s pop-culture references, which in turn are the main reason most of the story's audience exists.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The book is famous for its heavy focus on properties from the 1980s and 1990s despite in taking place in 2044. It could've had commentary about effects of reboot culture, the current obsession with nostalgia and how future society is [[CreativeSterility still focused on the same entertainments from over half a century prior]], but instead it only talks how awesome old shows and movies are. It also could have talked about the shallow nature of nostalgia, that the only reason old properties remain popular in 2044 isn't because people naturally like it but because it's the key to winning Halliday's fortune and control of the OASIS.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The (probably tongue-in-cheek) passage written by Halliday about the virtues of [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbation]] among an otherwise depressing chapter in the book is viewed as this.

** Some questioned how copyright laws apparently have gotten so lax in the future that just about every media franchise has a playable skin in the OASIS. ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'', a popular online game, would start regularly having tie-in skins for franchises such as ''Franchise/StarWars,'' Creator/{{Marvel}}, Creator/DCComics, ''VideoGame/StreetFighter,'' and ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' just to name a few.

** The villain of the book and movie is IOI Corp. Several years down the line, [[NamesTheSame a real life IOI Corp]] in Malaysia actually came under fire not only for [[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/27/greenpeace-blockades-ioi-palm-oil-refinery-rotterdam-port inhumane treatment of wild animals and destruction of forest areas in Borneo]] to establish new palm oil estates, but also for [[https://www.finnwatch.org/en/news/213-ioi-group-suspected-of-serious-labour-rights-violations violation of human rights]] when it comes to treatment of their employees. [[note]]And oh, the company was founded on money scammed from various people.[[/note]]

* UnfortunateImplications: [[https://das-sporking2.dreamwidth.org/1429936.html This sporking]] of Chapter 6 notes that almost every single bit of pop culture Wade refers to is either led by a white male or created by a white male, neatly skipping over every female and non-white creator (the comments list ''dozens'' of people who Wade ''could'' have mentioned but didn't).

** Wade's reaction to the discovery his best friend [[spoiler:is an African American lesbian rather than a boy his age]] leads to a lecture on tolerance. Understandable given [[spoiler:she was homeless for a time because of parental rejection.]]

* JustHereForGodzilla: The ISO-9000 standard "YA teen dystopia" plot is pretty much there to justify the massive bounty of 80's and 90's pop-culture references, which in turn are the main reason most of the story's audience exists.