The purpose of this topic is simple. Ever watch a movie, read a book, play a game etc. that you loved but still believe could be improved on? Maybe not something that ruined the entire narrative, but something that you believe could have been done slightly better? I'll begin.
Expect spoilers to be said, because a topic like this without them is hard to do.
Ready Player One is a book for gamers. I'll flat out say it. It takes place in the future, but it's soul is deeply rooted in retro gaming and is a very nice read if you're a geek of all corners. However, there's one character that I liked that I feel like their development got a bit strange and kind of haphazard. Sort of major spoilers for the book ahead, but I highly recommend the book to those who are interested!
Do you guys have any examples of something small in an otherwise great series that you feel could be worked on? I'm hoping this will be a place of discussion. If we like something then it's only natural to want to discuss how it can be improved, right?
Captcha: I can fix it. That's a nice attitude to have, captcha!
Expect spoilers to be said, because a topic like this without them is hard to do.
Ready Player One is a book for gamers. I'll flat out say it. It takes place in the future, but it's soul is deeply rooted in retro gaming and is a very nice read if you're a geek of all corners. However, there's one character that I liked that I feel like their development got a bit strange and kind of haphazard. Sort of major spoilers for the book ahead, but I highly recommend the book to those who are interested!
The game takes place online for the majority of the book. This is a virtual realm where people can create their own avatars and interact with people in a very realistic manner using virtual reality. "Aech" is a friend to the main character who gets his earning pro gaming, but they've never met in person. Long story short, near the end of the book the main character and Aech finally meet face to face. It turns out Aech is actually Helen Harris, and instead of being a white male as the protagonist she is actually a black woman. This was an interesting twist I actually didn't mind. There are many people who will pose as something they are not online in order to feel accepted, so it made perfectly logical sense for this to exist.
A big part of her character is that she made her avatar a white male (and used voice changing technology) in order to make it easier to interact with people online, as her mother had done and had recommended Helen to as well. This was pretty interesting to me, but then they also drop the bomb that Helen is actually gay and that she been tossed out by her mother because of it. I'm not opposed to people who are of the minority in multiple ways being in media, her being black, female and gay didn't change her relationship with the main character and she was a major part of the story until the very end of it all. But I felt it was a little bit ham handed to place all of the weight of the minority suffering on a single character.
To make her representative of the female (though she isn't the only woman in the book), black, and gay online community was a bit much in my opinion. I felt like they could have done a better job at handling this in the book (meeting Aech and talking about how the protagonist didn't think any less of her because of who she was etc.) and made it slightly more relevant in more then one chapter, since the moment they are online again she is using her male avatar and the character refers to her as he since Aech is still hiding this about herself to the greater online community.
Overall I commend the author for trying to diversify and think that it was a net positive in the end, but there is some small room for improvement.
A big part of her character is that she made her avatar a white male (and used voice changing technology) in order to make it easier to interact with people online, as her mother had done and had recommended Helen to as well. This was pretty interesting to me, but then they also drop the bomb that Helen is actually gay and that she been tossed out by her mother because of it. I'm not opposed to people who are of the minority in multiple ways being in media, her being black, female and gay didn't change her relationship with the main character and she was a major part of the story until the very end of it all. But I felt it was a little bit ham handed to place all of the weight of the minority suffering on a single character.
To make her representative of the female (though she isn't the only woman in the book), black, and gay online community was a bit much in my opinion. I felt like they could have done a better job at handling this in the book (meeting Aech and talking about how the protagonist didn't think any less of her because of who she was etc.) and made it slightly more relevant in more then one chapter, since the moment they are online again she is using her male avatar and the character refers to her as he since Aech is still hiding this about herself to the greater online community.
Overall I commend the author for trying to diversify and think that it was a net positive in the end, but there is some small room for improvement.
Do you guys have any examples of something small in an otherwise great series that you feel could be worked on? I'm hoping this will be a place of discussion. If we like something then it's only natural to want to discuss how it can be improved, right?
Captcha: I can fix it. That's a nice attitude to have, captcha!
