Blog Entry: Ethical Reflection on Ready Player One

Well, this is the last entry blog (apparently 😭) and for this one we are going to talk about a book (now on theaters) that for my opinion it's from culture if you like videogames and technology, Cline used everything at his favor to create a science fiction novel that could attract a lot of people. For me it’s a special case since recently I acquired that interest in VR and for this kind of stories related to a different world or a perspective where everybody can be free (well, with the limitations of the game) or do whatever the person decides.

Looking at this quotes as a starting point:

Morrow wrote in his autobiography that he’d left GSS because ... he felt that the OASIS had evolved into something horrible. “It had become a self-imposed prison for humanity,” he wrote. “A pleasant place for the world to hide from its problems while human civilization slowly collapses, primarily due to neglect.” (p. 120).

(Halliday speaking) “I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” (p. 364).

To answer this questions:

• Do you agree with the two previous quotations?
• Do you personally see any virtues in a system like the OASIS?

This is pretty interesting point of view for all people, not only because both quotes tell the truth about a virtual game or environment, sometimes people tries to escape from who really is or think that they could be another person (good or bad) than IRL (In Real Life), they don't accept it's reality so they use it as an escape, but from the other side it's true that is not a "prison" for people because it's a way to look it as another place for keeping your essence (or as an entertainment), but as I previously said it depends on the person's perspective.

Now, 

• Do you think it’s possible, technologically speaking, to have something similar to the OASIS by the years 2040 or 2050?
• Can you envision a software architecture, using currently available technologies and tools, to build a system that could evolve to something like the OASIS?

Technology has evolved in an impressive way, not only for the society, but also for a tool where everyone can have entertainment or even have a different purpose for everyone’s life.

I don't like to change of novel (or even book), but it helps me to answer to these 2 questions, this story is a pretty one that I also estimate and like so much (and hated for a lot of people because the thematic or even the story plot got turned into something that at the end was not related -people call it Harem, and it's true, sadly- BUT I got hooked more for the possibilities about story and games that in reality we could create from that point), the story is Sword Art Online (a.k.a. SAO) created by Reki Kawahara, this one it's a pretty popular franchise that is part of ASCII Media Works on the Dengeki Bunko imprint, just as a small fact he created the story for a contest on Dengeki, the story got rejected because the limitations was a 100 page story, he did it on 200 (he try the same competition -and won!- later on with another novel that is not so popular than SAO that is Accel World, another novel that it's important to me too because he uses the same thematic, but with different character's story and more darker than SAO, this one it's years later than the events of SAO and as I said the story is unrelated to Sword Art Online, but at the same time its handled on the timeline with the same technology used for both games SAO and Brain Burst, NerveGear -later Amusphere- for the first one and it evolved on the Neuro Linker). 

Sword Art Online takes on 2022 (we are close, only 4 more years) where 10,000 players got trapped on a dead game created by Kayaba Akihiko, they use the NerveGear as the device to access the virtual world called Aincrad (it's a helmet that blocks all reactions from the real body and sends the game information and images through the brain) where the story takes place (at least the first volumes of the light novel), a player called Kirito (real name Kirigaya Kazuto) got trapped with the other players on this nightmare and the only way to finish the game and return to reality is to beat the 100 floors that Aincrad possess, the only limitation is (and turns it into the death game) that when the health (HP) of the player reaches 0 it's avatar is eliminated from SAO and the NerveGear sends a signal to the brain via microwaves that destroys it, killing the person using the device, there is no Log Out or even revive option, you only have one life and wasting it would be dumb.

This is the beginning of the series and franchise, the rest I would like to invite everyone that reads this blog entry to look at the light novels or anime (also releasing soon the 3rd season of SAO and on April an alternative story from the SAO universe is going to be transmitted on tv, Gun Gale Online Alternative).

Now with all this information (I know, it's too much information, but required), VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) are already part of human life, also the evolution of technology, I'm sure that we are far away from the creation of this kind of environments (and of course because they are only novels), but the tools to begin this are already developed, we can see the Occulus Rift that uses VR, games like Pokémon Go that uses the AR we are able to modify our reality already.

For this, I'm pretty sure that using Microservices it’s the best way to develop this system and to have it at the palm of the hand. 

We talk as an assumption (but it’s not!), IBM already take the advantage (and the reality is that it was only a promotional campaign, looked too real, that if they get the right sponsorship it could be a reality) for this kind of idea on 2016. With the help of SAO, IBM created a virtual world Demo, the project was called Sword Art Online: The Beginning, Sponsored by IBM. This "Alpha test" was tested by only 200 persons that even Kawahara-san try it (lucky them :( ! ) but the objective was to recreate the first levels and enemies of Aincrad (with the feared Gleam Eyes), it was a success, that I would like to share videos that demonstrates this.

The webpage is not available anymore, but they store it through these webpage, it's on Japanese, but there’s is an English page where they describe the event and the way they create it:

https://www.mugendai-web.jp/vrmmo-project/

https://www.mugendai-web.jp/vrmmo-project/archives/en01.html

I would like to talk more about these thematic, but that would be it for today. Thanks for the attention and see you online!

Oh, also I would like to leave the opening, this one is the one that began with my addiction to SAO and other animes.

References:

• Cline, E. (2011). Ready player one. New York: Crown Publishers.

• Kawahara, R. (2009). Sword Art Online, Aincrad. ASCII Media Works, Dengeki Bunko.

• Kawahara, R. (2009). Accel World, Kuroyukihime's Return. ASCII Media Works, Dengeki Bunko.