Wade Owen Watts a.k.a. Parzival Quotes

The OASIS is pretty much Facebook meets Second Life, two things that are very addictive on their own. Together, they prove to be irresistible, blurring the lines between reality and virtual reality.

State-of-the-art immersion rigs cost money. That means that even the rich people in this world want to escape it. It must be one big bummer of a place.

It's a new way of life. People stay connected to it for the majority of a day sometimes. Does such a massive time investment make something "real"? If people are spending most of their time there, doesn't that make it almost more real than the real world?

Or three places at once. Wade is in the real world, in the OASIS, and in a chat room. This quote shows just how much Wade forgets the real world exists at times, which is a wee bit creepy if you ask Shmoop.

The OASIS has replaced brick-and-mortal locations like malls, movie theaters, and coffee shops. This is a reality where not only can you stay home and shop, you can stay home and socialize. And you thought that in a world full of smart phones, people were glued to their screens now. Just wait until 2045.

This insane level of detail shows how Halliday intended the OASIS to be a replacement for reality. These things have no effect on gameplay, though. Their only purpose is to add to the all-immersive atmosphere. They simply add to the illusion.

This is a strange statement by Wade, who doesn't understand why people take their avatars to virtual sporting games. Maybe for the same reason they virtually hug, dance, and watch movies together in chatrooms--all things Wade has Parzival do—because this is how their new reality operates. We mean, what else are they going to do?

This explains how we, as readers, also forget sometimes that Wade is inside a game. It's so real to him, he forgets it himself. But note what he's saying here. He doesn't just forget what's real, he loses his self. So even though it's just a game, this is some serious existential business.

Wade says this but doesn't change his behavior one bit. In fact, he becomes more obsessed with the OASIS. Despite believing the whole thing to be a deception, he's in too deep to change anything. The OASIS is his real world now.

Anonymity not only allows people to live how they want and as who they want, but it also allows people to be total jerks without repercussion. I-R0k falls into this category, wouldn't you say?

This could be Halliday talking, but it's actually Wade. Just as Halliday transformed himself into the all-powerful wizard Anorak with the magic of the OASIS, Wade becomes Parzival online, using a knight of the round table as the basis for his new, heroic identity. Wishful thinking?

Here's another downside of that anonymity thing: people might not be who they say there are, which means you might wind up smitten with an old bald guy you thought was a hottie with a body. We wonder what Wade's reaction would have been if Art3mis ended up being exactly what he had feared. Would they have become friends, at least?

Discrimination according to race, gender, and sexual orientation is still rampant in 2045, and might even be enabled by the OASIS, where many people feel obligated to portray themselves as white, heterosexual males in order to be accepted. Aech is one of these people.

This is how closely a person's OASIS identity is tied into their actual, human identity. Just getting an eyeful of Art3mis's polygons counts to Wade as "in person."

As we've said, the OASIS lets you become whoever you want. For example, a mild-mannered teenager from Oklahoma can become an egotistical maniac. Hey, whatever floats your boat.

Wade doesn't just create an online identify for himself; he creates a separate real-life alias to evade IOI's surveillance.

For Wade, Aech's online identity still holds priority over her true identity. Since Wade's no longer compulsively obsessed with the OASIS at the end of the novel, maybe he can look beyond the avatar and see Aech for who she really is.

These seem like minor changes to Wade, and maybe they are in a world full of Vulcans and cat people, but it still shows how the OASIS is a world where you can create your own appearance how you want it. Who needs Botox when you never leave your house?

In a world where people are barely employed and gas is at a premium, some people still find the money to spend on modifications for their avatar. Does that seem a little, well, crazy to you?

Even though Wade doesn't have any real-life friends, or ever go outside, he's still self-conscious about his appearance. Maybe at this point he's subconsciously preparing himself for a shift to the real world, when he'll have less control over his physical appearance. And hey, he's gotta look good for Samantha.