Gaming industry have evolved so rapidly in the last few decades. From the first gaming console, PC games, mobile phone games, to our first VR headsets, world of gaming has become so advanced and so real, it's hard to imagine what kind of games we will be playing few decades from now. The question is, will the gaming world becomes so interesting that we would prefer to live in the Virtual Reality than in the real world?
In 2045, condition in Earth is suck. As an escapism, people choose to spend their time in OASIS, a virtual reality world created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg). In there, you can do anything, go anywhere, and be any character that you like, the limits are your own imagination. Five years before, Halliday created a contest to find an Easter egg. To get the Easter egg, contestants must find three keys, each can be obtained by solving challenge hidden somewhere in the OASIS. Besides an Easter egg, the winner also inherits stock worth half a trillion dollars and total control of the Oasis.
Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), who's known as Parzival in the OASIS, along with his friends, Aech (Lena Waithe), Daito (Win Morisaki), and Sho (Philip Zhao), are Gunters (Egg hunters), people who are dedicated to find the Easter egg. Their competition is IOI, company that's very ambitious to win the contest. Along the way, Wade and friends meet Art3mis, another Gunter who seems to have further purpose than just winning the Easter egg. Can they win the Easter egg? Why Art3mis is so eager to stop IOI from winning the contest?
This movie, which is directed by Steven Spielberg, is a love letter to pop culture. From beginning to end, you can see references from classic movies like Back to the Future's DeLorean, Kaneda's bike from Akira, John Hughes' movies, and the Shining; famous characters like Iron Giant, Goro Mortal Kombat, Chucky, and Gundam; and classic video games like GoldenEye 007 and Street Fighter. And that's just the one who are involved in the main plot, in the background you can see many more characters like Batman, Iron Man, RoboCop, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees.
If you like watching movies or playing video games, enjoy it, cherish it, celebrate it, it's good sometimes to be able to escape from the banality of the real world. Even IOI, the villain in this movie, which is written by Ernest Cline based on his own novel, lose in the end because they prioritize winning rather than the enjoyment of playing the game itself. As IOI's CEO, Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), said, "The only question is, "How far are we willing to go to win it?""
This is a great movie, full of action, CGI, and special effects that guarantee to make you feel as if you're the one playing in the OASIS yourselves. Besides, all movies that have "Jump"* and "We're Not Gonna Take It"** songs in it must be an awesome movie. But what i want to talk about is the gaming itself, especially how close to reality the world of gaming depicted in this movie.
When i was still in school, i'm not a popular kid, and i thought, by being good at online games that was favorite at the times (Counter Strike), i can gain popularity. Instead, the popular kids were calling me, and others who had the same aspiration with me, geeks. Gaming was for second class citizens.
But now, the wheel has turning. Playing games is the "it" thing. Nowadays, if you never play Mobile Legends, Free Fire, Call of Duty, or other games like it, you're the ones who are at risk of being called geeks. Instead of movie stars or sportsmen, e-sports players are the new celebrity. Names like RRQ Lemon, ONIC Udil, or EVOS Jess No Limit are household names. They gain money and fame since they are still very young, just by playing games. Gaming is not about a hobby anymore, it's a golden ticket for everyone to get a better life, not far different with what depicted in the movie.
The momentum shows no sign of declining, instead e-sports' popularity gets bigger and bigger. E-sports has been played at Asian Games 2018 and SEA Games 2019 and i'm not surprised if one day e-sports will be played at Olympics.
If you think, "This is ridiculous, how can stupid games like these be a measure of a person's skills?" Well, it's just a matter of perspective. You see, maybe a century ago, people also asked, "This is ridiculous, how can a game of twenty two people fight over a ball and then try to kick it into a 24 x 8 feet net be a measure of a person's skills?" or "This is ridiculous, how can a game of ten people fight over a ball and then try to throw it into a ring ten feet above be a measure of a person's skills?" Again, it's a matter of perspective. The important thing is, if a lot of people like it, or in a business term, if there is a market for it, then it can become an official sport.
Besides, just like any other sports, games can train your body in many aspects. It can sharpen your reflexes, concentration, and decision making. It can also exercise your soft skills, like how to recruit players who have the same skill as you, how to get rid of players whose skills are below you without being rude, and how to manipulate players whose skills are above you so you can join their team. I've been playing Mobile Legends for a while now, and as a social anxiety sufferer, this game has taught me about teamwork, strategy, and politics more than any sports i've ever played in my life, all without leaving the comfort of my room.
Again, just like in the movie, i've made some real friends from the game. I've also made some enemies. And i've heard someone who find their love partners from the game. Just like in the OASIS, it's not what i can do, but the illusion of what i can be in the games that makes gaming is so alluring. In there, i can be a hero, not a loser like in the real life.
Gaming has become so advanced and so embedded in our daily life, at one point we must draw the line between virtual world and reality. Don't be like in the movie where people love to escape into the OASIS so much, they forget to fix things in the real world. And don't be like Halliday who said, "I created the OASIS because i never felt at home in the real world, i just didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid for all of my life." It's such a sad life for such a brilliant man.
So chase your glory, pursuit your joy, find your happiness, but never forget to live in reality, because, again, as Halliday said, "Reality is the only thing that's real." And if you think you're such a loser in real life, remember that you don't need fame or fortune to be called a winner, as I-R0k (T. J. Miller), Nolan's henchman, said, "No man is a failure who has friends."
* By Van Halen.
** By Twisted Sisters.
P.S. For you who have never listened to great songs in your life.
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