• runswithjedi@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    The real world was a dystopia, but the virtual world was paradise. The whole point of the book was to stop a corporation from taking over the virtual paradise. So a corporation trying to create this completely misses the point.

    • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      But it was still owned privately. Ideally, the virtual paradise would use a federation method with an open protocol, so anyone could connect to it.

      • zaphod@sopuli.xyz
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        11 months ago

        It was basically owned by Gaben who died and some other corporation tried to take over Valve.

        • TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          That’s the idea the book tries to convey, but even to the extent it gets idealized we see that Oasis is overmonetized and poor people have a harder time enjoying themselves compared to those who are better off. At one point Wade gets stuck on the education world because he doesn’t have enough money to travel to other worlds.

          Not that money doesn’t buy entertainment in our world also, but we have a variety of free options too.

          • Toribor@corndog.social
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            11 months ago

            Exactly. The virtual world is still a dystopia that just looks like paradise. It’s a virtual world that is designed specifically to introduce scarcity so it can be monetized. You can be anyone and do anything… As long as you can afford it.

            It’s got all the same problems as the real world, but some people can be Ultra Man or something if they’re rich.