Reader Player One: 10 Biggest Changes From The Book

Steven Spielberg has directed more than a few literary adaptations over the years. His very first feature, Duel, was based on a Richard Matheson short story; his breakthrough blockbuster Jaws came from the Peter Benchley novel of the same name.

The Color Purple, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Minority Report, War of the Worlds: these, and more besides, were books before they were Spielberg movies.

While plenty of fans were excited to see the legendary director take on Ernest Cline's 2011 science fiction adventure novel Ready Player One, there were also those who expressed concerns. Some felt the novel relied too heavily on dewey-eyed nostalgia; some also suggested it was too heavily geared toward straight white male fandom, to the exclusion of others.

Whether or not these accusations are entirely fair (this writer, for one, would argue against both complaints), it was always obvious that not everything in the novel would make it into the movie.

Anyone who's read, say, Peter Benchley's Jaws or Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park knows that a great deal was jettisoned and heavily reworked in the transition from page to screen. That which works in a book won't always work in a film.

Ready Player One has also undergone some significant alterations for the big screen - yet while some fans of the novel may be disappointed, none of these changes betray the spirit of the novel, and most of them help make for a more streamlined, and more pointedly cinematic experience.

This small but significant change was made apparent from the very first trailers for Ready Player One, in which Tye Sheridan's Wade Watts informs us, "I live here in Colombus, Ohio."

This, however, was not the case in Ernest Cline's novel, in which Wade originally lived in the 'stacks' outside Oklahoma City, only moving to Colombus around the 'Level Two' point, following the destruction of his home.

In theory, this might not seem a massive difference. In some respects it makes things simpler, as Wade starts out living in the same city as villainous mega-corporation IOI, with whom he and the High Five do battle in the final act.

In practice, though, this is one change which might actually serve to weaken the film overall. One of the compelling aspects of the OASIS (and one of the attractive things about online culture in reality) is how it transcends cultural and national boundaries, uniting disparate people from across the globe.

Ready Player One's High Five are, to an extent, a microcosm of this; five distant strangers brought together by a common goal, their achievements rooted in their individual skills, and their support of one another.

The fact that both Wade/Parzival and Samantha/Art3mis start out living in the immediate vicinity both of each other and the corporate bad guys makes the world of Ready Player One feel like a rather smaller place.

Still, this change does mean things are able to neatly come full circle once we reach the conclusion.