Being smart and extra diligent are the two main themes that dominate Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel Ready Player One. The story takes place in the far future, in the year 2045, when everybody in the world logs into an online game called Oasis during their free time. James Halliday, the founder of the game, leaves a vast fortune after his death and establishes a contest to win his wealth open to everybody who plays Oasis. Even though he starts the game as a complete “noob,” the novel’s protagonist, Wade Watts—also known by his Oasis handle, Parzival—struggles and improves, acquires the prize, and becomes a multimillionaire, all thanks to his assiduity and bravery. 

Watts possesses valuable personality traits that benefit him in the contest. His cleverness helps him learn the lethal point of his opponent, a company called IOI that employs thousands of players “cheating” together to win the contest. Wade “[assumes] a fake identity and [masquerades] as an indentured servant to infiltrate IOI’s corporate headquarters” (304). Watts’ intelligence and ingenuity are shown when he succeeds in staying eight days in his enemy’s base. Even though he looks fat and is unable to socialize in real life, he uses this to his advantage to turn the storyline sharply. Exploiting the secret information he acquires, he is able to indict IOI in a number of crimes, which further helps him win the prize. Watts is also a very diligent person, working around the clock to solve the puzzles. On his very last assessment for the reward, he is required to recite a movie scene from “Holy Grail”, and is only able to pass because “over the past six years, [he has] watched Holy Grail exactly 157 times” (356), and so knows every single word by heart. This demonstrates how much time and energy that Watts has put in for this contest: He dedicates a great amount of attentiveness and diligence to solving the puzzle by learning whatever he needs to win. In this way, Watts vividly presents the idea that “practice makes perfect.”

In Ready Player One, millions of players join the contest started by James Halliday, the founder of Oasis. However, Wade Watts, a novice, strives and outcompetes everybody. Thanks to his courageousness and diligence, he is able to become a multimillionaire.