Book Review: Ghosts of ARCADIA by Ramsey Isler

Ghosts of ARCADIA by Ramsey Isler

Genre: Science Fiction, Gaming
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: October 2013
Author Info: www.ramseyisler.com

ARCADIA is the most advanced video game ever created, going well above and beyond the concept of virtual reality by reading the users neural signals to create an impossibly real world. Millions donned the system’s technologically advanced headsets and stepped into ARCADIA, some even creating proxies to handle game play and interactions during their absence. But when ARCADIA is hacked, resulting in the slow leak of roughly twenty million dollars, the system becomes anathema.

The drama has died down since the hacks, but Unwired tech journalist Miguel Naciamento is certain there is a deeper story that others have overlooked. Determined to earn himself another Pulizter, Miguel pursues a few leads, including his former professor, now an FBI consultant on the case, Ivy Yuen, the game’s brilliant creator, and a gray hat hacker still devoted to the game.

As a gamer, ARCADIA’s concept appealed to me, though I would have loved to experience, through Miguel, some of the more involved games the story implied existed (… okay maybe it didn’t imply it… I just want to go virtual reality questing, okay?). The concept initially made me think of Ready Player One, where a similar system exists (though more easily accessible to the 99%). While I was initially disappointed that the ARCADIA system didn’t seem to involve more elaborate games, I came to appreciate the more Facebook/app like games that it employed. Considering how popular these games and apps are in our current reality, Isler’s implementation of them within such an innovative system makes sense as the focus.

Another major concept in ARCADIA that I liked were the proxies. My pixel people have come to mean a lot to me and many of them do reflect me in many ways. Imagine if you could truly create a character within a game system that *was* you! With this in mind, Isler’s prologue immediately grabbed me, beginning at the end of Miguel’s memoir as he says good bye to his proxy.

I think there were certain aspects of the proxies that could have been explored more, but everything still worked well within the story. My preconceived notions about this book continued to be derailed as Miguel explored more and more of ARCADIA and got to know the personalities involved in its creation and continued existence. This ended up being a very sweet, very human story that I really enjoyed.