Journal of Modern Literature Vol. 39, No. 2 • Copyright © The Trustees of Indiana University • DOI 10.2979/jmodelite.39.2.01 Playing the Game of Literature: Ready Player One, the Ludic Novel, and the Geeky “Canon” of White Masculinity Megan Amber Condis Stephen F. Austin State University Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One (2011) illustrates the anxieties and uncertainties of embodiment and identity in the digital age by constructing a pop culture “canon” of texts that all participants in video game culture must know. he texts in this canon are “taught” via a series of references and puzzles that the characters in the novel (as well as the reader) must solve. Being a “gamer” thus becomes synonymous with having proper knowledge of the canon. However, the construction of this canon privileges certain kinds of bodies and identities over others. he result is an image of gamer culture in which white maleness is the default assumption against which all participants are measured. Keywords: Ernest Cline / video games and digital culture / performativity / identity / the canon D igital gaming has been growing exponentially in popularity in recent years. Video games are turning up in the living rooms and on the computers and smart phones of an increasingly diverse group of media consumers (Bangeman). Gaming has even given rise to its own vibrant subculture with its own specialized vocabulary and its own complex social structures and hierarchies (Hebdige). Gamers are often viewed as media-savvy tastemakers, early adopt- ers who can be studied by corporations looking to predict which franchises will become mainstream hits, and they are also courted as a niche market in their own right ( Jenkins, Convergence Culture 23). For example, they are the target audience for a new genre of meta-geek iction derived from science iction and cyberpunk Megan Amber Condis (megancondis@gmail.com) is an assistant professor of English at Stephen F. Austin State University. She is currently working on a book project on gam- ing culture titled Playing Politics: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Game of Masculinity in Online Culture. You can reach her on Twitter @MeganCondis or check out an original video game based on her dissertation research on her website: https://megancondis.wordpress.com/. 01-39_2 Condis (1-19).indd 1 3/28/16 1:49 PM