The OASIS is an online, virtual reality, game created by James Halliday. The OASIS is a game that consists of hundreds, if not thousands, of worlds to explore with an endless amount of adventures. The creation of the OASIS had completely changed the way people live. Even though the OASIS could have been anything James Halliday wanted to make it, he chose to make it nearly identical to the world that we live in today. The OASIS is plagued with the same social stigmas that people outside the game are forced to face in their daily lives. Nearly everyone is extremely dependent on the OASIS with many people using the OASIS as their main source of income and are often too afraid to leave the comfort of their homes.
“When I’d first enrolled in the OASIS public school system, I was required to give them my real name, avatar name, mailing address, and Social Security number” (pg. 29)
In the OASIS people logged in in order to complete some of the most mundane tasks such as going to school. The school system within the OASIS is similar to the school system outside the OASIS. The main difference is that none of your teachers nor classmates know your real name unless you give it them. Since the schools are in “Safe-Zones” (non-Player Vs Player areas) and each player can mute another player, the threat of bullying is not an issue in schools in the OASIS.
“…So everyone called them Sixers. These days, most gunters called referred to them as ‘the Sux0rz.’ (Because they sucked)” (pg. 33)
There is a war between the Sixers and the Gunters when it comes to finding Halliday’s Easter Egg. The Sixers work for IOI (Innovative Online Industries), and plan to take control of the OASIS and force people to pay in order to use it. The Gunters are searching for the Easter Egg for so they can have Halliday’s fortune. The Sixers work together when looking for the Easter Egg while the Gunters work by themselves and will occasionally collaborate with other Gunters. The war between Gunters and Sixers is one of the main driving points to the plot especially as the Sixers get closer and closer to opening the final gate.
“It was the dawn of a new era, one where most of the human race now spent all of their free time inside a video game” (pg. 60)
When Halliday created the OASIS, he had basically created a completely new world for people to live in, whether he had planned to or not. Due to this, most people they depend on the OASIS (basically everyone) worshiped James Halliday as if he were some sort of deity. They go so far as to teach the story of the creation of the OASIS in schools and also teach students about the life James Halliday, the man who “saved” them from the real world.
“…an invitation to one of the most exclusive gatherings in the OASIS: Ogden Morrow’s birthday party” (pg. 180)
Ogden Morrow was the man who had worked with Halliday to create the OASIS. Morrow only made one virtual appearance a year and that was to celebrate his birthday. Morrow has the same absolute power that Halliday had when he was alive, but now that Halliday is gone he is the only one with this God-like power. Because Morrow helped Halliday, he does have a similar fortune that Halliday has, but Halliday is the one associated with the creation of the OASIS and Morrow is often overlooked by many people.
