The VR Metaverse of 'Ready Player One' Is Just Beyond Our Grasp

Virtual reality, as it's been promised to us by science fiction, is a singular realm of infinite possibility. Star Trek's Holodeck, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Virtual World, Snow Crash's Metaverse: Each is the all-powerful experience generator of its world, able to accommodate a character's any desire. Novelist Ernest Cline sharpened this vision in his 2011 debut, Ready Player One, which hits theaters in March courtesy of Steven Spielberg. While the story is set in the strife-torn meatspace of 2045, most of its action unfolds in a vast network of artificial worlds called the OASIS. And in the tradition of reality playing catch-up to sci-fi, the OASIS has become the endgame for real-world VR developers, many of whom are actively trying to replicate its promise.