USA Today wrote that the novel "undoubtedly qualifies Cline as the hottest geek on the planet right now. To escape the decline their world is facing, people turn to the OASIS, [a] a virtual reality simulator accessible by players using visors and haptic technology such as gloves.

He summarized his argument against the book by stating "It’s a lionization of immature things (and immaturity) as an end to itself, rather than as the building blocks of more mature – and worthwhile – creations". He spends his time as a "gunter"--or egg hunter-- within the advanced OASIS enhanced reality program. For Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, success is measured in DeLoreans and geeked-out fans". Wade’s online avatar, Parzival, and Wade’s friend Aech spend almost all of their time looking for clues. Ernie lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.

Otherworld is the first installment in the series of the same name by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller.

When Zack crosses paths with a UFO, he soon realizes his gaming skills will be required for a far greater purpose. Parents need to know that this humorous science fiction thriller deals with a high-stakes online contest that mixes puzzles with video game violence. Most of their toys contain microchips, their video games have always looked incredibly real, and they’ve never known a world without mobile phones. He jumps through and lands inside a vintage video arcade, and soon realizes that he is in a simulation of the 1983 film WarGames.The structure of Ready Player One was a fun way for me to take all of the useless movie and video-game trivia you amass if you’re a geek and somehow make it valuable – the key to a vast fortune, which it has proven to be for me. Her role is a lonely geek’s dream girl: a beautiful woman who shares Wade’s pop culture obsessions and approvingly acknowledges his references.

His character was initially inspired by Willy Wonka who Cline described as a "rich eccentric holding a fantastic contest". Named after the temperature at which books burn, Bradbury’s tale is a chilling insight into how rapidly society can change, and how futile things can get for the people living there. Teen protagonist Wade Watts is a games fanatic living in a slum town outside Oklahoma City, but spending most of his time in the virtual world. It’s a novel for people who grew up parsing pop culture through the lens of news group fave lists and flame wars. Cadigan picks up the pace as the story progresses to eventually tie together seeminglydisparate ideas into a masterfully crafted final section.Until the first day of kindergarten, when I quickly learned that “Ernie” was not a cool name to have.