2045...
Earth's environment had grown increasingly dire. Crops were failing on a massive scale, the lingering fallout of war refused to fade, pandemics spread, the land was ravaged, and the internet was collapsing under the strain. As these problems worsened, people became deeply disillusioned with the real world, which teetered on the brink of chaos and collapse.
So people began placing their hopes for salvation in an entirely new world: the Oasis, a magnificent virtual gaming universe created single-handedly by the eccentric genius and programmer James Halliday.
In this world, people could enter a wondrous virtual digital universe that stood in stark contrast to the grim reality simply by putting on a basic, inexpensive VR headset that anyone could afford.
And in this wondrous world, people could fulfill all their wishes. There was nothing they couldn't do—only things they hadn't thought of yet...
It had bustling cities, fantastical planets, and players of every shape and dazzling appearance. Classic characters and settings from movies, games, anime, novels, and countless other media from different dimensions could all be brought to life and gathered there with ease.
As long as you had some coding ability—or simply enough imagination—you could build any entirely new setting or planet in the Oasis, just as you could in the completely open-ended world of Minecraft, and make it evolve into a new map. You could even recreate any world you knew, whether or not anyone else had ever heard of it, and bring it here...
Everyone was equal here, and everyone had a chance. Even the most far-fetched dream in reality could become within reach.
Even if you were a failure struggling at the fringes of society in real life, in the Oasis you could still become a superhero, a business magnate, a king, a general, a soldier,