stephen spielberg's adaptation of the novel of the same name tells the tale of a downtrodden teen hero who escapes the dystopian sprawl of the near future america by spending as much time as possible online in a multiplayer virtual world. a place which matches up characters and pop culture themes from movies, comics and games. it was another sci—fi novel that coined the phrase metaverse. the 1992 book snow crash which also has a hero who has got a crummy life who escapes into a virtual world. the metaverse. it does sort of exist today championed by an australian outfit called zero latency. the closest we have to free—roaming vr is this