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Infinite, boundless, and endless levels of ethereal experiences; a world where the only limit is your imagination and the universe, your oyster. A malleable reality where you can live any life you imagine. These thoughts ran rampant in Ernest Cline’s mind as he sat brainstorming ideas for the new novel, Ready Player One. The book presents an incredible virtual environment called the OASIS, which can be compared to the ideal virtual world that the Virtual Reality (VR) community hopes to realize in the next few years. Following the movie adaptation of the novel, thought-provoking ideas were sparked, and a heightened interest in virtual reality across the tech world developed in a bid to bring the fictional OASIS to life.

he movie depicts a universe where virtual reality explorers visit to experience the full potential of VR technology but ultimately settle down to call this place (the OASIS) home. In reference to the movie, several hypotheses can be drawn on what the OASIS is. These include seeing the OASIS as a multiverse with thousands of independent realities rolled into one space, a playground that spans tens of light years apart, or a virtual galaxy brought together by the cumulative sum of human ingenuity over the years. But the question still stands: Could such a fantasy world actually exist?

The realistic prospects for an OASIS-style virtual environment can not be as simple as a yes or no. It’s impossible to say yes right now because we simply don’t have the means to create a world on par with the OASIS because the technology, materials, and tools necessary to achieve this are still in their infancy. But then again, it is not a dead end as the groundwork in favor of this cause already forecasts a future where the OASIS is real.

Before drawing the curtains on the feasibility of Ready Player One in the real world, let us explore the parallels that exist between the tech in the fiction and the tech that is readily available today. For example, the central character Wade Watts uses a VR headset that is light, comfortable to wear, and a stand-alone device with lifelike visuals. In contrast, a good number of VR headsets we currently have are cumbersome, have to be tethered to a computer that serves the processing function, and lack the cutting-edge visuals that are right now a mere aspiration.

The movie also stars a full-body Haptic Suit and Gloves that allows the user to interact entirely with their immediate virtual environment responding to stimuli in touch and making contact with other virtual objects as if they were real. Today, there are no sci-fi haptic suits, as seen in the movie, but the foundational designs for these wearables already show a lot of promise.

While all this can be a bit discouraging, its feasibility isn’t totally out of mind or out of reach as we are now seeing high-end VR headsets made available that don’t require a wired connection, such as the HTC Vive, Valve’s SteamVR, and the Meta Quest 2 which presents a more evolved standalone VR headset that has an excellent display, a powerful built-in processor and the option to use with or without a tethering accessory cable. Also, Apple’s getting their hands in the mix with the upcoming 8K VR/AR goggles that won’t require a cable to operate. This introduces comfort and better mobility. Also, pioneering companies like BHaptics and Haptx are working on wearables and standalone haptic technology that may look and feel similar to the gear featured in Ready Player One. With one of its latest releases, BHaptics introduced the BHaptics Tactglove that provides a much more immersive interaction for the user with precision-point haptic feedbacks that are comfortable, breathable, lightweight, and made of flexible material like seen on Wade Watts in Ready Player One. Additionally, there is an ongoing development of inside-out tracking that will enable realistic body movements to be transmitted in VR without needing additional hardware. This is very much like the virtual reality shown in the film. Still, again, this kind of technology is currently not readily accessible for widespread adoption in the real world, but it is a step in the right direction of a bright future for VR.

VR has taken a leap in the transmigration of regular VR headsets to multisensory VR masks that have the all-in-one immersive experience for users. Feelreal has stepped forward with the intention of creating a multisensory face mask that looks like something of a hyperspace movie that can let users engage other senses of smell, wind vibrations, heat, and pressure. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Granted, there are challenges and hurdles to jump with bringing all this to fruition while making them scalable, accessible, and affordable, but this is