Ready Player One in a fantastic book by Ernst Cline. The best book I have ever read, well that's a lie, listened to.
The Audiobook, Narrated by Wil Wheaton, is how I consumed it. I have pushed it on to everybody I know and now it has been made into a movie by Steven Spielberg.
The Trailer looks Awesome.
Wikipedia
"Ready Player One is a 2011 science-fiction novel, and the debut novel by Ernest Cline. The story, set in a dystopian 2044, follows protagonist Wade Watts as he searches for an Easter egg in a virtual reality game, the discovery of which will lead him to inherit a valuable fortune in a world torn by an energy crisis."
The virtual reality game is a massive MMO that most of the world plays full of every Scifi Ship, droid, planet, star system that you can think of. Players travel around in ships like the Millennium Falcon and Serenity. The story is chocked full of references to old school video games and Scifi movies.
I am really glad its been made into a movie.
Side note.
Ernest Cline, the author, is a hard core old school geek, his knowledge of science fiction and ‘80s pop culture is legendary.
He drives a Back to the Future version Delorean, that George R R Martin borrowed for a private screening of Back to the Future. He took part in digging through Landfill looking for a Secret Atari burial ground. Apparently they used to throw away old cartridge games at a local landfill.
https://www.wired.com/2014/04/atari-et-dig/
https://www.theverge.com/2014/3/11/5492708/ernest-cline-is-the-luckiest-geek-alive-interview