<Ul> <Li> Wade Owen Watts a.k.a. Parzival: the viewpoint character, an orphan from the "stacks" surrounding metropolitan Oklahoma City . Wade names his OASIS character Parzival after the Arthurian knight involved in the quest for the holy grail, and dedicates his life to finding James Halliday's Easter egg . He is 18 years old when he finds the Copper Key in the prologue of the book . His username at the virtual high school he attends is Wade3 . Wade's character was based on a mix of Cline as well as his geek friends . </Li> <Li> James Donovan Halliday a.k.a. Anorak: creator of OASIS . A big fan of 1980s culture, he announces in his will his plans to leave his entire fortune to whomever can find his Easter egg that he had hidden in OASIS . His character was initially inspired by Willy Wonka who Cline described as a "rich eccentric holding a fantastic contest". Cline used the personalities of Howard Hughes and Richard Garriott, and placed Halliday's birth year around the same as his own so that his pop culture interests would coincide with Cline's "and the other middle - aged uber geeks I know". </Li> <Li> Aech (pronounced like the letter H): Wade's best friend, fellow gunter, and rival in the quest to find the egg . Aech's specialty is in PvP and first - person shooter games, and is one of the top combatants on OASIS . Although Aech's avatar is an athletic Caucasian heterosexual male, Aech is played by an African - American lesbian named Helen Harris, who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and is about the same age as Wade . Aech is based partly on Cline's friend Harry Knowles as well as himself and other geeks, both men and women . </Li> <Li> Art3mis: a famous female gunter and blogger . Wade has a huge cyber-crush on her, which is complicated by their competition in search of the egg . She chose her avatar's name from the Greek goddess of the hunt . Like other characters, Cline based Art3mis on himself and other geeks, both men and women . Her real name is Samantha Evelyn Cook from Vancouver, British Columbia and she has a port - wine stain on her face . </Li> <Li> Ogden "Og" Morrow: Co-creator of the OASIS and best friend of James Halliday . They founded the video game company Gregarious Games, where he would handle the business operations, and which would later become Gregarious Simulation Systems (GSS), the company that launched OASIS . His appearance and personality are described as being "a cross between Albert Einstein and Santa Claus ." Concerned that people were using it to escape reality, he quits GSS and works on educational software with his wife Kira until her death . His relationship with Halliday deteriorated, and the two men remained estranged until before Halliday's death, when he is entrusted with ensuring that the hunt goes smoothly and without cheating . Ogden lives in Oregon and owns a set of advanced OASIS consoles and immersion rigs, and is able to monitor everyone in the OASIS, even in private chat rooms . He rarely appears in public, and only shows up on the OASIS once a year on his birthday, where he assumes the avatar of the Great and Powerful Og . Ogden's character and relationship with Halliday was inspired by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, with Morrow being more like Jobs as a "charismatic tech leader". </Li> <Li> Daito: one of the two Japanese gunters who rise to the top of the scoreboard early on in the hunt, working in a team with "brother", Shoto . The pair have a generally tense, but not unfriendly relationship with Aech, and Art3mis, They are closer to Parzival, and work together on quests unrelated to the hunt . They are based on otaku: Japanese geeks who enjoy movies and anime, as well as hikikomori: people who live as recluses inside their family's homes . Daito's real name is revealed to be Toshiro Yoshiaki after he is killed by the IOI . </Li> <Li> Shoto: the second and younger of the two Japanese gunters working as a team in their quest for the egg . Shoto's real name is Akihide Karatsu . Following the death of his partner, Shoto collaborates with Art3mis, Aech and Wade to finish the hunt . </Li> <Li> Nolan Sorrento: the head of operations at Innovative Online Industries (IOI), the multinational corporation that serves as an Internet service provider for most of the world, and that plans to take over and monetize the OASIS . Sorrento is head of IOI's Oology division, which is dedicated to searching for Halliday's Easter egg . His avatar name is IOI - 655321, after his employee number . IOI employees in the division are nicknamed Sixers, after their six - digit employee numbers that also begin with the number 6 . Cline said that he named Sorrento after Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, and said, "Not that I think Nolan is a bad guy, or anything . It's meant as a subtle tribute!" </Li> </Ul> <Li> Wade Owen Watts a.k.a. Parzival: the viewpoint character, an orphan from the "stacks" surrounding metropolitan Oklahoma City . Wade names his OASIS character Parzival after the Arthurian knight involved in the quest for the holy grail, and dedicates his life to finding James Halliday's Easter egg . He is 18 years old when he finds the Copper Key in the prologue of the book . His username at the virtual high school he attends is Wade3 . Wade's character was based on a mix of Cline as well as his geek friends . </Li> <Li> James Donovan Halliday a.k.a. Anorak: creator of OASIS . A big fan of 1980s culture, he announces in his will his plans to leave his entire fortune to whomever can find his Easter egg that he had hidden in OASIS . His character was initially inspired by Willy Wonka who Cline described as a "rich eccentric holding a fantastic contest". Cline used the personalities of Howard Hughes and Richard Garriott, and placed Halliday's birth year around the same as his own so that his pop culture interests would coincide with Cline's "and the other middle - aged uber geeks I know". </Li> <Li> Aech (pronounced like the letter H): Wade's best friend, fellow gunter, and rival in the quest to find the egg . Aech's specialty is in PvP and first - person shooter games, and is one of the top combatants on OASIS . Although Aech's avatar is an athletic Caucasian heterosexual male, Aech is played by an African - American lesbian named Helen Harris, who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and is about the same age as Wade . Aech is based partly on Cline's friend Harry Knowles as well as himself and other geeks, both men and women . </Li>

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