Wade Watts is the hero of Ready Player One. He starts the novel as a poor, shy, young man with no friends, no family, and no real future. Through a series of astonishing coincidences coupled with specific skills that he has honed, Wade manages to win Halliday’s contest. His avatar’s name is Parzival—the Arthurian knight who finds the Holy Grail. Wade closely resembles Halliday, both in interests and social awkwardness, and becomes more and more like Halliday over the course of the story, to the point of shutting himself away from society for a time. However, unlike Halliday, Wade learns the value of relationships and uses that knowledge to succeed.

Like many of his generation, Wade chooses escape over reality. Inside the OASIS, Wade can be whomever he wants to be rather than having to be himself. He can also pretend that the world is exciting and wonderful as opposed to cruel and dying. Over the course of the story, Wade learns several hard lessons in both the OASIS and the real world; while the OASIS may be a tempting escape, escaping doesn’t make real world problems go away. Hiding inside the OASIS will not keep IOI from trying to kill him or his friends, nor will it bring him definite happiness.