Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

by Ernest Cline

The Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation was a big place.

This is a “backronym.” I had already decided to name the sprawling virtual world in my story “the Oasis,” because it served as an escape from reality for the inhabitants of my futuristic dystopia. Then I realized it might be fun if the name was also an acronym, so I spent a few weeks puzzling it out. I remember hitting up the “Sensory Immersive Simulation” part first, then making a long list of potential words starting with O and A that I thought might also fit. I thought Ontological was a fitting adjective, defined as "relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being." And so was Anthropocentric, defined as "regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence." An Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory-Immersive Simulation was just what I had in mind. Plus it just sounded cool. And that’s how the OASIS got its full name.