“Standing there, under the bleak fluorescents of my tiny one-room
apartment, there was no escaping the truth. In real life, I was nothing
but an antisocial hermit. A recluse. A pale-skinned pop culture–obsessed
geek. An agoraphobic shut-in, with no real friends, family, or genuine
human contact. I was just another sad, lost, lonely soul, wasting his life on
a glorified video game.”
―
Ernest Cline,
Ready Player One