Quote 67
The planet was the site of a meticulous re-creation of his hometown as it was in the late 1980s. (8.69)
Halliday didn't even like his childhood, but he preserved it anyway, like an insect in amber. He might have done it so he could pretend to go back in time whenever he wanted. To him, having a crappy childhood was better than a crappy old-hood. To which we say: fair enough.
Quote 68
Halliday had preserved his childhood forever, here in the OASIS. (10.21)
Most of the OASIS seems to exist to preserve permanently Halliday's nostalgia. It's like a digital fountain of youth, a place that can take him back to his younger days, when life felt infinite.
Quote 69
The ability to save my place at any time basically gave me infinite lives. (10.39)
This might be one of the reasons video games unconsciously appeal to Wade. They give him the ability to defy death, to try things and again and again.