Forum: scifi.stackexchange.com
Tags: <story-identification><virtual-worlds>
Title: Story about getting trapped in virtual reality labyrinth
Question: I remember several years ago coming across a story where the characters get trapped in a virtual reality labyrinth where they were wearing a prototype/demo bodysuit that simulates pain responses, to the degree it could even kill the user. Also it could simulate smell.  I think it was in written form, but I can't be sure. Can anyone identify the title?

Answers:
sents: text: It's definitely Shadow of the Minotaur because I've just read it and its great!
text: They are working for a person called Glen Recede who is the game master and the body-suit
text: is like a second skin as they say and they get stuck in a video game in a labyrinth which is the final level, with a Minotaur!
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/13940/Snowy
score: 4
sents: text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killobyte by Piers Anthony sounds like the story to me, memory says the main character that had the death issue was a paraplegic, and also that the "kill" of the game was supposed to get progressively worse as a discouragement.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/48373/buzz
score: 3
sents: text: It could be that you are talking about the Otherland series by Tad Williams.
text: Throughout the second and third book, the protagonists travel from one virtual reality to another, although they never really are in an actual labyrinth.
text: It only differs a bit in your description of how they are interacting with this reality (spoiler ahead)
text: Firstly, they are not all wearing bodysuits.
text: Secondly, it's not the suit that could kill them If this is not what you are talking about, could you give some more info?
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/8028/Sentry
score: 2
sents: text: Caverns of Soctrates by Dennis L. McKiernan also has a similar idea, though it's a fantasy world that they enter, and the characters are a group of gamers who are supposed to be testing the virtual reality and end up getting stuck inside it instead.
text: It was quite fun.
text: Here are some additional details (spoiler): I don't recall if they were wearing bodysuits, but the story did have the characters trying to survive in the VR while the people who had developed it were on the outside trying to get them out.
text: There was also a horrific storm occurring at the same time to complicate matters in the real world, and a scene where ball lightning was floating throughout the building at the climax of the storm.
text: At the end, after the gamers escape, it's revealed that one of the magic users has somehow retained their abilities in the real world.
text: http://books.google.com/books/about/Caverns_of_Socrates.html?id=1cH2c5WkwS0C
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/12521/Ben
score: 2
sents: text: This sounds very similar to Dream Park , or maybe one of its sequels.
text: The series is built around the concept of high-tech LARPing .
text: Characters do end up trapped in mazes in at least some of the novels; they also use high-tech bodysuits a lot of the time, since they're basically playing an advanced interactive RPG.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/3879/Tacroy
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
There is a strong suggestion that this is "Shadow of the Minotaur". However, other suggestions include the  "Otherland"  series by Tad Williams, "Caverns of Socrates" by Dennis L. McKiernan or "Dream Park".
The title is either: Shadow of the Minotaur; Otherland; Caverns of Socrates; or Dream Park.