My favorite message threads were those devoted to bashing the Sixers. "Sixers" was the derogatory nickname gunters had given to employees of Innovative Online Industries. IOI (pronounced eye-oh-eye ) was a global communications conglomerate and the world’s largest Internet service provider. A large portion of IOI’s business centered around providing access to the OASIS and on selling goods and services inside it. For this reason, IOI had attempted several hostile takeovers of Gregarious Simulation Systems, all of which had failed. Now they were trying to seize control of GSS by exploiting a loophole in Halliday’s will.