Kane

Kane's family was in a car wreck when he was 17, and his mother, father, and little brother were all killed.  It was actually orchestrated by his uncle, his father's elder brother that was cut out of the family inheritance — Kane's father was drugged, and when he attempted to drive them home he passed out at the wheel and veered into another lane on the freeway where they were hit by an eighteen wheeler.  Kane's inheritance is managed by his uncle in his absence, and for seven years it's worked just fine.

Then the research hospital where Kane was admitted introducted the Acadia System.  It is a virtual reality system that acts like an MMORPG; it accesses the brain during sleep and recreates the stored image of oneself to create an avatar.  After seven years of sleep, Kane is still 17 on the inside — and he's devestated when the doctors are finally able to tell him about his family.

Then it starts.  Not even open a full month and the Acadia System is attacked by a cracker; once inside, the system's intelligence turns the variety of malware into monsters that ravage and kill.  Those killed in the Acadia system sink into a vegetative state, and eventually lose brain activity altogether.  In mourning for the loss of a temporary friend, Kane goes to the Cathedral — the only place for the religious in Acadia — and meets the "angel" who notifies of those who wake from their Dreams... and those who are lost in them forever.  That angel is Constance, an Elkian AI designed to be Acadia's Goddess of Death.

Kane is sure that his uncle is behind the hacking of the Acadia System, and with a little unwitting help from Constance, Kane finds a way for the residents of Acadia to fight back — fire with fire, as it were.  Literally, when Kane figures out how to introduce "magic" to the game.