It reminded me of the techno-thriller book Daemon. A virus takes over the world, infects every major company, and creates a darknet reality based on a popular MMORPG. Everyone who is a part of the darknet wears VR glasses to tag and control physical objects as well as see new layers of virtual reality like interacting with AI beings.
Indeed, I think that one and The Thirteenth Floor are much better explorations of virtual (simulated) reality than, say, the superficial zen & mainstream action of The Matrix.