Nomad Soul

A year before the events of Cataclysm, Alan Campbell has just lost his dream job when Osmark Technologies cancels the VRMMORPG he helped build, until he's given one weekend to prove the unfinished game actually works. Diving into Viridian Gate Online while it's still just a game, or so it seems, he finds the AIs running the world have plans of their own for his soul, in the first novel of the Illusionist series.