This has been driving me CRAZY!

All I can remember about the plot is, it's set in the future. There's a very popular but I believe deadly computer game that everyone (or at least teens/young adults) competes in. There are levels, and not completing a level means you actually die, I think? Or at least there are serious consequences.

The game may even be a way of life, i.e. in order to pay your rent, you have to win the levels, but for the life of me I can't remember. I don't even know who starred in it.

Can anyone help???