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For the Win
By Doctorow, Cory
Publishers Summary:
In the virtual future, you must organize to surviveAt any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual “gold,†jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world’s poorest countries, where countless “gold farmers,†bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of “General Robotwalla.†In Shenzen, heart of China’s industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power—including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister’s people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once—a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all. Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation
- ISBN
- 978-0-76532-216-6
- Publisher
- Tor
REVIEWS
School Library Journal
Reviewed on July 1, 2010
Gr 10-Up Wei-dong, known to his Orange County family as Leonard, is addicted to guild game play with his Chinese colleagues. Mala and Yasmin, brilliant strategists, are gaming from an Internet cafe in the poor streets of Dharavi. Matthew and Lu are trying to establish their own freelance gold-farming operation in the rough city of Shenzhen. Guided from Singapore by the secretive Big Sister Nor, these young people are slowly coming together and forming a union to demand basic working conditions and protection from organized crime rackets. In order to prove their strength, these W...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Magazine
Reviewed on May 1, 2010
While many YA novels have explored the ambiguous boundaries between virtual reality and the world as we know it (Ender's Game, anyone?), Doctorow's is the first I know of to take on the real-world economic implications of computer game currencies. As it turns out, this is a lot more interesting than it might sound. Matthew is a Chinese gold farmer, one of the thousands who play role-playing games for hours in order to accumulate virtual money, points, and treasures ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Guide
Reviewed on October 1, 2010
Doctorow follows a handful of computer-gamers, gold farmers, and those who would take advantage of them, explorin...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Junior Library Guild
Reviewed on May 1, 2010
- An engrossing novel that skillfully combines a brainy central concept with high-stakes action. - The characters, including a feared teenage gaming strategist from India known as "General Robotwallah" and a California boy who sends himself to China in a s...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
