Now, Gold Farming is a real-life economic phenomenon in which players (often located at third world countries) can collect in-game valuable objects to sell them to other players (often in first world countries) for real money. Whilst I appreciated very much Anda’s personal journey of self-awareness, I have serious misgivings about how this is actually dealt with in the book, which brings me to the third aspect of the novel I’d like to expand on – the one that made me angry and a little bit horrified. This prompts Anda into realising the consequences of what she does on her side of the Atlantic, how it impacts other people then eventually spiralling into political activism. In the book, she befriends two other characters: one of them co-opts Anda into killing in-game gold famers (an illegal practice within the game) the other is a gold farmer himself, who turns out to be a poor kid from China, working in extremely poor conditions in a gold farming factory. Whilst gaming, she becomes involved with Gold Farming. This part of the book? Wonderful.Īlso great: Anda’s journey toward self-awareness and a larger comprehension about the complicated world at large. The story then follows Anda as she becomes more confident and develops relationships with other female gamers as well as other girls at her own school. Anda starts playing it after a school visit by one of the game’s organisers who talks about the rise of female gamers, the problems encountered by them (sexism, misogyny) ending with a call-to-arms in which girls are specifically invited to play with female avatars.* The idea is that Coarsegold Online provides a welcoming and safe environment in which to do so. First of all, the clear and welcomed feminist message of the book. There are, I think, three aspects of the novel worth exploring. The book portrays how Anda – the shy and lonely main character trying to fit in at her new school – starts playing Coarsegold Online, a MMRPG (for the non-initiated: massively-multiplayer role playing game) and gets involved with the real-life consequences of playing it. About how social media and the Internet can potentially shape and change the world. In its heartfelt introduction, Cory Doctorow says that In Real Life is about game and economics, about the – political, economical, social – choices that we make on a daily basis and their consequences. In Real Life, this new graphic novel written by Cory Doctorow with art by Jen Wang is full of them. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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