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For the Win |  | Author: Cory Doctorow
Publisher: Tor Teen
List Price: $17.99
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Rating:  18 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 6.6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0765322161
EAN: 9780765322166
ASIN: 0765322161
Publication Date: May 11, 2010
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Product Description
In the virtual future, you must organize to survive
At 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
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 Story of a Plausible Future August 31, 2010
E. Wooley
"For the Win" is a compelling read, although I had to put it down for a while because some characters' suffering became too oppressive. Although the author wrote it as fiction, in some ways the story treads closely to the future that's coming in. I find it plausible in a way that the science fiction I read as a teenager never was - even though some of those scenarios have come true.
For example, an article published in the Washington Post's Capital Business publication last week reports on a new platform, Social Ingot, that "provides ways for companies to make money from their virtual-currency-based applications."* And last year's independent film release, "Second Skin," introduced viewers to goldfarmers and gaming as a way of life.**
Another thing that's useful about the book is that it demonstrates and begins to explain several significant concepts, such as the role of confidence in markets, the reasons why workers organize themselves into unions, and the possibility and power that exists in today's cheapest mobile phone. This engaging book could be used to ignite conversation among young and mature adults on these and other topics. Much learning could occur - in all directions! This is the first book I've read by Cory Doctorow, but it won't be the last.
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Meaty, intellectual thriller for teens August 13, 2010
J. Tetreault
Doctorow isn't afraid to write long, meaty books with complex political and economic themes. As someone not enamored of dumbing-down literature for teens, I loved For The Win. Although it's set in the present, Doctorow's novel about virtual economies has enough sci-fi flair and steam-punk-esque vibes to appeal to fans of apocalyptic futures such as Hunger Games or the Uglies Trilogy. Doctorow writes superb characters: driven, ambitious kids with revolutionary spirits and a good heads on their shoulders. I especially liked 15-year-old Mala ("General Robotwalla") whose leadership and vision carried her virtual troops to victory. For the Win has a lot to teach readers about how serious, and deadly, any economic system--even the virtual ones--can become. Doctorow has intense zeal for the new political crises of the virtual age--privacy, gaming, intellectual freedom, and social justice--and it shows through the passion he channels to craft this masterful thriller. Highly recommended to adults, teens, and anyone who knows that it's never just a game.
A little too much of a good thing July 15, 2010
Laura de Leon (Silicon Valley, CA)
I loved the first half of this book, but for me, the second half bogged down some. I still enjoyed it, but wasn't unhappy for it to end.
Imagine a world a few years forward from ours. On-line gaming is a really, really big deal. The amount of money moving around within the games is huge. It's all play money, of course. Except there are significant numbers of people willing to trade real money for it.
"Gold farms" are a booming business- groups spend long hours playing to earn game cash and other rewards, which then get sold to players looking for a boost. At first glance, it seems like a dream come true- get paid to play video games. However, sweatshop conditions for these farmers take the pleasure away, and the demanding bosses with out of game enforcers take away the possibility of starting your own business.
The book follows several people:
Matthew is a young man in China, who is attempting to set up his own crew farming gold. His old bosses are not pleased.
Wei-Dong is an American high school student. He's renamed himself to fit in better with his Chinese buddies he plays with all night. He finds himself living on his own when he runs away from his family, who are about to ship him to a school that will help him stay on track, away from any distractions.
Mala lives in India, and commands her own army of players. When they first are offered money to play, it seems too good to be true. They find themselves deeper and deeper in a situation far less pleasant than expected.
More characters are introduced throughout the book, and I was overwhelmed by them all near the end. There were so many, each with a role to play.
At the beginning of the book, I loved the look at the interplay between the real and gaming worlds. The look at the meaning of money was fascinating and thought provoking. Bringing in politics and unions also kept causing me to stop and think about it. When the game-makers views of the issues were added, I loved seeing that side. Eventually, it got to be a little too much.
Overall, that's my opinion of the book- too much of too many good things.
Enjoyable but missing background.. July 7, 2010
Ben R. Boule
I had never read any of Cory Doctorow's work but he is constantly showing up on radio shows or in news articles so I thought I would give this a shot.
I didn't realize this was supposed to be a kids book, it's quite long, and while not very hard to read, seems like it would only be appropriate for an intelligent teen who was an avid reader. Most would probably put it down.
When the author is moving the story forward, this book is well written, and it's quite a page turner. He does a good job developing the characters, the settings are vividly described, and the story moves well. At other times, he goes off on a tangent and is basically giving a lecture on his particular viewpoint or trying to explain complex financial or labor concepts from his point of view. These portions of the book certainly drag on, although not terribly. These sections also seem most likely to turn off younger readers.
One of the weakest points is that the book never really tries to explain how virtual economies come to be so important in the book's version of the future. It's something that could have used explanation, as it seems fairly improbable on many levels. He develops many of the concepts around this idea deeply, but never bothers to consider all the forces which would/will/have stopped this from happening in reality. Basically the book just assumes that it's vision will come true, and given that it is very near-future, it left me wanting an explanation.
The author also stereotypes some of the characters very badly. The book is very pro-labor, pro-gamer, etc.. and that is fine but it also has some strange stereotypes with respect to the engineers & businessmen who run the game systems that don't really add anything to the story and aren't very realistic.
Lastly, it is great that the book is available for free as an ebook, but do note there are advertisements spliced into the text of the book. They are not terribly intrusive though, and are also not distributed evenly throughout the book. I read one of these ebooks, and my only real complaint would be that the ebook did not have a table of contents.
Another Great Read July 2, 2010
J. Schaeffer (Michigan)
This book kept me up very late. I found myself engaged and fascinated with the idea of the Internet as a platform to organize workers. I do believe That Cory is visionary in his understanding of the evolving power of global communication.
I would highly recommend this book to young adults, geezers, and everyone in between.
Important Disclosure: I have made *real money* in an online game.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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