In Real Life
Ratings45
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings45
Average rating3.7
Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role playing game that she spends most of her free time on. It's a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It's a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends. Gaming is, for Anda, entirely a good thing. But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer -- a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person's real livelihood is at stake. From acclaimed teen author Cory Doctorow and rising star cartoonist Jen Wang, In Real Life is a sensitive, thoughtful look at adolescence, gaming, poverty, and culture-clash. This title has common Core connections. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews with the most likes.
Disappointing, because I usually enjoy this author. This ends up being a simplified version of the politics in his novel For the Win. Doctorow has his agenda, but doesn't take the time to set it up which is a real disservice, because it had so much possibility. If you want a strong female heroin gamer, Check out Felicia Day's The Guild comics. You get to see a female gamer grow into the strong woman she is without the proselytizing and lack of depth in this book. Sorry Doc, you've done better.
I love the artwork but one of the conflicts brought up was solved much too swiftly and it relied on the “white savior” trope which was a total buzzkill. I know it probably came from a good place but the topic is way too complex to be dealt with in that manner and in a 200 pages graphic novel.
This book was not at all what I expected (which was more video game-y type stuff) and I was very happy with it on the whole. I can't believe I sat on this book for so long without reading it, it was truly a delight to read from beginning to end.
It's pretty classic Doctorow, with pictures? I mean, if you're into gaming unionization, you'll probably get a kick out off it. Otherwise ...
