The writing can feel heavy-handed, with the message overpowering Anda's voice. The author attempts to tackle these large issues and others (like gender and privilege) but only does so superficially.

A detailed introduction by Doctorow about games, economics, politics, and activism serves to ensure readers 'get' the story. The illustrations of the game are vibrant and dynamic, contrasting well with the muted browns and drab greens of Anda's reality. The narrative toggles between the in-game story and real life. She encourages him to demand health care or strike, a choice that ends up having real-world ramifications. She learns about his real life-he works long days and has no health coverage. Anda meets Raymond, a Chinese teen who works as a gold farmer. These farmers sell gold to players, allowing them to essentially cheat at the game by quickly buying items they have not earned. Immediately adept at the game, Anda meets a player who tells her she can make money by killing characters farming for gold. Gr 9 Up-Anda begins playing Coarsegold Online, a massive multiplayer game, after a gamer specifically looking for girls to play as female characters visits her school. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. 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. Gaming is, for Anda, entirely a good thing.īut 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.

It's a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends. It's a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. 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.Īnda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role playing game that she spends most of her free time on.

In real life doctorow