
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role-playing game where she spends most of her free time. 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.
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.” – GoodReads
I love this story! The artwork is so gorgeous, and I love how the colors subtly change between the real and virtual worlds. The story is really compelling and interesting, and I like that in the beginning Anda is a newb in the game, so that we get to discover the virtual reality along with her and learn about the Coarsegold world. Continue reading →