gaming

Review: In Real Life by Cory Doctorow

| Tasha

in real life

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Jen Wang

After a woman gamer comes to present information on gaming and computer science to her class, Anda starts to play Coarsegold.  She starts to spend most of her time away from school playing the online multiplayer game.  Online she meets another player who encourages her to start killing gold farmers for real life money.  So Anda refocuses her battles online specifically on gold farmers, killing them even though they don’t fight back.  But something feels wrong about what she is doing and then Anda gets to know one of the gold farmers who has started to learn English.  He is a poor Chinese kid who is just trying to survive and loves playing Coarsegold even though he does it for hours as a gold farmer.  Anda soon finds herself questioning the morals of killing gold farmers and what is wrong and right in real life and in the game world. 

As a gamer girl myself, I applaud Doctorow for choosing to have a female lead in his book about online gaming.  It adds another dimension to a book that wrestles with tough questions about gaming and gold farming.  Gold farmers are people, usually from poorer countries, who are paid to play the online game, gather materials, and then sell them for real money, something that is against the rules of the games.  So the book gets to the heart of people from wealthy countries using those from poorer countries, it looks at working conditions in gold farming companies, and questions the real ethics of the situation, beyond the superficial ones. 

Wang’s illustrations are dynamite.  She shows Anda as a girl who is built like a real person.  She is rounded, comfortable in her clothes, and wonderfully not on a diet!  Wang creates an online character for Anda who is powerful but not busty and half naked.  It’s a great choice artistically. 

Gaming books that actually get the game worlds right are few and far between.  Gamers of any MMO will recognize the economy, the style and the play here while non-gamers will find themselves understanding gaming and game economies too.  Appropriate for ages 12-16.

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

Review: The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

| Tasha

other normals

The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Perry Eckert loves to play Creatures & Caverns in all of his spare time.  He doesn’t have any friends to play the game with, so he just creates characters.  When someone inspires him to create a character based on himself, he does.  Of course the character differs in some ways, like his red skin, yellow hair and tail, but he is also not that strong, not that fast, but full of honor.  Perry’s parents are worried about him being a social outcast, so they send him to summer camp.  There, Perry is swept into a world where Creatures & Caverns is real!  Even better, they need Perry to help them save their world.  All it will take is Perry kissing the most popular girl at camp.  No pressure.

Vizzini is a master of misfit characters.  He takes Perry and throughout the book reveals much more about him than just his geeky exterior.  Instead, we all discover that Perry is a true hero, filled with honor, who is intelligent and very brave.  Vizzini throws in realizations that Perry has about modern American life, about thinking too much and acting too little, that will resonate with readers. 

Vizzini does not shy away from swear words in critical places.  There is also some nudity (on the part of Perry) but I won’t ruin those parts for you.  Vizzini brings lots of humor to the story, enough to bring out big guffaws of laughter at times.  There is also plenty of adventure, some death, enormous monsters, and everything that D&D players would want in a book. 

Get this into the hands of kids you know who game.  They will enjoy not only the game brought to life idea, but also the winning hero at the heart of a great adventure.  Appropriate for ages 15-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from HarperCollins.