It’s one of those special moments again. Cory Doctorow has released his latest novel, For The Win. I’m a huge fan of his writing and have each of his books in hard cover, some even signed! One of the reasons I try and buy the hard covers, is that Cory gives the books away for free! Yes you read that right, the books are released under a Creative Commons licence and may be downloaded, re-mixed and generally shaken about as long as no profit is made from it. My personal preference is to read them but you never know, a movie could be on the horizon if I ever find the time! If you are interested in buying a copy, here it is on Amazon!
Back to the point here, I have downloaded a copy to load up on my eBook reader, if you are interested, go and find out more for yourself! Here is what it’s about;
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.