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For the Win: A Novel Hardcover – May 11, 2010

4.2 out of 5 stars 288

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.

Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation


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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up Wei-dong, known to his Orange County family as Leonard, is addicted to guild game play with his Chinese colleagues. Mala and Yasmin, brilliant strategists, are gaming from an Internet cafe in the poor streets of Dharavi. Matthew and Lu are trying to establish their own freelance gold-farming operation in the rough city of Shenzhen. Guided from Singapore by the secretive Big Sister Nor, these young people are slowly coming together and forming a union to demand basic working conditions and protection from organized crime rackets. In order to prove their strength, these Webblies take over the three games owned by the Coca-Cola Company. Battling for real-world rights in a virtual environment, they must overcome corrupt cops, determined sys ops, and social indifference to beat the game. Doctorow is continually at the leading edge of electronic issues, rallying supporters to the causes of intellectual freedom, privacy, and social justice. Readers will appreciate the game descriptions, but will have a harder time relating the gold-farming issues back to their own play. Lengthy asides detail the workings of the game economies, but they aren't as skillfully incorporated as in Little Brother (Tor, 2008). The characters are well formed, but at times it is difficult to keep their interactions in order. Leonard's internal rant with his father is preachy and somewhat tenuous as a justification for the benefits of social gaming. On the other hand, Yasmin's emotional turmoil and attempt to reconcile her upbringing with her current circumstances is honest and rewarding. Full of action and information, this is a solid, if occasionally soapbox-worthy, narrative. Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Doctorow is indispensable. It’s hard to imagine any other author taking on youth and technology with such passion, intelligence, and understanding. Although perhaps less urgent than Little Brother (2008), this effort is superior in every other aspect: scope, plot, character, and style. Set in the near future and in locations across the globe (though primarily China and India), the story involves a sweeping cast of characters making a living—if you want to call brutal conditions and pitiful wages a “living”—in such virtual-game worlds as Svartalfheim Warriors and Zombie Mecha. Many of them, like 15-year-old Mala (known by her troops as “General Robotwalla”), endure physical threats from their bosses to farm virtual gold, which is then sold to rich First World gamers. Then these brilliant teens are brought together by the mysterious Big Sister Nor, who has a plan to unionize and bring these virtual worlds—and real-world sweatshops, too—to a screeching halt. Once again Doctorow has taken denigrated youth behavior (this time, gaming) and recast it into something heroic. He can’t resist the occasional lecture—sometimes breaking away from the plot to do so—but thankfully his lessons are riveting. With it’s eye-opening humanity and revolutionary zeal, this ambitious epic is well worth the considerable challenge. Grades 10-12. --Daniel Kraus

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Teen; First Edition (May 11, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0765322161
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0765322166
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 - 18 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1070L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.37 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.79 x 1.57 x 8.48 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 288

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Cory Doctorow
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Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults; CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. His latest novel is ATTACK SURFACE, a standalone adult sequel to LITTLE BROTHER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
288 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2012
Some reviewers are accurate in saying this novel does not explore character development. That is a valid complaint. It is the complaint most often lodged against sci-fi including greats like H.G. Wells, Jack Vance, etc. Many literary critics, however, have pointed out that a Novel of Ideas has a different purpose than a Novel of Characters and should be judged by its intention.

Why write a Novel of Ideas when you could just write nonfiction essays, one commenter said. The reason is that we identify with the characters when written as fiction and the ideas permeate us more fully.

The best kind of novel would have the ideas, and the characters would also develop, like H.G. Wells Ann Veronica, or Jack Vance's character Wayness Tamm in the Araminta Station trilogy. But among the fifty-ish novels each of those two authors gave us, only one or two stand out as having the Character AND the Idea. Perhaps it is difficult to do both, and rare. Cory Doctorow gave us only the Idea, not the Character, in For the Win.

I thoroughly enjoyed For the Win. The idea kept me reading late into the night. I'd like to give the rest of this review to the Idea that Doctorow gave us in this book. The idea is compassion. It is not just a political stance, which could easily be catagorized as Liberal, with the value of Unions for exploited workers. But there are many scenes beginning about a third of the way through the book, and continuing through the end, that give an unconditionally compassionate perspective. For example, on p 179, the enlightened character Ashok says:

"You can talk all you want about 'Indian workers,' but until you find solidarity with all workers, you'll never be able to protect your precious Indian workers."

This is a perspective that does not (yet) belong to the Left or to the Right. What I want, I wish for others, even my competitors in other counteries, is a version of the Golden Rule, that has been around since Confucious and Leviticus and later Jesus. This is the Idea in For the Win. And I feel this Idea alone is worth five stars, and worth encouraging many people to read.

I am forty eight, and I bought a copy for my 22 year old daughter. She has struggled with optimism about the direction the world is going. If more people would read books like this, perhaps the enthusiasm of human solidarity would spread. That is the purpose of a Novel of Ideas. And if the people of the Writer's generation dismiss the Idea as something that will never happen, perhaps it will be the following generation, or 2000 years later that people still reading will say, "you know, I think he was right and let's do this Idea now."

For these reasons I feel this novel fits into the category of Wells' "Novel of Ideas," and this is an Idea worth supporting.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2018
Doctorow shoots for the moon and falls short, but he is still left with an engaging and interesting story. There is simply too much going on to keep it all together over 460? pages across 3 countries with 4 sets of characters that expand in size over time. It understandably has issues with repetition, exposition and pacing. There are plot holes and stretches of the imagination that ramp up as the story comes to a head. At the end of it all I enjoyed the story and it made me think. Those are two of the most important things I look for in a book.

What holds it together is a mountain of research that comes through in the author’s respectable command of a wealth of complex topics. He explored exotic locales, economic theory, gaming culture and business management without losing me. A laudable effort considering that I am an MBA that has worked in the gaming industry for 10 years. I assume that labor economists would be less kind because that seems like the weakest link in the book. It also seems odd to go so deep into labor economics without bringing in more politics.

In a way this book shares a lot in common with the gaming industry. Games are so complex and have become so big that they all have flaws. Winning in the market comes down to two things. Is it interesting enough to stand out from the crowd and are the mistakes/flaws small enough to now take away from the overall experience. Taking the comparison the the extreme I would say For the Win is Assassin’s Creed.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2014
All "plot holes" that are mentioned in negative reviews are not correctly identified. There are no ninja fights or incredible feats performed by the characters. The only real plot hole is that players from Asia would be able to fight on equal terms with players from US or Europe - this is simply not possible because of connection lag.

Book focuses on workers strike organized by gold farmers from all over the world. Yes, there are lenghty explanations about economy, but what do you expect from a book about game workers? Maybe others wanted to read about game itself more, I got exactly what I expected. It could be better only if author researched more about money laundering.

Cory Doctorow books are quite enjoyable if you want to read about gamers/sysadmins. The only better ones about IT culture are about the programmers/hackers or are so completely out of touch with reality that I do not consider them to be books about IT :)
Cory delivers story without superheroes, without magically successful (if at all) characters and it is well enough researched to be fun to read even if you know how the reality looks.
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2020
This was a very interesting and mind expanding book.

As Americans we look at video games as things that gamers play. A few make millions but no one expects to make a living playing video games.

In foreign (less affluent) countries, "gold farmers" do make a subsistence living by exploiting features in the game to make in game gold which is translated into value outside of the game and which is gambled on by futures traders. It pays a bit more and is less risky than working in a factory all day where you're exposed to machines and chemicals and worker safety standards are almost non-existent.

We Americans have it so good (and we don't even know it).

I would've given the book 5 stars except for the huge chunks of narrative exposition that the author had to provide to explain the economics, union theory, and other factors behind the story. While necessary, I groan every time I found myself heading into a narrative valley for a period.

Top reviews from other countries

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Bosco Gamiz
4.0 out of 5 stars Four the Win
Reviewed in Spain on October 5, 2022
I love it when a story has me permanently doubting wether what I'm reading is fiction or not. I mean when you KNOW it's fiction but it just sounds so convincing and POSSIBLE.

This novel does that a lot. That's great.

But I can't give it that 5th star because the characters just didn't reach me. The plot I loved, but the people just struck me as placeholders.

Nonetheless, despite that glitch I thoroughly enjoyed this "futuristic Dickens" of sorts.

I highly recommend it.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Swords and Slavery.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2018
Probably my favourite of all Cory Doctorow's books. Combining MMO game culture and economics, along with memorable characters and well rendered locations, a wonderful read.
Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Spannend und interessanter Roman
Reviewed in Germany on January 10, 2014
Ich habe diesen Roman im Vorfeld als Ebook gelesen (Cory Doctorow ja bietet einige seiner Buecher zum freien Download an).
Mich hat die Geschichte sehr bewegt. Das Ende ist etwas abrupt.
Die Geschichte ist Episoden-maessig erzaehlt.
Ein sehr schoener, teilweise utopischer Roman ueber das digitale Zeitalter und den Wink mit dem Zaunpfahl nach gesellschaftlicher Veraenderung.
David W
4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read, but...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2012
If you're on this product page, chances are you've already read the synopsis posted above, so I won't go into the subject matter in too much detail. A lot of the facts are extremely accurate, and the author making Coca-Cola the major games corporation was a nice touch on the increasingly corporate nature of the gaming industry, cutting out the middle man instead of waiting for a game they can sponsor or put advertising in just making games themselves.

The only thing stopping me from giving this book 5 stars is the characterisation - in my opinion the wealthy, smart outcast in LA who supported the unionisation movement is a little generic; and the main antagonist (one of the Coca-Cola game runners) had a lot of potential - he was made out to be unlikeable through the book, but had one of the best sections when he made his millions, the pace of the writing style was a lot more intense in his parts of the story, short sentences & a more involved dialogue - 'Command central was a lie.'

I would recommend this book to MMO gamers or anyone interested in the possible economy of gaming; like I said this book has some very accurate and plausible possibilities for the near future. If it was a little longer with some of the characters being developed further I wouldn't protest in the slightest, it could have done with a little more back story and a less dated idea of a labour union, but it is no doubt worth a read!
badspyro
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2013
An exciting book that I couldn't put down.

The book charts a possible near future for mmorpgs, their creators and even the people who play and work within the virtual world.

It's fast pace and engaging characters make this a great read.