I just finished reading part III of For the Win, and it was quite an interesting read. As compared to the other parts, Part III was pretty action-packed and involved a lot of violence. I actually wasn’t expecting this much violence in the book, and  was quite disturbed reading through many of the parts. The last part just felt like everything was collapsing and everyone was dying or being injured very badly. I found it very hard to follow. A lot of the main characters such as Lu and Big Sister Nor died, which I found to be very sad. I don’t think Doctorow needed to make the ending so violent in order to get his point across. I didn’t enjoy reading Part III at all. Also, I didn’t quite understand the ending. I’m actually very confused by the end and it feels like a loose end. I was expecting a happy ending, but I guess Doctorow wanted the book to  feel realistic, which is a bit ironic. It’s hard for me to understand how all of this virtual world stuff can translate into reality. It reminds me of another piece we read not to long ago, Reality is Broken. From the novel, it really does seem like gamers are taking over the world. And it also seems like the gamers are making the rest of the world a better place to live, which resonates with the whole idea that games alleviate some suffering. Even with all of this, I still don’t agree. I still think that gaming has more harm than benefit.

The book certainly brought the gaming world to life. I never had an idea how involved gamers are in certain economies and that virtual economy is an actual industry out there.