Cory Doctorow‘s For The Win is a science fiction novel that introduces three main characters Matthew Fong (from China), Wei-Dong “Leonard” (from Anaheim, CA), and Mala (from India) who all play three different online video games, but all have similar struggles. They all become addicted to playing their games and end up getting opportunities to make actual money by doing so. Part I of Doctorow’s novel sets the stage of the game addiction, but also a couple interesting themes of economic and ethical challenges.

First of all, the part of the story where these characters actually make money by playing intrigues me. Is that for real? Can people really make money by just playing video games? It seems legit, but it ultimately brings the characters trouble and long nights of constant playing. I suppose we can just rule out the idea entirely since this story is fiction. It can’t be that easy to make money on a computer. Matthew gets paid by Boss Wing to play games, but also funnels money out of playing Svartalfheim Warriors after-hours. Wei-Dong plays with a group of players in China in a guild. They charge other players in Savage Wonderland for help in leveling up (It’s like paying real money to make your crops grow faster on FarmVille). Mala initially spends her wages from factory work to play Zombie Mecha. She gets so good that she ultimately gets an offer from a man to beat up other players on the game. These situations would be these characters’ ideal situations, until external force shake it up where they have to make ethical/life-or-death choices.

Secondly, I found it interesting that in a turn of events, all three characters get “boxed in.” Matthew gets bullied by Boss Wing’s henchmen and have to either lose everything he’s worked for or become a franchisee. Wei-Dong gets confronted by his parents that he’s addicted to video games. He gets to escape being sent to boarding school, but since he’s just 16, it’ll be difficult for him to start his own life. Mala gets physically attacked by her internet cafe’s night manager and is accused of putting herself out there. Her reputation and job opportunity are put in jeopardy. In all these instances, Doctorow did a good job in making it feel like the characters had to choose between losing all their passion in gaming and surviving the real world. They all seem to have made bargains that allow them to still game at the expense of some sort of freedom in reality.

I wouldn’t have thought I would be interested in this type of novel, but it’s shaping out well. I really like the fact that this book is available in different forms – PDF, e-text, audio book, and a traditional book. I opted to check out the novel from my local library because the whole book is 475 pages. I just can’t see myself reading from an iPad or my computer screen for hundreds of pages at a time.