Like much of the best science fiction, Cory Doctorow’s latest novel, For the Win, is set in the future, but its themes are rooted in the present day.
For the Win has the world as its canvas. Its characters start in the industrial slums of China and India, and the adventures take us from there to the posh corporate offices of America.
But the novel isn’t limited to the real world. Much of the action also takes place in cyberspace—the world of online, multiplayer games.
“It’s a book about gold farmers, who are people who do repetitive video game tasks in order to amass virtual wealth, which they then sell through the game market to players who are either too busy or to lazy to do those tasks themselves,” Cory said in an interview, “It’s about what happens when they form a trade union.”
Read the rest of my post at Tor.com, and listen to the interview: The digital revolution hits the slums of India and China. Cory Doctorow’s For the Win
