First things first: Have you read sci-fi-novelist/cyber-rights-polemicist Cory Doctorow’s latest, For the Win? And if not, why on earth are you reading this blog instead? Seriously: Most of what you could learn from seven years’ worth of Terra Novan scribblings on the meanings of virtual economies, the seductions of MMOs, and the emergence of digital play as a global socioeconomic force can be learned more quickly and more pleasurably from this gripping tale of epic, continent-hopping virtual class struggle — a “young adult” thriller for the young adult in all of us (or perhaps the budding games scholar in every young adult) starring that unlikeliest of literary heroes and most culturally fraught of online-gaming personae, the Chinese gold farmer.
So go on, buy the thing or snag a free download and read it. When you’re done you can come back here and, if you’re so inclined, join the inevitable nitpickers in the comments thread. Yes, Doctorow’s vision of the near-future MMO landscape misses some critical trends (for instance those that point to a diminished future for gold farming and secondary virtual-goods markets generally) and proposes some game mechanics any MUD-DEV veteran can tell you will never fly (though frankly, who among us wouldn’t kill to get in on the beta of the Mario-themed Mushroom Kingdom MMO in which the book’s climactic virtual battle takes place?). And while the struggles of the story’s young Chinese, Indian, and American protagonists (a ragtag band of gamers bent on establishing a neo-Wobblies union of virtual workers: the International Workers of the World Wide Web, or Webblies) are bound to leave anyone at all sympathetic with Doctorow’s left-libertarian labor politics humming chiptune versions of the “Internationale,” your mileage may of course vary.
Whatever. The novel’s main achievement stands: In a world that seems increasingly convinced the future of work lies in play, For the Win points out and brings to life the fact that even playful work remains a field of struggle.
Really glad this got a mention here. I stumbled across FTW rather recently, and was sucked into it very quickly. I read most of it on my phone while out of town for the weekend, which was definitely a first for me.
Highly recommend it to anyone interested in games, economics, sociology, or Marxism.
Posted by: Conor | Aug 01, 2010 at 12:08