Helpful Score: 3
This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams
I borrowed this book at a bookstore last night - (i.e., I read it there without purchasing it). Ths killer of it is, I like it enough to buy it now.
This Is Not A Game opens with Dagmar Shaw, a designer of alternate reality games (ARGs) trapped in Djakarta, Indonesia as the country's economy implodes in a dramatic way leading to a collapse of civil authority. She's just come there after finishing a project and learning that the leading man (who'd she'd had an affair with was married (and meeting his wife)). The US is overcommitted in the Gulf and won't accept aid from other countries in getting their nationals out. Fortunately, her boss, Charlie, has an awful lot of money ($4.3 B and growing like a tumor) and hires some help...
From there we're off.
Needless to say, things do not go according to plan for Dagmar and her mercenary rescuers (bad luck), so she improvises. From there the action moves to LA where a new ARG is in the offing to promote a MMORPG, with a budget that makes Dagmar nervous. Soon, after one of her friends from college is murdered and things begin to get complex, involving the Russian mob, ARG writers and players and other entities.
Now, what did I like? The history of Dagmar and the three others - Charlie, Austin and BJ. I could see some resemblance to myself in those characters. I also liked the ARG players like Joe Clever, Giawol, Hippolyte and Chatsworth. The reason I liked it is because these (and others) showed the disparate skills and connections (and labor) an online community can bring to bear on a problem.
I also liked Dagmar - she's a failed SF writer that landed in gaming after a botched marriage. She's smart, flawed, resourceful and very human. I liked her for that.
Overall, its pretty good. I noticed some similarities to Daemon and Halting State for the use of ARG, and other gaming networks, to affect the real world. This may be a genre now.
Anyway, I recommend it and learned there's a sequel called Deep State coming out.
I borrowed this book at a bookstore last night - (i.e., I read it there without purchasing it). Ths killer of it is, I like it enough to buy it now.
This Is Not A Game opens with Dagmar Shaw, a designer of alternate reality games (ARGs) trapped in Djakarta, Indonesia as the country's economy implodes in a dramatic way leading to a collapse of civil authority. She's just come there after finishing a project and learning that the leading man (who'd she'd had an affair with was married (and meeting his wife)). The US is overcommitted in the Gulf and won't accept aid from other countries in getting their nationals out. Fortunately, her boss, Charlie, has an awful lot of money ($4.3 B and growing like a tumor) and hires some help...
From there we're off.
Needless to say, things do not go according to plan for Dagmar and her mercenary rescuers (bad luck), so she improvises. From there the action moves to LA where a new ARG is in the offing to promote a MMORPG, with a budget that makes Dagmar nervous. Soon, after one of her friends from college is murdered and things begin to get complex, involving the Russian mob, ARG writers and players and other entities.
Now, what did I like? The history of Dagmar and the three others - Charlie, Austin and BJ. I could see some resemblance to myself in those characters. I also liked the ARG players like Joe Clever, Giawol, Hippolyte and Chatsworth. The reason I liked it is because these (and others) showed the disparate skills and connections (and labor) an online community can bring to bear on a problem.
I also liked Dagmar - she's a failed SF writer that landed in gaming after a botched marriage. She's smart, flawed, resourceful and very human. I liked her for that.
Overall, its pretty good. I noticed some similarities to Daemon and Halting State for the use of ARG, and other gaming networks, to affect the real world. This may be a genre now.
Anyway, I recommend it and learned there's a sequel called Deep State coming out.
Helpful Score: 2
This was great! Real world, bots, net gaming, social networking, murder, Russian mafya, national economies attacked, this book ties them all together.
It started off kind of slow and odd, with the main character in a 3rd world country that was collapsing. But once she got back to LA, the main story took off. The ending was a bit rushed, imo. Basically, an overlapping and intertwining of the real world and the networld. It was a cool ride.
However, due to the slow start and rushed, almost simplistic, ending, I only gave it 4 stars. Really recommend it though to anyone who thinks that the net can't affect the real world :-0
It started off kind of slow and odd, with the main character in a 3rd world country that was collapsing. But once she got back to LA, the main story took off. The ending was a bit rushed, imo. Basically, an overlapping and intertwining of the real world and the networld. It was a cool ride.
However, due to the slow start and rushed, almost simplistic, ending, I only gave it 4 stars. Really recommend it though to anyone who thinks that the net can't affect the real world :-0
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book, think it's more of a mainstream-thriller type read, not the SF you usually get from WJ Williams. Most of the gamers I know are somewhat fanatics, so I could easily believe the story. Characters were real, likeable, albeit predictable. The beginning was a bit slow, but necessary Jakarta background violence and Dagmar's reaction sets up the rest of the book.
The story rests on the premise that on-line gamers (having varied backgrounds and skill sets) can be used to solve real world problems. The puppet-master (writer of the game) tries to end a world-wide financial crisis and solve several murders. Good stuff.
The story rests on the premise that on-line gamers (having varied backgrounds and skill sets) can be used to solve real world problems. The puppet-master (writer of the game) tries to end a world-wide financial crisis and solve several murders. Good stuff.
