Doctorow In Real Life

Many people often mistakenly assume that any lives we lead in online games have no effect on our real lives. In “In Real Life,” Doctorow uses Anda’s friendship with Raymond to prove that life online is not fake, but rather our lives mediated through a piece of technology. Doctorow humanizes Raymond to Anda when she first meets him by having him save her and then having them have a conversation. Even though Anda had killed all of the other gold farmers, Raymond was eager to help her when she was attacked by the emerald macaw. By showing that Raymond is not a bot, Doctorow makes the reader reevaluate the ethics of Anda’s recent massacre of gold farmers. Before this event the readers assumed that all gold farmers are bots, not real people. As Raymond tells his story in the following pages, we come to realize that the gold farmers are real people whose only livelihood is gold farming in the …show more content…
For some players Coarsegold, is not a fun extracurricular activity; it is their only way to earn wages. When asked why he plays as a job by Anda, he replies “my family doesn’t have enough money to send me to college, so why not? If I’m not working I’m just wasting my time (Doctorow 81). Because he is injured, playing Coarsegold is the only way Raymond can work to support his family. As he continues in his story, we learn that he cannot afford medical assistance. Raymond’s choice to play Coarsegold was heavily influenced by outside factors in his life. Playing Coarsegold isn’t a way for him to escape his life, but rather a way for him to better his life and the lives of his family members. He is doing backbreaking labor in the game because he is physically unable to do it in the natural world. Raymond’s corporeal problems lead him to play online, and his story further humanizes him to Anda. Raymond spends much of his day working, but also needs to study for