In Real Life #[nn]
"In Real Life" is a poignant, character-driven story from 2014 by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang, with art, inks, and letters by Jen Wang, and cover art by Jen Wang and Colleen AF Venable. Centered on Anda, a teen navigating a massive multiplayer roleplaying game, the issue explores the real-world consequences of digital choices when she begins accepting money to eliminate gold farmers—only to confront the human cost behind the game’s economy. As her actions ripple outward, the story quietly builds around themes of empathy, responsibility, and the unexpected ways one person can inspire change.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
While playing a massive multiplayer roleplaying game, Anda accepts money for killing gold farmers. Once she learns that some of the farmers are working under sweatshop conditions in China she tried to help. The farmer she's encouraging loses his job, but over time he finds a better one, and his former colleagues organize. Anda is disciplined by her parents and within the game, but both her parents and Liza later realize that she has been acting in hopes of helping people and making things better.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).