Wanted: Talented reporter to cover a diverse community of 900,000 people. Good salary and benefits. Location: You computer.
This may sound like a joke, but virtual communities are attracting the attention of big media. Reuters is opening a bureau in the online simulation game, Second Life.
A Reuters media correspondent based in London, Adam Pasick, will be the virtual bureau chief, reporting on news of events in the game on its Second Life website.
Why is Reuters doing this. In the words of its chief executive Tom Glocer:
“In Second Life, we’re making Reuters part of a new generation. We’re playing an active role in this community by bringing the outside world into Second Life and vice versa.”
It seems strange to be reporting on events in a made-up world where nothing is really real. But the truth is that these virtual worlds are very real to the people who spend hours in them.
Second Life is not really a game. It is parallel universe where people can live out a second life, creating a new identity, buying property and interacting with other players.
Adam Pascik’s take on his new assignment:
“As strange as it might seem, it’s not all that different from being a reporter in the real world. You talk to as many people as you can, you read what you can, you find interesting stories and you chase them down. The fact that we are in a virtual world, once you get used to it, it becomes very much like the job I’ve been doing for years.”
Reuters will be competing with The Second Life Herald, which has been reporting on the virtual world for three years.
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