Reuters opens virtual news bureau in video game
Reuters is opening a news bureau in the simulation game "Second Life," publishing text, photo and video news from the outside world for "Second Life" members. Reuters is also going to report on news about the Second Life game for real world readers at http://secondlife.reuters.com/.
Adam Pasick, a Reuters' media correspondent based in London, will serve as the news organization's first virtual bureau chief, using a personal avatar, or animated character, called "Adam Reuters," in keeping with the game's naming system.
"As strange as it might seem, it's not that different from being a reporter in the real world," Pasick said. "Once you get used to it--it becomes very much like the job I have been doing for years."
...Reuters will have journalists reporting and writing financial and cultural stories within and about Second Life as part of the London-based company's strategy to reach new audiences with the latest digital technologies.
"In 'Second Life,' we're making Reuters part of a new generation," Reuters Chief Executive Tom Glocer said in a statement. "We're playing an active role in this community by bringing the outside world into 'Second Life' and vice versa."
"Second Life" citizens can stay tuned to the latest headlines by using a feature called the Reuters News Center, a mobile device that users can carry inside the virtual environment. Stories will focus on both the fast-growing economy and culture of "Second Life" and also include links to Reuters news feeds from the outside world, ranging from Baghdad to Wall Street.
Pasick said Reuters was not bending any editorial rules to operate in a world that blends fiction with reality.
"Being unbiased, being accurate, being fast, all the things that Reuters strives for, they hold true in just about any environment in which you would want to report the news," he said.
Residents of "Second Life" who read a Reuters story that interests them can, with the click of a button, go to a community center called Reuters Atrium to meet others to discuss the latest events in both the real and virtual worlds.
Oct 16, 2006 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)
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