Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Here are the headlines. In the desert two armies made up of Daleks are attacking each other.
A city is besieged by self-replicating goo, and interest rates have shot up 12-fold.
This, at least, is what is happening in Second Life, a virtual reality world which has broken out of American bedrooms and has attracted almost a million inhabitants worldwide. So far, so weird. And it’s about to become twistier still.
Now, Second Life will take another step closer to reality, for wandering around this pixillated landscape, roughly the size of Amsterdam, is a virtual journalist.
That bastion of objective old world reporting, Reuters, has decided it needs to bring the business “news” from Second Life to the rest of us. Residents will also be able to keep up with news out here by visiting the Reuters building which the 155-year-old wire service has built within Second Life.
Joining a list of Reuters alumni which includes Ian Fleming, John Buchan, the author of The 39 Steps, and Frederick Forsyth, will be “Adam Reuters” — in real life, a London-based media reporter Adam Pasick, whose job it will be to sniff out and report on the important news events in Second Life.
To Reuters, which has reported on global events since 1851 and is a byword for journalistic conservatism and quality, the move is recognition that the old media world is changing fast.
But to some, it looks like a desperate attempt to grab some of the sparkle that goes with the Internet.
Not so, say Reuters executives, who are adamant that there are real business ideas evolving within Second Life and an important economics story to tell. There is $3.2 million in real money washing around the Second Life system, with upwards of $70,000 traded daily on the currency exchange — known as the LindeX. Inhabitants of Second Life is much like real life, except you don’t need to eat or drink and can choose to be represented by a furry animal. Oh, and you can fly. Second Life has a burgeoning economy based on the Linden dollar — currently running at about 275 to the real dollar.
Businesses from Reebok and American Apparel to Sony, have been experimenting with selling clothes, promoting new bands and setting up online music festivals.
Richard Wray
