Faking It

Reuters have finally worked out a way they can get away with publishing fake photos.

Reuters, the international news agency, has opened a virtual news bureau in Second Life, the massively popular online game.

Second Life is a game where players are able to create animated characters, also known as avatars, and live in a massive virtual world, where they can buy property, socialise with other players, and work to earn virtual currency. Unlike many online role-paying games, it is not set in a futuristic or mythological world – it actually aims to resemble reality as much as possible.

More than one million inhabitants of the virtual world will now be able to access a website that will give them news related to real life and life within the game. People in the real world will be able to access it too, allowing them to find out what is happening within Second Life.

A Reuters correspondent will act as the bureau chief, and will appear as an avatar within the game. Adam Pasick, or Adam Reuters as he will be known, will track down the stories and file news copy much like he would in his real life role as a London-based media correspondent for the news agency.

“There are so many interesting questions about how a virtual world behaves. There is a lot of reporting to do where the virtual world meets the real world,” Pasick said in an interview with Reuters.

Update: Was it that obvious a joke?