The New York Times is reporting on Reuters entrance into the Second Life world. Reuters has set up a news center inside Second Life at secondlife.reuters.com. The reporting is led by Adam Reuters, who is actually Reuters journalist Adam Pasick, a veteran tech and media reporter. The Times reports that Adam Reuters is no stranger to Second Life.
Mr. Pasick's avatar, Adam Reuters, was modeled after the reporter, and sports a press pass so others know he buys his pixels by the barrel. He will set up shop in a virtual building made to look like a hybrid of Reuters' London and Times Square buildings.
While players who drop in (flying is one of only a few superhuman aspects of Second Life) can access Reuters news from the real world, the articles Mr. Pasick files will be strictly about - and addressed to - Second World players. One of his first examines Second Life's biggest lender, who charges 40 percent annual interest. His dispatches will be posted at secondlife.reuters.com.
"I've been playing in Second Life since it was a relatively small community," said Thomas H. Glocer, Reuters' chief executive. Mr. Glocer allowed that some might question the wisdom of parachuting the legendary 155-year-old news agency into such a geekfest.
"This is a very serious, old brand that stands for things and has principles, but that doesn't take itself so seriously that it wouldn't play in a gaming space," Mr. Glocer said. "This appeals to a younger demographic. Even for people who don’t go in and play in Second Life, it shows Reuters has a certain with-it-ness."
The Reuters Second Life site also provides currency charts showing the Linden Dollar vs US Dollar and the number of US Dollars spent in Second Life over last 24 hours. Reuters is certainly not the first dedicated reporting about Second Life -- there are blogs that offer indepth reporting from Second Life -- but it is the first mainstream media company to provide coverage focused solely on the virtual world.
The New York Times is 
