Play’s Republic

I am somewhat new to Second Life and have not yet explored everything the virtual world has to offer. And my post might seem like old news to more seasoned users. Anyway, I’d like to introduce an Avatar named Adam Reuters. He keeps regular hours in Second Life as Reuters’ bureau chief. In real life he is technology and media journalist named Adam Pasick.

Avatars in the virtual world can travel to the Reuters Atrium to get news about the real world and in real life people can go to secondlife.reuters.com to get news about Second Life. The site even has a chart that compares the US dollar to the Linden dollar.

It is interesting to see businesses creating a presence for themselves in Second Life. Does presence in the virtual world add value to the company in the real world? Or is a Second Life presence valuable to companies in itself? Also, it is interesting to consider how the boundaries are blurred between the real world and virtual worlds. The two seem to be intermixing and Reuters’ use of Second Life complicates the relationship.