Cyber tabloid will cover all the news that's virtually true

Cyber tabloid will cover all news that's virtually true

Jess Smee in Berlin
Wednesday November 8, 2006
The Guardian

The weird and wonderful parallel cyber-community that is Second Life is to get its first tabloid. Axel Springer, the publisher of Germany's top-selling newspaper Bild, is poised to launch a weekly paper designed to sate the virtual population's appetite for news and gossip.
SL News, written in English, will be full of the latest from the simulation game - a rapidly expanding site where users create characters, called avatars, and go about the everyday business of chatting with fellow residents, buying new clothes and even property with Linden dollars, a virtual currency which can be exchanged for real money.

Mr Springer plans to construct an online editorial office for SL News. A real editor-in-chief will then recruit a team of roving reporters from among the avatar community, which currently numbers more than a million "residents".
"It will be a colourful tabloid, with snippets about showbusiness and human interest tales from the avatar world," explained Dirk Meyer-Bosse, a spokesman for the German publishing group.

Due to be launched in December, the paper will cost 10-15 Linden dollars. It is likely be sold by subscription - posted into mailboxes across the virtual parallel universe. Avatars already get news from Reuters' online news agency, which opened up for business in October and is run by its virtual bureau chief, "Adam Reuters".

The new venture makes Springer one of a plethora of real companies using the booming website to do business and raise their public profile. Some $500,000 (£260,000) is spent on the site daily by residents, on various cultural pursuits such as attending university lectures or concerts by real musicians.

Springer says the newspaper will tailor its offerings according to feedback from avatars, but one thing is clear: it will not feature news stories from the real world.