With the increasing popularity of online synthetic worlds, online journalism has a new opportunity to reach people in-world. Not only does the synthetic world generate news that is worth reporting, in-world users also need to know real world news. Reporting in a virtual world can deliver information that is relative to users on both ends. They need information about the synthetic world they live in and the real world they live in.
This kind of reporting is necessary because media is always looking for new outlets, new angles, and a new group of people to reach. Synthetic world users are more likely to be interested in news about both worlds. They also will more likely be using online media sources as opposed to television or radio. Mass media’s goal has always been to reach a wide variety of people on a grand scale. What better way to reach a certain demographic or psychographic than to start reporting in online synthetic worlds? This would be reaching a whole new audience all over the world, not just a certain region of the world. Synthetic worlds can be scary to some because we fear what we don’t understand. Integrating news from both worlds online and in-world can help both sides have an understanding.