Recently, a panel of In-world news reporters held a conference within the Second Life virtual world explaining that their reporting styles and the relevance of reporting within Second Life. Throughout the conference the panel discussed certain advantages and disadvantages of in-world reporting and reporting in the real world. Some of the reporters on the panel explained that disadvantages of in-world reporting would be internet access in general, not everyone has access to the internet at all times which could be a disadvantage and the pay for free lancing in-world is a lot lower than that of a real world reporter. One of the reporters, 57 Miles thought one major disadvantage was finding credible sources within the virtual world. An advantage of second life reporting would be the fact that you don't have to leave your house and go
out into the field to find good news stories.
Personally, I think that reporting within Second Life is just a game, although we are not suppose to be calling the virtual world a game, that is exactly what it is. It is a fake world that people are latching onto thinking that it is going to go somewhere and be a relevant source of media within our culture. It may be an exciting new media to experiment with but it is certainly not a necessity when it comes to real journalism. As of now these stories are only appealing to a small niche of people that exist in world, maybe I am being negative but I don't think that this virtual world is ever going to be a large part of our culture where we will become dependent on it.