It’s a tad late I know, but I’d like to say how sorry I am to see that ‘The Avastar’ has retired from the virtual publishing arena.  ‘The Avastar’ gave me my big break as a virtual journalist, and I *loved* seeing my name in print. (I studied Journalism at college, and OK-it isn’t my real name in print but hey, it was fantastic anyway!) Avastar Island was the beautifully built location in-world that housed the offices and meeting rooms for the paper.  Don’t laugh, but I would walk past Regis and Leider’s offices in world and wish that I had an office to call my own…alas that never happened, but Monday editorial meetings were always lots of fun…and eventful!  There was a great editorial team in place, and some cracking reporters too.  All of the team were refreshingly unpretentious but dedicated souls, who all ensured that it was a supremely exciting experience to be working for a virtual newspaper in a virtual world.
I think the death knell was sounded when the paper changed from a weekly PDF format to a blog.  I know a lot of people disliked the change, and although outwardly I was being loyal, in my heart of hearts I wasn’t so keen.  Looking back, perhaps I should have said something, but virtual noob that I was I didn’t think that my opinion would have made any changes to the way it was heading.  In fact, I’m sure if they’d asked the audience prior to the changes taking place they’d have been met with a resounding dismissal.  You see, the one strength of ‘The Avastar’ was that it WAS a newspaper…it was fun turning those virtual pages and seeing the stories fresh from the presses….I *loved* every minute of the time I was there.  I’m so sorry that it’s closed and my guess is that the backers of the project, and consequently the main source of funding have probably tightened their belts due to the global economic slowdown.  I’m also pretty sure that the readership rapidly declined after the format change.  No-scratch that, I’m *certain* of it. Every single person who spoke to me about it berated the changes and the inclusion  of other virtual worlds into the mix. Because of the change of direction I  ventured into those other virtual worlds, Kaneva, There and Entropia so that I would be able to report from within them but found them to be clumsy, cliquey and lacking the ambiance that permeates SL. I guess when I realised that I was going to be required to report from them it slowly dawned on me that my time with the paper was going to be limited, they just didn’t excite me the way that Second Life does. It was also extremely difficult to find anything remotely newsworthy in them, perhaps that situation has changed now but to be honest I’m not interested in giving them another try…anyway, I threw myself into working on this blog and The Avastar and I just drifted apart.  No drama, I was freelance after all, and that was that. No bad feelings, no awkward e-mails- just an organic separation of talents developing in different ways.I firmly believe that Second Life genuinely deserves a dedicated newspaper, but I wonder if that will ever be a possibility again, certainly after the loss of the Second Life Herald and now the The Avastar.  It’s not cheap, many are established and fail.  You have to approach it as a real life publishing experience, not a virtual creation, and that requires time and money.  You  need money to set one up, you need story leads, you need people who know how to organise a team and most of all, you need Linden dollars. You  need reporters who know how to sniff out a story and at the very least know how to spell, and most of all you need people who have a passion for the task at hand.  The Avastar was never short of passion, of that I am certain.
So, a fond Farewell dear Avastar, you were indeed a great read. A tabloid after all, but one that held true to it’s principles and for a time was at the very top of the league.  I’ll remember you fondly and always be grateful for the opportunities that you gave me to be published…and I wish all the editorial team, past and present, the very best of luck with whatever the future, real or virtual, holds.

(NOTE: Yes, I’m aware that the paper folded mid-October, but if you want to know the truth I haven’t checked the blog for a while! ( See what I mean? I would never have dared miss a PDF…) It’s sad that I haven’t heard about this on the grapevine, which really makes me think that it had lost its relevence to people after all. However, you can relive the glory of the PDF days by visiting the website archives, where you can enjoy 72 back issues. Click here to do just that!)