Second Life News & Events & Guides

The two virtual reporters that found them were Jashley Gothley, all snug-fitting T-shirts and tight black trousers and Meggy Paulse, who wears a red mini-skirt and a black slip top. Not sure where her notebook is kept.

Both were alter egos of journalists for the press agency South West News, which supplies national and international media organisations with stories.

So while Amy Taylor was refusing to answer her door to reporters in Newquay, her avatar, Laura Skye, was being won over by Meggy Paulse. Jo Pickering, one of the South West staff who "controlled" Meggy, said: "In real life she had rejected everything - knocks on the door, letters, phone calls. But our characters started chatting and it was different. She began to trust us. Amy's character was much more confident in the game than she was in real life."

Meanwhile Jashley Gothley was hot-tailing it after Dave Barmy. Real reporter Paul Adcock admitted that his character got the run around from Barmy because he was a novice in the ways of Second Life, but Barmy eventually invited Gothley to meet him in the church he lives in. Adcock said: "It was difficult sometimes because there was a blurring between reality and Second Life."

Barmy also turned out to be more confident than Taylor. "We spoke later on the phone and he was much more awkward than in the game. There are fewer inhibitions in Second Life," said Adcock.

Barmy was eventually even persuaded to bring his new girlfriend, Modesty, to meet reporter Gothley. The two avatars - now very much in love - posed together for photos, which were grabbed from the computer by South West's deputy picture editor, Jon Mills.

South West News's Pickering said she understood why Taylor had felt so rejected in real life when she found that her avatar's online partner was cheating on her. "She had created this perfect version of herself - and even that wasn't good enough for him," she said.

After much bargaining the South West reporters - and their avatars - hatched a buy-up in real life with Taylor and Pollard. They gave some quotes, which were used in the Guardian and other papers yesterday. But they also agreed to tell their stories in detail to a tabloid newspaper yesterday for money - real cash rather than virtual currency.

All's well that end's well: Taylor says she is better off without Pollard. Pollard is hoping to use the money he makes from the tabloid deal to fly out to see his American fiancée for the first time. And South West News is looking at the possibility of opening an online bureau in Second Life.