In a virtual or real world, journalism begins with reporting or the gathering of information that serves as the foundation for stories or other news content. In the Metaverse, the nature of reporting shifts in potentially profound ways from the traditions and methods of real-world journalism. For example, there is no world outside the real world, but with regard to the Metaverse, we all exist outside it, unless and until we enter that Metaverse via some digital platform. Reporting about the Metaverse therefore can be conducted from either within or from outside the Metaverse. From outside the Metaverse, that reporting might look at any of a wide spectrum of phenomena, including those who own or would own, build, and control (e.g., regulate) the Metaverse as well as the real-world consequences of the Metaverse (e.g., the interconnections between social media inside and outside the Metaverse, and psychological impact of Metaverse experiences on users inside and after they exit the Metaverse).

Metaverse journalism may parallel some aspects of real-world news gathering, including first-hand observations of events and activities within the Metaverse, interviews with those people, digital twins, or AI-enabled characters who populate the Metaverse, as well as observations of the Metaverse itself especially in terms of its design, construction, and function (i.e., this is somewhat parallel to how a journalist might report about a city).

Although this chapter touches on aspects of reporting outside the Metaverse, the primary focus here is on reporting inside the Metaverse. Five factors that are particularly pertinent to the nature of the Metaverse most shape or characterize reporting inside the Metaverse. These factors are immersion, data, interactivity, multisensory communication, and AI. These factors are particularly salient to Metaverse reporting because they are essential to life inside the Metaverse and to a fundamental transformation of storytelling in Metaverse journalism.

Immersion in the Metaverse refers to the fact that users, including reporters, are enveloped in a 3D virtual world where the physical rules of the real world do not necessarily apply. Instead, the affordances of the platform determine the possibilities. Immersion shapes the context of news gathering inside the Metaverse. To do their reporting, journalists must create an avatar and enter into and journey through the Metaverse as that avatar. Reporters become participants in the Metaverse and see, hear, and otherwise experience it largely from a first-person perspective.