• The New York Times, Monday, September 18, 2006 11:34 AM

At MTV, reality has always been a moving target. It was 16 years ago when the network ushered in the reality genre with "The Real World." It then advanced the genre further with "Laguna Beach: The Real OC." And now the channel aims to push the boundaries even more with "Virtual Laguna Beach," where fans of the program can immerse themselves as digitized, three-dimensional characters that they control in virtual versions of the show's familiar hangouts. "You can not only watch TV, but now you can actually live it," Van Toffler, the president of the MTV Networks Music, Film and Logo Group, said in an interview. Wednesday's introduction of "Virtual Laguna Beach" is the first of three virtual worlds MTV is planning over the next year as part of an attempt to win back its core user base from YouTube and MySpace.

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