Couple splits after extra-marital affairs in Second Life

Gaming, Virtual Reality
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If you live by the sword, you die by the sword, or divorce by it in this case.

Poor old Amy Taylor, 28, of Cornwall, has filed for separation proceedings against her husband of three years after catching him red-moused having a virtual affair in Second Life. The sword analogy comes in because it was online where she met him in the first place.

The couple met in a chat room in 2003 and were shacked up six months later before tying the knot three years ago both in a registry office and in the game itself. But trouble started when Amy caught 40-year-old hubby David Pollard with his trousers down mid-game quite clearly having sex with another person in Second Life.

After what I should imagine was a lengthy argument about the ethics of virtual world morality versus that of the real world, David agreed he wouldn’t do it again. Presumably, however, he had his fingers crossed under his desk when he said this because Amy caught him at it yet again, only this time cuddling up with an American user on a sofa in Second Life

It’s around this point in the story where I can’t resist toying with the rights and wrongs with this one myself. Now, my instinct tells me that having sex with another person in Second Life is pretty much the same as doing so in the real world, particularly if you spend the kind of time in the virtual world as both Amy and David do.

Second Life is Second Life because it’s designed to be just that – as close as you can get to the real thing. But I wouldn’t say that infidelity is as serious in any virtual world. If my girlfriend caught me having sex with a hooker in Grand Theft Auto, I might be a little embarrassed but I certainly wouldn’t consider it grounds for divorce, or even a justifiable bad mood come to think of it.

So where’s the middle ground here? Where’s the threshold? At what point do crimes in virtual reality become crimes in the real world too? But I digress.

As for this sad and, let’s face it, comical tale, Amy did the right thing and stormed off straight down to a solicitor’s who actually said that this wasn’t the first case of divorce through Second Life he’d dealt with.

The divorce is due to be complete next week but it’s not all bad news for Amy. She has since found a new lover. They met playing World of Warcraft.

(via Sky News)

Related posts: Woman jailed for virtual murder | Gibson island on SL

Daniel Sung
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7 comments

  • I liked this text and i appreciated. I’ve read all. When i was surfing , i watched a video

  • Even in the new century, I think mistress is still an embarrassed social situation in some places. Maybe in some young ladies’ eyes, mistress might mean the beauty with fashion clothes, well make up and could get good money. But I suggest that you should wear the rubber wristbands which with the sentence “I am Mistress” or “I like Mistress” and then hang around in New England, you would know the pressure.
    In my opinion, maybe I am the young woman in old style; no one should try to destroy others’ life, the extramarital affair is one way to destroy others’ life and the mistress is the killer of the happy marriage. Some men might have the feeling that they could not find the belongingness in his family, their wives are always busy and their kids are always naughty, so they just want to have another place to get rid of these bad feelings. And that is why they run after the lovers. Though they describe their family life in a terrible way, I think they still love their wives or at least their kids. Otherwise he might divorce as soon as possible then. Some young ladies are just falling into the jam of these lies. Some of them just know his marriage after falling in love with these married men. And then they just think that they could not leave their men, so they choose waiting, waiting for the news of divorce. Till one day she finds that he could not leave his family and all the waiting exchanges for nothing from him.
    To the young ladies, the wisest choice when you are in this situation is leaving him as soon as possible. The married men should not appear on your dating list. It is the principle. Only doing so, you could have the real happiness.

  • CRAP!
    Surely, the whole point of virtual worlds is just so that you CAN do the things that you can’t do in the real world. Haven’t spent enough time to find out… but hey, VIRTUAL sex, crapola!

    • It’s a funny one, Ecobore but for me the clincher is that he got married in the game.

      It’s also rather on the pathetic side that this guy didn’t have the balls to go out and have a real affair if he really didn’t love his wife any more.

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