Second Life Affair Ends In Divorce

[Teacher Mark 53]

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A British couple who married in a lavish Second Life wedding ceremony are to divorce after one of them had an alleged "affair" in the online world.

Amy Taylor, 28, said she had caught husband David Pollard, 40, having sex with an animated woman. The couple, who met in an Internet chatroom in 2003, are now separated.

"I went mad -- I was so hurt. I just couldn't believe what he'd done," Taylor told the Western Morning News. "It may have started online, but it existed entirely in the real world and it hurts just as much now it is over."

Second Life allows users to create alter egos known as "avatars" and interact with other players, forming relationships, holding down jobs and trading products and services for a virtual currency convertible into real life dollars. iReport.com: Share your stories from Second Life

Taylor said she had caught Pollard's avatar having sex with a virtual prostitute: "I looked at the computer screen and could see his character having sex with a female character. It's cheating as far as I'm concerned."

The couple's real-life wedding in 2005 was eclipsed by a fairy tale ceremony held within Second Life.

But Taylor told the Western Morning News she had subsequently hired an online private detective to track his activities: "He never did anything in real life, but I had my suspicions about what he was doing in Second Life." iReport.com: Anger in a virtual world

Pollard admitted having an online relationship with a "girl in America" but denied wrongdoing. "We weren't even having cyber sex or anything like that, we were just chatting and hanging out together," he told the Western Morning News.

Taylor is now in a new relationship with a man she met in the online roleplaying game World of Warcraft.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/14...orce/index.html

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Good grief.

[Teacher Mark 53]

It brings to mind an older post of mine in where I asked if chatting was cheating. The person I had in mind when I posted that lost his Wife to another man, with whom she was chatting with. She ran off to the other side of the Country after she got her GC.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...atting+cheating

Edited November 15, 2008 by Joe Six-Pack

[morocco4ever 63]

It's playing with fire online. My theory is if it is something you have to hide from you SO then it is wrong.

[IAMX 3,055]

Ahem:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=162138

[Teacher Mark 53]

Ahem:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=162138

Whoops.

[LoriLawless 0]

That "game" has ended a lot of relationships. While it's hard to believe that you can take it seriously, you most defintely can.

[Teacher Mark 53]

That "game" has ended a lot of relationships. While it's hard to believe that you can take it seriously, you most defintely can.

I went in there for around 5 minutes. Then I thought "Someone on VJ is wrong right now" and I scurried back in here!

Edited November 15, 2008 by Joe Six-Pack

[IAMX 3,055]

If you want to see how seriously some people take it, you only need to make a joke saying, "Second Life? Hah, I prefer my first life, thankyouverymuch."

[Amby 490]

what is it?

[IAMX 3,055]

what is it?

Video game.

[Teacher Mark 53]

If you want to see how seriously some people take it, you only need to make a joke saying, "Second Life? Hah, I prefer my first life, thankyouverymuch."

What a bunch of losers, sitting around a computer all day, talking to strangers......nevermind!

what is it?

Video game.

AMBY, DO NOT GO IN THERE!

[Amby 490]

If you want to see how seriously some people take it, you only need to make a joke saying, "Second Life? Hah, I prefer my first life, thankyouverymuch."

What a bunch of losers, sitting around a computer all day, talking to strangers......nevermind!

what is it?

Video game.

AMBY, DO NOT GO IN THERE!

I'm not into video games so I would never go in there but I didn't know what it was.

[IAMX 3,055]

If you want to see how seriously some people take it, you only need to make a joke saying, "Second Life? Hah, I prefer my first life, thankyouverymuch."

What a bunch of losers, sitting around a computer all day, talking to strangers......nevermind!

That's true. However, some of us are the same person on the interwebz as we are outside of it.

I will quote a small piece of the article I cited from the other thread, which to me is symbolic of games like this that try to throw a veil over your face of the reality regarding the ONLY life you have (surpassing a simple entertainment value):

Taylor — represented in the game by a slim, dark-haired young woman with a penchant for cowboy outfits — first wed her beloved in a virtual ceremony held in an exotic tropical setting. She and Pollard — whose Second Life avatar was sharp-suited, long-haired muscleman — then married in real life at a registry office.

The svelte images of their avatars stand in contrast to their real wedding photo, which shows a plump couple — him balding with glasses and a red boutonniere; her in a flower patterned shirt instead of a dress.

[Teacher Mark 53]