Second Life Fling Begets Real Divorce

Nathan Meunier

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Nov 19, 2007
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Second Life Fling Begets Real Divorce



Virtual foolin' around is still foolin' around.

There's cheating in games, and then there's cheating in games. The latter is what got a UK man in über hot water with his wife who Second Life [http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/Affair-virtual-world-ends-real-divorce/article-473958-detail/article.html].

Amy Taylor, 28, met her prospective husband, David Pollard, 40, in an internet chatroom in 2003. Two years later, the couple got married. Several years into their marriage, Taylor caught her husband having virtual sex with an online prostitute in Second Life and hired an online detective to keep tabs on his character's activities in the game.

"It may have started online, but it existed entirely in the real world, and it hurts just as much now it is over," Taylor said of the virtual affair. "I went mad - I was so hurt. I just couldn't believe what he'd done. I looked at the computer screen and could see his character having sex with a female character."

Taylor said her husband did not engage in any extramarital encounters in real life, but she grew suspicious of his activities in the Second Life's virtual world. Earlier this year, she again caught him in an act of virtual infidelity. This time his avatar getting snuggly with another virtual female character in the game. "I caught him cuddling a woman on a sofa in the game. It looked really affectionate," she said.

It turns out Pollard has been talking with an American female player in the game for several weeks, insisting his marriage was over and he no longer loved his wife. It was after this incident, Taylor filed for divorce, which is expected to be finalized this week. "We weren't even having cyber sex or anything like that, we were just chatting and hanging out together," said Pollard of his latest Second Life exploit. He said his wife got pissed when she found out, but he doesn't feel like he did anything wrong.

As for Taylor, she's apparently dating someone she met while playing World of Warcraft. Some people never learn.




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fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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My goodness that woman has problems. Then again so does the bloke if he feels 'my disembodied avatar had sex with someones else's disembodied avatar' is something he'd need to keep from his wife.

Although telling a total stranger that you don't love your wife might, just maybe have had something to do with it...

...poor girl.
 

L.B. Jeffries

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Nov 29, 2007
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I would kill for a psychological study of the stuff going on here. Did the Husband consider their virtual relationship separate from the real one? Did he mean he no longer loved her in-game since he now had to confront the reality of work and struggle that is involved with real marriage? And at the core of all this...how did it change when he had to be physically intimate with her instead of just talking to their mutual fantasy of what she looked like?
 

Fruhstuck

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Jul 29, 2008
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L.B. Jeffries said:
I would kill for a psychological study of the stuff going on here. Did the Husband consider their virtual relationship separate from the real one? Did he mean he no longer loved her in-game since he now had to confront the reality of work and struggle that is involved with real marriage? And at the core of all this...how did it change when he had to be physically intimate with her instead of just talking to their mutual fantasy of what she looked like?
It'd certainly be a more interesting study than most lol
 

Fineldar

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Jun 8, 2008
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"I caught him cuddling a woman on a sofa in the game. It looked really affectionate,"

Dude, this lady is crazy.

I can see the real problems with this kind of stuff, especially the stuff he said about not loving his wife and that they weren't getting married but seriously, "It looked really affectionate". What the hell?
 

shadowbird

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Feb 22, 2007
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People are insecure and complex-ridden. Husbands hide their porn, wifes hide their visits to erotic story sites and both feel betrayed, hurt and threatened if they discover what the other is hiding. People marry out of insecurity, and they divorce out of the same. This is in no way different from the guy looking watching porn or playing any adult video game. Which is really sad, thank God I found a girl who I can happily share my porn with. :)
 

Danny Ocean

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Jun 28, 2008
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I just heard this on the radio. I supposed that if Second Life can make marriages, it can also break them.

I think they described Second Life as 'just another place to go', rather than a game.

Most of the people there just can't be bothered to act like anyone other than themselves all the time they're on. It's just too much effort.
 

Elurindel

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Dec 12, 2007
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See, this is why you SHARE your porn with your wife, people! I'm lucky enough that my girlfriend walked in on me once and I got in a panic because I was supposed to be watching porn. I quickly flicked back, but she caught me. It was a genuinely funny moment. Stuff like this is intriguinging, though. I know a lot of Second Life players are of the opinion "What happens in SL stays in SL", but I can see how others might be hurt by this sort of thing.
 

CyberAkuma

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Nov 27, 2007
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Wait... The girl is 28 and married to a 40 year old man she met online...?
I'm not much against age differences but 12 years old difference?
Is it just me that reacts to that?

Ugh, all in all, this stuff is insane
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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CyberAkuma said:
Wait... The girl is 28 and married to a 40 year old man she met online...?
I'm not much against age differences but 12 years old difference?
Is it just me that reacts to that?

Ugh, all in all, this stuff is insane
Just think, when he was 19, she was 7.

/How's that for creepy?
//Then again, when he's 86 she'll be 74.
///Not so creepy now is it?
 

oppp7

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Aug 29, 2009
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Heh, cyber detectives...
OT: Depressing. For the people who think that him flirting with women online isn't that important, remember: that's how they met.
 

lacktheknack

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Jan 19, 2009
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Well, it's OBVIOUSLY wrong because he stated that he no longer loved his wife. Up yours, buddy.