[ExI] Second Life affair ends in divorce

[John Grigg]

I'm not sure if this was discussed here but in case it was not I
thought I'd post.  I find it ironic that the hurt (then) wife went on
to find love again in the World of Warcraft.  I wish the article had
ended by saying, "she regained her faith in romance upon meeting a
60th level elven ranger!  And then the next CNN article about her
could be about "interracial relationships" between online humans and
elves and how his elven relatives just won't approve of her unless she
changes her race...

John  : )

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/14/second.life.divorce/index.html

 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.
Second Life users can interact and form relationships with other
players' avatars.

Second Life users can interact and form relationships with other
players' avatars.

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."
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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.