For something that isn't strictly a videogame, Second Life is responsible for so much unbelievably stupid crap that it's difficult to ignore. Take, for example, the case of Amy Taylor, who is divorcing husband David Pollard for having an "affair" via the online social network.
Both Amy and David are avid Second Life players, and their online avatars became a couple to match their real world status. That is until Taylor caught Pollard having virtual sex with a virtual prostitute, virtually. She stayed with David in real life, but the avatars broke off their relationship ... are you still following this?
Taylor decided to test her man's loyalty by hiring a Second Life "private investigator" who lured Pollard into a "honeytrap." I should remind you all at this point that these people are not 12-years-old. Pollard actually passed the test and did not break any virtual fidelity. Thus satisfied, Amy Taylor married David Pollard in Second Life, once again matching their offline relationship.
That is until she discovered him chatting to another avatar that was not her own, and displaying "genuine affection." So disgusted was Taylor that not only did the Second Life marriage end, but so did the first life one. Taylor and Pollard are now divorced -- both in the game world and the real one.
This happened between a 28-year-old woman and 40-year-old man. Just think about that.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
4:02 PM on 11.15.2008
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Stupid indeed.
Link if you've got pics. I really am interested.
@braulio09
WTF.
Also, people are stupid and Second Life sucks.
I'm a psychologist and I'm really interested in this from a professional stand point. How is stuff like second life, XBL or WOW affecting the way we relate to other human beings?
are there any good papers on this?
If it happens on the net it stays on the net. People say and do things over the web that they would never do and say in real life, simply because they know they can get away with it. I'm sure that this guy was just chatting it up with someone and probably had no real feelings towards her but some people cannot separate the fantasy from the reality.
Let's just hope they don't breed, at all, ever.
This is realy sad, here's a pic, hope it links correctly.
Also, the whole basis of this situation is very 'sad'.
THIS is why I really, really hate online life simulator, RPGS, allow them to take over your life, and they will. We seen it before, WoW being the prime example.
The whole concept of Second life is really bad, it basically hooks you in, as seen in this story.
I know people might not class it as a game per se, but the whole notion of the 'game' suggests that in order to get the most out of it, you have to live in that world more than is healthy.
That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, in my entire life.
No words define the stupidity of how utterly stupid this whole stupid situation is.
And SL is just filled with people with little to no interpersonal skills and no ability to handle the stresses of a relationship since most of them are shut-ins or recently divorced housewives coming out of long and lifeless marriages.
In other words: everything you've heard is true.
Too many people, not enough brains to go around...
If it is the same couple I believe I read about than it gets even more weird.
IF remember they actually met themselves online in a chatroom in about 2003, when there online romance blossomed into marriage, she upped sticks from London to move down to Cornwall to be with him.
Also since this all started she has now met a new man. In World Of Warcraft.
She sounds as mad as a hatter, no wonder she takes it so serious if she meets her men online.
Lol, I didn't see those images the first time I posted. THAT explains A LOT!
Sadly, it does. :(
I ain't gonna say anything against their physical appearance, that's not needed at all.
HOWEVER, like I said before, there is definitely something up with their mental well-being.
"Yeah. You have to buy a user created set of genitals and then find the right animations to do it, but it's there. And in vast amounts."
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
"Yeah. You have to buy a user created set of genitals and then find the right animations to do it, but it's there. And in vast amounts."
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It is ridiculous to claim that virtual and real 'infidelity', whatever your definition of that may be, are the same thing.
I am sure you see yourself the idiocy it would take to claim this.
That is like saying that a virtual apple (3d model of an apple, constituted of mathematical equations and rendered on your monitor) is the same as a real apple. How is anything virtual real for that matter??
I'd agree with you if we were talking about something like Artificial Girl or Sexy Beach or something like that. They broke up over Second Life, though, in which there are REAL PEOPLE behind the virtual facade. More than a few people would consider the emotional/metnal connection between the two users a sign of infidelity.
Side Note(to the topic in general):
Everyone talks about all the "sex" in Second Life. How come no one talks about the people that have raised virtual armies and wage virtual (albeit, somewhat lame) war in it? I thought we were gamers. Aren't we suppose to like that kinda shooting and explosions and stuff?(please, don't answer that last one)
Now tell me, how the FUCK does it change, just because it happens over Second Life? It doesn't. Girls get pissed at cheating, whether its in RL or SL.
But you wouldn't really know anything about girls, so I suppose I can't blame you.
HAHAHAHAHA!
My fiance' is gonna get a fucking kick out of that.