A couple have divorced after the husband was caught having a “virtual affair” with a female character in an online game. David Pollard and Amy Taylor met in an online chat room in 2003 and married after discovering a shared love of the Internet game Second Life.
In the game, players create characters known as avatars, which then interact with others in a virtual world. To his wife’s horror, Mr Pollard’s interaction included virtual infidelity with a female character playing the role of a prostitute. Ms Taylor said yesterday that her husband had been guilty of the “ultimate betrayal”, even though he had never met the real person behind his online affair.
Mr. Pollard, whose Second Life character is called Dave Barmy, and Ms. Taylor, who calls herself Laura Skye, apparently spent as much of their marriage interacting on Second Life as they did in the real world.
Ms. Taylor, 28, filed for divorce on the ground of unreasonable behaviour after her husband admitted falling in love with the virtual female character. She discovered the affair after a rare break from her computer. When she returned from a nap she caught a glimpse of her husband’s avatar in a compromising position on a sofa with a female avatar.
