WSJ journal reporter Alexandra Alter broached a very interesting subject in her article today. The case she talks about is a man with two wives, one in the physical world and one in the virtual world (Second Life). The picture below provides will help you sort out this mixed of love triangle. The question that remains to be answered is whether Richard, the husband, is being unfaithful to Sue, his wife in the real world?
Richard feels that he is doing nothing wrong, merely playing a game. He has never met or even spoken on the phone to his digital wife Tenaj (her real name is Janet) “but since February, he’s been spending six hours a night and often 14 hours at a stretch on weekends” in Second Life with his virtual wife.
Sue however, doesn’t feel quite the same way. “Everybody has their hobbies, but when it’s from six in the morning until two in the morning, that’s not a hobby, that’s your life.” She feels she is being shut out and neglected, and adding to her concern is the fact that the couple has only been married for three years after meeting first in an online chat room.
The article is an interesting read and I would encourage you to read in and give your comments below too.
Quite the interesting story but not a surprising one. I think what is really surprising is that there are critics of virtual spaces who dismiss Second Life and spaces like it as empty voids that have no real meaning and then turn to point to stories like these which, I believe, are proof that real emotions are invested in avatars, hence the space isn’t one void of meaning but simply one invested with meaning that outsiders might not understand.
I’m not advocating or admonishing this kind of use of a virtual world, that’s not my place, but I think it’s important that we understand that even folks who log on for escape (which most critics dismiss as a trivial use) are deeply attached not only to the escape but to their fellow travelers in the virtual space. There’s something important going on in these spaces. Something I hope we’ll learn to understand better in the near future.
Intellagirl