Are Virtual Worlds A Hotbed for Infidelity?

Are Virtual Worlds A Hotbed for Infidelity?

It seems as though every single time a virtual world is mentioned in the popular media it is discussed in a sensational and negative manner. We are all familiar with stories of children neglected as a result of an addiction to online activities, and we have seen many examples of marriages which have ended as a result of online infidelity.

Second Life has this reputation. It's a place to go to if you want to be unfaithful. But how fair is that assumption?

The reality is that people need no excuse to be unfaithful. Go to any bar on a friday night and if you are a seasoned observationalist, you will be able to pick out the married men and women looking for some extra marital company for a night or two.

Visit any popular dating website such as www.plentyoffish.com or OKCupid! and you will find many people who openly admit that they are married (although they may choose to hide their identity with fake name and photograph). There are many people on dating websites who are just "looking for friendships" as though a married man with three children seeking a female for friendship isn't, to say the least, somewhat obvious and revealing.

Second Life (or other virtual world for that matter) is no different than any social networking platform. Infidelity happens quite frequently due to Facebook, yet Facebook seems to have escaped the fallout and negative reputation that Second Life has earned.

Mark Keenan, Managing Director of Divorce-Online said "The most common reason seemed to be people having inappropriate sexual chats with people they were not supposed to" and was cited as saying 20% of his divorce petitions mentioned the social platform as a cause.

Virtual worlds allow for the exact same access and simply offer a three dimensional interaction between people. Whereas on Facebook you are limited to chatting and exchanging pictures, in a virtual world you have the ability to "emote" or use animations to simulate physical interactions such as hugging, kissing and sexual intercourse. This does not make for more of an opportunity to be unfaithful but certainly does make the experience far more realistic.

And perhaps it is the realism that begins to lead to problems for certain types of individuals who are unable to differentiate between a fantasy environment and the "real world". That said there are many people who engage in virtual world communities who present themselves exactly as they would in their offline lives. Second Life for some is simply a great place to meet interesting people from around the world. It is not a place to "escape" or create an unrealistic fantasy. It is simply another convenient social conduit.

Do virtual worlds such as Second Life afford more opportunity for infidelity? No. But as the "new kid on the block" in terms of emerging technology it is the most misunderstood online social platform and subject to sensational reporting simply because it is new and in its infancy. People fear what they do not understand.

And as for the argument that "Second Life made me do it", in my experience people who are unfaithful need no encouragement to engage extramaritally. If not Second Life, then Facebook.

Thankfully Twitter limits its characters making cybersex virtually impossible, or we would have an epidemic there too.

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Source: Web June 20, 2010

http://www.allfacebook.com

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