Wall Street Journal looks at a man who is married in real life and married in Second Life — though not to the same woman.
Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?: Alexandra Alter on the toll one man’s virtual marriage is taking on his real one and what researchers are discovering about the surprising power of synthetic identity is the story of one man who has found new ways to complicate his wife. His real-life wife is just annoyed with him spending so much time on the computer and his virtual marriage at this time, but if she decided to divorce him, I think most judges would rule in favor of her. One question the story didn’t cover was if he could be charged with bigamy?
Family-law experts and marital counselors say they’re seeing a growing number of marriages dissolve over virtual infidelity. Cyber affairs don’t legally count as adultery unless they cross over into the real world, but they may be cited as grounds for divorce and could be a factor in determining alimony and child custody in some states, according to several legal experts, including Jeff Atkinson, professor at the DePaul University College of Law and author of the American Bar Association’s “Guide to Marriage, Divorce and Families.”