Dave Barmy trapped by wife's virtual dick

By Davey Winder
Saturday, 15 November 2008 16:37

Networking

When cartoons get caught with their pants down, the real life consequences are not always funny - as Dave Barmy has discovered.

Second Life threw a birthday party earlier this year in order to celebrate being five years old. The virtual world emerged from the shadows of Beta testing back on June 23rd, 2003 and has gripped the interest of real world media ever since.

It was back in those early days when Dave Barmy and Laura Skye met and fell in love within the virtual world. This was one of those Internet love affairs that ended happily, with real world marriage.

I have probably spoken to more of these virtual lovers turned real world partners than most, thanks to my writing a book which explores the subject of who we really are in these virtual environments.

Which means I understand the potential for things to go wrong, very wrong indeed, when you are of the personality type that invests so much emotionally into the life of an avatar. Virtual murder with cheating avatars being slaughtered is not unheard of.

But much more common are real world marriages breaking up as the result of virtual love affairs - and so it was with Dave Barmy and Laura Skye.

Ms Taylor (AKA Laura Skye) happened to spot her husband Mr Pollard (AKA Dave Barmy) at the computer, immersed within Second Life as usual. But with Laura Skye offline, Dave Barmy was having sex on a sofa with a virtual prostitute.

She did the only thing she could, and hired a private investigator called Markie MacDonald. Of course, Markie MacDonald was an avatar detective within Second Life. Yes, Dave Barmy was now being followed by a virtual dick.

Dave Barmy was forced to apologise to his real world wife and his online lovers. An apology was not enough for Ms Taylor who filed for divorce with a British court on the grounds of 'unreasonable behaviour.'

She says that is cheating, he says he cannot see what the fuss is about. I say, if you are going to have an avatar affair then make sure you do not get caught by your wife's virtual dick.