Virtual Divorce Cases To Soar

Britain's first virtual divorce is just the tip of the iceberg as more people seek sex and thrills in fantasy worlds, psychologists have warned.

Sky News Online's exclusive story revealed how Amy Taylor, 28, was divorcing husband David Pollard after she caught him cheating on her in virtual reality game Second Life.

She told how she found the 40-year-old at the computer - watching his 3D character having sex with a prostitute in the game.

Because the pair, from Newquay in Cornwall, spent so much time in the virtual world, she saw the online infidelity as every bit as real as if it had happened in real life.

She cited 'unreasonable behaviour' in her court papers, and her solicitor told her it was the third divorce case involving Second Life she was dealing with.

Our story was taken up by the world's media, as pundits wondered whether it had exposed a cyber society where morality is set aside for secret, adulterous desires.

And, according to experts we contacted, Amy and David's virtual reality divorce is just the start.
"I am sure this type of divorce is going to be an increasing phenomena, there's no doubt about it," psychologist Dr Aric Sigman told Sky News Online.

"It's going to be a huge problem, especially when you consider what will happen when the Facebook generation grows up, because all they are doing is interacting with an image on screen.

"It's what they are not doing in real life that leads to these divorces. Britain is the most time-poor country in Europe, so when people are spending the few hours they have in a virtual world, it's worrying."

Professor Mark Griffiths, an expert on internet addictions, also thinks there will be more cases as more people go online.

So far, more than 15 million people have created characters in Second Life, and membership of the game is growing by 70,000 a day, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Dr Griffiths, from Nottingham Trent University, says the problem lies in the fact that the internet is a non-threatening environment where deep relationships are easy to form.

He believes the instigators of virtual reality divorce cases are more likely to be female.

"Women are stereotypically far more upset of emotional infidelity," he said. "Men are less likely to react into a depth that women do. Physical infidelity is more likely to affect them."

But what does this hold for the legal profession as more people split up for events that 'happen' in fantasy worlds?

Divorce lawyer Andrew Newbury says the court system will not have to change because even though affairs in cyber space are legally not adultery - they do constitute unreasonable behaviour.

"People are cheating in different ways, it's a new phenomenon," he said. "It may be difficult to prove, but anything that happens on the internet is recorded.

"Even if you can't prove it, someone spending much of their time on the internet is potentially neglecting their relationship.

"And hence the divorce can be granted on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour."