Avatar Affair Puts Real Marriage Asunder

Oh, and besides getting a real-life divorce, the British couple also virtually divorced in Second Life courts in May, Sky news reports. Somehow that makes sense, as they were married virtually as well. There was no word on what virtual divorces cost.

Amy Taylor, aka DJ Laura Skye, and David Pollard, aka Dave Barmy, met in a chat room in 2003 and subsequently moved in together -- physically.

But Taylor/Skye should have seen the writing on the wall -- virtually and avatarally (though that's not a real word although this is a real divorce). Before the couple married -- in the U.K. and in Second Life -- Taylor/Skye caught Pollard -- er -- Barmy -- having sex with a virtual prostitute, but she forgave him.

Then in April, Taylor/Skye again found Pollard/Barmy making time with another avatar.

"I caught him cuddling a woman on a sofa in the game," she told The Telegraph. "It looked really affectionate. He turned off the computer monitor, and I turned it back on and demanded to look at his chat history. But he turned off the computer so the history was all deleted. He never did anything in real life, but I had my suspicions about what he was doing in Second Life."

Turns out Pollard/Barmy had been wooing an avatar created by an American woman, and wanted out of the real/virtual marriage with Taylor/Skye. And although he has never met the other woman/avatar in real life, they are engaged -- not in real life, but in Second Life.

As fantastic as the story sounds, Taylor/Skye said that her lawyer wasn't at all surprised and that it was her second divorce that week that involved Second Life.

Pollard/Balmy blamed Taylor/Skye for the online/offline shenanigans, saying she was obsessed with another game and neglected him.

"Amy never did anything around the house," Pollard/Balmy told The Independent. "She just played World of Warcraft all the time. If I wanted to spend time with her I had to ask, but it was always too much trouble for her to come off the game to spend time with me."

Taylor/Skye still plays World of Warcraft and now has a avatar boyfriend in the game.

Hopefully love -- virtual and real -- will be sweeter the second time around.