« The Daedalus Project: WoW Gender-Bending | Main | Link of the Day: Vixens »
April 28, 2006
Jealousy & Cheating in Cyberspace
The question of cheating in digital domains - is it cheating or not if I have cybersex with someone online - is one I get asked all the time. Almost as a rule, the people who believe that having an online relationship with someone in a game is not cheating are the sames ones who are actually having or are open to having a relationship.
The answer, of course, is that it's all a question of trust and preserving that trust. If your partner would be upset by what you're doing, you've violated his or her trust. Whether it's "cheating" at that point is purely academic. The absence of a physical world doesn't make that violation of trust any less painful.
By extension, love triangles also find their way completely into online communities. Noche's written a good piece on Jealousy in Cyberspace over at Apogeevr.
Let’s say I have a crush on Avatar X. And one day, your oversexed avatar flirts with my love interest, gives the digital goods a few once-overs, and then the two of you ultimately go and do the wild thang behind my back. I find out. Would I get pissed? Honestly, I’d say, shit yes! I would in fact get pissed. But to a degree.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at April 28, 2006 09:22 AM | Discuss this post on our forums