Would you dump your signifcant other for a woman you met while playing World of
Warcraft? Kuro5hin user Metavisual has detailed his experience with addiction to World of Warcraft and
his run-in with a cyber vixen who was looking for a fix to her self esteem by snaring the love of a married dude
online.
At one point, Metavisual purchased plane tickets and laid plans to visit his online lover. He packed a suitcase (and probably some birth control) and was just about to head out the door when his wife sniffed something rotten and left the house first, trapping him between his desire to consummate his digital relationship and his duty to make sure his young children had supervision (he couldn't leave the house if his wife weren't there).
This tale isn't uncommon. You may have heard it before if you've been playing MMOGs for a while, but what makes this interesting is the engaging style of it and the implication that WoW is the most popular MMOG ever, therefore this story must be playing out in countless marriages across the land. A whole new population of players is learning to come to terms with an incredibly seductive virtual world.
Many years from now, just about everyone will have been exposed to a virtual world and will have learned to find balance between the seduction of those worlds and the realities of meatspace. Parents will have talks with their kids about the proper way to balance the two. Support structures will be in place and everyone will be given tools to understand how it all fits together. Until then, virtual world newbies will have to figure it out on their own. Many of them will make mistakes.
