Second Life Dating & Weddings
Contributed by: Editor on Sunday, November 23 2008 @ 10:01 am
Last modified on
I checked out the virtual world, Second Life, a year or two ago and liked what I saw but, I have such a busy life in the real world I didn't do much more than try it out a few times. Much like MMO's (massively multiplayer online game) if you let it, these programs can take up all of your time.
I first heard about a Second Life wedding on our local radio station and after a bit of research I found an online article about it too at the Telegraph[*1] . The story is about Kira and Rik, or should I say Kristen and Steve (their real names). It talks about how these two met online in Second Life and the eventually virtual wedding.
The bizarre event was the culmination of five months of cyber-dating, during which time Kirsten and Steve’s avatars met in Second Life, struck up a virtual rapport, had virtual sex and moved in together, virtually.
It's a pretty unreal story, especially because they both had spouses in the real world.
After more research I was able to find a dating service in Second Life (see AvaDate). In 2007 they had 75 members looking for love. Not a huge selection for a virtual world with 15 million accounts and 38,000 residents logged in at any one time (according to Wikipedia). There are some online dating services trying to create a virtual dating world within their website (the most popular one being OmniDate.com). It is an interesting idea but I am not sure how well it is being received. Personally, I would be more inclined to use web cameras and see the real person instead.