Since our discussion in class on Wednesday, I have given some more thought to the question of whether having a second relationship in a virtual world is considered emotional (or even physical) cheating on your "real" partner. Someone in class brought up the idea that sometimes people "experiment" with gender or sexual orientation, and sometimes people just want to experiment with new people in general. I was not particularly vocal about this point in class, but I believed that any type of "second relationship" is considered cheating. I try to be open-minded about the idea that relationships mean different things to different people, so on some level, cheating depends on the expectations that certain people have about what a relationship should be. To me, being in a relationship with someone implies a certain degree of emotional loyalty. By engaging with another person to the point where you trust them in a way that you do not trust your real partner, whether that is in a virtual or a real world, that is considered cheating.
To qualify this idea, cheating in "real" life also depends, to some extent, on a person's particular judgment about what the relationship means to them. In a similar way, there is no specific guideline for what cheating actually is in the virtual world. At the same time however, the ideas of trust, loyalty and emotional engagement transcend medium and are important to keep in mind when thinking about relationships.
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