Inanimate Object Lovin'

So I heard about this guy awhile back, and in our lecture yesterday, he came to mind.

The article is about a man that had fell in love with a female character within a game on the Nintendo DS called "Love Plus". He then decided to take it that step further; by marrying, in an unofficial ceremony, his virtual love.

The man and his Bride on vacation in Guam.

I thought about the image of this man, carting around his "wife" in the form of a video game... and couldn't help but to think of how strange this seems to me, and not only because he's deciding to marry what is essentially a non-human object...

It would be frustratingly insufficient to be in a relationship with a Nintendo DS character (for me at least).

I think it would be impossible to have a normal relationship with "her" because you would just be too different. The level of emotional exchange would be minimal; physicality would be impossibly dissatisfying, not to mention ridiculous.

But who am I to tell him he can't have feelings for something I deem inappropriate? I do have a question for him though:

What would happen if he lost or damaged his"wife"?

Sub Question: Is she the same wife he married if he goes out and re-purchases the game? Or is this new "person", someone who he hasn't had all the same unique experiences with, thus making her someone that looks like his wife, but is not his wife?

I can imagine the future holding very complicated issues regarding "cyber-spouses" vs. "real" spouses and the legitimacy of the relationship they will undoubtedly have.

The things that define "love", will be thoroughly looked at and argued over in future courts. It should raise interesting debates regarding love and how much control the law will have over who can love who, or what. As well as what happens when someone wants to take their love to the next level and marry their object/thing of choice.

After a little bit of research, I also found a man in England that has a peculiar sexual preference.

He even runs a website dedicated to people with the same preference in vehicular love, and says there's about 500 others just like him. Because this is really rare, it seems that the law doesn't even mention his preference and thus, he is permitted to continue (assumedly).

But as technologies advance, I feel this issue will have to be addressed eventually; and certain versions of this behaviour will fall on the wrong side of the law.