I haven't posted any new stories lately. Not because there aren't any but because a few have been so ruthless that I have felt completely out of place & inappropriate to ask these people if they would mind my posting their stories.

Many of them involve being married for many years and believing their partner's "it's just for stress" and "I'm just friends with him/her" excuses for EQ only to either witness them running off, plotting to get their partner evicted, or getting that surprise phone call from the online cheater's accomplice. I do have one story from a while ago that I was given permission to post, so I may do that one day, but I'm still trying to figure out how to remove enough so that it would actually be somewhat anonymous.

I have always tried to purposefully omitted stories which involved extreme betrayal to real-life partners and focus instead on those everyday-must-log-on-to-EQ that highlight the detachment from real-life issues and happiness. And it makes sense to do so because I am not trying to tell people that "EQ is evil". EQ is what it is. What people use it for is the right question to ask. You will always find cheaters anywhere, and EQ is just another place that makes it easier for people to cheat. Just like any other place you should ask yourself what your partner is exactly up to if they spend an insane amount of hours socializing with other people and forfeiting spending any time with you or your their children.

Unlike reality, one-night affairs are hard to come by in EQ. Cheating there occurs almost exclusively with people they have come to known and hang out with. So pay attention to when your partner suddenly hides the ingame chats from you. Or when you realize that you are trying to hide chatting from your partner.