Being sexually assaulted in the real world is a traumatic experience, but what happens when sexual crimes like this enter the virtual space?
Supposedly, these virtual realities provide a space for people to enjoy time away from the real world. However, for a mother who entered the virtual world, it gave her a totally different experience.
Groped, Screenshots Taken and Traumatised
On one occasion this month, Nina Jane Patel, 43, had logged into the Horizon Venues metaverse, Facebook’s virtual online world, to enjoy a time in the immersive animated world.
Within less than a minute of entering, a gang of three male characters began groping her aggressively. She was pursued by the male avatars, who subjected her to a stream of sexual innuendo and took screenshots of the attack for several minutes even as she tried to flee.
You see, the thing about virtual reality is it allows you to feel as though you are truly in the virtual world through high-quality visuals and audio, which most of the time can be an engaging experience.
Unfortunately, it presented a traumatic one for Patel. She could only watch and listen in horror as her avatar was sexually assaulted.
She said, “I entered the Horizon Venues metaverse as an avatar who looked just like me – middle-aged, blonde and dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved top.
“Before I knew what was happening, they were taking screenshots of them touching my avatar, both my upper and lower body. While doing that, they said things like, ‘Don’t pretend you don’t love it’.”
To end the horrific experience, Patel had to tear off her headset which covers her eyes and allows her to see the metaverse through her avatar’s perspective.
The assaulters had carried out the act while in full view of others who had logged into the metaverse, a space in which users’ avatars meet and interact and explore a fast-growing network of virtual locations such as cities, country scenes or cafes.
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Proposed Legal Action
The mother of four who hails from Lambeth, South London, has suffered from anxiety since the attack and fears for the safety of her three teenage girls as well as other women in this lawless virtual world.
The metaverse is predicted to be worth up to S$914 billion a year by 2024. However, Patel’s experience will heighten fears that the metaverse will become a haunt for sex attackers and paedophiles.
A senior lawyer said that the attack was not an offence, but suggested that authorities should consider how to protect those entering the metaverse.
Nick Brett, of London law firm Brett Wilson, said the Sexual Offences Act 2003 may need to be amended to prosecute people who hide behind avatars.
Not the First Occasion
What is even more shocking is this attack was not the first time Patel had seen the horrors of the metaverse.
Recalling one of her first visits to the virtual space in December, she said, “There was what sounded like a young girl, maybe about ten, being accosted by what sounded and looked like a male. The male avatar was forcing his face onto hers and she was yelling, ‘Stop it. Get off me.’ Other avatars just stood by.”
Horizon Venues has introduced a “safe zone” where avatars enter to avoid interaction with others but Patel says the website’s protection is still inadequate.
Despite having an age restriction of 18 years, it is not difficult for those underaged to lie about their age.
A spokesman for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, apologised for Patel’s experience and said “We will continue to make improvements as we learn more about how people interact in these spaces, especially helping people report things easily and reliably.”
After her experience, Patel is now creating Kabuni, her own educational metaverse for children aged eight to 16, with stricter parental controls.
“This technology will be prevalent in our children’s futures, so my mission is to create safe and secure virtual-reality experiences,” she said. We stan a pro-active parent.
As technology continues to advance, we must learn how to remain safe in the virtual space that will only grow more popular. Moreover, if assaulting others in the real world is a crime, it should not be legal in the virtual world either.
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Featured Image: Facebook (Horizon Venues)
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