Metaverse already has a groping problem

Catherine Cross, who studies online harassment at the University of Washington, said that when virtual reality is immersive reality, harmful behavior that occurs in that environment is also real. “In the final analysis, the essence of virtual reality space is that it is designed to induce users to think that their body is in a certain space, and every movement of their body takes place in a 3D environment,” she said. “That’s why emotions are in that space. The response will be stronger, and part of the reason why VR triggers the same internal nervous system and psychological response.”

This is the case of the woman who is groped in the horizon world.According to The Verge, her post wrote: “Sexual harassment is not a joke on the ordinary Internet, but another layer has been added to VR to make the incident more intense. Not only was I fumbled last night, but there were other people who supported it. This kind of behavior makes me feel isolated in the square [the virtual environment’s central gathering space]. “

Sexual assault and harassment in the virtual world are not new, and it is not realistic to expect these problems to disappear completely. As long as someone hides behind a computer screen to avoid moral responsibility, they will continue to happen.

The real problem may be related to the perception that when you play a game or participate in a virtual world, Stanton describes it as a “contract between developer and player.” “As a player, I agree to be able to do what I want in the developer’s world according to their rules,” he said. “But once the contract is broken and I no longer feel comfortable, the company’s obligation is to get the players back wherever they want to go and restore comfort.”

The question is: who is responsible for ensuring that users feel comfortable? For example, Meta stated that it allows users to use tools to ensure their own safety, thereby effectively transferring responsibility to them.

Meta spokesperson Kristina Milian said: “We hope everyone in Horizon Worlds will have a positive experience with easy-to-find security tools-if they don’t use all the features we provide, it’s by no means the user’s fault. “We will continue to improve our user interface and better understand how people use our tools so that users can report things easily and reliably. Our goal is to make Horizon World safe and we are committed to doing this.”

Milian said that users must go through an onboarding process before joining Horizon Worlds, teaching them how to activate the safe zone. She also said that reminders are regularly loaded on the screens and posters of Horizon World.

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But Meta explores the fact that the victim either doesn’t think the safe zone is used or cannot access it. precisely Question, Cross said. “Structural issues are a big problem for me,” she said. “Generally speaking, when companies solve online abuse problems, their solution is to outsource it to users and say,’Here, we give you the right to take care of yourself.'”

This is unfair and will not work. Security should be easy and accessible, and there are many ideas to make this possible. For Stanton, all it needs is some kind of universal signal in virtual reality—perhaps Quivr’s V gesture—that can convey some wrong information to the moderator. Fox wondered if it would help to keep personal distance automatically unless both people agreed to get closer. Cross believes that it would be useful to clearly formulate norms that are common in daily life in training courses: “In the real world, you don’t fumble for someone at will, you should bring it to the virtual world.”

Before we figure out who is working to protect users, an important step towards a safer virtual world is to discipline attackers. They usually get away with it and are still eligible to participate in online activities even after their actions are known. “We need deterrence,” Fox said. This means ensuring that bad actors are detected and suspended or prohibited. (Millian said Mehta”[doesn’t] Share details about individual cases” when asked what happened to the accused explorer.)

Stanton regretted not promoting the adoption of power stances across the industry, nor did he talk more about Bellamir’s explorations. “This is a lost opportunity,” he said. “We could have avoided that thing that happened to Meta.”

If anything is clear, it is: no organization can be clearly responsible for the rights and safety of people participating online anywhere, let alone in a virtual world. Until something changes, Metaverse will remain a dangerous and problematic space.