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Girl claims her ‘virtual she’ gang-raped in Metaverse game, UK orders probe

The government in UK ordered a probe after a 16-year-old girl claimed that her virtual avatar was gang-raped in a live metaverse game. Read More

Wednesday January 3, 2024 11:10 AM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

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London: The government in UK ordered a probe after a 16-year-old girl claimed that her virtual avatar was gang-raped in a live metaverse game.

The girl was wearing a Virtual Reality (VR) headset in an immersive game when her avatar was allegedly assaulted by avatars representing several men, according to the Daily Mail.

Though the victim did not experience any physical harm, the mental torture and the psychological impact of the incident are being probed, the UK officials said.

There are a number metaverse games available like the one in question, Horizon Worlds, which is a free VR game owned by Meta (formerly Facebook), where users create avatars and control them with their VR headset and associated equipment.

What is metaverse?

The metaverse is a tech trend believed to be the next iteration of the internet. It is a single, shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space where humans experience life in ways they could not in the physical world.

While there will not be any physical damage, the psychological trauma of any adverse incident, like the one the UK girl faced, is comparable to real-world assault due to the immersive nature of the VR experience.

The latest case of UK girl follows reports of other sexual assaults in the metaverse, prompting calls for updated laws to address the evolving risks associated with artificial intelligence.

“Can’t be ignored as small incident”

Meanwhile, UK Home Secretary James Cleverly supported the UK Police probe, stressing the importance of the psychological trauma inflicted upon the girl. He also warned against underestimating the seriousness of such virtual acts.

“I know it is easy to dismiss this as being not real, but the whole point of these virtual environments is they are incredibly immersive,” he told LBC’s “Nick Ferrari at Breakfast” program.

“And we’re talking about a child here, and a child who has gone through sexual trauma. It had a very significant psychological effect, and we should be very, very careful about being dismissive of this," he added.

 

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