Woman's avatar 'gang-raped' within 60 seconds of joining Metaverse

Nina Jane Patel said that 'the horrible experience happened so fast' and before she 'could even think about putting the safety barrier in place'.

Team Newsable

London, First Published Feb 2, 2022, 2:51 PM IST | Last Updated Feb 2, 2022, 2:51 PM IST

'Gangraped within 60 seconds of joining Metaverse,' that's how 43-year-old Nina Jane Patel described what happened to her virtual avatar late last year when she was a beta tester on the VR platform Horizon Worlds, created by Meta.

Sharing her experience, Nina Jane Patel wrote on the web portal Medium, 'I was verbally and sexually harassed. Three to four male avatars with male voices essentially but virtually gang-raped my avatar and took photos. As I tried to get away, they yelled, 'don’t pretend you didn't love it' and 'go rub yourself off to the photo.'

Terming what happened with her as surreal, she said that 'the horrible experience happened so fast and before I could even think about putting the safety barrier in place. I froze. It was a nightmare'. The safety barrier that Nina was referring to was Meta's Safe Zone feature that enables users to place a curtail interaction with other users.

The virtual world is currently in beta testing. Meta promises that users would be able to experience live events like concerts, sports, comedy from the 'best seat in the house'.

In a statement to the New York Post, Patel said that the industry should come together and put security controls and safety measures to deal with harassment in the metaverses. She further said that this (harassment) would continue as the 'world fast moves from the 2D Internet into the 3D internet space (Metaverse)'.

Reacting to the accusation, a Meta spokesperson regretted the incident and sought to reassure the users that the technology firm wanted everyone in Horizon Venues to have a positive experience and be able to quickly get access to the safety tools.

The spokesperson further said that the company is committed to building Horizon Venues as a safe online space and that efforts would continue to improve based on the feedback received from users about their interactions in the Metaverse.

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