Ever since the 21-year-old researcher’s avatar was breached in a meta version, the safety of the virtual reality space has been called into question again.
Last week, SumOfUs published a report titled “Metaverse: Another Flood of Toxic Content.” Details the fierce clash of investigators in the Horizontal World of Meta.
The incident reportedly occurred while researchers were investigating user behavior on the platform. He said the avatar was raped in virtual space an hour after wearing the Oculus virtual reality headset.
Researchers were reportedly invited to a private party in Horizon World and users in the same room were asked to disable the security bubble settings.
The report is linked to a video that says the group shows from their point of view what happened to the investigator’s avatar.
The video shows that the male avatar is very close to him while the other man watches the avatar. In the 28-second video, a male voice makes lewd comments and a bottle of alcohol is moved between the two avatars.
One user went on to tell investigators, “Look behind you so I can do it from behind,” but the user was reportedly able to see behind the window.
“This sexual activity is non-consensual, and researchers have described the experience as ‘disoriented and confusing,'” according to the report.
Many may be quick to dismiss an attack on a significant reality as something that didn’t really happen.
“It’s still important, it still has a real impact on consumers,” Vicky White, the Group’s campaign manager, told the BBC.
Researchers have noted that when touched by other users, the handheld controller vibrates, creating a very disorienting and even disturbing physical experience during a virtual attack.
“It happened so fast that I managed to escape. Some parts of my brain seem to have wtf, some parts seem to be insubstantial, other parts was that this was an important study,” she said.
The report adds concern that virtual reality may be dangerous for women and groups pushed to the brink.
Investigators also said they had experienced homosexual aversion and racial abuse on Horizon World and witnessed gun violence on the platform.
This is not the first time that a woman has reported sexual harassment on the platform. In 2021, psychotherapist and researcher Nina Jane Patel announced that sexual violence had occurred in Horizon World.
SumOfUs says that meta needs better planning to reduce metaversion damage.
At last week’s shareholder meeting, meta-investors wanted to report on the losses facing Metaverse clients, but shareholders rejected that idea.
Horizontal Worlds is currently only available to customers in the US and Canada.
Towards the end of 2021, Meta announced a new plan to move to Metaversion, investing around $10 billion in Facebook Reality Labs and creating 10,000 Metaversion-related jobs in Europe.
It was this month that Mark Zuckerberg gave us our first compelling glimpse of the MetaSecret VR headset. Although meta conversion technology is under development, it is not yet clear if the company is working on security features for these platforms.
I asked Meta to comment.
Source: Metro
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