An unpleasant experience was experienced by a woman from London, England, when trying out the Metaverse. This new virtual world allows a person to be represented by an avatar and interact in three-dimensional (3D) space.
In a blog post, the woman identified only as Nina Jane Patel, 43, admitted to being sexually assaulted, verbally and virtually raped while at Horizon Venues.
Horizon Venues itself is a metaverse made by Meta (formerly Facebook), which is still in development.
This Metaverse can be accessed using Meta's Oculus Quest Virtual Reality (VR) device to enjoy virtual concerts, sports, comedy, and other activities.
"Sixty seconds after joining, I was verbally and sexually harassed, 3-4 male avatars, with male voices, basically, virtually raping my avatar and taking photos," wrote Jane Patel in a blog post on the platform. Medium.
He continued, when he tried to run away, the male avatar said, "don't pretend you don't like him."
When this happened, Patel revealed that his reaction in the virtual and real worlds was the same: he was frozen or unable to do anything because everything happened so fast.
Patel described his experience at the Horizon Venues as something of a "real nightmare," even though it happened virtually.
“Virtual reality is designed in such a way that the mind and body cannot distinguish virtual/digital experiences from real ones,” says Jane Patel.
The story of Patel's awful experience at Horizon Venues has also sparked mixed responses from internet users. He said that users were concerned about what had happened to him.
But internet users also call Jane Patel's story unreal to get attention.
"Comments on my posts ranged from 'don't pick female avatars, here's the simple solution,' 'don't be stupid, it's not real, 'pathetic screams for attention, 'avatars don't have a lower body to attack,'" he said. Patel.
Meta Response
Regarding this matter, a spokesperson for Meta said that it was sorry to hear what happened to Petal.
The Meta spokesperson added that it wants everyone at Horizon Venues to have a "positive experience" and quickly find safety tools to help in situations like Petals.
This safety tool can also help Meta investigate and take further action, as compiled by KompasTekno from The Independent, Thursday (2/3/2022).
"The place of Horizon needs to be guaranteed, and we are committed to building it that way. We will continue to make improvements when we study how people interact in this space, especially when it comes to helping people report things easily and reliably," said a person Meta spokesman.