CLOSER NEWS REPORT
Being immersed in VR is supposed to be fun, but how safe is it? Closer speaks to one woman whose experience left her traumatised…
When a new metaverse called Horizon Venues was launched, psychotherapist Nina Patel was keen to try it.
The owner of a company which teaches adults and children about safety in the metaverse, Nina was well versed in VR worlds. But when she logged on, she was quickly approached by a gang who sexually harassed and assaulted her avatar.
Nina, 45, says, “I know it wasn’t a real-world assault, but it was a traumatic experience.”
CORNERED
In December 2021, Nina was alone at her home in London, waiting for her children to get back from school.
Horizon Venues – which allows friends and family to meet up virtually – had just launched and, with 20 minutes to spare, Nina slipped on her VR headset. She says, “I gave my avatar blonde hair like me and put her in a long purple dress. Then I looked in the virtual mirror and waved my arms to test it. When I moved, my avatar moved, and it was even able to match my facial expressions, which is called embodiment.”
Then she went to a portal which beamed her to a space where there were other avatars. There were several rooms to choose from, each with a different activity like playing basketball or going to a concert.
Nina says, “While I was looking around at what was on offer, three male avatars suddenly approached me and used sexually aggressive language. They said things like, ‘We’ll give you what you want’, and before I knew it, they were surrounding me. One of them reached out and put their hands on my avatar’s breasts, while another one put a hand over my mouth. They were smiling and I could hear a voice behind me, but I couldn’t see what they were doing.
I yelled at them to stop and to get off, but they ignored me. I managed to get away, but they ran after me and cornered me.”
Shockingly, Nina’s experience wasn’t unique, as instances of sexual harassment in virtual spaces have been reported by 49 per cent of female users.
ESCALATED
She says, “While they all continued touching me, a fourth male came towards us and showed me some photos he’d taken of the attack. It meant the person behind the avatar was taking screenshots of it. Then the one in front started doing a thrusting motion against my avatar, mimicking sex, and said, ‘Don’t pretend you’re not enjoying it’. When I realised they weren’t going to stop, I ripped off my VR headset.
“They’d approached me within 60 seconds of going into the metaverse and it all happened so quickly that afterwards I was confused and bewildered. When I took off my headset, I thought, ‘What just happened?’ I was flush and my heart was racing. There was no doubt in my mind that my avatar had been sexually assaul
