In the future metaverse, cyberbullying is already a problem

A technical function. This is the usual response from Meta, formerly Facebook, whenever a problem is raised with its services. Cyber-attacks in the virtual world are no exception. Since February 4, 2022, users of these spaces benefit from the “personal boundary” parameter to prevent their digital avatar from being approached too closely by others. A kind of social distancing in short.

This safe space establishes an impassable zone between two characters equivalent to 1.20 meters (4 feet) in the physical world. “Personal Boundary” does not need to be activated: the function is activated by default. Any movement of one avatar towards another that tends to violate this space will be interrupted. On the other hand, the avatars will be able to continue to pass close to each other, just to prevent the protection zone from blocking simple movements, or even being diverted from its primary vocation to block the way for others.

Places destined to be very populated

For Meta, the idea is to ensure a safer metaverse. The metaverse is the new big project from Mark Zuckerberg’s company but is currently just another term for “virtual reality”. Concretely, the function is available for the services, recently launched by Meta, of virtual world Horizon Worlds and virtual halls intended for Horizon Venues events. Places called to be very populated, where everyone can meet strangers, unlike Horizon Workrooms workspaces. All of these locations are accessible via the Oculus Quest head-mounted display.

This addition comes after a succession of testimonies of attacks in virtual reality. At the beginning of December 2021, a beta tester thus told on the official Facebook group of Horizon Worlds to have been, a few days before, not only virtually groped by an avatar but that in addition, the scene had been observed by others without that none react, amplifying the feeling of panic and isolation.

A technology columnist Bloomberg also testified to his discomfort within Horizon Venues. Present alone in the form of a female avatar (modeled on her real appearance) in the midst of a dozen male avatars all unknown to her, she found herself observed, photographed, surrounded and one of them is approached close enough to give the sensation of speaking in her ear. Similar experiences happened to him in Microsoft’s virtual space.

A virtual rape in Second Life

Even more disturbing, another beta tester, the British Nina Jane Patelwas sexually assaulted by three avatars in the first seconds of her arrival in Horizon Venues, in January 2022. She says she had to tear off her head-mounted display to escape.

In a searched post from his blog Affordance.infothe researcher in information and communication at the University of Nantes, Olivier Ertzscheid recalls that a virtual rape had taken place in Second Life in 2007 (resulting in the intervention of the Belgian federal police), that in 2014, the video game Grand Theft Auto offered a “rape” option and that in 2016, a participant of the game in virtual reality QuiVR recounted the sexual assault she had suffered there. “Just as there is a ‘cyber’ version of harassment, unfortunately there is also a ‘cyber’ version of sexual assault. It would never occur to anyone to explain that ‘cyber-bullying’ is less serious, toxic or harmful than offline bullying, but unfortunately it is still necessary to remember that the same is true for a sexual assault. Even if virtual, a sexual assault remains sexual assault” notes the researcher.

Recalling research work on the subject, and dating back to 1997, Olivier Ertzcheid points to a phenomenon inherent in virtual worlds: in addition to cutting off from physical reality, it cuts the user off from their social reality. The latter does not necessarily take his moral values ​​with him and finds himself, on the contrary, immersed in a universe without responsibility, without accountability to anyone, without guilt because without confrontation with his victims. In virtual worlds, real problems are never far away.

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