Police are investigating a virtual sexual assault of a girl’s avatar, the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners has said.
Donna Jones said she had learned that a complaint was made in 2023, triggering a police inquiry.
The virtual incident did not result in physical harm but caused “psychological trauma”, the Daily Mail has reported a source as saying. Police chiefs have called on platforms to do more to protect their users.
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The impact of the attack on the girl’s avatar was said to be heightened because of the immersive nature of the VR experience.
I don’t know what platform they were using. And maybe in a VR setting, and with multiple characters, it’s a little difficult to find out who the perpetrators are.
When I play an online FPS game for example, I don’t always see our notice the names of the players I interact with.
And that’s beside the point anyway. That girl has the right to feel safe even in a VR setting where the aim of the platform is to simply interact with others as you would in real life. I don’t know why nobody here understands this.
I don’t think people have the right to ‘feel safe’ around every single person they interact with on the internet. If she doesn’t like how those people behave, she’s free to leave and interact with others.
At some point, we have to take responsibility for our own actions and the people we choose to associate with.
Oh really?
So she gets harassed online and she’s the one that has to leave? She’s the one that has to sacrifice her enjoyment of the game due to other people’s bad behaviour?
That seems fair to you?
She can still enjoy the game. Nobody is forcing her to interact with those people.
Even if the game was built around enabling them, then she could always go play a different game or just about anything else. Nobody is forcing her to play a game that makes her feel uncomfortable.
The same goes for, say, going to forums where people say things you don’t like. You have the power to leave. Taxpayer resources shouldn’t be wasted in making sure every single microcosm on the internet makes everyone ‘feel safe.’
I don’t understand why this is such a difficult concept for you.
Because that concept that YOU are defining here enables the aggressors and, in this case, perpetuates rape culture.
If I were to be harassed, sexually or otherwise, in a forum like this one right here, the mods would ban the harasser. It’s their duty to allow the users to be in a safe, respectful and civil environment.
And if I were to be harassed continually on any Lemmy instance, there are cyber bullying laws in most countries to address this and you can be sure the police would be involved. Online harassment is a real world issue with real world consequences.
Edit: And no, she can’t enjoy the game anymore knowing that this shit happened to her and can happen again and again. It completely ruined the experience for her.
Yeah, that’s how the forum’s mods decide to run their instance.
If you don’t like their rules, you can go somewhere else. No need to get law enforcement involved or waste taxpayer money on lawsuits.
Go over to 4chan and your experience will likely be very different. Nobody is forcing you to go there, though. Taxpayer resources shouldn’t be wasted on making every microcosm on the internet ‘feel safe’ for everyone else.