Woman Claims She Was Groped In Facebook's Metaverse 'Horizon Worlds'
The safety imbued in virtual worlds now branded as metaverses leaves room for more questions than answers. Now, a woman claims she was virtually groped in Meta's metaverse - Horizon Worlds.
Horizon Worlds was opened to the public only last week, and the problems that exist on Facebook's pool of platforms are already spilling over to the metaverse.
Meta has acknowledged the incident
In Meta's (read Facebook) Horizon Worlds, up to 20 users (read avatars) can get together at a time to chill out together or to build things in the virtual world.
But things aren't all green and sunny, even in the metaverse. According to Meta, a beta tester informed the company that she had been groped by a stranger on Horizon Worlds. The woman had made her experience public in a post in the Horizon Worlds beta testing group on Facebook.
Also read:?Facebook Meta's Mark Zuckerberg Highlights India's Role In Future Of Metaverse
Meta's investigation of the incident found that the beta tester ought to have used a tool called "Safe Zone" - part of Horizon Worlds' safety features.
Within this Safe Zone - nobody can touch the individual's digital avatar. There are also restrictions on talking and general interaction among players.
In conversation with The Verge, Horizon Worlds' vice president Vivek Sharma called the incident "absolutely unfortunate" while adding that it's "good feedback still for us because I want to make [Safe Zone] trivially easy and findable."
Also read:?Horizon Worlds: Meta's Facebook Opens Its Metaverse VR World For Public
The incident highlights the obvious - that digital spaces tend to recreate the threats that people face in the physical world, and that tech companies need more robust safety measures to avoid making the metaverse experience uncomfortable.
What do you think about using the metaverse and your personal safety? Let us know in the comments below.??For more in the world of?science and technology, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.??
Citation
Basu, T. (2021, December 16). The metaverse has a groping problem already. MIT Technology Review.?
Heath, A. (2021b, December 9). Meta opens up access to VR social platform Horizon Worlds. The Verge.?
