By The Big Magazine Staff
Meta will implement a ”personal boundary” feature to its Horizon Worlds and Venue virtual experiences just days after a woman said she was “virtually gang raped” in the company’s metaverse.
The feature, called “personal boundary,” will prevent other users’ virtual avatars from “invading your avatar’s personal space,” the company formerly known as Facebook said in blog post on Friday.
“If someone tries to enter your Personal Boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary,” Meta said. “We believe Personal Boundary is a powerful example of how VR has the potential to help people interact comfortably.”
A British woman said she was “virtually gang raped” while beta testing Meta’s Horizon Worlds late last year.
“Within 60 seconds of joining — I was verbally and sexually harassed — 3-4 male avatars, with male voices, essentially, but virtually gang raped my avatar and took photos — as I tried to get away they yelled — ‘don’t pretend you didn’t love it’ and ‘go rub yourself off to the photo,’” Nina Jane Patel, 43, wrote in a blog post.