Facebook Metaverse Creates “Personal Bubble” Around Avatars After Reports Of Groping And Harassment
Today in things that aren’t real (e.g., bitcoin, NFTS), there’s more news on Facebook’s “Metaverse,” where people are apparently being virtually raped. I’m so glad I don’t understand how any of this nonsense works, and I’ll never partake in any of it. Via DailyMail:
Facebook parent Meta has created a minimum distance between users’ avatars in its virtual reality network Horizon, following reports of harassment, one of the thorny issues for its metaverse vision.
The ‘personal boundary’ function in the immersive platform, where people can socialize virtually, puts an automatic four-foot ring of space around users’ digital proxies.
‘A personal boundary prevents anyone from invading your avatar’s personal space,’ Horizon vice president Vivek Sharma wrote in a blog post introducing the new function on Friday.
‘If someone tries to enter your personal boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary,’ Sharma added.
The new function comes after complaints have emerged in press reports and in social media or blog posts of incidents of harassment.
Within 60 seconds of joining – I was verbally and sexually harassed,’ one user wrote in a blog of her experience.
‘A horrible experience that happened so fast and before I could even think about putting the safety barrier in place. I froze,’ she added.
The boundary function is turned on by default, said Sharma, who added users will still be able to bump fists or give one another high-fives.
Horizon already has an anti-harassment feature that makes an avatar’s hands vanish if it tries to inappropriately touch another virtual character, according to its creator.
Jesus Christ. Go outside and go for a walk. Read a book. Look up at the sky. Literally anything but this.
