How to deal with the challenge of "sexual assault" in the virtual world has become very serious. Recently, a woman was sexually assaulted by strangers in the meta universe. This has aroused widespread concern. As a virtual space in which users interact with each other in virtual images, metauniverse has been hot recently. However, with the increase of attention and the continuous R & D and listing of relevant products, relevant problems have gradually emerged.
It is understood that the victim was a 21-year-old woman who created a female virtual image in the game horizon world recently released by meta. However, he was "sexually assaulted" by a male virtual character, and there were onlookers booing beside him. Its nature is abominable.
In fact, similar incidents have occurred before. At that time, some scholars believed that if the body was not touched, it could also be judged as sexual harassment, because the impact of virtual behavior on personality and dignity is usually conclusive. However, some people believe that "virtual rape" is difficult to be defined as real "rape" at present.
Aside from the technical details, there are three main reasons for the uproar. First, "sexual assault" occurs in the virtual world. Unlike ordinary cyberspace, metauniverse combines virtual reality technology, relies on blockchain, and is supported by cryptocurrency. It aims to create a full Metaspace, so as to "catch all the contents of daily life". Such technology is no longer a specific function, but a place where functions and meanings occur, and a new situation is opened outside the physical world. So this "virtual sexual assault" is unprecedented.
Secondly, "sexual assault" occurs between two virtual characters, not between two real people. In what sense can sexual activity between two virtual characters be regarded as "sexual assault"? The physical contact between two characters in a game is difficult to be regarded as a real sexual activity. However, the virtual characters in the meta universe are not ordinary virtual characters. Their images and actions are selected by people and generated in real time.
Finally, the metauniverse aims to reproduce or even surpass physical perception, and realize reality through a series of technologies. This makes "virtual sexual assault" very "real". People do not operate their own virtual characters through a handle, but become their own virtual characters. Human perception is perfectly simulated.
In the coming period of time, with the continuous development of the meta universe, physical reality and virtual reality will be deeply integrated, and the switching between online and offline will become extremely smooth, so that people often don't notice it. The full meaning of people's daily activities is completed in such a highly integrated advanced reality. At this time, the challenge of "sexual assault" in the virtual world may become very serious.
It is understood that considering the risk of "sexual assault", meta recently added a function to combat virtual reality harassment. This function, called "personal boundary", creates an invisible virtual barrier around the VR "Avatar" to prevent others from getting too close. This can be regarded as the normative origin of the metauniverse.
However, according to the current reports, this is still not mandatory, and it is difficult to achieve the desired effect. Therefore, there is still a long way to go to prevent human dignity from being infringed in the virtual world.
□ wangxiaowei (School of philosophy, Renmin University of China)