Woman reveals ‘nightmare’ of being ‘gang raped’ in virtual reality

[Cow Poke]

Same thing in World of Warcraft. You would have high level characters just waiting around to kill lower level solo players, just for fun. It was called "ganking" (gang killing)

Still while it is not actually rape, I can see how it would be upsetting to a woman being virtually assaulted and harassed by a gang of jerks. I sure wouldn't want any young boys or girls having to go through that online.

OK, totally new to this --- couldn't she just take off the mask or shut off the game?

[rogue06]

Not inherently, no. Forms of sexual harassment can become criminal, but it's generally not a crime to make an unwelcome but forward comment to somebody.

Often because it isn't until after it was made before the person knows if it was unwelcome or welcome.

[myth]

Same thing in World of Warcraft. You would have high level characters just waiting around to kill lower level solo players, just for fun. It was called "ganking" (gang killing)

Still while it is not actually rape, I can see how it would be upsetting to a woman being virtually assaulted and harassed by a gang of jerks. I sure wouldn't want any young boys or girls having to go through that online.

I used to play on a PvP server back in the days of vanilla WoW (and beyond). The countless times I had to log off because I spent 3 hours trying to complete a quest line, but was getting spawn killed by 3-5 players 20 levels above me....

[myth]

OK, totally new to this --- couldn't she just take off the mask or shut off the game?

Yes.

[KingsGambit]

Often because it isn't until after it was made before the person knows if it was unwelcome or welcome.

We don't want to run up older Southern ladies who say "hun" or "dear" to everybody on sexual harassment charges. You know there are people out there who would want to.

[Sparko]

OK, totally new to this --- couldn't she just take off the mask or shut off the game?

Yes. But she said it happened so fast she didn't know what was going on and then tried to "get away"

[Gondwanaland]

OK, totally new to this --- couldn't she just take off the mask or shut off the game?

Yep. In addition most VR interaction games have some way to essentially 'block' contact if someone is doing something you don't like. a 'safe zone', if you will, that can be activated.

[KingsGambit]

I'm far less concerned about the possibility of this than I am the actual, widespread reality of adults hanging out on platforms like Discord and grooming teenagers. As a parent, I know firsthand that it's a reality.

[Sparko]

I'm far less concerned about the possibility of this than I am the actual, widespread reality of adults hanging out on platforms like Discord and grooming teenagers. As a parent, I know firsthand that it's a reality.

That's been going on for decades now. I remember long ago in the 90s when AOL was big. I had a female friend who used a male online name because she said when she used a female name, within minutes of signing up she was being accosted by male users trying to hook up with her and sending her lewd messages and photos.

[Cow Poke]

Yes. But she said it happened so fast she didn't know what was going on and then tried to "get away"

That doesn't make sense. She knew how she got there.

[Sparko]

That doesn't make sense. She knew how she got there.

Probably panic. She was in the game and these guys came up to her and she probably thought they wanted to chat. Then they started "attacking her" and she got flustered and didn't know what was going on at first.

[rogue06]

Probably panic. She was in the game and these guys came up to her and she probably thought they wanted to chat. Then they started "attacking her" and she got flustered and didn't know what was going on at first.

Yeah, it likely shocked her in that it was just not what she expected, and probably over before she could respond in an effective manner.

In any case, I just hate how she, possibly unintentionally, trivializes actual rape.

[Sparko]

Yeah, it likely shocked her in that it was just not what she expected, and probably over before she could respond in an effective manner.

In any case, I just hate how she, possibly unintentionally, trivializes actual rape.

well from what I can tell, she didn't call it rape, that's the MSN's interpretation of what she said.

eta never mind, she did say "gang raped"

Source: https://nypost.com/2022/02/01/mom-opens-up-about-being-virtually-gang-raped-in-metaverse/

“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, recalled in a Medium post recounting the “nightmare” she experienced as a beta tester on the VR platform Horizon Worlds, created by Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.

“A horrible experience that happened so fast and before I could even think about putting the safety barrier in place,” the London-based mother wrote, referring to Meta’s Safe Zone feature,

© Copyright Original Source

[KingsGambit]

I wouldn't want to give the impression either that this behavior is okay because it's clearly not. Just to be clear.

[Christianbookworm]

Yeah, just because a behavior is creepy and gross does not make it the same as rape. Still gross. Just not as evil as rape. Does sound like a good reason to make such games 18 and up. What if it was a twelve year old girl being treated like that? Though, what would happen if some one pretended to be twelve so the creeps think they haad been talking to a kid and now feel bad?