With UK Police investigating the virtual sexual offence now, it is probably the first probe of its kind involving the metaverse
A 16-year-old girl was left traumatised after her avatar - her digital character - was gang-raped in a virtual reality video game in metaverse, which is described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet in 3D and is facilitated by the use of virtual reality and augmented reality headsets.
With UK Police investigating the virtual sexual offence now, it is probably the first probe of its kind involving the metaverse.
The alleged victim, said to be 16, was wearing a virtual reality headset in an immersive game when her avatar, an animated representation of her, was gang-raped by "online strangers", the Daily Mail first reported.
Although the accuser did not sustain any physical injuries, she is said to have been left distraught by the incident.
"This child experienced psychological trauma similar to that of someone who has been physically raped. There is an emotional and psychological impact on the victim that is longer term than any physical injuries," the report quoted one senior officer familiar with the case as saying.
Described as a platform to explore virtual 3D spaces where one can "socialise, learn, collaborate and play", metaverse is led by Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Meta which was formerly named Facebook.
The victim was in an online 'room' with a large number of fellow users when the virtual assault by several adult men took place, the Daily Mail report said.
The report said that details of the virtual reality case have been kept secret to protect the child involved, amid fears that a prosecution will not be possible due to several reasons.
The shocking case prompted questions about whether UK Police should be pursuing virtual offences amid the backlog of actual rape cases, the report mentioned.
"It poses number of challenges for law enforcement given current legislation is not set up for this," an official said.
There reportedly have been multiple sex attacks on Horizon Worlds, a free VR online game run by Meta. In Horizon Worlds, users create their avatars and then control them using their virtual reality headset and associated equipment.
A spokesman for Meta said, "The kind of behaviour described has no place on our platform, which is why for all users we have an automatic protection called personal boundary, which keeps people you don't know a few feet away from you."