‘Within 60 seconds of joining [the metaverse] — I was verbally and sexually harassed.'
, a free virtual reality space where you could play games and socialise with people’s virtual avatars.
So, in that moment — with the technology achieving its purpose — the virtual world was Patel’s reality. For people who are fairly new to virtual reality, it might even induce anxiety and panic attacks which are likely to dissipate once they get used to it. In her book Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez says that ‘when planners fail to account for gender, public spaces become male spaces by default’ and the metaverse is dangerously close to becoming a male-dominated space.According to 2020 reports, only 20% of tech jobs at Microsoft and 23% of tech jobs at Facebook , Google and Apple were made up of women. Only 37% of tech startups have at least one woman on the board of directors.
‘Since then it doesn’t feel like it’s got any better. This historic lack of women in the sector means that important perspectives get missed out on when products are being funded, designed and built,’ she said. The concept of ‘body sovereignty’ is a VR Design practice that’s being researched in order to construct comprehensive safety features for social VR experiences.
‘As we transition from a 2D internet to 3D, we need to be conscious that the more “real” a digital world seems, the more “real” the experiences within it will feel,’ said Ridderstad.‘There have long been guidelines on what to do and not to do online, and there are plenty of tools for how to distance and protect yourself. Yet in games and on social media women still get harassed.
‘But because the metaverse is basically the internet in 3D, it will feel much more intrusive,’ she Ridderstad. ‘It’s critical that the software we create now — which will lay the foundations for what will become commonplace — has sufficient ways of reporting harassment and holding users accountable built into it from the very beginning,’Once Patel’s story made it to mainstream media, Meta responded by adding a security measure to its home-grown virtual world to curtail harassment.
If multiuser open VR environments where strangers can meet each other are here to stay — then it matters what the culture is like in these spaces. The Bill might be a start in regulating tech companies – like Meta – creating the metaverse in the UK but this will be impossible through moderation alone with companies rarely investing enough on it.supports HTML5 video
‘One approach could be by rewarding good behaviour, or taking away access or other tokens for failing to meet community standards,’ she said. Her VR company, Warpin has even built a VR experience where users can literally walk in someone else’s shoes to understand how they feel. ‘We also have to speak up when tech companies are literally building worlds that cause damage and trauma,’ said Patel.‘”Metaverse harassment/bullying/violence/aggression doesn’t exist, just take off your headset!” I hear this all the time but it just isn’t true for those who experience it. This trauma follows us, it lives in our minds and bodies ,’ said Patel.
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