Police are investigating a virtual sexual assault of a girl’s avatar, the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners has said.

Donna Jones said she had learned that a complaint was made in 2023, triggering a police inquiry.

The virtual incident did not result in physical harm but caused “psychological trauma”, the Daily Mail has reported a source as saying. Police chiefs have called on platforms to do more to protect their users.

The impact of the attack on the girl’s avatar was said to be heightened because of the immersive nature of the VR experience.

  • verysoft@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Yeah but I am assuming you are an adult?
    Kids get pulled into things like this and dont just remove the headset, they are much more malleable than a grown adult.

    The question is, shouldnt their parents be supervising them? Perhaps their parents dont even know about these online worlds filled with people? Did the parents buy them VR without any research into what you can do with it? There’s a lot of education that needs doing for both children and adults concerning online safety, more and more so as the online world advances.

    • Cornpop@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Little Kids just shouldn’t be using this stuff, or should at least be supervised. Young adults can handle trash talk and gamer bs lol. This is such a non issue that people are just grasping at straws to try and make an issue it’s insane.

      • verysoft@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        It’s an issue if kids can get a hold of this stuff and access it, yes. Parenting is the main problem, I agree, but not every parent is competent enough to look out for this kind of stuff, also this stuff is often heavily marketed towards children.

        I think adults sexually harrassing children online is an issue, if you don’t, then I don’t know what to say.

        • Cornpop@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          I mean what is sexual harassment in a game? Saying something vulgar? Getting close to their avitar? That’s not sexual harassment to me.