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[UK] Police investigate virtual sex assault on girl's avatar

How fucking stupid. Just log out if you're being bothered by anonymous idiots online. Has the UK authorities lost their minds?
 

Pop

Member
fh4HT-.gif
Seth Meyers Omg GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
I see common sense in why some criticize the system since it seems weirdly unwilling to teach people how to take care of themselves and confidently ignore and leave the bs behind.

I'm not sure if it's fair to criticize the "victim" in this specific situation. It can be easy to feel trapped and confused if you're a kid suddenly ambushed and your brain is overloaded.

But education and parenting goes a long way to protect kids from potential and unnecessary trauma in many cases where it doesn't make sense to let it take hold.

I've always reminded my kid that most of everything online he can pull out of and he'll immediately be back in the real world so-to-speak. That mindset really helps in most cases where he f.ex. doesn't know the people in real life.
 
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Cyberpunkd

Member
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67865327

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 impact of the attack on the girl's avatar was said to be heightened because of the immersive nature of the VR experience.
According to an unnamed senior officer familiar with the matter who spoke to the paper the victim, under 16 at the time, suffered psychological trauma "similar to that of someone who has been physically raped".

In 2022, researcher Nina Jane Patel revealed she was abused in a virtual world operated by Meta called Horizon Venues (now part of Horizon Worlds), likening it to sexual assault.

Recalling the experience, Ms Patel told the same programme that she was "surrounded by three to four male-sounding and male-representing avatars, who started sexually harassing me in a verbal sense and then sexually assaulting my avatar".

She said they had used misogynistic language and "continued to touch my avatar in a way that can only be described as a sexual assault of my avatar".

The BBC has not yet confirmed on which platform the attack on the young girl's avatar took place but Meta has said in a statement: "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.
MMO players be like:

sweating key and peele GIF
 

Bogroll

Likes moldy games
Unless you are walking around blatantly waving a shotgun or something similar. The only people who get policed in the real world (UK) are White males.
 

CGNoire

Member
Seems most people above are fine with it as long as the person has the option to go offline since that all makes it fake, no kid has ever been traumatised, groomed or coerced to suicide or whatever else by things happening in any form other than personal interaction within the same room I guess.

Or maybe this can be dismissed even if it happens in the same room if say, a little girl draws herself and then they go draw themselves doing things to the drawing, that should be totally fine too I guess, the kid can just not look at the picture shown to her. All very logical responses to such incidents.
The internet in general needs to seperate adults and kids Asap.
 

jayj

Banned
You know what works? Logging out or quitting out of a game lol. But honestly, all they really need is to implement a block feature.
 

CGNoire

Member
What are you talking about, where does the post you quote mention anything else being equal to rape? It's not even about the thread's actual topic, just responding to a very particular, quoted, post, regarding hate crimes and what not so, no clue what part confused you so much.

Thread title doesn't equalize it to rape either anyway, it just says police investigate it, not what charges were pressed against the perps. And yes, adults inappropriately interacting with children should be investigated even long before it reaches the point of physically touching their genitals. Duh.

Grooming is a thing. Whether this constitutes such an attempt or simply inappropriate harassment of minors or even no crime at all because things aren't as described will have to wait for the results of said investigation.

A kid being able to go offline doesn't make everything you do or say to them as long as they're online okay and the fault of their parents alone as long as it's not actual rape, I hope you know.
You keep mentioning "grooming". Does Meta post there age above there avatar? If not how would any predator even recognize or even be turn on by there age?
 

CGNoire

Member
For my non UK gaffers. The above, particularly the bolded, is a crime here. Intent will also play a huge part of the litigation.

I know people are keen to make light of the situation but that doesn't make it less of a potential crime in the UK.
People arent trying to make it less of a crime there making light of it specificly because they already know its considered a potential crime.
 

CGNoire

Member
Yeah she can remove the headset. The problem comes in with the following scenarios.

A. Whatever game or app takes video of them and puts in on the screen as their avatar (is this even possible yet). As I could see some scumbags whipping their dicks out and being perves. I don't want to see that shit and it would be sexual assault of a minor even if no touching is involved. A bunch of dudes holding their shclongs waving and thrusting at a pre-teen, sorry not sorry lock the pedos/pervs up. Like i said. All depends on if the tech is there to take video and superimpose it on their avatar.

B. These people follow her. They have her username. They can send messages, harass in different games, bully etc... She may not realize how to block.

Should the police get involved? Depends. If either one of those scenarios occurred it would be bad. First would be a sex crime and the end would be Facebook or whoever to kick the offenders off the platform following investigation.
A. Is that an actual featurem

B. Does Meta make you use your actual username cause that would suck?
 

Tams

Member
Virtual crime shares a lot of similarities with thought crimes. I think UK already has had some cases hit the news of using words being illegal, so if I lived in the UK I'd be very worried about the precedent with this.

I don't think many people will stand up for the shitheads doing the harassing, but getting the law involved in a formal matter is a "cat out of the bag" scenario. Imagine you go on a flame rant on a message board one night when you're drunk and wake up with police at the door.

I very genuinely am worried that one day the plod will come all the way to almost bumfuck nowhere to question me about an edgy drunk post.

That's in a place where we're lucky to see a police officer once a month in the nearest town and that no longer even has a police station.
 
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Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
You keep mentioning "grooming". Does Meta post there age above there avatar? If not how would any predator even recognize or even be turn on by there age?
I mention grooming as example hoping people get it's a bad thing only pedos do that should be a crime, even though it's "just" words with no touching which seems to be the defense of such things folks here fiecerly proclaim, how the kid wasn't touched, could go offline, it's thought policing, etc.

But still a few folks wanted to attack me over things I didn't say, like this or that is equal to rape which I never said or defended in any of my posts (and if the article writer did then go tell them that, I didn't say it's 100% correct either), Idk, some wanna do this and only get punished if caught raping.

And yes, using words can be illegal too, if you tell a child that you will do this or that horrible thing to them or their mum and if they don't want you to do that then the child should instead do this other thing for you, yes, you should be put behind bars for "using words" by the "thought police" duh.
 
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Dr.Morris79

Member
Two weeks ago my missus ring me to tell me she'd found a dead body down the road. I lept up, rushed no more than a hundred yards down the road to find this body. It was an utterly pissed polish bloke. No one cared, people were walking over him. I rung an ambulance, twenty minutes later two fire engines turned up. No shit, I couldn't believe it and walked off

Last week my son told me that his history lessons for this term consist of them learning about the first trans operation

Yesterday whilst walking with the missus through the town centre we witnessed eight police officers (Most of whom looked 16) were escorting a teenager in handcuffs who himself looked no older that 12. EIGHT! OFFICERS!

Today, I'm reading real officers are investigating avatar sex crimes online. Last weekend in my town two female officers were chased by a nutcase with a knife and one officer had to go to the hospital..




NONE OF THIS IS REAL. I am now refusing to believe any of this is real. It can't be. It's too much. I need to be somewhere normal. The UK isn't a real place.

I actually can't take anymore :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
Two weeks ago my missus ring me to tell me she'd found a dead body down the road. I lept up, rushed no more than a hundred yards down the road to find this body. It was an utterly pissed polish bloke. No one cared, people were walking over him. I rung an ambulance, twenty minutes later two fire engines turned up. No shit, I couldn't believe it and walked off

Last week my son told me that his history lessons for this term consist of them learning about the first trans operation

Yesterday whilst walking with the missus through the town centre we witnessed eight police officers (Most of whom looked 16) were escorting a teenager in handcuffs who himself looked no older that 12. EIGHT! OFFICERS!

Today, I'm reading real officers are investigating avatar sex crimes online. Last weekend in my town two female officers were chased by a nutcase with a knife and one officer had to go to the hospital..




NONE OF THIS IS REAL. I am now refusing to believe any of this is real. It can't be. It's too much. I need to be somewhere normal. The UK isn't a real place.

I actually can't take anymore :messenger_tears_of_joy:
The modern UK is nothing more than a mass demoralisation project. The only reason im still here is because of my parents.
 

N1tr0sOx1d3

Given another chance
England had a good run. Had a business trip there in the early 2000s, and then again in 2021. The difference was absolutely staggering in such a short period of time.
You’re damn right.
UK politicians quite simply don’t know how to run this country. All facets of UK services are broken. Nothing works. Period.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
The only reason im still here is because of my parents.
That is exactly the reason we're still here too. We'll, it's my mum we can't leave and she bloody won't budge at all

It's really starting to take it's toll though..

Everyone here is going absolutely mental like I've never seen before, mass psychosis. Get this..

A few days ago whilst watching TV we hear a bang, and another, then another. I go out into the garden and I can hear a car wheel spinning and then another bang. I rush out the front down the road and into the garages where it's happening..

I'm met by two Albanian types standing by a car whilst the drivers shouting some random bullshit with the car door open, wheel spinning the car into a garage wall, over and over for no reason

I walk off. What even is that? No police came at all

Then I read the OP. I can't take anything seriously anymore

There is a serious societal collapse happening. There are too many trippy things going on. It's starting to feel like we're in some weird Silent hill shite here..
 
That is exactly the reason we're still here too. We'll, it's my mum we can't leave and she bloody won't budge at all

It's really starting to take it's toll though..

Everyone here is going absolutely mental like I've never seen before, mass psychosis. Get this..

A few days ago whilst watching TV we hear a bang, and another, then another. I go out into the garden and I can hear a car wheel spinning and then another bang. I rush out the front down the road and into the garages where it's happening..

I'm met by two Albanian types standing by a car whilst the drivers shouting some random bullshit with the car door open, wheel spinning the car into a garage wall, over and over for no reason

I walk off. What even is that? No police came at all

Then I read the OP. I can't take anything seriously anymore

There is a serious societal collapse happening. There are too many trippy things going on. It's starting to feel like we're in some weird Silent hill shite here..
I'm lucky enough to live in a very calm and nice area BUT one consequence of that is that the schools here can be completely nuts. My son is only young so none of that yet. If he ends up learning about trans operations in history then I'm pulling him out.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
I'm lucky enough to live in a very calm and nice area BUT one consequence of that is that the schools here can be completely nuts. My son is only young so none of that yet. If he ends up learning about trans operations in history then I'm pulling him out.
You are lucky :messenger_tears_of_joy:

We're in a town where London is now kicking all it's refuse, all the shops are closed or closing and lots of tower blocks are being built. We haven't been able to get a face to face Dr's appointment for three years either

You can get a Turkish haircut in ANY part of the town though (And I do mean any), so that's good.

Only good things can happen here going forward.

No wonder everyone's a lunatic.

I am so glad that Avatars can now feel safe though. Always a silver lining.
 
People are often dicks, especially young men, I guess being funny/obscene might be okay with actual friends, but I can understand that minors can't just be asked to endure everything.
But ! "suffered psychological trauma "similar to that of someone who has been physically raped"" WTF? Any actual rape victim might not agree to this me too moment as being truly equivalent. The whole me too movement has done a terrible job in helping true victims, by predominantly equalizing minor incidents with the actual awful crimes. I guess it is certainly not fun if online harrassment happens, more so if repeatedly and women have probably always a second, third, whatever tier experience online due to that but nevertheless; kinda terrible behavior can't be the same as being touched, surrounded, with immediate danger to your body and even life in the real world. Immersive, yes, to some degree, but still not even close. Not with perfect resolution, not with haptic full body suit, not with smell simulation. It's not okay, true, but overexaggerating in an attempt to make a bigger claim, for money?, maybe attention whoring?, maybe social justice warrioring?, is kinda shitting on victims of far more serious crimes and possibly putting yourself in a state of mind that girl doesn't belong at all. She should not learn to laugh everything off, play along, being a good girl, but if the trauma claim is true it is frightening how fragile and easy to break some kids are.

Dudes should be banned, maybe permanent, and I kinda even think police should be more involved in the internet and what happens there. But falling of the track in Wipeout VR doesn't make me suffer psychological trauma like a parachute not opening, getting killed a million times online in any military shooter is not the same as living in a war torn country. People live such a carefree life that they kinda have to almost invent drama. I don't even disagree with the law getting involved, the internet doesn't have to be an absolute safe space, but shouldn't be law free either, but the quote is just weird, especially if true.
 

midnightAI

Member
Wait a minute, people on here are criticising the police? for doing their job?

The girl WAS UNDER 16, she was verbally abused (and we can only imagine what was being said if it was a 'virtual gang rape' (actually, don't imagine that, that's horrible))

It is a crime and so it should be (for the verbal abuse), and for those saying just take off the headset, so its ok to do this and bully (and abuse) people off a platform they want to play? (and could potentially stalk them further than the game, but yes, the very second something was up she should have taken off the headset)

Actually, I think the word 'Avatar' is what the issue is because people are then separating an avatar to a human being, but it was a human being that was subjected to the verbal abuse not the avatar. (and as for the actual digital Avatar, I agree, that shouldn't come into it unless the game in question allows for the characters to interact in a more sexual way but then said game should have 18 only with warnings, but that's obvious)
 
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Wait a minute, people on here are criticising the police? for doing their job?

The girl WAS UNDER 16, she was verbally abused (and we can only imagine what was being said if it was a 'virtual gang rape' (actually, don't imagine that, that's horrible))

It is a crime and so it should be (for the verbal abuse), and for those saying just take off the headset, so its ok to do this and bully (and abuse) people off a platform they want to play? (and could potentially stalk them further than the game, but yes, the very second something was up she should have taken off the headset)

Actually, I think the word 'Avatar' is what the issue is because people are then separating an avatar to a human being, but it was a human being that was subjected to the verbal abuse not the avatar. (and as for the actual digital Avatar, I agree, that shouldn't come into it unless the game in question allows for the characters to interact in a more sexual way but then said game should have 18 only with warnings, but that's obvious)
The police aren't doing their job, though. Crime is at ridiculous levels in the UK, no crime that does get reported gets solved, prosecutions don't happen because the courts are too busy, and every day we see reports of people being arrested for behaviour that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow five years ago.

The UK police basically enforce the therapeutic mindset of the institutional elite on the population. Remember: this is the country that brought in the 'Non-crime hate incident'.

I feel bad for the girl, the guys harassing her are obviously dicks. But was it a crime?
 

Bojji

Member
NONE OF THIS IS REAL.

I can 100% believe in this:

Two weeks ago my missus ring me to tell me she'd found a dead body down the road. I lept up, rushed no more than a hundred yards down the road to find this body. It was an utterly pissed polish bloke. No one cared, people were walking over him. I rung an ambulance, twenty minutes later two fire engines turned up. No shit, I couldn't believe it and walked off
 

CGNoire

Member
But still a few folks wanted to attack me over things I didn't say
I certainly didnt attack you. I would also say I dont agree at all with that meme that suggests that turning off social media is some easy answer to being harrased. Infact i earlier called it BS. I just dont have much sympathy for anyone 16 or otherwise who equates touching there avatar with sexual assualt. She can fuck off with that accusation.
 
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Three

Member
It's easy to dismiss this as harmless, particularly if you are a grown man who would probably find this funny but it's a little different when you consider the idea that an underage daughter can be exposed to crap like this. It's equivalent to a man flashing his genitals in Uno. It's just an image and audio but it isn't exactly harmless psychologically on the underage person.
 
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Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Everyone here is going absolutely mental like I've never seen before, mass psychosis. Get this..
There's a lot of people who've become unhinged from the amount of booze and drugs they consume, so the crazies you see will probably be addicts. Or imported from abroad. But it's taboo to say this and goes against the new liberal order they're trying to establish here.
 
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Dr.Morris79

Member
There's a lot of people who've become unhinged from the amount of booze and drugs they consume, so the crazies you see will probably be addicts. Or imported from abroad. But it's taboo to say this and goes against the new liberal order they're trying to establish here.
It's too much though. No one seems to care either, at all. I don't see how anyone in their right mind can live in this.

No one wants to change anything.
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
C'mon guys, the way I read it was some young girl got surrounded by a bunch of cunts who started to verbally harass her in a sexual manner and no doubt waved/placed their little virtual hands on her avatar in a manner that could also be construed as sexual in nature.. this is all wrong on so many levels, is it rape? Don't be fucking stupid, that's pure click bait but what did happen was some girl was subjected to a heightened (due to VR) really fucking bad experience and yes the other cunts deserve to be investigated over this, why does a bunch of Tate wannabes cunts get to make girls/women uncomfortable within a virtual environment and not suffer the consequences?? Fuck em
 
C'mon guys, the way I read it was some young girl got surrounded by a bunch of cunts who started to verbally harass her in a sexual manner and no doubt waved/placed their little virtual hands on her avatar in a manner that could also be construed as sexual in nature.. this is all wrong on so many levels, is it rape? Don't be fucking stupid, that's pure click bait but what did happen was some girl was subjected to a heightened (due to VR) really fucking bad experience and yes the other cunts deserve to be investigated over this, why does a bunch of Tate wannabes cunts get to make girls/women uncomfortable within a virtual environment and not suffer the consequences?? Fuck em
I don't think anybody is saying they support the people doing this. But what does this mean? Does today's policing unquestionably belong in the digital space? Should you be investigated for shooting an avatar in a game where they aren't expecting to be shot? These questions need to be worked out.

Do you trust our existing police forces to set new standards and lines as VR becomes more widespread?

And what crime was committed here?
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
It's too much though. No one seems to care either, at all. I don't see how anyone in their right mind can live in this.

No one wants to change anything.
It's not bad enough and the decline is gradual and slow to the point it doesn't put immediate pressure on the politicians, although it's beginning to recently. I think the UK is heading down the gutter, but there's still a long way to go until you see the kind of things you see regularly on the streets in America or some other countries. Until it reaches those kinds of lows I'm not expecting the mass pushback we want unfortunately.
 

Drew1440

Member
The police aren't doing their job, though. Crime is at ridiculous levels in the UK, no crime that does get reported gets solved, prosecutions don't happen because the courts are too busy, and every day we see reports of people being arrested for behaviour that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow five years ago.

The UK police basically enforce the therapeutic mindset of the institutional elite on the population. Remember: this is the country that brought in the 'Non-crime hate incident'.

I feel bad for the girl, the guys harassing her are obviously dicks. But was it a crime?
And yet they ignored the thousands of girls (and boys) abuse under grooming gangs.
 

midnightAI

Member
The police aren't doing their job, though. Crime is at ridiculous levels in the UK, no crime that does get reported gets solved, prosecutions don't happen because the courts are too busy, and every day we see reports of people being arrested for behaviour that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow five years ago.

The UK police basically enforce the therapeutic mindset of the institutional elite on the population. Remember: this is the country that brought in the 'Non-crime hate incident'.

I feel bad for the girl, the guys harassing her are obviously dicks. But was it a crime?
Yes, of course its a crime, you cant go around saying sexual things to a minor, its that simple and is the same for many countries not just the UK.
 
Yes, of course its a crime, you cant go around saying sexual things to a minor, its that simple and is the same for many countries not just the UK.
that's a crime if it's beyond question the minor is in fact a minor. This did not occur in real life. In theory there was every chance the girl was an adult and presenting as a minor. Do you see the legal difficulty in treating VR as real life?
 
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