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Mum groped by three men seconds after entering Metaverse virtual reality
Facebook’s online world ‘Metaverse’.Nina Jane Patel created an avatar that she felt accurately represented her, a middle-aged woman, blonde and dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved top.But 60 seconds after entering the lobby the 43-year-old watched and listened in horror through her virtual reality headset as her character was ‘groped aggressively’.Nina says the gang of three male characters pursued her, groped her, subjected her to a stream of sexual innuendo and took screenshots of the attack which lasted several minutes She says this happened in full view of others logged into the online world where avatars meet and interact and explore a fast-growing network of virtual locations such as cities, country scenes or cafes, as reported by the Daily Mail.The mum-of-four from South London had been excited to experience the animated world but while she could not actually feel the avatars’ hands, Nina says she has suffered from anxiety since the attack – and now fears her teens and other women's safety.She said: “I entered the Horizon Venues metaverse [...] within 60 seconds, three male avatars – who all had male voices – came towards me and touched me inappropriately.“Before I knew what was happening, they were taking screenshots of them touching my avatar, both my upper and lower body. While doing that, they said things like, ‘Don’t pretend you don’t love it.’“I tried to move away but they followed me.
