Australian researchers are investigating “metacrime”—attacks, crimes or inappropriate activities that occur within the metaverse, the virtual world where users of VR headsets can choose an avatar to represent themselves as they interact with other users’ avatars or move through other 3D digital spaces.

According to Griffith University’s Ausma Bernot, who has teamed up with researchers from Monash University, Charles Sturt University and the University of Technology Sydney, “Nnfortunately, while those new environments are very exciting, they also have the potential to enable new crimes. We’ve seen reports of sexual harassment or assault against both adults and kids,” Bernot said in a statement.

The Australian eSafety Commissioner has estimated that around 680,000 adults in Australia are engaged in the metaverse. And UK’s Center for Countering Digital Hate conducted 11 hours and 30 minutes of recorded user interactions using Meta’s Oculus headset in the popular VRChat app (with more than 25,000 Community Created Worlds and climbing).

Impacts on mental or emotional well-being

The researchers found that most users had been faced with at least one negative experience in that virtual environment. Those experiences include being called offensive names, receiving repeated unwanted messages or contact, being challenged about cultural identity, being sent unwanted inappropriate content, or being provoked to respond to something or to start an argument.

Eleven percent of the participants had been exposed to a sexually graphic virtual space and nine percent had been touched (virtually) in a way they didn’t like. Of these respondents, 49 percent said the experience had a moderate to extreme impact on their mental or emotional well-being.

Monitor children’s activity

The two largest user groups are minors and men, so Bernot said it was “important for parents to monitor their children’s activity or consider limiting their access to multi-player games. Minors are more vulnerable to grooming and other abuse.

“They may not know how to deal with these situations, and while there are some features like a ‘safety bubble’ within some games (or just take the headset off), once immersed in these environments it does feel very real. It’s somewhere in between a physical attack and a social media harassment message—you’ll still feel that distress and it can take a significant toll on a user’s well-being. It is a real and palpable risk.”

Virtual rape

Monash University’s You Zhou said there had already been many reports of virtual rape, including one in the United Kingdom where police have launched a case for a 16-year-old girl whose avatar was attacked, causing psychological and emotional trauma similar to an attack in the physical world.

“When immersed in this world of virtual reality, and particularly when using higher quality VR headsets, users will not necessarily stop to consider whether the experience is reality or virtuality,” Zhou said in a statement.

“While there may not be physical contact, victims (mostly young girls) strongly claim the feeling of victimization was real. Without physical signs on a body, and unless the interaction was recorded, it can be almost impossible to show evidence of these experiences.”

The metaverse is expected to grow exponentially in coming years, so the research team’s findings highlight a need for metaverse companies to instill clear regulatory frameworks for their virtual environments, making them safe for everyone to inhabit, the researchers advised.

Citation: Zhou, Y., Tiwari, M., Bernot, A. et al. Metacrime and Cybercrime: Exploring the Convergence and Divergence in Digital Criminality. Asian J Criminol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-024-09436-y (open access)

Thumbnail image credit: A. Angelica/ChatGPT4

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