A Rape in Cyberspace

Upon my first read of this article, bluntly speaking, I thought that LambdaMOO was stupid, its users were stupid, and that the victims describing their post traumatic stress about being virtually raped were overreacting since the entire world was a fake world constructed by a series of code that they could always exit whenever they wanted to. As a person who has never been into video games or anything of that matter, it is always hard for me to empathize with and take seriously anything that is not in the real world. However, when I came across Dibbell's point that "Rape can occur without any physical pain or damage," and that "it must be classed as a crime against the mind," I realized how close-minded I was and how large and serious of an issue this VR rape incident was. What helped me come to this realization was comparing this VR rape incident to videos on the internet or certain scenes in films. When I watch a film, I come to identify myself as the main character. If that main character is raped, I would feel mentally traumatized, even though nothing happened to my physical body. In the same way, because the users of these avatars created a digital character of themselves, it makes sense that they would feel traumatic stress if unwanted, unpredicted assault happened to them. 

This article brought up a good point regarding where to draw the line between real life and virtual life. While the users of these avatars who became victims of virtual rape were affected mentally in the real world, the only punishment the user of Mr. Bungle received was to be temporarily kicked out of the virtual world, which he was able to access again as Dr. Jest. I do not think that this was a fair punishment since the extent to which the victims suffered far outweighed the severity of Mr. Bungle's punishment. Because Mr. Bungle's actions had an effect in the real world, I believe that a fair solution to this incident would be to assign him a punishment in the real world as well. For example, taking a look at online bullying, even though the bullying is taking place in a digital world behind screens, bullies are still punished and convicted in real life. Similarly, even though Mr. Bungle's assaults took place in a virtual world, he should still have been convicted for mental/emotional abuse. Perhaps this was not the case because this incident occurred more than two decades ago, but I believe that this incident will lead creators of this technology in a safer direction. 



https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/26/virtual-reality-sexual-harassment-online-groping-quivr

http://www.springtideresources.org/resource/can-emotional-abuse-be-criminal-act

https://www.privacyrights.org/consumer-guides/online-harassment-cyberstalking