Description

Harassment has been a consistent feature of networked gaming for at least 30 years, and the potential for damage has only increased with the popularity of social virtual worlds in VR. Beginning in 2016, stories of verbal and physical harassment in Social VR have periodically entered the news cycle, casting the VR platforms as negligent and instigating calls for ever more solutions. These solutions have ranged from user-controlled wearables or features connected to avatars to direct platform moderation, as well as finally community driven efforts.

However, implementing tools to combat abuse requires a balancing act on multiple fronts:
- protecting users from abuse through facilitating meaningful UX design to support social experience;
- keeping social platforms active in moderation and subjecting users to mass surveillance;
- attracting new users by making social VR appealing and warning them about the potential dangers.

Speakers

Lance Powell

Product Manager , VEDX Solutions

Sonya Seddarasan

Founder , UPWorlds