British police are investigating a virtual rape, allegedly taking place in the Metaverse — believed to be the first of its kind, New York Post reports.

The victim, only identified as a 16-year-old, was playing a video game wearing a virtual reality headset, when her avatar, was allegedly raped by a group of men. The avatar is a virtual representation of the victim and while she didn’t sustain and physical injuries, investigators feel she may suffer the same trauma of that of a live rape victim.

“There is an emotional and psychological impact on the victim that is longer-term than any physical injuries,” senior officers said.

An article by Julian Dibbell published in 1993 touched on “a rape in cyberspace.” The piece reported how the people behind avatars who were sexually assaulted in a virtual community felt emotions similar to those of victims of physical rape, according to The Guardian.

The case has raised questions between law enforcement agents, and government officials who feel the investigation is a waste of limited resources on top of a lengthy backlog of in-person rape cases. United Kingdom authorities fear prosecution may be impossible with laws defining sexual assault as physical touching in a sexual manner without consent.

However, Home Secretary James Cleverly is defending the case. During a television interview, the senior lawmaker mentioned while it’s easy to skip over something that isn’t “real-life,” it doesn’t mean it isn’t important.

“I know it is easy to dismiss this as being not real, but the whole point of these virtual environments is they are incredibly immersive,” Cleverly said. “And we’re talking about a child here, and a child has gone through sexual trauma.”

While this is the first investigation of its kind, there have been numerous reports of sexual assault in the virtual world, specifically in Horizon Worlds, the free VR game operated by Facebook’s parent company, Meta. A spokesperson said users have “an automatic protection called personal boundary, which keeps people you don’t know a few feet away from you.” But more can be done. Advocates hope a new bill in UK, the Online Safety Bill, will set a precedent to protect children and adults online.

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