Game Developer Saddened by Virtual Reality Sex Assault: ‘This Must Never Happen Again’

A developer of a virtual reality game said his “heart sank” when he learned that a woman had been virtually groped while playing his game and pledged to enable controls to ensure no other player gets sexually assaulted.

Aaron Stanton—who co-created QuiVr, an archery game for the HTC Vive—said he was “deeply saddened” to read a female gamer’s account last week of how another player sexually assaulted her in the game. The woman, who goes by the pseudonym Jordan Belamire, wrote on Medium that a user named BigBro442 repeatedly chased her to virtually grab and pinch her chest and rub her crotch while she yelled through her headset for him to stop.

“Our first response was, ‘Let’s make sure this never happens again,'” Stanton told CNNMoney. The developer suggested that other virtual reality game creators combine forces to make a “power gesture” or a “safe word” to stop harassment in virtual reality. “We need to offer tools that give players better controls, not simply better ways to hide,” he said.