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Meta Introduces 'Personal Boundary' Feature To VR Worlds (hypebeast.com) 90

Posted by BeauHD from the personal-bubble dept.
Meta has introduced a new "personal boundary" feature within its VR social spaces, starting with Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues. Hypebeast reports: By enacting a personal boundary, a user will by default have a nearly 4-foot (1.2 m) distance between their avatar and others. Via an invisible barrier, the system will halt the forward movement of other avatars as they reach the boundary. Meta says that the feature will make it easier for users to avoid unwanted interactions such as harassment.

Users can still walk past other avatars with personal boundaries enabled and can even give them a high-five or fist bump. The feature will be rolled out as always-on, by default, which Meta says will "help to set behavioral norms" in the VR space. In the future, the company will consider adding new controls, such as allowing users to customize the size of their personal boundaries. In a statement to Ars Technica, a Meta spokesperson said: "Personal Boundary builds upon our existing harassment measures that were already in place - for example, where an avatar's hands would disappear if they encroached upon someone's personal space. When we launched Horizon Worlds as an invite-only beta in 2020 we knew this was just the beginning and over time we would be iterating and improving based on community feedback. We're constantly shipping new features based on people's feedback, including this one."
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Meta Introduces 'Personal Boundary' Feature To VR Worlds More

Meta Introduces 'Personal Boundary' Feature To VR Worlds

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  • New form of harassment (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Monday February 07, 2022 @08:51PM (#62247777)

    the system will halt the forward movement of other avatars as they reach the boundary.

    So what is to stop a group of avatars from surrounding someone and "gang-blocking" them? Or just constantly stepping in someones path.

    Not sure exactly what the right solution is but I'll bet the ability to halt other peoples movement is not part of it.

    Maybe a forced distance feature that lets people walk through others but if someone has the shield turn on, they turn into a ghost within a certain range that cannot be seen or heard by the other person...

    • You are allowed to teleport across the avatar blocking you, I've heard.

    • Re:New form of harassment (Score:4, Insightful)

      by PsychoSlashDot ( 207849 ) on Monday February 07, 2022 @08:57PM (#62247797)

      the system will halt the forward movement of other avatars as they reach the boundary.

      So what is to stop a group of avatars from surrounding someone and "gang-blocking" them? Or just constantly stepping in someones path.

      Not sure exactly what the right solution is but I'll bet the ability to halt other peoples movement is not part of it.

      Maybe a forced distance feature that lets people walk through others but if someone has the shield turn on, they turn into a ghost within a certain range that cannot be seen or heard by the other person...

      Maybe a feature where you can click an "is an asshole" button and that person ceases to exist in your new, improved virtual reality?

      • Maybe a feature where you can click an "is an asshole" button and that person ceases to exist in your new, improved virtual reality?

        I really hope they do have such a feature, that helps but some people would be triggered by even having to take that step.

        • A snowflake that pure doesn't belong in the metaverse in the first place.

          • The metaverse isn't fit for human habitation, nobody belongs there. If the Internet is a dark back alley. The Metaverse is the space between the wall and the dumpster, in poorly rendered 3D.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by narcc ( 412956 )

          some people would be triggered by even having to take that step.

          Don't worry. Those people only exist in your imagination.

      • Maybe a feature where you can click an "is an asshole" button and that person ceases to exist in your new, improved virtual reality?

        Yep. But that's too obvious/sensible.

      • Maybe a feature where you can click an "is an asshole" button and that person ceases to exist in your new, improved virtual reality?

        And we looked across an endless sea of realities, each with one lonely Karen in it.

        I mean let's be real; everyone an asshole to them.

      • Maybe a feature where you can click an "is an asshole" button and that person ceases to exist in your new, improved virtual reality?

        The problem is a law of unintended consequences. The new improved virtual reality lives and dies on realism and how to handle things like collision detection. Nothing says "real" more than talking to two people standing on top of each other because one tagged the other as an arsehole and they can't see each other.

        There's no right easy solution, everything will have a downside. In terms of realism the blocking of people is a smaller price to pay than hiding someone. In terms of preventing abuse hiding someon

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by psergiu ( 67614 )

      Will Meta start banning all dark-skinned VR avatars wearing business attire ? Welcome to July 2006.

      "That it's all just a little bit of History repeating."
          -- Propellerheads feat: Miss Shirley Bassey

    • the system will halt the forward movement of other avatars as they reach the boundary.

      So what is to stop a group of avatars from surrounding someone and "gang-blocking" them?

      Yup. How long before the Pools Closed?

    • What the heck do you mean blocking? It'd be kind of dumb if these VR systems don't let you walk thru other people's avatars.
    • Disable collisions with (and rendering of) avatars that your avatar can choose. Problem solved.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      Meta could introduce a new measure, the Zuck. Your avatars are not allowed within 1 Zuck of any others. It would be a rather fluid measurement and computed based on your past avatar behavior. If you are able to drive your Zuck Score to zero, you get to fondle other avatars.

    • Whats to stop? well nothing But i suspect reporting the harassment will result in a temp ban of some kind. Since a VR headset is needed maybe a hardware ban ?If they don't enforce the TOS then that leaves them open to be sued i would guess also.

    • I'd think the better solution is the ability to select someone else's avatar and click something that says, "I no longer interact with this avatar." Effectively, a block list. Like literally every other social interaction site has had for as long as online interaction has been a thing. Why reinvent the basics when they work?

  • I have better things to do (Score:4, Informative)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Monday February 07, 2022 @08:52PM (#62247783)
    ... than worry if someone's digital finger is going to touch my naughty parts. I believe Second Life proved that this whole VR concept is dead already. Strapping the monitor to your head isn't going to change anything.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      I've heard that virtual sex was one of the more popular activities in Second Life back when it was more popular. Meta might actually be losing a big chunk of their customer base by trying to make it family friendly.

      • I highly doubt it's going to be family friendly in any sense of the word. Think Facebook in VR. Gives me the creeps.

    • I believe Second Life proved that this whole VR concept is dead already.

      Second Life proved that the VR concept worked even when technology was woefully inept compared to what we have today. I'm not sure why you think it's "dead", the active user count is within 10% of its all time high and has been for about 5 years now, and with the exception of maybe WoW I would wager it has more active users than any other game from 2003.

      I've not played it myself, but simply looking at the stats from it, and also the stats from VR headset sales you can see that the VR concept is not only *no

      • Are those sales xmas presents or birthday presents because of the 3 people i know who have them none bought them for themself and are collecting dust. I would rather see actual usage numbers then sales billions of copies of Firefox have been downloaded yet hold a very small marketshare noting close to the download numbers.

        • Cool story, but given the rise and generally good sales enjoyed by VR only games the 3 people you know are not representative of the population at large. And also likely quite stupid if they have a multiple hundred dollar device lying around they don't use.

          I admit I only know about 10 people with VR headsets, and a few of them may even go a few days without playing them. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to playing I expect you to die 2.

          I am thegarbz and now you know 4 people who had VR headsets bo

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bert64 ( 520050 )

      Your digital naughty parts no less...
      How about you just design an avatar that doesn't have any naughty parts then they can't even do that if they wanted to.

      Seriously if someone wanted to virtually touch a virtual avatar in a virtually sexual way, there are already sites which cater to exactly that out there.

      What you have instead are trolls who want to do something (anything) that angers someone and triggers a response. And the world today is full of snowflakes who are easily triggered, making an absolute pa

  • “Meta” stands for (Score:4, Funny)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Monday February 07, 2022 @09:02PM (#62247811)
    “Metastasize”

  • Now I'm standing right next to girls in a bar and they don't even notice me at all.
    I thought Meta would give me a better experience in the Metaverse....
    What a bummer.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Oh, they notice. The pungent mix of axe body spray and unwashed, jizz-stained, underwear is hard to ignore.

      They just down want interact with you at all. They know that smell means any attention, even negative attention, will be mistaken for sexual interest. It's safer to ignore you and hope you go away quickly.

  • Dupe, de dupe, de dupe. Woo!

  • "By enacting a personal boundary, a user will by default have a nearly 4-foot (1.2 m) distance between their avatar and others....The feature will be rolled out as always-on, by default, which Meta says will "help to set behavioral norms" in the VR space."

    You're trying to literally make another world for humans to "live" in. Because Meta can't sustain human life (yet...wait for it, I'm sure the IV drip is coming), how many humans are going to end up being "triggered" by any physical touch when you brainwash them with imaginary boundaries that do not exist in the actual world that they will still have to unplug and interact with?

    Because of cancel culture and idiot politics, people have already become a shell of their former selves, afraid to speak out or eve

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by labnet ( 457441 )

      You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

      • You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

        The first part of that statement, is all but guaranteed the way we are headed.

        The last part of that statement though; be smart enough to know that's the bullshit sales pitch.

  • Meta utter fail (Score:5, Interesting)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday February 07, 2022 @09:58PM (#62247963) Journal

    Meta's Horizon Worlds [youtube.com] looks like crap. Corporate cobbled together. It's not a good graphics engine, and everyone has a dumb grin. Motion looks tough.

    If you want an example of a good VR world, look at GTA RP. All of the characters are actual humans, leading to crazy interactions.

    For example, the judge is an actual lawyer in real life [youtube.com].
    Gang style assassinations [youtube.com].
    Police chases [youtube.com].
    Concerts [youtube.com].

    New content gets added pretty regularly. If I were going to create a virtual world, I would look closely at what is happening in GTA RP, not at the corporate nightmare world Facebook is building.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The Metaverse has to look like shit because it needs to target the lowest common denominator of VR gear. The simpler the graphics, the lower the financial barrier to entry.

      A product that requires hundreds of Euros of equipment just to try out is a hard sell.

      • The graphics are worse than just "low quality" (I could accept that), they're stale and unimaginative.

      • Just to clarify, I feel like Tetris for the Oculus has more compelling graphics than Horizon Worlds. Same hardware, such better execution.

  • Like Global Thermonuclear War- (Score:4, Funny)

    by memory_register ( 6248354 ) on Monday February 07, 2022 @09:58PM (#62247965)
    The only winning move is not to play.

  • They enforced covid restrictions in VR, wonderful. Maybe masks will be next.

  • "will halt the forward movement of other avatars" why not just make them invisible within a meter? I foresee people getting blocked in by idiots then they can't move at all.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      Why would that ever happen? The problem is obvious and the solutions are trivial.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mwvdlee ( 775178 )

      Why not disable collision detection entirely? Worst they can do is try to walk through you.
      Also, the original article mentioned the gang taking photos... of what? Some fully dressed avatar?

  • That's great as a default but if you want it to be meaningful you need to be able to allow certain people to enter that zone. Inevitably, people will feel the need to indicate closeness/intimacy in some way and if you lock out a certain behavior for everyone then people will just pick some other behavior as designating trust/intimacy and that behavior will be open to randos violating user preferences.

  • I've introduced a personal boundary to meta... (Score:4, Funny)

    by bb_matt ( 5705262 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @02:44AM (#62248421)

    ... a 10 foot pole...

  • .... it's the other users, they suck.

    Get rid of them, and either technology works much better.

  • My personal boundary excludes Meta. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Eunomion ( 8640039 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @03:11AM (#62248469)
    Problem solved!

  • This whole metaverse crap basically looks like an early alpha for Second Life that accidentally got leaked.
    Somebody added 3D goggle support but forgot to remove all the stuff that didn't pass the Second Life alpha testing phase because any idiot could plainly see it was a stupid idea in the first place.

  • All you need is a assigned button on your controller that will teleport you to your safe space. A closed box with all walls and no windows or doors. That way you can enjoy the most wholesome meta experience.

  • Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it in VR world.

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