A woman plays a video game using a virtual-reality headset at an arcade.
The UK police are investigating a teenage girl's claim that her avatar was digitally gang-raped in a virtual reality game.
  • UK authorities are investigating the claim of a simulated gang rape of a teenager's VR avatar.
  • The teen told the police she was using a headset to play a VR video game when male players attacked her avatar.
  • Officials say the girl faced trauma akin to real-life assault — but others aren't so sure that's possible.

A teenager's claim that her avatar was gang-raped in an immersive virtual-reality game is being investigated by UK authorities, who are said to be considering the novel question of whether such an act in the metaverse can be criminally charged.