A bug in the matrix: virtual reality will change our lives. But will it also harm us?

Prejudice, harassment and hate speech have crept from the real world into the digital realm. For virtual reality to succeed, it will have to tackle this from the start

It won't be long, the technologists tell us, before we'll all be vacationing in virtual reality. We'll can the commute and hold meetings in virtual reality offices. We'll hang out with our friends around virtual reality campfires, or attend virtual reality concerts. And at those gigs or football games, we'll also run the risk of getting sexually assaulted.

On 20 October, Jordan Belamire (a pseudonym) wrote a Medium post describing how, while she was recently playing a VR game, another player groped her crotch. He'd heard her voice, you see, deduced that she was female, and decided to put her in her place.