VR News: OK, so it’s not social distancing for Covid reasons, but it is still a proximity limit in VR! In a press release, they said: “A personal boundary prevents anyone from invading your avatar’s personal space. If someone tries to enter your personal boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary,” said the company. Meta is introducing the 4ft boundary as a default setting and will consider further changes such as letting people set their own boundaries. We think this will help to set behavioural norms – and that’s important for a relatively new medium like VR”. Dan Milmo Global technology editor for the Guardian finds out more – https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/04/meta-to-bring-in-mandatory-distances-between-virtual-reality-avatars
Our Thoughts: Having personally witnessed…”invasive behaviour” in social VR apps like VR chat I sadly can confirm that this is needed. Sexual harassment is a real issue on those kinds of apps so anything introduced that will limit this sort of bad behaviour will be welcomed by me. Just as long as you can personally allow people to get closer if you wish. They have indeed said “We will consider further changes such as letting people set their own boundaries” so that is good. I really wish this sort of measure wasn’t needed, but sadly it is and I am all for it.