https://ift.tt/eCL8m5o introduces Personal Boundary: distancing in the metaverse

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has announced the introduction of Personal Boundary, which will be a sort of distancing in the metaverse for Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues avatars. 

Meta and the Personal Boundary in Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues

The first boundaries arrive in the Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues metaverse with Meta’s introduction of Personal Boundary.

According to reports, the idea of the Personal Boundary is to prevent avatars from getting within a certain distance of each other, thus creating more personal space for people and making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions. 

In the specific case of Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues, the distance between avatars is almost 4 feet and is enabled automatically, as by default, to help establish behavioral norms. 

Basically, if any other people’s avatars try to enter your personal space or Personal Boundary, the system will automatically stop their forward movement. 

Personal Boundary as a measure against harassment

While Meta says it is ready to make improvements on the metaverse experiences, it defines Personal Boundary as a measure against harassment. Here’s how it is described: 

“If someone tries to enter your Personal Boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary. You won’t feel it—there is no haptic feedback. This builds upon our existing hand harassment measures that were already in place, where an avatar’s hands would disappear if they encroached upon someone’s personal space”.

Meta says that with this introduction, it wants to set new standards for the Virtual Reality (VR) social network so that it becomes an experience in which all users feel comfortable. 

Further on, it is expected that each user will be able to choose the extent of their avatar’s distancing to their liking.