Google uses dogs playing poker to combat harassment in virtual reality

Image: google daydream labs

After some 60 years in the making, it's been exciting to watch virtual reality (VR) develop so rapidly this year. 

It's cheaper and lighter than ever, and at this point, it may be safe to anticipate it will be everywhere very soon

But a recent project from Google's Daydream Labs points to a huge, unresolved problem for VR users and developers: harassment. 

As explained at the Google I/O conference earlier this year, developers saw how comfortable users were in moving around VR scenes, but also how easy it was to intentionally or inadvertently cross boundaries. 

So Google worked on ways to discourage or prohibit harassment. Even better, they used dogs playing poker to develop that technology, as shown below:

It's clear that this player/dog is going to lose the hand, and so it gets up to steal the other dog's chips. Here, Google kicks in and turns the screen gray to disorient them, and their avatar disappears. From here, they cannot interact with the scene, and they're encouraged back to their seat with a clear personal space bubble. When they return, the screen is colorful and interactive again.

Google also tried to reward users for positive interactions with things like sparkle animations and clapping sounds for high-fives. 

Back in March, Patrick Harris of Minority Media talked about his research on VR-based harassment for Polygon. In short, he said it's "way, way, way worse" in VR. "It is intense, it is visceral [and] it triggers your fight or flight response," he said. "They can lean in and touch your chest and groin and it's really scary." 

If Harris is this scarred by an experience, there's no telling what survivors of sexual assault (20 percent of American women) or sexual harassment (64 percent of American women) are in for, though re-traumatization seems likely. 

He suggested developing opt-out "personal boundary lines" which would make people invisible as you go too near to them, as well as better systems for reporting harassment and the option to save replays of incidents. 

After AltspaceVR received backlash for not addressing sexual harassment in its platform, the company developed many features similar to those Harris discussed, finally releasing them to the public in late July. They also added 24-hour support lines to deal with abuse reports. 

AltspaceVR's "personal space bubble" in action.

AltspaceVR's "personal space bubble" in action.

Image: AltspaceVR

Watch the full conference below. You can watch VR designer Robbie Tilton explain Daydream's anti-harassment measures in more detail around 22:02.