Virtual Violence

TL;DR: Virtual violence raises questions about the psychological and legal consequences of immersive virtual reality experiences.

Abstract: Immersive virtual reality may change the way we interact with each other. In the future, we may be technologically capable of experiencing every aspect of an interaction except its physiological consequences. So what does this mean for interpersonal violence? If virtual reality creates a strong sense of “presence,” such that virtual experiences seem comparable to their physical counterparts, can virtual violence have comparable psychological consequences to physical violence? If so, how should the law deal with such violence? Virtual reality may force us to confront complicated questions about how we define acts of violence, and how significant we find physical consequences, as opposed to the mere subjective experience of violence.