PS3 Home player 'sexually assaulted', roommate claims

Wants virtual restraining order.

A female PS3 Home player was "sexually assaulted" in Sony's free to play virtual world, her roommate has claimed.

PlayStation user "Whoef" claimed on the official PlayStation forums that the roommate was "sexually assaulted near the Festive Tree while she was helping others with the puzzle".

"She would move and the harasser would follow," Whoef said. "Each time trying to get behind her and use the crouch gesture. This apparently went on for some time."

Whoef called for a "restraining order" in order to keep the two players apart, and even a "Home Jail" where "harassers can harass each other".

"If the harasser has a string of victims, then let them find themselves all alone or better yet, only with other harassers.

"There is no reason Home can't make money on future rapists. After losing all their items, like a real jail, Home can sell them orange jumpsuits, flip-flops and they can decorate their jail cells with a few items such as bunk bed, toilet and a bed roll. They might as well get use to it, that's where they are headed if they don't change their criminal behaviour."

According to Whoef, the female player is undecided on whether to return to Home.

The incident has lead to a report in Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph (spotted by NeoGaf poster Puck), which carries the headline "Fears over online sex assaults: Game players traumatised".

In it, the University of Melbourne's Dr Jessica Wolfendale said "unwanted sexual attacks" can emotionally scar victims, even if they are not real.