Exploring Civil Remedies for Virtual Rape in the Metaverse in China

Sexual assault occurring between two virtual characters does not involve biological individuals in the physiological sense. Nevertheless, whether such interactions constitute “sexual assault” remains contested, as they are difficult to equate with genuine physical acts. Avatars in the metaverse are not ordinary virtual entities: their appearances and movements are consciously selected by users and generated in real time. They replicate—and in some respects even surpass—human sensory perception within the digital sphere, thereby achieving authenticity through simulation technologies. This realism renders “virtual assault” profoundly real at the level of human perception. As metaverse technologies advance, the boundary between the physical and the virtual will become increasingly blurred. Once human activities are deeply embedded in the metaverse so that it fulfils the core social-interaction functions of the real world, regulating crimes in this environment will present unprecedented challenges. Debates concerning the legal subject status of virtual digital persons suggest that, where there is a direct mapping to a natural person, the associated rights and obligations should be attributed to that real-world counterpart. Since virtual characters are created according to human will, the legal fiction of personification—assigning civil liability to non-human entities—has clear historical precedent. Modern civil-law systems already recognise associations, foundations, companies, and other organisations through such legal fictions. Humanity is defined not solely by biological attributes but by the fundamental rights and capacities conferred by law; both natural and juridical persons are legislative constructs designed for the allocation of liability. With the expansion of virtual society, the traditional categories of natural persons, legal persons, and unincorporated organisations no longer fully encompass emerging social entities. Recognising virtual digital persons may therefore represent a novel legal fiction analogous to juridical personhood. To facilitate the development of the virtual economy, transactions require legal entities capable of exercising rights, assuming obligations, and bearing responsibilities. Legal subject status thus constitutes both the point of origin and the ultimate foundation of digital rights and duties. By conferring legal capacity on virtual digital persons, the law would enable them to exercise civil rights and obligations independently. Expanding the scope of civil subjects to include virtual digital persons as a distinct category carries landmark significance for the development of metaverse law. This paper adopts a rigorous conceptual framework to elucidate the compensatory function of civil law where criminal law remains inadequate, and to demonstrate how expanding the range of civil subjects can serve as a transitional mechanism in the jurisprudence of the metaverse.