TWO video game designers at the centre of a "virtual reality sexual assault" row have unveiled an anti-pervert "forcefield" designed to keep gropers at bay.

Aaron Stanton and Jonathan Schenker, developers of a VR game called QuiVr, decided to take action after a woman claimed she was groped whilst innocently blasting zombies.

3 Virtual perv attacks could become a bigger problem as VR becomes more popular

3 A screenshot from QuiVR, in which players take control of archers to shoot down the living dead

The pair said their "heart sank" when they heard that a female writer had been virtually fondled by an anonymous perv called BigBro442.

The woman said BigBro442 "shoved his hand toward my virtual crotch and began rubbing".

The designers admitted the prospect of virtual sexual assault hadn't really crossed their minds when programming the game.

Now they have rolled out a "forcefield" which allows women to create their own "safe space" whilst playing the game.

This will stop the player from viewing players who come to close to them and silence anyone who's being particularly pervy.

The games designers wrote: "No matter how you activate it, the effect is instantaneous and obvious – a ripple of force expands from you, dissolving any nearby player from view, at least from your perspective, and giving you a safety zone of personal space.

"It’s an instant creation of control."

The pair want their creation to be used in every VR game, to shield women from the risk of being groped by hi-tech heavy breathers like BigBro442.

3 Is virtual reality set to become a playground for pervs? Credit: AP:Associated Press

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"I’d think it would be interesting if the concept of the Power Gesture were to become a part of the VR design thinking.

"Whatever the details of that gesture might be, the concept is simple – a single, cross-platform and cross-game action that players can rely on as their call to a safe space."

Feminists appear to have taken the story of cyber-groping extremely seriously, even though the "survivor" wasn't physically touched.

"The men that make these games genuinely don't seem to understand that it's sexual assault," game designer Brianna Wu told CNNMoney.

"Women barely work on these teams, so there's no voice of conscience."

Read more: Kim Kardashian’s sex tape comes to virtual reality and YOU can join the action

On Twitter, a woman called Nathalie Lawhead said the testimony of the lady who was groped is "required reading".

However, some people were perplexed and questioned whether being groped in VR actually constituted an assault.

"It's just the latest nothing for social justice warriors to whinge about," wrote a Twitter user called Single Dude Travel.

On the website Chicks on The Right, a blogger called Miss CJ added: "I won’t argue that what Jordan experienced was harassment.

"But don’t pretend that it’s the same thing as someone who was sexually assaulted in real life.

"C*** like this trivialises actual sexual assault. And it makes you look like an idiot."