Of course, the author would agree that it's not close to real-life assault. If I said, "I shot a bear in virtual reality," it would be missing the point to comp

Of course, the author would agree that it's not close to real-life assault. If I said, "I shot a bear in virtual reality," it would be missing the point to complain that it's nowhere close to real-life bear shooting. No one said it was real-life, quite the contrary. The story does bring up a central trouble spot in multiplayer gaming: no mechanisms in place for holding players responsible for being an asshat.