Before televisions became mainstream, there was almost no way to enjoy adult entertainment at
home other than on printed media. As with all printed media, the
limitations were glaring. Once viewed, there was nothing else to be
done, magazines just had to be stacked up in storage somewhere. Then
came the era of VHS, a big jump that let you enjoy porn videos at home.
The only issue was that video tapes were pretty difficult to store as
well, just like magazines and books. Finally, once the internet age hit,
digital downloads made everything much easier. But what’s next, you
ask?
The
answer, is virtual reality. Virtual reality is basically a simulated
environment which offers far more immersion and some measure of
interactivity with a variety of content. It’s been touted as the next
big thing even in the video gaming industry because of the immersion, so
there’s no surprise that something like porn would want to go the same
way. Virtual reality entertainment requires a specialized headset device
which calibrates according to the user, so privacy is another plus
point, something which adult entertainment consumers definitely want.
One
of the biggest and most popular genres of porn is POV, or point of view
porn. In it, the camera is operated in a way to make it seem like the
viewer is the male performer, or rarely, the female performer. This is
undoubtedly the first thing that porn producers would bank on once
virtual reality porn becomes big, because hey, who wouldn’t want to be
in the shoes of someone who’s with their favorite pornstar? Simply being
a part of the scene would increase immersion tenfold. What if users
could ‘walk’ around the environment while the scene is going on? What if
they were not bound by traditional cameras and able to see all the
action in the way they like? The possibilities are truly endless, not
only for porn, but also for any type of entertainment.
Combine
the interactive experiences promised by virtual reality porn with
digitally connected sex toys, and you literally have an environment that
comes extremely close to the real thing. Users who have been consuming
porn since a long time and are paid subscribers to existing services
probably won’t hesitate too much to pay the amount of money required for
this experience, so the business prospects are endless as well.
Branding, commercialization, custom content, connected devices, there’s a
lot can be done.
Then
again, we’re only considering real content, shot with cameras, albeit
from different angles. Virtual reality also gives content creators the
power to actually create custom experiences using computer graphics,
something like what the video gaming industry is doing. Admittedly,
adult video games made today aren’t very polished experiences, but
virtual reality could push the industry to truly start innovating and creating adult videogames
in virtual reality. Once the industry figures out a way to stay out of
the uncanny valley, virtual reality porn might just become the de facto
standard way to consume adult entertainment, in combination with virtual
reality porn videos.
Now
the other way to see this is how porn can contribute to making the
virtual reality platform itself popular. It’s no secret that the porn
industry is one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world,
and its support can make or break a platform. It’s happened in the past,
and it will probably happen again. The infamous VHS-Betamax war in the
1970’s was won by VHS simply because Sony’s proprietary format could
hold only 60 minutes of video and Sony wasn’t too keen on supporting the
adult industry, which meant that porn videos were sold only on VHS
tapes. It accounted for almost 50% of VHS sales, effectively killing
Betamax. Similarly, in the HD-DVD and Blu Ray war, the porn industry
went with Blu Ray, which then caused HD-DVD to eventually get phased
out. Companies that create virtual reality devices would be wise to work
closely with the adult entertainment industry to popularize the
platform.
Erika
Lust, the founder of Lust Cinema, one of the most popular and acclaimed
erotic filmmakers in the world, has specifically said that virtual
reality is definitely the future of porn, but has valid concerns
regarding the challenges it could face. Costs aside, there’s the
question of intimacy, or rather, the lack of it. If the industry is
moving towards more immersive experiences, we as users also tend to
expect much more from it. Sure we would have been content with high
quality video content, but now that there’s a possibility of virtual
reality, something that is so close to the real thing but not yet there,
there might be a disconnect. A disconnect that’s caused by the lack of
intimacy. Basically you have an experience that’s so immersive but it’s
missing that one small thing which could make or break it. Filmmakers
and content creators have to understand that humans naturally tend to
expect more, so it’s important not to oversell the experience and come
up short.
Regardless
of the challenges the industry could face, one thing is for sure,
virtual reality is the future of entertainment. The entire idea of video
games, movies and whatnot is escapism, what better way to immerse
yourself in another place and time than virtual reality? The
advertisements for current forms of entertainment offering ‘immersive’
experiences will have nothing on the experiences virtual reality will
offer in the future, and for the adult industry, well, it’s an entirely
new and exciting frontier.
