As excitement grows ahead of the upcoming release of virtual reality (VR) headsets like the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus, the adult industry is preparing for revolutionary changes.
Porn companies have long been early adopters of new technology; embracing videos, DVDs, internet streaming and live web chat when these mediums were in their infancy.
Now, porn stars, producers and programmers are looking into new realms of 3D experiences, but what is going on behind closed doors, and what does the future hold?
The Memo asked four experts from the online porn industry what the virtual reality for pornography looks like.
VR porn will be ridiculously wide-ranging
As people begin to experiment with virtual reality, several different kinds of VR porn have already developed.
Most simple, is what’s known as 180° porn. This pre-recorded porn can be shot with just a couple of stereoscopic cameras and produces the same immersive effect as seen in 3D cinemas.
Virtual reality porn producer Ela Darling’s first ever virtual reality experience involved making this movie-file style porn.
The entrepreneur has since founded her own company, vrtube.xxx (NSFW).
“Whenever I come across a new technology, the first questions I ask are, ‘can I make porn for it, can I fuck with it, can people watch me fuck with it?
“It was easy to see how virtual reality would incorporate porn,” she says.
POV (point of view) porn also has a huge market, says Darling. This uses the same 180° technology, but the cameras are worn by one of the performers.
“There are also others from the female perspective: it gives you this insight into another person’s experience that you just don’t get elsewhere.”
The Jaunt camera. Photo by Jaunt.360° porn works best with orgy scenes
Some companies, like the California-based porn streaming service SugarDVD (NSFW) are also looking into creating 360° porn.
Instead of capturing a forward-facing 3D view, this uses a dozen outward-facing to record a scene from the centre of the action. These are then digitally stitched together into one 3D panorama.
“The Jaunt camera looks like a sphere, with cameras all around it,” explains Eddie Cornejo, a virtual reality porn programmer at SugarDVD. “So if you were to put on the Oculus, you could see all the walls around you, and whatever is behind you too.”
But not everyone is a fan.
“I shot one scene like that and it was immediately clear that it was not ideal for porn,” says Darling.
“If I’m watching porn I want to watch the people fuck, I don’t care about the couch to the side, I don’t care about the art on the wall.
“With 360°, you can see the people fucking on maybe two or four of the cameras but most of them are useless.”
That said, both Cornejo and Darling agree that 360° VR would be ideal for capturing orgy scenes.
“I just don’t think that the future of VR is going to be all orgies, all the time though,” says Darling.
In the future, Kim Kardashian’s “body scan” could break the internet
Many companies, including SugarDVD, are also currently working with so-called “scans” where performers’ bodies are motion-captured. These can then be digitally manipulated by in-house programmers a limitless number of times.
The British company Veiviev, for example, specialises in producing particularly detailed high-resolution scans.
“The scans are 3D models, but they’re still computer generated,” says Cornejo. “You, as a programmer, can then customise them and move them to do certain things.”
“They could even be used to create virtual strip clubs.”
The next big steps? hologram cam girls, augmented reality and haptic feedback
Darling is currently working to create a live streaming VR webcam service, where cam girls are filmed in real-time as a 180° 3D hologram, and then presented in a 360° virtual space.
“Instead of just a video, it’s a real live person placed into a digital environment,” she explains.
“You can speak on the microphone or you can type chat-style to negotiate what you would like from the experience, whether it’s conversation or some specific sex act: the connection between the performer and viewer is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”
As immersive as this sounds, porn companies have yet to solve the issue of haptic feedback, the ability to “feel” VR.
The Shockspot sex toy. Photo by Shockspot.VR could bring back a “golden age of porn”
VR has the potential to revolutionise the porn industry, says Darling.
“If we establish that VR porn is worth paying for, we can make money from it.”
“This is a new avenue of job opportunities,” she adds, “there’s potential for this to bring a new golden age of porn.”
VR could also limit security breaches.
“It’s also a lot harder to pirate,” says Darling. ”You can’t play our holograms on a standard holographic player you have to have ours.”
Even performers who aren’t drawn to the idea of watching virtual reality porn are open to being involved.
“There are a lot of different non quantifiable elements to human adult content that I don’t believe I will enjoy as much with virtual reality,” says prominent porn star James Deen, a leading voice in the pornography industry.
“But for the most part I think the adult world is looking at VR stuff as a cool new thing that we experiment with.
Curious programmers and developers are also increasingly keen to be involved, says Cornejo.
“Especially with the advent of VR, people are finally realising that within the adult industry you just have so much more freedom to really innovate,” he says.
“At other companies you’re always trying to meet the constraint of the budget or the company image, but we have much more freedom to play around with new technology.”
Something for everyone
While most VR porn available now is aimed at men, this also looks set to change.
“Ideally users will be able to customise their own experience,” says Bolan. “We want to get to the point where regardless of your personal preference there’s going to be an experience that’s for you.”
According to Bolen, women are twice as likely to spend their money on SugarDVD, and “you cater to those who will spend more of their money”.
Darling also hopes that once VR headsets are more widely accessible, there will be a market for more female-friendly porn.
This doesn’t mean creating “emotional” or “softcore” content, she explains, but rather what she considers to be believable “good porn”.
“It’s not about getting the performers to kiss more, it’s about getting him to fuck her in a way that would feel good.”
VR porn won’t replace real sex
No one involved thinks VR will ever stop real-life interaction: “VR will never replace real life,” says Cornejo.
“You can take a VR tour of the Smithsonian Museum or The Louvre, but it doesn’t actually replace going to them.”
“It’s mass hysteria and very ridiculous to think that the virtual reality experience is going to remove people from the reality of the universe,” adds Deen.
For Darling, the whole idea is “a scare tactic”.
“Could people use this rather than engage with people in real life?” she asks.
“Certainly. But that’s a possibility with anything life.
VR cam girls could even help people to forge new relationships, she says.
“If you don’t have that [real life relationship] at all, it might help you learn how to foster those connections. It’s not replacing, it’s supplementing what people have or don’t have.”
Does VR spell the end for “regular” non-VR porn?
Probably not. “Two dimensional porn will always have a place,” says Deen.
Virtual reality could really step up the quality of performance however, she says. “There is a far greater requirement to be engaging and convincing.”
“Porn is not known for its good acting, but VR is going to set the bar higher: you have to be a higher calibre of performer.”
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