trends

Virtual Reality in Adult

In the 1980s, author William Gibson came out with the best-selling Sci-Fi thriller Neuromancer. The novel painted a future where people plugged their senses into a world-wide network and had experiences almost as real as this world. Now, a quarter of a century later, Gibson's prediction of a virtual reality landscape for the human race is being realized. Ironically, as with most innovations in computer science, the adult industry is helping to pioneer the way.

Virtual Reality (VR), as defined in Wikipedia, "is a technology which allows users to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one." Simple implementations of VR use a computer screen to display the virtual environment. For instance, the US Air Force allows operators thousands of miles away, through computer interfaces, to control drones. More complex implementations of VR use stereoscopic displays, such as goggles. There are even advanced haptic systems that give users tactile sensations. These systems rely on data gloves and even treadmills to give the VR participant the impression of being somewhere else.

Sex Machinery
Of course for the adult businessperson, data gloves and treadmills just don't cut it — unless your customers have a thing for gloves or walking. It follows then that VR haptic systems for the adult website will employ slightly different tools to give sensations to very different parts of the body.

Sites like VirtualSexMachine.com offer data gloves for these private yet erogenous zones. One such device offered at this website is placed on the customer's penis, like a glove. This particular tool is dubbed a Virtual Sex Machine and was invented by scientist Eric J. White. Using mechanical motion within the cylindrical device, and an interface to a computer, not only does this hardware attempt to masturbate the one wearing it, but does so based on the actual motions of video-tapped adult performers whose acts are replayed as the machine caresses the user in real-time.

VirtualSexMachine.com offers to partner with other adult entertainment companies. "We are open to all new ideas, and will make you a deal that will reward you for your innovation," so states their website. The advantage with a partnership in virtual reality is that your company also receives a portion of hardware sales that will sometimes exceed the revenue of the virtual sex application.

Don't fret that Eric White beat you to the punch with his unique invention. There are many competitive products out there that provide virtual stimulation. One such offering is the Full Stroke Sex Machine at FullStroke.com. This particular sex machine offers a stroking power of up to 2.5 inches at 120 strokes per minute and a soft, high quality silicon sleeve for "unparalleled pleasure." The Full Stroke comes with a hands-free harness, easy cleaning instructions — and beautiful girls that use the Full Stroke Simulator.

The Full Stroke Simulator is an important component of the VR experience, but simply selling a machine that masturbates your customers makes you nothing more than a hardware vendor. The real added value for the adult entertainer is synchronizing the customer's device with either live or taped models that perform acts on the "server" end of the VR network.

In this type of adult VR architecture, your beautiful models are filmed as they perform motions on an input and recording device shaped like a penis. The data is then fed real-time, along with images of the actors, to potentially millions of men and women on the "client" end of the VR architecture. Unlike self-stimulation to multi-media, this client-server architecture gives customers the exact experiences corresponding to the motions that the adult model is performing in real time — thus a type of virtual sex is achieved.

The science behind this was once termed tele-dildonics — the ability to control sex toys in real-time using actors to simulate exact sexual motions. Tele-dildonics seeks to go far behind the simple sucking or stroking power of a small sex device, however. Since the 1990's there have been attempts at developing a complete cybersex suit. One such suit was unveiled in 1999 and looked much like diving gear. The garment was equipped with 36 sensors and, according to one of its marketers, "It may bring you to full orgasm; it may not. It's not about that. It's more about playing with your partner."

Do It Your Virtual Self
Aside from partnering with one of the bigger adult virtual reality players, consider creating an online business based on VR sex yourself by buying directly from hardware vendors. Unlike traditional content on an adult site, the number one consideration that will limit the quality of VR sex is not software but hardware. How good will the body suit and/or sex machine feel to your customers? Therefore choosing your client hardware is a primary concern, and a great source for added revenue through markups in sales.

Sites like PleasureMeNow.com offer a wide variety of VR sex machines that simulate both male and female sex organs. One such offering, the Cyberskin Virtual Sex Stroker, operates off of a USB interface. This tool was originally intended for a remote operator to manually have sex with clients enjoying the machine. Yet using any programming language such as Java or C++, the USB commands that simulate sexual motion can be stored or broadcast to multiple users.

For adult webmasters that don't want to involve themselves with VR programming, Simulator.com offers an out-of-the box virtual solution. This package includes software that will interface between their "rabbit" vibrator or a male pleasure device. On the server end of this VR sex toy, which can be anywhere on the Internet, a user graphically controls parameters of the rabbit vibrator in real-time. Simulator.com provides an interface that allows sex operators to manipulate both vibration and rotation.

Another great feature of the Rabbit vibrator is that it is wireless, which is more convenient — and one could arguably contend — more romantic than requiring your customers to hook themselves to their PC by wires. The current range of the Rabbit's wireless interface is 50 feet.

Combining this technology with easy-to-purchase VR goggles can give any adult webmaster a rather respectable VR offering. With sex machines purchased by customers, and online models manipulating them and performing live, any webmaster can set up an impressive entry-level VR studio.

The Advantages of Going Virtual Now
Partnering with sex hardware vendors affords the adult webmaster easy entry into the leading edge field of virtual reality. Dipping into the world of VR now will make the transition less painless for the adult businessperson as VR grows more popular and complex in the future. Added to the technical and publicity advantages of implementing a new technology ahead of your competitors, entering the VR market today also gives the adult entertainment company an early lead in establishing a new VR customer base.

Potential VR Customers are simply different than many traditional online adult customers. The reason for this is that VR sex is different than traditional adult entertainment, which is based on self-pleasuring. In the future, many adult entertainment patrons may not make the jump to VR, declining to use a cold, heartless sex machine. Likewise, the future adult VR customer-base will include individuals that were never interested in online eroticism, but who may become addicted to sex with a machine controlled by alluring operators they behold through goggles in real-time. Indeed — it is a brave new world.

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