Among the many exciting opportunities brought about by the advent and advance of virtual reality technology, a stronger connection to the physical world around us may not be the most commonly noted. With a wide variety of VR apps giving users new access to otherwise inaccessible locales and experiences – globetrotting 3D map apps, roller coaster simulators based on actual rides, VR sports and live music concerts among them – VR can actually enhance your experience of the material world around you. Much has been made of VR’s contributions to the adult entertainment industry – and rightfully so. Virtual reality pornography is just the tip of the iceberg, Live VR video conferencing makes sex-by-skype seem like a relic of a bygone era. As this tech develops and VR becomes more and more ubiquitous, VR video calls between partners separated by distance will likely become the most common way of communicating. And when that communication turns sexual it will be VR that makes it more satisfying than anything that has come before it.
Desire is in the Detail
As resolutions increase across all video formats, VR only becomes more and more realistic. The level of detail present in a well-produced 8K VR porn experience must be seen to be believed. No longer are users forced to be content with a hazy view of their chosen VR porn partner but can examine their bodies and faces as if in the same room mere inches from each other. Noticing small details about a sexual partner only brings you closer to them. In a real-world sexual encounter, it’s not always the sex itself that’s most memorable. As Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) says in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross, “I’m saying what it is, it’s probably not the orgasm. Some [woman’s] forearm on your neck, something her eyes did.” VR, when rendered and delivered in 8K resolution, allows something like a glance, a light smile, flushed cheeks, a trickle of sweat down a chest, or a parting of the lips to really make a virtual experience feel akin to a physical real-world one.
VR porn has not only been a powerful advancement of adult entertainment but the push VR tech needed to become mainstream. Sure, games like Beat Saber and Half-Life: Alyx sure didn’t hinder adoption of VR but the secret behind VR’s success (much like that of VHS and DVD technology before it) has been adult content.
Tech and Intimacy Align in VR Porn
Personal intimacy is not often among the first things people think of when considering virtual reality yet those behind the tech insist that it’s a primary goal of their efforts. To bring people closer together and facilitate a deeper connection to the world around us has often been cited as the purpose of technological advances yet critics and naysayers often say that technology actually gets in the way of interpersonal and environmental connection, dulls the relationship, and places unnecessary barriers between in-person interactions. While these complaints are not without merit, they do not take into account just how radically our world has changed in the last few decades. The Internet truly created a global community. It’s not just consumers of news media that benefit from increased access and rapid spread of information. People who travel for work once had to contend with poor telephone connections, a sluggish mail system, and zero chance of visual interaction with their loved ones at home. Now VR can (and soon AR will) allow continued connection regardless of physical location. And, naturally, that includes sexual connections.
Anyone who has been on an unstable WhatsApp video call or Zoom meeting can attest to the frustration glitchy, low-res video can cause. While VR will also have to overcome the obstacle of bandwidth and interrupted data transmission, once it does, we will be well and truly heading towards the kind of communication depicted in our favorite sci-fi movies. Having a partner appear in 3D, standing in your living room or sitting at your kitchen table to share a meal together from thousands of miles away.
Coming Together Via VR
The depth of experience available thanks to 8K VR not only means more immersive and intimate connections to others, whether they be a family member, sexual partner, or your favorite adult performer, but also points to just how far VR technology has come. The first 12K VR porn scene was recently released by VR Bangers and offers even greater detail than 8K. Imagining a 24K VR experience may be as difficult as imagining watching a movie on Blu-Ray back in 1989 but the day is coming when VR will present images and sound so realistic they’ll be easily mistaken for the real thing they aim to accurately represent. What this will mean for communication, sexual intimacy, and interpersonal intimacy remains to be seen. Needless to say, the tech is coming and will bring with it a degree of immersion into VR that we’ve never seen before. If 8K VR is any indication, the next leap forward could shatter our notions not only of what VR can accomplish but what it means to connect with another human being.
