What Will Sex Look Like In The Metaverse?
Read the original at Let’s Eat Cake.
If you saw Mark Zuckerberg’s presentation on the metaverse and thought “How will I have sex in the metaverse?” you’re as pervy as we are. He says that the metaverse is how we will live in the future. So how will we bang in the future? Hopefully not with Zuckerberg watching.
As technologies evolve, sex, pornography, and relationships will evolve with it. So, what will sex look like in the metaverse?
What Is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is a vision of the future of the Internet as a virtual world. It includes virtual reality to feel like you’re actually inside a virtual space. And augmented reality to bring the virtual world to the physical world.
The metaverse could combine social media, video games, currency, NFTs, and more to integrate the virtual world with the real world. Think Ready Player One or The Matrix, except you’re at home instead of in a human battery pod with Keanu.
If you’ve played Second Life, Minecraft, or Roblox, you’ve been part of a metaverse community. These communities allow you to become an avatar and socialize in a virtual world. The metaverse would take this to the next level…hopefully with fewer deadly lava pits.
From dicks drawn on the walls of Pompeii to the porn sites of the Geocities age to VR porn now, we know that with any technological advancement, people will try to use it for sex. The metaverse is no exception.
What Will Sex and Porn Look Like in the Metaverse?
When it comes to new tech, the sex industry tends to be on the cutting edge. Virtual sex is no different. We’ve already seen a ton of technological innovation. Some porn platforms have thousands of videos that use VR headsets to bring you into the scene.
Experience designer Angelina Aleksandrovich created Raspberry Dream Labs, a collective that brings together artists and engineers to “create multi-sensory solutions for cybersex.” But, she’s not the only one.
Sex toy companies like Kiiroo are already making teledildonic sex toys that work with VR, so you can sync the vibrations and strokes to the video while wearable haptic technologies create the sensation of touch. It’s a big step up from 3D glasses, though we miss closing one eye to make the movie blue or red.
More than likely, these technologies will come into the metaverse. “Porn in the metaverse will be more engaging and interactive, with the added bonus of not being constricted to real world physics,” says Ela Darling, VR porn entrepreneur and marketing director at VIRO Playspace.
VIRO Playspace is a virtual, sex-positive social platform that allows people to connect and use haptic and teledildonic devices to have sexual experiences in the metaverse. The platform lets you have immersive, VR sexual encounters that would be impossible in the physical world.
“We have one experience in our app where the user is seduced by a dragon lady who can fly them in the air and interact with them,” says Darling. Finally, a place to act out your Donkey/Dragon Shrek fanfic.
As they develop the social side of the platform, you’ll be able to connect with other users for one-of-a-kind sexual interactions. “Sex in the metaverse will be different for everyone,” says Darling.
“We aim to provide private spaces where partners can meet as virtual avatars in a digital space where they can talk, move, and engage each others’ haptic sex toys. We want to accommodate any kind of adult, sexy experience partners want to share, playfully and judgment-free.”
Imagine meeting a sexy stranger to hook up under a tropical waterfall. You can actually feel the sensations of being touched and teased. And, you don’t have to wonder if that’s a sea snake or if they’re just happy to see you.
What Could Relationships Look Like In the Metaverse?
Technology has already changed the way relationships work–you can have a long distance relationship and you see your partner’s face every day. It sure beats waiting for the Pony Express to deliver your nudes!
In the metaverse, you could have relationships without ever seeing your partner’s face–or other parts–at all. “Long distance relationships will feel much closer and more connected. A stronger sense of physicality and presence is possible with immersive VR and the advancing field of teledildonics,” says Darling.
“In my experience, spending time with people in VR feels very similar to hanging out in the physical world. And the friendships I’ve built feel just as authentic as the ones I share face-to-face.”
The Introduction of VR Dating
Flirtual is a dating app that allows you to match with other users and go on dates in virtual reality. You create an avatar to use for your profile.
Once you match, you can go on VR dates, where you can play pool, swim with sharks, or even watch a black hole together. It’s way more exciting than your designated first date bar. And if you’re not into it, you can unplug instead of having your friend call you with a fake emergency. What’s that Lassie? My grandma fell into a well? I’ll be right there!
Interacting with a romantic partner in the universe could even feel more intimate without the distractions of the real world.
“Virtual worlds lean heavily on emotional and intellectual intimacy in place of physically being present with one another in the same space,” says Bryony Cole, founder of Future of Sex.
In addition, the metaverse can make relationships more accessible to everyone. “Some people simply don’t have access to romantic relationships, whether it’s social anxiety, introversion, mobility issues, etc.,” says Darling. “They will be able to meet and interact with people in the metaverse from the safety and comfort of their home.”
Will There Actually Be Sex in the Metaverse?
We’ve already seen backlash from social media platforms. From Tumblr’s massive NSFW ban to Meta’s censorship of even-slightly-sexual content on Facebook and Instagram.
“Porn tends to scare off big companies which might want to have a presence on a metaverse platform,” says Wagner James Au, author of The Making of Second Life and the metaverse blog New World Notes. “It’s a real paradox. Most of the leading metaverse platforms are currently attempting to both promote themselves as the successor to the mobile Internet, while also prohibiting activity that’s essential to human socialization.”
What Are Some of the Concerns?
The more that the metaverse becomes a real world, the more real world problems we’ll see in the metaverse. Biggie probably didn’t anticipate these, though.
“Problems like sexual violence that arise in the physical world unfortunately can expect to be replicated in virtual worlds. There has already been reported sexual assualt in the metaverse at Horizon World, and prior to that in VR games,” says Cole. “Sexual assault can be virtual experience.”
Much like real life, instead of protecting women, large metaverse platforms seem to be trying their hardest to pretend sex doesn’t exist. They want to prevent their platforms from becoming a place where virtual sex can happen. It starts with the Ken doll-ificiation of the avatars.
“ROBLOX bans avatars from even holding hands. Meta’s Horizon Worlds restricts its users to avatars that resemble floating hand puppets with no legs, reportedly for technical reasons. But which, by a nice coincidence, also means they come without crotches,” says Au.
If sex-negative gatekeepers are in charge, the metaverse could be way unsexy. But with indie platforms taking the lead, the metaverse could be a place where the future of sexuality is explored.
“I believe there is a great potential for sex education and sexual health support in the metaverse,” says Cole. “Because the topic of sex is still so stigmatized, the combined anonymity and intimacy of virtual worlds makes it an ideal platform for education and health topics to thrive.”
