Virtual reality porn is already a thing, and it will likely only get bigger with time. So what’s Oculus doing about it?
Well, they’re not stopping it, if that’s what you’re worried about. Oculus wants the Rift to be open to whatever unforeseen applications people dream up, so you can put genitalia all up in people’s faces as you please. However, Oculus is launching a Steam-like storefront/social app that they hope will become VR central (it’s called Oculus Home), and that will be a no-fly zone for naughty bits.
At a recent Oculus Rift event in San Francisco, I felt compelled to ask the porn question (nobody else in the mob of reporters would do it, even though it was clearly the first thing on everybody’s mind), and here’s what Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe told me:
“Our store is not gonna have VR porn on it,” he said. “It’s gonna be a curated environment where you can go and get great games. Parents can trust that their 13 and above year-olds can go in and get games. That’s what we’re focused on.”
Which makes sense. Oculus’ message at this point seems to be games first, everything else second. But what about games that include sex? Platforms like Steam approach them with a kind of double standard. Games like The Witcher 3 can unsheathe their blades and un-bodice their breasts with reckless abandon, but smaller games more explicitly focused on romance and sex often have to release censored versions. And of course, sex doesn’t necessarily turn a game into pure porn or stop it from exploring other issues. You can say just as much with a video game about making love as you can with one about making war. Despite that, Iribe said Oculus plans to follow Steam’s lead. However, things aren’t entirely set in stone.
“We’re still figuring a lot of that out,” he noted. “But we’re gonna operate kinda similar to how Steam would operate [where games with nudity are concerned]. We’re gonna run a good, clean business.”
Fair enough. But still, as someone who was once thrust behind the glistening VR curtain, I had to know: the Oculus-specific “Touch” hand controller, did they consider porny possibilities while making it, especially in light of certain recent developments? Did they at least think, “Man, the porn world is gonna be all over this?”
Iribe laughed. “Oculus Touch is built for games.”
Picture: Kotaku UK
Comments
14 responses to “Oculus Touch Controller Built For Games, Not VR Porn”
Us gamers are already going to buy one I assume, Porn will probably be the thing that starts to get this into homes……….as well as interactive educational experiences……..which I guess the porn will be as well??
My 16 year old self would have loved this as an ‘interactive educational experience’. Though full emersion would make it damn hard (no pun intended) to quickly look innocent when you hear Mum heading towards your room.
Would have beaten the hell (again, no pun) out of playing the maze game on Microsoft Encarta.
“What are you doing, son?”
“Trying to get through this sticky puzzle to please the princess.”
It’d be a sex simulator that only provides audio/visual stimulation and requires a controller that must be held in both hands at all time. That doesn’t strike me as the most sensual of experiences.
There’s a Japanese company that has your hands free solution covered for VR.
Edit: This robot thing. http://supernovo.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Tenga.jpg
That’s a Novint Falcon with a… red thing… attached to it.
That’s a Novint Falcon with a Tenga Cup attached to it…
Tenga… Just wow lol
Didn’t know what a Tenga cup was, but had a pretty good idea from the fact it was attached to the Falcon.
Considering the purpose of the Falcon is to generate haptic feedback of different pressures and textures, this actually makes a lot of sense.
The depraved side of me is a bit excited… Lol
Used a tenga egg… Was pretty amazing – Wouldnt pass up the wifey for it but its better than the hand ;’)
Could imagine the overall setup being amazing but I think you’d want to check the SHIT out of your locks!!! Last thing you want is to not even know you’re getting busted!!!
Don’t need the Oculus Touch when you can just use a Leap Motion!
Or get a girlfriend/wife LAMO.
cost to much! 😀
Yeah, but the hardware on those things goes way out of date way too quickly.
Yeah this is more Lightbox’s territory, to me. Humiliation be damned – I want a 1 to 1 representation of me humping the Fleshlight lodged between the cushions of my couch while the pizza boxes pile up and my cat meows despondantly in the corner.
I won’t pretend for a second. If support is there I will defiantly buy this thing for porn alone.