When a new kind of technology comes along, whether it’s something small like a computer chip or something huge like the World Wide Web, it nearly always follows the same path to mass adoption. First, because new technology offers a strategic advantage (and tends to be very expensive), the military gives it a whirl. Later, the bleeding-edge early-adopter enthusiasts jump on board and start espousing it as the Next Big Thing. And then, usually concurrently, there are two other industries that regularly embrace new technology before the average consumer wades in: Games… and sex.

We have seen this time and time again over the last 100 years. The internet was created by DARPA, but it was the reserve of hackers, gamers, and porn surfers for years before mom and pop finally started emailing and checking their bank balance online. Likewise, the very first smaller-than-room-size computer was created for the US military’s Minuteman ICBM guidance computer — a trend that continues to this day, with new computing advances (faster chips, larger hard drives, quicker network connections) being embraced by the military, hackers, pirates (don’t forget that DVD porn rips are a huge business), and gamers many years before the baying masses.

Which leads me neatly onto another exciting technology that is finally threatening to make a commercial outing: Virtual reality. As you probably know, virtual reality (VR) has been around for a long, long time. What you may not know is that VR, in the form of flight and combat simulators, has been extensively and successfully used by the military for at least a couple of decades. As component costs come down, and as high-profile devices like the Oculus Rift stoke the imaginations of technophiles everywhere, it is now high time for VR to make the jump from military applications to gaming and sex.

Virtual reality sex

Over the last few months, I’ve been tracking the Oculus Rift’s slow but inexorable rise to sex simulator stardom. To be honest, I am rather shocked at just how advanced some of these virtual reality setups are, especially when combined with sexy, robotic peripherals.

At this point I need to warn you that some of the videos and links below might be NSFW (not safe for work). There won’t be any nudity, but there will be some contraptions and pixelated regions that would look weird if your boss or teacher happened to be watching over your shoulder.

First we’ll look at the current state of the art for virtual reality sex, and then we’ll look at the future of sex. We’ll start off slowly, to ease you into things. This is the Hashilus horse riding simulator.

Yes, I know this is a horse riding simulator, but I’m sure you can see the parallels between riding a horse and, well, riding something else. Those of you who have been on the internet for a long time will no doubt notice the similarities between the “horse” in the video above, and the Sybian saddle.

Next up, we have a beautiful contraption from Japanese company Tenga, which combines an erotic video game, a Fleshlight-like contraption, and the Oculus Rift to create … well, I’ll just let you watch the video so you can see for yourself (NSFW). The image below is a safe-for-work still from the video.

Beyond those two rather adventurous applications of Oculus Rift, there have also been a large number of erotic games that have been adapted to work with the Oculus Rift. I won’t link them here, but they’re easy enough to find with a quick Google search.

Suffice it to say that there are lots of software developers and hardware makers that are excited about the sexy applications for Oculus Rift.

Next page: The future of sex